Category: Thousand Foot Krutch

 

BEST FIFTH RELEASE 2009 Award Winner!

Runners-Up: NONE.

 

We’ll say it: Thousand Foot Krutch has arrived.

We thought it had happened with The Flame In All Of Us, but one listen to Welcome To The Masquerade is all it took to prove that wrong. Musically, this album blends some similarities to Phenomenon with some excellent new elements… plus, actually heavier music! (This is the band’s first straight-up Hard Rock album.) Their previous record scored a full 5 & 1/2 Stars, but TFK has now, somehow, improved— and dramatically, at that!

Our comment? Wow.

 

Welcome To The Masquerade kicks off with “The Invitation”, an excellent, heavy rock instrumental opener that flows right into the next track without a pause.

Title track “Welcome To The Masquerade” then smoothly drops down into the album’s appealing Hard-Rock-heaviness.

“Fire It Up” is an equally heavy track, with rhythmic verses that make you want to move and a great short closing guitar solo.

The rhythm of “Bring Me To Life” is emphasized even more at times, and that combined with its great heavy guitar melodies make it another excellent track.

The verses of “E For Extinction” feature frontman Trevor McNevan singing in a style that he’s never done before (which, of course, ends up being quite good ), and the bridge before the chorus has unusual, interesting harmony.

“Watching Over Me” is a great, full-sounding Rock ballad with very real, yet still quite hopeful, lyrics.

“The Part That Hurts The Most (Is Me)” moves to a Hard-Edged Rock style with excellent, memorable vocal and musical melody combinations. There’s also a great Hard Rock bridge near the end.

“Scream” brings back the full Hard Rock, including more memorable vocal/musical melodies.

“Look Away” is a ballad that lyrically focuses on letting go of despair and finding true hope, while also reminding people to take the time to truly help others do so; and its chorus in particular has even more great melody combinations.

“Forward Motion” is a straight-up Rock track with hopeful lyrics.

“Outta Control”, of course , then dives back into the Hard Rock. The lyrics in the bridge near the end of the track are both pointed and strengthening.

“Smack Down” is yet another excellent heavy track. Opening with a very Phenomenon feel, it then slides into a catchy rhythm/stomp/clap combo in the verses, followed by memorable, equally-catchy chorus melodies. This track just pulls you in, and you’ll probably be humming it later.

Finally, full-sounding Rock ballad “Already Home” begins with emotive orchestration; and at the end, the song builds both in emotion and vocal height, closing the disc very well.

This is easily TFK’s best album so far (in fact, it’s one of the best albums we’ve heard!)— and it’s definitely worthy of Best Fifth Release.

Our rating for Welcome To The Masquerade: 5 & 1/2 Stars.

 

BEST FOURTH RELEASE 2007 Award Winner!

Runner-Up: Flatfoot 56 (Jungle Of The Midwest Sea).

 

With the release of The Flame In All Of Us, it is immediately apparent that Thousand Foot Krutch has finally, truly pushed themselves musically.

Plus, along with the excellent upgrades to their sound, there is a solid coherence to the whole album not seen since their second record. And— showing their talent— instead of laying down the musical elements separately and one at a time (as is the norm), they recorded almost all of the music (drums, bass, and guitar) together in one room, one song at a time, as if they were playing a live show… and it’s flawless.

Excellent rock opener “The Flame In All Of Us” showcases all of this perfectly.

Next, “Falls Apart” is a rocking, rhythmic track with a quite appealing chorus and bridge. It’s a very solid and excellent song.

“New Drug” rocks for the first few seconds, then kicks in awesome heavy guitars and great rhythm.

“What Do We Know?” is (relatively) a bit lighter rock track, with very encouraging lyrics. Its chorus also has a multi-layered meaning, different after the context of each verse.

“Favorite Disease” is different from anything they’ve done before, in all ways (for example, the verses are bass-driven). Also unique, the meaning of this song’s lyrics are thoughtfully explained in the liner notes.

“My Home” is another different one; it’s a rhythmic, rock love song.

“My Own Enemy” is a mostly rhythmic heavy rocker, again fairly different, and very good.

