A week ago today Switchfoot put out their eighth studio album titled “Vice Verses. This record brings a new style to the table for the 5-piece group from San Diego, experimental. This record touches almost every side of the rock spectrum throughout the track list.
The opening tracks Afterlife, The Original, The War Inside, along with the album’s lead single Dark Horses all scream resounding echoes of the classic Switchfoot sound giving us some hope for what is to come. Reverb driven guitar riffs and vocals, along with heavy guitar feedback/ring out (especially in the record opener Afterlife) carry these tracks. From here, the band divulge into the track Restless that sounds like it is straight off of an older O.A.R. album. Following Restless is a U2-esque track titled Blinding Light. This track somewhat resembles the band’s style from the Hello Hurricane record that exploded this past year, and is one of the best tracks that Vice Verses has to offer.
The most diverse track on the record is Selling the News. If TobyMac and The Black Keys were to do a collaborative effort, I think it would sound like this. With it’s overdriven, syncopated opening bass line, and spoken verses it carries a very experimental sound and isn’t much like Switchfoot at all. Then again maybe that is what they were going for with this record.
To conclude the record, the band puts out three tracks that resemble frontman Jon Foreman’s solo project. The thought provoking lyrics and ballad-like pace of the tracks Souvenirs, Vice Verses, and Where I Belong have the Foreman style stamped all over them. It is safe to say that these three songs are hands down my favorite off of this record.
Where I Belong concludes the record, crying out for our generation to wake up with lyrics like, “I wanna see the Earth shaking, I wanna see a generation finally waking up inside…I still believe we can live forever. You and I begin forever now…You and I, we’re here together now.” Maybe it is time for us to wake up and realize that we are in this together and we should live that way. It’s time to break out of our selfish lifestyles that the world is reinforcing in us and actually live like the brothers and sisters we are.
Overall, this record didn’t really appeal to me right out of the gate like The Beautiful Letdown or Hello Hurricane, but it is a solid album nonetheless and it is continuing to slowly growing on me. Those of you who have listened to it, what do you think? If you haven’t listened to it yet, give it a listen and let me know your thoughts! I would love to hear what everyone else thinks of the album, or even what your favorite song off of it is? Use the comment section below to discuss!
I hope you are enjoying your week thus far! Thanks for reading!
-Andrew
Track Listing:
1. Afterlife
2. The Original
3. The War Inside
4. Restless
5. Blinding Light
6. Selling the News
7. Thrive
8. Dark Horses
9. Souvenirs
10. Rise Above It
11. Vice Verses
12. Where I Belong
