Review Summary: Here is a solicitous and enthusiastic affair that offers nothing short of total reinvigoration to the modern hard rock scene.
The doldrums of modern radio rock can often at times be an effort to endure. While there are definitely bright spots to be found at first glance, any genre can sufficiently stagnate if plenty of fresh blood isn’t being regularly infused. Thankfully, Texas-based hard rock quartet Nothing More are among the select few standard bearers eagerly able to carry the torch for modern rock.
Nothing More cast a wide net with their eponymous fifth studio album. And while the band’s been actively writing music since 2003, they’ve only recently enjoyed immense mainstream exposure in 2014 with their break-out single “This is the Time (Ballast)”. In my eyes, it’s not particularly hard to understand how this band rose to such prominence. The fuse may have been, but the resulting explosion was easy enough to anticipate. Nothing More seamlessly coalesce a familiar strain of post-grunge and forcefully percussive progressive rock in a satisfying combination that undoubtedly attracts fans fond of both Breaking Benjamin and Dead Letter Circus.
There are a number of merits with this release that help separate Nothing More from most of their peers. For one, their fifth album is positively brimming with unwavering zeal and energy. That isn’t to say the record is relentlessly pounding the listener with deep, bass-thumping passages. But songs like “The Matthew Effect” and “If I Were” ensure that
Nothing More never falls into the trap of comfortable mediocrity. After the aforementioned lead single, starting with the song “Christ Copyright”, the pace is kept relatively speedy and lively up until the sixth track “Gyre”, an acoustic instrumental prominently featuring excerpts from a speech by writer and philosopher Alan Watts. And its presence perfectly encapsulates the band’s heady nature.
Nothing More is a band that will unquestionably appeal to the young adult demographic, but it’s never immature in its presentation. Even when tracks like “First Punch” and “I’ll Be OK” deal with issues pertaining to societal disaffection and heartbreak respectively, the lyrics here are much more thoughtful and constructed with more nuance and subtly than you’d probably expect. There’s plenty of lyrical prowess on display here to give Jesse Hasek of 10 Years a run for his money. The lyrics themselves, regardless if they deal with the perils of bipolar depression (i.e. “Jenny”) or the death of a loved one (i.e. “God Went North”) are both intellectual and intelligible thanks to Jonny Hawkins’ soaring and soulful vocal delivery. His role is not unlike how Daniel Tompkins’, of Tesseract fame, pristine alto rises above rumbling, djenty jams.
For the most part, my only real complaint is that this record doesn’t quite stick the landing with the closer “Pyre”. It’s a companion piece to the previously considered instrumental “Gyre”, but unlike that tune, it does overstay its welcome at over nine minutes. Half the song is composed of mostly wind and fire sampling with yet another Alan Watts speech positioned in the middle to fill out the remainder. While poignant and expressive, the track seems desolate aside from the speech itself. It’s not a bad track, per se, but ultimately like “Gyre”, it should’ve been half as long.
Nothing More has proven themselves to be a formidable force with this album. Their eponymous fifth studio album presents an attractive listen to people of many stripes and persuasions across the spectrum of hard rock. To anyone who has ever fallen in love with rock n’ roll at any point in their life, this album comes highly recommended.
