PILLAR

The Reckoning

Flicker
rating icon 5 / 10

Track listing:

01. Everything
02. Awake
03. When Tomorrow Comes
04. The Reckoning
05. Tragedy
06. Last Goodbye
07. Angel In Disguise
08. Elysian
09. Crossfire
10. Resolution
11. Sometimes
12. Wherever the Wind Blows
13. Chasing Shadows At Midnight


Traditionally, Christian rock has been maligned as a diet-soda take on the real thing, a somewhat (ahem) soulless Xerox designed to give the religious market an almost-as-good alternative to what the secular kids are listening to. There have been obvious exceptions — BELIEVER and TOURNIQUET immediately come to mind as innovative, exceptional metal bands regardless of moral compass. STRYPER wallowed in hair-metal excess enough to put their heathen counterparts to shame (and turned in a strikingly good comeback album last year). And bands like LIVING SACRIFICE, who started out as a second-rate thrash knockoff, evolved into their own unique beast, influencing an entire sub-scene of Christian hardcore and metal going strong today.

Now, thanks to studio technology and the quiet advancement of the Christian marketplace, there's little reason for, say, a Christian radio-metal band to sound any different than what's getting mainstream airplay. And that brings us, finally, to PILLAR. These heartland rockers are taking a stab at the wider world after making quite a mark in the Christian scene — Dove awards, major label distribution, and a cool 250,000 sold on their last record, "Where Do We Go From Here" (good question).

And why not? This is a slick, massive slice of commercial rock and roll for the post-INCUBUS, post-HOOBASTANK age. It's got the big rock anthems with shouted choruses and pretty verses, a coupla schmaltzy ballads that are one autoharp away from being modern country hits, and the giant, overdriven guitars and drums tailor-made to blare out of big trucks in Wal-Mart parking lots in middle America. If no one told you they were a Christian band, you'd never guess it from a cursory listen.

The problem is, you'd also probably forget the whole thing ten minutes after it was over. So much effort was expended in making PILLAR sound ready for prime time, but someone seems to have forgotten to give the band a personality, or develop whatever they had in that department. Every second of "The Reckoning" seems calculated to be as much like everything else as possible, to land on radio programmers' desks somewhere between NICKELBACK and PAPA ROACH, and somehow slither into the playlist on sheer unobtrusiveness alone. Put on overwrought ballad "Last Goodbye" or faux rocker "Tragedy" and you'll hear a talented band awash in the best, biggest, loudest pile of generic crap ever.

There's not much else to say about "The Reckoning" — it's a big soggy blockbuster of a record, faceless and bland, and it's frustrating that someone apparently spent a lot of time and money to make it that way.

Author:
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).