Review Summary: TFK Greatest Hits album doesn't quite hit a bullseye, but hits something...
This Complilation Album, "Made in Canada" is a collection of all their "greatest" songs before The End Is Where We begin, the tracks included in this album include their most successful songs, like "Rawkfist", and "Bring Me To Life". A greatest hits album is supposed to represent their greatest songs, however I must call TFK out, and say that these were not their greatest songs, just their most popular ones. Unfortunately this is kind of a pattern now...luckily there are still some great tracks on this album.
Pros:
Well to start, this album basically covers the improvement TFK has seen before The End Is Where We Begin. Evidently, there are no songs from the first two albums that were made by TFK, That's What People Do, and, Set It Off. The reason for this is probably the music style. the first two albums, were just funky hip-hop/indie, but Phenomenon and after were nu-metal/Alternative Rock. I don't blame them there. It's a good thing, (hence it being under he "pros" section). As previously mentioned there are some solid tracks on this album. A good reflection of this is Falls Apart, on of their best songs, that nice trademark TFK rawk feel, with actually sincerely great lyrics, rare to find both on a TFK song. Luckily this album contains 2 other songs with the same feel to it, the second of which is "Last Words". The intro isn't much, and doesn't really get you excited, but once your in, you want to listen to the whole song...the way that Trevor's voice goes so well with the instruments really puts the nail in the coffin on this one, Great Song. In this album, they released two all new songs, "Searchlight" and "Complicate you". I'll talk about Searchlight later in the "Cons" section. However, "Complicate You" is an amazing song, truly great lyrics, with a solid backing guitar riff, truly well done by Steve, Joel, and Trevor, though the song might have worked better for FM Static. To compliment these songs are Welcome to the Masquerade, and Bring Me to Life. Those songs with great guitar, but are lacking a little bit lyrically, however still Great songs.
Neither Bad nor Great: Rawkfist has some great beat, but lyrics are full of cheesiness, still not bad. Phenomenon also has the same qualities. Beat is there, but it slays me lyrically, Fire IT Up is the Best non-pro song. I LOVE when they let Joel do his thing vocally, but it needs to be used as a complimentary voice to Trevor, not as a solo thing. Trevor says about 5 words here...and in a whisper, so it doesn't work as well, but it is a very catchy song, though lyrics are cliche. Move is one of those songs, which isn't amazing, but is popular so TFK put it in Greatest Hits...perhaps Greatest for their wallet...not for true music lovers. The Flame in all of Us is actually decent...a bit slow, but picks up the pace near the end, and has that background rant, that really works here...but the rest of the song is pretty bland so, eh...doesn't make the pros.
Cons: I hate it when a band tries to do something that doesn't work for them, don't you? What's worse, they put those songs in their greatest hits album! TFK cannot do slow, pop songs, I hope they learned that after Oxygen:Inhale. They left hints of it in previous albums, and those songs made it onto this album...in fact, they even made a new song to put on this album, just to end up here, in the con list. What do We Know is very repetitive, and really strays from that music that you want to hear from this band. The Children Choir chant surprisingly isn't awful but still not enough to escape its place in the con pile. This is a Call is a song that can be pretty emotional, but overall falls short of the target. the Melody doesn't work here very well, so it ends up here. Surprisingly they bring one of their weakest songs to the table in "Breathe You In", it is actually their best slow song, lyrics are really good, but the melody, and tune/beat is lacking, therefore the thumbs down. now we come to "Searchlight", when I came to this song in my playlist on shuffle, I skip it with a passion...this is the literal embodiment of a failed experiment. Sorry Trevor, Steve, and Joel, but this song earns a two thumbs down
Conclusion: overall the album is pretty good, but certain songs can bring it down a bit...
Recommended songs:
Complicate You
Welcome to the Masquerade
Bring Me to Life
Falls Apart
Last Words
