Project 86 – Songs To Burn Your Bridges By

I got this CD around a month ago. I listened to it once or twice, though “meh” and threw it back in my pile. Then last Thursday I saw the interesting, and good, CD artwork poking out of the pile and though “Hey, what the hell, I’ll give it a try again.” So I did. I opened Project 86‘s Songs To Burn Your Bridges By and popped this disc into my computer. It started spinning and my feelings towards the album changed dramatically.

From the opening track, The Spy Hunter, you get a feel of what the album will be like. Its more hard rock then punk, but still very enjoyable. They have a hard mentality with driving guitar riffs, hear hitting drums, and dark bass lines. The vocals come flying at you at a variety of speeds. Most of the times they are hard, teetering on the edge of screaming, and at times passing that edge making for a great change of vocal patterns. Sometimes they slow it down and sing softly, nearly whispers, creating yet another great change of vocal patterns. The background vocals help give the sound a more eerie feel at times. The lyrics aren’t always the easiest to sing along to; but if you take the time to read the booklet, you will see that they have some great lyrics. The guitars are at times distorted and the bass melodies are amazing. It makes for an overall great hard rock 14 track CD.

Despite my initial reaction, I have grown to enjoy this album. There isn’t a lot of variety, most of the songs sound pretty similar to the previous and then upcoming. But at times you do get the standout vocal pattern to bass melody or something of the sort to make the song a but more memorable. I could see myself listening to the album a few times, but not constantly.