Review Summary: 4Lyn's most mainstream, radio-friendly album yet that showcases occasional bursts of real catchy songwriting.
4Lyn are a 4 piece hard rock band from Hamburg, Germany who have released four albums so far and are quite successful in Germany. They initially started out playing rap-metal not unlike Limp Bizkit, but with each successive album, gradually shed the rap elements for a more streamlined hard rock sound. Their last album, ‘Compadres’, was their most harshest and raw (no surprise as it was self-produced) album to date, boasting strong songwriting and a mature attitude. For their latest 2008 effort, ‘Hello’, you’d expect the band to expand on the darker and more raw elements on Compadres, but instead 4Lyn have produced their most mainstream, polished and radio-friendly album yet.
The obvious aim with Hello was to go big- that means big, catchy choruses and standard songs that would fit nicely on the radio. Now, whether this is a bad thing is entirely up to the listener; if you despise modern hard rock music, you will absolutely hate this record. For those who enjoy this kind of music though, you will find quite a few gems in Hello. Make no bones about it, Hello was designed to appeal to the kids, right down to the production value.
The album opens with the slightly punky “The Grind”, a song designed to get the crowd going at a live show, featuring lyrics like “Girls, shake your body/Boys, grab a hottie/Let’s get naughty/Everybody just grabs somebody!”, then mellows out to the slower tempoed “Shadow Valley”, which has an insidiously catchy guitar line at the forefront.
The title track would be the most obvious choice for a first single. It follows the standard quiet verse-chorus that’s become the standard of mainstream rock, but thankfully it delivers. The chorus is very anthemic, and is nearly impossible to get out of your head upon a first listen.
The best song here is by far “Nostalgia”, another anthem but this time a rocking ballad. This song perfectly blends all of the elements 4Lyn was going for in this album- the melody will earworm its way to your head, the lyrics are simple yet poignant and honest, and most importantly, it rocks. Another winner is “The Jumpoff”, a song about drag racing that features some fairly intense guitar work, tastefully placed synths, and a driving beat that sounds like a car engine revved up and ready to go.
The downfall of this album are some (not all) of the incredibly juvenile lyrics, something that’s plagued 4Lyn since their first record, and what makes it worse is that they’ve shown their capacity for writing thought provoking lyrics (see ‘Even’ off the previous album). This is no more apparent than track 4, “World’s Gone Crazy” (ex: Kids carry guns/Shoot you up for fun/Record it with their cellular phoooooones!), and the otherwise fun and fuzzy rocker “Lovemaker Soulshaker” (ex: I’m like a 9mm that’s about to go off/I’m just an ordinary man that is ready to ***!). The album also has a real dud in “Cowboys”, which features lyrics about just that. It sounds as if an angry teenager imagined himself as a pissed off cowboy outlaw and wrote this song. Thankfully the musicianship is tight, but that’s about it.
The token break up ballad is ‘This Heart’. It would be hard to differentiate it among the hundreds of other break up songs out there, but 4Lyn does pull it off with a degree of grace. The guitars are strummed and electric, going into a fully distorted chorus (This heart was meant to be broken/Why don’t you bleed for someone else?). It can come across as overblown, but anyone who’s been through a particularly bad break up, young or old, will find much to relate to in this song.
Depending on which version of the album you find, some copies contain 3 bonus songs. They’re all passable standard issue mainstream rock songs, but the third and final song (‘Don’t Take Me For Granted’) is a real sad way to end the album, as it feels out of place and too whiny, whereas the original closer, ‘Cowboys’, despite some dumb lyrics is more appropriate.
Overall, despite some occasionally shoddy lyrics and lame songs, Hello delivers the goods. If you dig on mainstream rock with a slightly harder edge and enjoy bands like Papa Roach or Linkin Park, you can’t go wrong with this release.
