Review Summary: Pennywise decide to play safe yet again in their latest release Reason to Believe.
Free; it's a word that pulls a trigger in a person's mind. Whether the free item is at a store or sports event, it is sure to attract a few people to bat day at a baseball game or free slurpee day at 7-11. Now, in the music world, Pennywise's ninth studio album,
Reason to Believe, is free through the biggest teen marketing-whores themselves, Myspace. After submitting to the marketing roadblocks in order to get this album, the issue of, 'was this worth the hassle?,' arises. The one thing that is certain with
Reason to Believe, is that it's a traditional Pennywise album.
Pennywise's
Reason to Believe follows
Land of the Free? and
From The Ashes with their continual regurgitation of ethics in society. This time around the album's lyrics are focused around the religious issues, which the album title barely attempts to hide. Honestly, it's that theme that has been played far too often for its own good. Pennywise basically take a month worth of CNN's religious affair team and turn it into an album for teens to 'understand' and 'relate to,' or something like that. Jim Lindberg’s lyrics and vocals remain average like in any previous Pennywise's album like with sub par lyrics like in "Faith and Hope," singing, 'This is your own reality/ each to his own ability/ got no hope for society/ watch it as it all goes away/ it gets closer everyday/ so live it up 'til the day you die/ and if you wonder why I say goodbye tomorrow." It is really a shame, considering with each album it seems that Jim would try to step up his lyrics a respectably good level, but not this time.
With
Reason to Believe, it was pretty apparent what could be expected: standard punk drumming, power chords, band chants, vocal harmonies, and more power chords. In addition, Pennywise reportedly had sixty songs in line for this album.
Sixty. To be honest, if these are the best of the bunch songs, I don’t even want to know what the other forty-plus songs sounded like. "One Reason" and "The Western World" are certainly some of the better constructed songs on
Reason. The hardcore-punk "One Reason" is an enjoyable change of pace with some of the heaviest riffs ever derived by Pennywise while still maintaining the catchy chorus hooks that they are known for. "The Western World" explodes with happy-go-lucky guitars behind multiple chants that seem to be catered for energy bait during concerts than lighting up an album.
And
Reason to Believe really needed that spark lost within. After all, the bass lines are terribly boring and contrived. Also, it can be confidently said that ninety-plus percent of the album’s bass lines are stemmed from the root of the power chords. It is a waste of talent when a bassist is living in the shadows of what is, primarily, generic guitar work filled with pick scrapes and four chord progressions. Past all of the mediocrity, Pennywise are a band that seem to impress new waves of teenagers with every album. That teen is hooked for two albums and then they see the truth about Pennywise, an average skater-punk band.
It is ironic because it seems like
Reason to Believe is stuck in a musical purgatory. It is neither bad nor good enough to escape its own clutches, but rather hanging in limbo. Pennywise needs to take that final step out of their comfort zone and prove they are not on autopilot. In the meantime,
Reason to Believe is a stale piece of music in Pennywise's lengthy career. It may be time to stop believing they will ever change.
