Review Summary: Project 86 mixes their last three albums to make one beautiful baby of an album
When Project 86 released Rival Factions, a lot of fans were not too happy. They took a different route away from the hard rock sound for something more experimental. It is still one of my favorite project CDs but lots of people wish they would go back to the Drawing Black Lines sound. Well those people are in luck because Project 86’s seventh studio release Picket Fence Cartel is definitely a hard rock record.
It starts off with “Destroyer”, which starts off slow and then just explodes, setting the mood for the next forty minutes. “Butcher”, my personal favorite track has got a great rhythm and strong guitar. “The Spectacle of Fearsome Acts” plays a lot like “My Will Be A Dead Man” or “Say Goodnight to the Bad Guy”. Another song that sounds like an older Project song is “Cold and Calculated”, which reminds me of “The Great Golden Gate Disaster” from Songs to Burn Your Bridges By. Anyways the CD never really slows down, all the way to the last song “To Sand We Return”, which is an epic finally.
Lyrically Schwab is at his best. This record is definitely more spiritual then Project has ever been, but it works really well. There is actually even an almost worship song (Cement Shoes) with the Project twist. Lyrical themes go from no fear of death to how mixed medias of today are corrupting people. A strong song lyrically is “Cold and Calculated” which expresses corruption and greed in man with lines like “A life you built exploiting the dreams of innocents, Preying on the wide-eyed fantasies of those with the purest intent, As parasites, they always need a host (how many lives have you bled?), Your crooked gain will always find a leech’s ending.”
Now I will admit at first few listens I really did not like this CD all that much. It sounded like more of the same and I couldn’t really get into it. That being said, give it a few listens, it will get better, I promise! Another thing that threw me off is the cover art, or should I say the lack thereof. I was upset for the weak excuse for cover art at first, especially after Rival Factions (Best Cover Art I have seen in a long time) but of course leave it to Project to throw us for a loop, and they have a reason behind it. In a recent interview with Jesusfreakhideout.com Schwab explains why it is that way, and if you care I recommend reading it, it makes much more sense after you read it.
Anyways to sum it up, this album is as if the last three project records had a baby. It has the anger and intensity from Songs to Burn Your Bridges By, the strong, hard rock from And The Rest Will Follow and The catchy 80’s rock and synth from Rival Factions, making one of Project’s best CDs yet.
