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Your Gateway to Music and More from a Christian Perspective Slow down as you approach the gate, and have your change ready.... |
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Your Gateway to Music and More from a Christian Perspective Slow down as you approach the gate, and have your change ready.... |
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It's a dangerous thing when a band tries to be too many things at once. It's rarely done successfully (no one come readily to my mind). Too often the results are a jumbled mess that either comes off as nothing more than artistic indulgence, an attempt to cash in on whatever's popular at the moment, or just confusing. Unfortunately for Green Olive Tree, Things I Tried To Be seems to comes across as a perfect example of the latter two cases. When the chorus of "Unassisted" came around, I swore I was listening to an Alice In Chains cover band. But by the time "Pull" gets going, they've somehow morphed into a pop-punk group, with those choppy guitar rhythms and hyperactive drumming. I guess "Shadows of a Dream" is the requisite ballad, but they're back to their punk-pop sound with "Red 13". Oh wait, I think they're a hardcore group on "Cacophony". At least, that's what those metal riffs make it sound like. By the time the album is half over, I'm thoroughly confused. And guys, was that "bonus" track, with its punk-fuelled rendition of "The Emperor's March", really necessary? But I guess one person's eclecticism is another's lack of focus. These guys are all about
God, and they make no bones about it. Maybe it's the fact that the group
has its roots as worship leaders. As worship leaders, they attempted to
create a sound that was, as they put it,
So what about the lyrics?
"If these guys were worship leaders, then there's bound to be plenty of
the Word, right?" you ask. These guys are definitely passionate about trying
to spread the Christian message to the kids. The lyrics sing of struggles
with doubt and lack of direction ("Red 13"), and many of the phrases feel
lifted from the Psalms ("No Escape"), with cries out to God for His mercy
and strength ("Unassisted"). The creme de la creme is "Enter Golgotha,
Vision of Tears", a musical passion play if you will, that tries to look
at what Jesus dealt with after the Crucifixion and before the Resurrection.
It's full of dark imagery ("Demons tear my flesh/They lick my blood/They
curse my name/They drag my glory through filth and mud"), but
The band talks about dealing with many adversities, including, as they put it, "lack of encouragement from fellow Christians". And I'm afraid it looks like they won't be getting a lot of encouragement from this review. But when a CD is this unfocused, and so much of the music sounds like whatever's cool on Tooth & Nail at the time, it's a sure thing the review ain't glowing. An album is a total package; both words and music count. Throwing a bunch of Christian lyrics into a mediocre pop song doesn't save it from mediocrity, and that's the final analysis of Things I Tried To Be. In this case, they try to be too many things, and the results are not pretty. Jason Morehead 4/14/2001
Things I Tried to Be, the debut release from Green Olive Tree on Syntax records, opens up with a very strong track, "Unassisted." It's a song about trying to fight through life alone, unassisted. The song is musically heavy and very catchy. The next song, "For Andy," heads in a very different musical direction, almost alterna-pop. The third song switches musical styles yet again having a very punk feel. Lyrically, Green Olive Tree tries to capture the feelings of teenage life -- the uncertainty, the longing and trying to find where one is headed while trying to offer hope through faith in God at the same time. "Enter Golgotha, Vision of Tears" is probably the most notable song here. It deals with the same issues of pain, sin and redemption but does so not from the modern teenager's point of view but Jesus' as he is crucified. Darkness surrounds me,The image of God himself struggling with the same feelings you and I might have is a powerful one; however, the full impact isn't as strong here as it might be. There are hundreds of bands out there that sound like Green Olive Tree and unfortunately, these guys don't really do or play anything that makes them stand out. It's clear that they want to stand out and do have their hearts in the right place, but until they offer something original, you'll listen to this album and think that you've heard it all before. The album is diverse-- probably
too much so. There's a lot of promise here but unfortunately much
of it is unrealized. If you're a fan of hard music of various styles you
may want to give this band a listen but for the most part this album is
very forgettable.
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