“Learn To Breathe” is yet another quite different track. At first, it seems like a medium-fast-paced ballad, but the chorus smoothly brings in the full rock guitars. The building and interweaving bridges at the end are excellent, as well.

“Inhuman” contains almost indescribable, very cool verses and bridges, and a pure Rock chorus. This is yet another excellent track.

“Broken Wing” is an excellent, rhythmically heavy-rocking track that is an in-your-face, haul-you-to-your-feet encourager. It’s one of TFK’s all-time best.

“The Safest Place” is a serious heavy-rocker, as excellent as the others on this record.

And the final track “Wish You Well” is the only true ballad on the album. Acoustically-driven, its lyrics deal with letting go of a friend who walked away from their friendship and the truths that they had held to; dearly hoping that they will return one day in all ways.

There is also a fun Hidden Track attached a few seconds afterward, which has some grin-inducing lyrics about their early days and dreams. It’s a great closer.

Special Edition Bonus Content:

The Special Edition (identified by the outer slipcase and also by copper-foil accent ink on the inside packaging) contains the CD, plus a DVD with the following bonus material:

First up on the Special Edition DVD is the excellent and quite interesting “Making Of The Record” feature. This includes such things as how the band writes, explanations of some of the songs’ lyrics, how they recorded this album’s music in a ‘live show’ style while still retaining excellent sound quality, explanations of some of the gear they used, the inevitable antics, and even a funny piece about producer Ken Andrews’ dogs! And there’s a short, funny clip after the credits, too.

Next up is their “On-Tour With TFK” feature. This is a very funny day-in-the-life video, including live show clips, a tour of their bus and just about everything in it , playing (and playing with) Guitar Hero, a strange-yet-funny encounter with someone on the street, and even a hilarious, good-natured fight.

Finally, the last of the Special Edition DVD bonuses are the band’s two music videos.

‘Inspired Heart’ Edition Bonus Content:

The ‘Inspired Heart’ Edition (identified by the green-foil accent ink) is only exclusively available at the Family Christian website or stores. The CD contains an extra track, a good piano version of “Wish You Well”; and the DVD contains everything from the Special Edition, plus spontaneous, on-bus (!) acoustic performances of “The Flame In All Of Us” and “Breathe You In”, and another feature simply titled “Bonus Footage”, consisting of hilarious, totally random antics and outtakes both while in-studio and while roaming the streets.

 

The Flame In All Of Us is an excellent album, and it’s definitely worthy of Best Fourth Release.

Our rating for The Flame In All Of Us: 5 & 1/2 Stars.

A Third Release Honorable Mention in the 2005 Awards

 

With The Art Of Breaking, TFK has widely diversified and experimented with their sound (hence their new genre description ).

The CD kicks off with “Absolute”, a powerful, rocking anthem that is one of their best tracks to date.

“Slow Bleed” lyrically asks if someone can be imperfect and still be accepted.

Title track “The Art Of Breaking” is a good rocker.

“Stranger” is musically darker in the first verse, building into the chorus.

The main melody and lyrics of “Hand Grenade” are fine, and it’s a quite heavy rocker; yet there is a guitar section near the end where the melody isn’t played at all (and sounds distinctly like Trevor is just showing off ).

“Move”, “Hit The Floor”, and “Go” are certain to be played live— their excellent, driving music and energetic vocals will get crowds moving instantly.

“Make Me A Believer” is a familiar-feeling rocker that is similar to the songs on their second album.

And finally the closer track “Breathe You In”, an excellent, slow-building, slow-rocking ballad, is a great way to finish off the CD.

Our rating for The Art Of Breaking: 5 Stars.

A Best Second Release Nominee in the 2005 Awards

 

TFK went through quite a transition between their first and second albums. As explained in our Genre FAQ, Raprock was a very short-lived genre; and although TFK did it excellently, they changed their style after Raprock’s popularity fell. Moving to a unique Hard-Edged Rock blend that contains just hints of the Raprock-style vocals and lyrics, their music is now even better.

Phenomenon begins with its rocking, fan favorite title track, featuring cool militant-type lyrics.

