Review Summary: We are so back.
There was reason to be concerned.
I don’t want to dwell too much on the past; you can read my Phantoms review for that, but in between that album and 2024’s Haven, Marianas Trench lead singer & songwriter Josh Ramsay released a disastrous solo album aptly titled The Josh Ramsay Show. It’s always a bit scary when a singer goes solo, especially after having been the sole producer credit on the last three Marianas Trench albums (Haven makes four). It was easy, as a fan, to worry that Haven, and the band as a whole, might just be another Josh Ramsay show.
Haven is, instead, an opus.
Based on Joseph Campbell’s idea of “The Hero’s Journey”, Haven is another rock opera from the Vancouver pop-rockers. “A Normal Life”, the kind of sprawling album opener we’ve come to expect (Phantoms aside) from the likes of “Masterpiece Theatre I”, “Ever After”, and “Astoria”. Thunder, lightning and rain set the sonic stage before tremolo strings and Ramsay’s signature growl enter the fray. Verse and chorus one are mostly open, with lush string arrangements backing Ramsay until the galloping drums kick in on the downbeat of verse two, and in-your-face distorted guitars take center stage in the second refrain. Then, the remainder of the near-seven minute track acts as an overture for some of the melodic and lyric motifs that will be returned to later on in Haven’s (relatively tight, all things considered) 53 minutes.
“Lightning and Thunder” introduces us to our everyman hero as they hear the call to adventure, according to Campbell’s story map. There’s some excellent theatrical pop/rock songcraft here, with a consistent familiar synth arpeggio, thundering drums (pun assuredly intended), and a strong outro, assuring the listener that, “this is only just beginning.”
The miraculous thing about Haven is that each sound that the band has tried before is perfected here. Marianas Trench is not out to erase Phantoms, but aims to build on the more mainstream pop sensibilities that record produced. “I’m Not Getting Better” is a great example. It’s probably the most straightforward radio-ready track, and maybe the most forgettable, but there’s still room for play. If you don’t like a gospel choir effect on the lyric “unring that chime/still cries out like a gospel”, this might not be the band for you.
Resisting the urge to go track by track, good luck getting either the vocal melody or string part of “Down to You” out of your head. Ramsay delivers one of his best vocal performances on the 80s arena ballad “Now or Never”. “Into The Storm” reminds me of Ever After’s “Porcelain”, risking grinding the momentum to a halt before blasting us into another strong outro, which may give the band a needed opportunity to open up and jam during what are usually pretty regimented live shows.
“Stand and Fight” and “Turn and Run” serve as a two-part intermission, with the latter harkening back to an original motif from “A Normal Life” before dropping into an enormous power chords-meets-huge-string-section outro leading us into “Worlds Collide”.
And what a track. Immaculately arranged, carefully crafted, it’s an absolute triumph.
Back halves have been an Achilles heel to Marianas Trench in the past, but thankfully Haven paces itself much better than its predecessors. Penultimate “Remember Me By” is a banger, a welcome reminder that over a decade ago Josh Ramsay wrote “Call Me Maybe” for fellow Canadian Carly Rae Jepsen.
One thing that may deter listeners, fans especially, is the somewhat frequent self-plagiarism happening on Haven. You’ll hear the verses of Astoria’s “Yesterday” in the refrain of “Ancient History”, though the latter track with its rubber band bassline is superior in every conceivable way. You’ll recognize the guitar tone and style from “Burnin’ Up” on “Remember Me By”. “Nights Like These” does absolutely nothing for me on its own, but fits as a nice breather as the album winds to a close. Ramsay has also confessed to being a lyrics-last songwriter, and it shows. You'll find no nuanced observations on life, here. He mostly avoids cliché, but even when he doesn't, it's delivered with such earnestness and force that it's easy to look past.
The title track and closer, “Haven”, is Marianas Trench at its most cinematic, calling back not only to the opening track, but to tracks on this as well as previous albums also. It ultimately understands Joseph Campbell’s observations on stories, too. Places and surroundings don’t really change, but people do. The journey happens on the inside, and, “Who’s to say what makes a normal life?”
