Chronic Future is a band formed in the mid 90s from Phoenix. Only about 13 years of age at the time, they reflected 311 and Rage Against the Machine in their rap/rock style. They put music aside, however, and put their education first before signing with Beyond Music at the end of the 1990s. Released in 2004,
Lines in my Face is a slightly different look on most mainstream music. The rapping of Mike Busse is strong and poetic, and I think it is a highlight of the band. The singing and guitar playing of Ben Collins, the bass playing of Brendan Lee and drumming of Barry Collins are nothing out of the ordinary, but they don’t need to be for this band to be good.
My music tastes range from gangster rap, although I don’t listen to much any more, to alternative rock for my quiet and lonely days, to regular rock for my normal days, to metal for my angry days. I didn’t really expect any of these genres to mix very well, although I never really tried to find any that did. I found this album by listening to the single
Time and Time Again and I was pleasantly surprised with its meshing of rap and rock. The rapping is a wonderfully written poem, [
Inspiring, shining, rising, and when you’re in my way, I’m not dividing me from you ‘cause we’re working together. Perfect in its splendor like the currents of the weather. This splinter in my center hindering all of my pleasure, me manifested as you in this endeavor] mixed with a bit of guitar riffs and power chords, drums and some sound effects to start the song give it a rock feel. The poetic lines in the song are obvious, most notable in the verses. This fact makes it one of my favorites off the CD.
The other one of my favorites is
Shellshocked. In fact, this is one of my favorite songs of all time. I’m not quite sure why it is so appealing to me; maybe it’s the emotion with the guitar riff of the beginning of the song, maybe it’s the strong chorus with Ben and Mike bellowing out beautiful lyrics [
Who are you to say to me that I’m not alright? You don’t know what it’s like. I’m shellshocked, ripped apart inside. No I’m not alright, you don’t know what it’s like], maybe it’s the bridge that builds with its short power chords, maybe it’s the rapping in the middle of the song which once again features great lyrics [
I don’t care what I’m doing that’s turning you off of me, it’s my care for pursuing our friendship responsibly. That means I need to reconstruct what happens subconsciously so we don’t continue to treat our silence obnoxiously]. But you get the point; whatever it is, this is definitely worth many good listens.
So those are the two best songs off the album. Now, there are several songs that are great as well, but not the caliber of those two. One of these great songs is
World Keeps Spinning, which is mainly a rap track with a great guitar intro. The intro would prepare you for a song that’s poppy and sweet like a love song, but it turns into a rap fest pretty fast. And I like it. “
Stationed in hallow basics, this world will never take it. We’ll keep participating in community-wide facelifts to cover up our problems. One government won’t solve them. I’m on this groove to soothe this wrinkled face of earth revolving. I passed an adequacy test, actual fact is I’m impressed at the pattern of people popping up to help us do the rest.” The chorus breaks itself from the rap because the singing slows down, and the power chords kick in. But then it dies back to an acoustic verse afterwards, with weaker lyrics than the first verse. That’s the reason it’s not elite, but the rapping of the first verse still lingers at the end for this song to remain a favorite. Another great but not classic song is
New York, NY. I live in New York so I’m naturally attracted to this song, but it’s the song itself that allows me to enjoy it. More great rapping [
I tried to tell this girl how twisted my mind got, but it’s her dream to ride the conveyor belt of that sidewalk. She’s got intentions of being number one, but she can handle rejection in the city of no sun. Where bricks change colors faster than careers do and few people drive away and like what they see in the rearview] shares the spotlight with the chorus. The chorus is distorted power chords galore, and it builds and builds until they scream to get louder. There's more great rapping in the bridge, which, like I said before many times, is the highlight. There’s even a nice drum roll.
Those are some of my favorite songs on the album. The weakest in my opinion is
Static on the Radio. The first line really turns me off [
What’s that song on the radio?]. I really didn’t expect a band like Chronic Future to come up with a line like that because it’s very, and I mean very, cheesy. The verses are soft, and while I don’t mind that, they don’t grip me as much as it can. The chorus is fairly strong musically, but they’re just saying “Static on the Radio!” repeatedly. This is, in my opinion, the weakest song lyrically on the album and that really damages the song because lyrics are Chronic Future’s strong point.
Overall, this album is about what I expected when I heard the single Time and Time Again. I got the lyrics I expected, and I got the music I expected, and I was pretty happy. This is a very good album, especially if you’re one for great lyrics.
Overall Album Rating: 3.5/5
i kinda stole your format because i like it :upset: hope it's ok, i'm kinda searching for a format to review in, maybe i should've asked first...