“Step To Me” has ‘breaking-free’ type lyrics, perhaps from bad influences. It has an odd melody during the verses but a great, rocking bridge and chorus.

“Last Words” asks for forgiveness from someone they’ve hurt; it’s another good rocker.

“This Is A Call”— the album’s only ballad— urges you to reach out to others who are going through tough times; they may be putting up an ‘okay’ façade to be accepted when they’re really not okay at all.

“Rawkfist” is a totally rhythmic, totally rockin’ fan fave that is one of the album’s best.

“Faith, Love, And Happiness” is another great rocker, which lyrically wonders why there is trouble and opposition.

“I Climb” is another rhythmic rocker. We’re not quite sure what the lyrics in this one refer to; perhaps being honest with yourself and others.

“Quicken” alternates faster and slower vocals during the verses, and again the melody underneath the verses is a bit odd; but it moves into rock for the chorus and bridge.

“New Design” goes back to the great, whole-song rhythmic rocking that most of this disc features. It also has some of the coolest guitar segments of the record under the verses. Lyrically, it speaks of changing for the better, even though it can sometimes be frightening.

“Bounce” is lyrically similar to a cross between “Phenomenon” and “Rawkfist”; musically it’s yet another good rocker, and another fan fave.

“Ordinary” has a quick intro that sounds like their Raprock album’s music, and then the guitars go back to this album’s style. Interestingly, the vocals during the verses are mostly sung rapid-fire, while the chorus and some of the bridges are vocally done like the rest of this album. In essence, this track perfectly blends both this album’s and their previous album’s genres.

And “Break The Silence”, the disc’s final track, is yet another rhythmic rocker that closes the album in style (it’s one of the coolest-sounding tracks).

In all, Phenomenon is an excellent second release.

Our rating for Phenomenon: 5 & 1/3 Stars.

 

Raprock, of course, was a very short-lived genre (as explained in the Genre FAQ). Consequently, TFK’s first CD was their only Raprock album.

Set It Off opens with an untitled intro track, leading directly into “Puppet”. “Puppet”, in turn, is a great song that introduces you to the Raprock genre very well.

“When In Doubt” is a track that’s energetic and catchy.

“Rhime Animal” has smooth, jazzy guitar jamming during the verses, which then slide into some awesome, rocking chorus work.

Next comes TFK’s great Raprock cover of EMF’s “Unbelievable” (which we actually like better than the original!).

“Up Comes Down” features some surprisingly heavy guitars, and they sound good that way.

“Small Town” is a softer, slower track— at least compared to the others on the album— and it’s a great song with a great story. It’s one of our favorite tracks on this CD.

“Set It Off” is the only somewhat strange track. The music is fine, but there are some rather interesting things going on with the vocals during the chorus.

“All The Way Live” is another catchy song. Again, smooth guitars are featured in most of the verses; but during the chorus they roar into an excellent, searing heavy riff that we absolutely can’t get enough of! “All The Way Live” is one of the album’s best tracks.

And finally “Lift It”, another one of the best tracks, closes the album off. “Lift It” starts off soft and slow with an acoustic guitar (and there is no rap in this song; it’s completely sung); then, the rock comes in on the final chorus… after which the music fades away, leaving only the drums to finish the track off.

Rerelease Bonus Tracks:

The rerelease of this album is remastered, repackaged, and contains 6 extra tracks. The first extra track (which they place at the very beginning of the disc, before the original album tracks) is new and exclusive to the rerelease version of the CD. Titled “Everyone Like Me”, its music is almost a combination of their second album’s sound with their third’s (which makes sense, as that’s when the rerelease came out).

The other extra tracks are placed at the end of the CD (tracks 14-18). These are actually from their pre-“Set It Off” indie effort That’s What People Do. Because of this, the 5 very indie tracks are basically for the die-hard fans only (although “Moment Of The Day” is somewhat of an exception).

 

Rerelease-version fan extras aside , Set It Off is a great Raprock album.

Our rating for Set It Off: 4 & 3/4 Stars.

A Best Live Show Nominee in the 2010-2011 Awards

 

 

(Photo Credits: Ember)

Live Show Rating: 5 & 1/4 Stars.