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Album Details

• Artist: If All Else Fails
• Album: Do Not Forget To Be Angry
• Label: Baseline
• Year of Release: 2005
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: patchen on 2006-05-23

The title of this record is no joke. The Upland, CA band If All Else Fails is angry, especially at our government. What makes this brand of straight-ahead hard rock unique is both the directness of their protests, and the underlying spiritual hope underneath. This is not Christian Rock, but their sincerity of faith puts most of the drivel in that genre to shame. They also borrow from emo without succumbing to whining about life's unfairness. They want to make change, and here they do speak to power. "Hey, Non-Believer" kicks things off with a brutal statement of intent. Having gained our attention, they give more meat to chew on. The acoustic "Her Songs" and the build to crank "Christian Vengeance" explore the personal in the political, and vice versa; the folky "Time To Move On" offers hope that change can come, even if that hope is delivered in the form of a cynically Celtic romp. If All Else Fails is commercial without being pandering, honest without being fey, topical without being self-righteous.

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