Halifax – The Inevitability of A Strange World

Reading bios can be weird sometimes, take Halifax‘s bio for example. Nearly every second paragraph mentions how they broke out from the underground and into the limelight thanks to an appearance on a certain TV show. Now, maybe I live in a box, but this was the first time I had ever heard of that adventure, so to have that the focus of the bio somewhat threw me off. I’ve never seen or heard of The Real World Austin before, instead I found out about the band the natural way: through various compilations and word of mouth. After all, that’s how you should be discovered, but for that to happen, the music needs to speak for itself – and Halifax‘s music does just that.

Their 2004 EP, A Writer’s Reference was well received and has sold thousands of copies, but that EP is nothing when compared to their debut full length The Inevitability of A Strange World. The band has made a natural progression in their music, making the songs more mature, stronger, and much more memorable. They took the step forward and succeeded, and you can tell that right off the back.

They kick off the album with Nightmare, and you can instantly heard the slight maturation. Stronger, more defined vocals, slightly heavier guitars, and great backup vocals all work together for a solid opener that pulls you in. But they’re just getting started there, by the time they break into the second track, Our Revolution you can fully hear and appreciate the band’s progression from the past two years as the song is a perfect summer rock and roll song. A great throwback to the rock gods of the ’80s, Our Revolution is heavy hitting with rallying cries of “hell yeah” scattered throughout the chorus making it the perfect mosh pit song. Luckily they don’t just sit back and hope that the single makes the CD sell as well as the EP did. Instead they continued on for the next eleven tracks and not once does the listener begin to beg for a change. While songs like Hey Italy, I Told You So or Better Than Sex may not have the most inventive lyrical content, they’re catchy enough to let the listener push that to the side and just rock out to the songs.

The Inevitability Of A Strange World may not be the most innovative or creative album to come out in years, but it is fun. A great rock and roll album that doesn’t hide behind any false pretenses. It’s leaps and bounds beyond their EP and will be the the summer rock album of 2006. So throw away the fact that they supposedly make it big thanks to a TV show, because that doesn’t matter, listen to the music and it speaks for itself.