Against All Will | A Rhyme & Reason
by Mark Allen
Staff Writer
Nothing against Puddle of Mudd, but they really are not a particularly great band, so a new group formed by Jimmy Allen, the principal songwriter and original member of Puddle of Mudd, is hardly cause for celebratory cartwheels. But Against All Will exceeds whatever low-ball expectations one may have by delivering a powerful modern hard rock/metal album that pulverizes anything Puddle ever put out.
Their debut EP, A Rhyme & Reason, consists of seven tracks that straddle the line between hard rock and metal and come across as a muscular mash-up of Anew Revolution and Alter Bridge mixed with the melodic hooks of Shinedown and the metallic edge of Nonpoint. It’s a pretty cool conglomeration and Against All Will pull it off with aplomb, somehow managing to be commercial enough to be marketable without running the risk of being labeled sissified sellouts. Despite a cache of catchy hooks, the album’s overall vibe varies slightly from the stereotypical modern rock mode exemplified by the likes of Hinder or Rev Theory. It’s not cutting edge, mind you, but neither is it quite the same old corporate-fed thing.
The guitars are thickly layered for that heavy, beefy punch and you simply can’t turn your ears anywhere without bumping into a riff that has more crunch than a box of granola nut clusters. Cello Dias (Soulfly) is a badass with a bass guitar and his rumbling expertise is all over this album while the drums slam away like sonic kicks to the gut. The production engineers things for a crisp, clean, modern sound that simultaneously retains plenty of serious hard rock grit.
The trend with recent rock acts, perhaps yielding to the fact that today’s youth suffer from ADD when it comes to music, is to load the front of their albums with the good songs and relegate the filler material to the rear. Against All Will buck this trend by trotting out their two worst tunes first. Of course, “worst” is a relative term, because “Swept Away” and “Discard You” are both good; it’s just that what comes next is even better. Hey, even in a competition of gorgeous supermodels, somebody has to come in last.
So the first two songs are good, but they simply cannot compare to “All About You.” How can you not love a track that opens with the Shakespearean line, “I like your cute little ass?” The utterly infectious chorus hook should find the band plastered all over mainstream rock radio and cause Nickelback to mutter envious oaths into their beers.
Probably nothing could compete with that killer track, but “The Blue” doesn’t even really try, instead opting to be the song that most resembles Puddle of Mudd, perhaps knowing fans of Allen’s previous band would expect something along these lines. The album then shifts into a half-acoustic/half-electric offering in “Nothing Good Anymore,” serves up the band’s big single with the Egypt Central-styled “The Drug I Need,” and then wraps things up with “Let Go,” which cranks along and closes the album on the strength of a super-memorable hook that will stick with you like melted taffy on the bottom of your snakeskin boots. It’s also most likely the first time the words “play dough” have been used in a hard rock song, as in, “Hey, girl, I’m not your play dough.” One kid’s smushy fun-time activity, one rocker’s clever lyrical twist.
This is a strong effort and with its ability to sound like a standard modern hard rock album and yet a little different at the same time, it should easily find an audience across multiple rock music sectors. Even if you are not predisposed to enjoy this style of hard rock/metal, you may find yourself, against all will, enjoying this EP.
Genre: Modern Hard Rock
Band:
Jeff Current (vocals)
Jimmy Allen (guitars)
Cello Dias (bass)
Phil Gonyea (drums)
Track Listing
1. Swept Away
2. Discard You
3. All About You
4. The Blue
5. Nothing Good Anymore
6. The Drug I Need
7. Let Go
Webpage: www.againstallwill.com
Label: Subsonic Industries
Hardrock Haven rating: 8/10