Album Details

• Artist: Brian Vander Ark
• Album: Resurrection
• Label: Brash Music
• Year of Release: 2004
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: hstisgod on 2007-06-17

It's not a rare occurence for a lead singer to reach for a solo effort.  When The Verve Pipe hit with Villains it was easy to tell the music was attractive, but the voice was unique and brought the indentity of the band.  So when Brian Vander Ark released his first solo effort Resurrection, dollars to donuts you'd get easily confused into thinking it was The Verve Pipe, but Resurrection, has a bit more identity itself.

   Though not chalk full of unique guitar rock, and quite honestly very bland just like any efforts from his preceeding formation, the album lives and breathes in contemporary rock. Songs like lead track 1229 Sheffield showcase that very distinctive Vander Ark range of raspy soprano.  The music itself seems a bit more bluesy or even bluegrass then that of his aforementioned previous band.

   The title track has a bit more edge to it, featuring a bouncy verse chorus verse standard, and a rhythmic bridge in between.  The following track Written and Erased follows a similiar format but a bit more radio friendly... progressive Alt-Tempo rock with sped up chorus in reference to a world of issues.  "Do you wanna be famous, wanna get a taste, do you wanna be written and erased, do you wanna be faded like the scene, in a one hit wonder magazine.  Do you wanna be jaded, self-medicated, go to be rehabilitated, and then be congratulated.  O yeah, you're the one we're looking for".  No telling who he's referring to there...pfft.

   Its not all sour grapes, as this album features a grand tour of acoustic melodies and all sorts of other instrumentation like the good ole Flugelhorn, harmonica, and a mandolin. Like I said, its not a rare ocurrence for a lead singer to delve out onto his own, but to keep the same pace is nice.  If you're a fan of The Verve Pipe and can deal with a bit of a power outage, this album is for you.

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