Justifide has plenty of catchy tunes and some smashing hits, but just don't expect this album to go deeper than that.
Justifide have moved beyond the toybox and are now exploring The Beauty Of The Unknown. Though this album has passionate vocals and enjoyable melodies, the flow of guitars lacks punctuating punch, definition and dynamic that you expect from a good alternative rock album. Lyrically, Justifide has some great ideas, but doesn't always execute them to their full potential. And most importantly, this album is a stylistic mess, changing from hard rock to alternative rock to pop, sometimes within the same song.
Take the first track, 'Face To Face.' The 50-second artsy intro is a cheap promise because once the raging guitars start for the verse, they don't fluctuate to accentuate the melodic chorus. As with most rock bands that lean to the hard rock style, the lyrics aren't developed with interest beyond the chorus statement. It's a catchy song, but it could be an excellent song with some quality mixing and production. The second track 'As It Feels Good' starts slower and softer, and then breaks into alternative rock rhythms. A short three-minute track, it's disappointing since the lyrics are repetitive and the slower intro serves no purpose to the song - since it doesn't return, it feels separate from the rest of the track. About a broken relationship, this song talks about the experience but doesn't offer a conclusion: 'Love hurts as bad as it feels good / As it feels good / As it feels good... And I'm waiting for you no more / And I'm waiting for you no more...'
The third track 'Pointing Fingers' is notable as it successfully combines very strong alternative rock with hard rock and alternative-rap elements. This makes it one of the best tracks on this disc, with spine-tingling intensity throughout. The chorus and the bridge have a beautiful melody, and though the bridge builds to a climax, more dynamic in the chorus instrumentation would have made this track perfect: 'Cause I don't care / What you think of me / I don't care / And I don't care / My Father, he knows me well.' Coming to track four, 'To Live,' Justifide provides a thoughtful, encouraging message, but the instrumentation and the melody are boring: 'So reach up and take His hand and see Him / Change your life around / That's all I want for you is to live / To actually live.'
The only thing that's interesting about 'Save This Fakeness' is the 15-second intro and the 35-second bridge, which are both really cool musically. If only the rest of the track lived up to this standard. The following track 'Escape' ought to remind you of ex-Sparrow band Earthsuit. 'Someone To Blame' starts with a slow, Radiohead-esque 60-second intro before breaking into hard rock. Once again, the rock is boring but the intro had potential. The closing quartet of songs are relationship songs all in different styles. 'Goodbye Without You' starts steady and anthemic with strings, acoustic guitars and pop rhythms, and then moves into a rock style. 'Anymore' rocks from the start, but is the least enjoyable track on this disc. Its only redeeming quality is the electric guitar bridge. 'I Wouldn't Know' has an almost annoying funky pop style and is something you would expect from a boy-band album. The closing track 'This Song's For You' finishes this album quietly and without interest (not to mention the out-of-tune vocals). As always, it seems like Justifide has several ideas and can't focus them into one song. If this song had been called 'One More Time' or 'Tonight,' it might have been more interesting.
If you're an average rock fan, there's no reason not to enjoy this album. Justifide has plenty of catchy tunes and some smashing hits, but just don't expect this album to go deeper than that. If you're interested in the numbers, there's only two tracks on this album that barely pass the four minute mark, which makes this 11-track album under 40 minutes total.
