Rogue Wave - Permalight

Brushfire
2010

I put this on the other night and drove around to it. It was like Wednesday so it was really slow. I really like Rogue Wave. I listened to Asleep at Heaven's Gate and Descended Like Vultures quite extensively. I get those two records confused because they sound kindof similar, which isn't a bad thing in my mind. They are both really good records to rock out to, with a few acoustic jams thrown in there for good measure.

So these guys finally overcame all of their health problems and released a new record after being off the music radar for like two or three years. While I don't hate this album, it's definitely not as awesome (read: rockable) as the last two they put out. There's too many drum machines and other electronic gadgets on here, and I'm sorry, it just doesn't work for these guys. I really like the opener "Solitary Gun" because there's not a whole lot going on that isn't Zach Rogue on his guitar and Pat Spurgeon on drums.

The second track is okay, it doesn't really have that much pull on me. The third track "Sleepwalker" has this really neat chord progression that I dig. The next track "Stars and Stripes" is also pretty good. After that, the songs are kindof forgettable until you get to the last song "All That Remains," which probably one of the best closing songs I've heard recently. Basically, what I hate about this record is that it sounds way too over-produced. Even for a band like Rogue Wave it's too polished. I mean, some degree of sound engineering would be expected for this kind of band, but this just takes it too far. There's too much auto-tune in here, or atleast something that sounds kindof like it. I don't really like the drum machines and electronic bits, but maybe it's because I've always had a bias against electronic music. To compound this, the lyrics are kindof corny. "Can you feel the fear itself?" C'mon, those are some pretty weaksauce lyrics. Part of what made Rogue Wave so awesome like 5 or 6 years ago was that the lead singer guy had just lost his job and everything in the dot com bust and you could kindof hear that sentiment in his music. Now they sound like a cheap version of Death Cab for Cutie, complete with awful Ben Gibbard style lyrics. Maybe Zach Rogue needs to lose his job again, because when people sing about losing jobs and going through hard times, people can relate to it more; it seems more real. It's part of what makes Born To Run so awesome (or Bruce Springsteen in general).

Anyways, this record isn't all awful. Maybe it will grow on me, but for now it gets 2.5 out of 5 steering wheels.

-San