After a year away from the studio, Thousand Foot Krutch have finally returned with their simply superb new album ‘OXYGEN:INHALE.’ Since hitting the scene in 1997, Thousand Foot Krutch have been an engine of forward motion through the music industry and in that time the prolific band has released 6 studio albums, 1 live album, and 2 remix albums. Bending genres and styles as they go.
FrontmanTrevor McNevan describes the new sound of ‘OXYGEN:INHALE’ as being a “natural evolution” for the band. In an era where even the nightly news can be auto-tuned, the band rejected all the studio trickery that has come to define much of modern music, rock and roll included, and relied instead on solid performances. “We wanted to make a raw rock record,” he says. “We decided to strip away all the background sounds and popular over-production, so that what you hear are just the instruments and the voice.”
The album kicks off with the grimiest underground mixture of guitar distortion and one hell of a hip-hop beat. ‘Like A Machine’ introduces us to the sweetest concoction of everything you’d expect from Thousand Foot Krutch, as well as a little something extra to keep us thoroughly locked into our headphones and much like a machine, this track has been perfectly put together and oiled up, raring to smoke us through to the end of the album. ‘Untravelled Road’ is up next and skewered together around a walking base line that troops us through this anthemic gem, peppered with the most perfect pop chorus, complete with hand claps and the strongest influence of Linkin Park.
‘Born This Way’ was the first single to be taken from this long-awaited comeback album and with it’s classic all American Rock ‘N’ Roll characteristics, you can understand why they chose this track to be their ambassador for things to come, between the sliding guitar notes and Lynyrd Skynyrd riffs, it’s screams familiarity yet something completely new at the same time. Much like the track ‘Set Me On Fire.’ This stadium anthem wasn’t our favourite, mainly because we heard just one too many influences from other artists and it didn’t swing as uniquely as the rest of the album has done up until now, however with the most catchy chorus known to man, we can’t help but hum along to the soft melody that vocalist Trevor McNevan treats us to.
‘Give It To Me’ takes us back to basics, wrapping us around a good old-fashioned underground rock vibe, a definite pit player for those of you feeling froggy. ‘I See Red’ started out keen and fresh with mesmerising vocals covering over the chirpy guitar riffs but slowly sank into a grunge canal of the same thing over and over again. Thankfully ‘Light Up’ followed on closely, tugging on our heart strings from the get go. This song bleeds both passion and energy but from underneath the subtly played drums and beautifully picked acoustic guitar. A ballad to set aside all ballads and our favourite track so far.
‘In My Room’ plays similar passions only this time on a more upbeat scale, complimenting the previous track perfectly. Following on is the title track ‘Oxygen,’ another track to flatter the previous two. This penultimate heart wrencher has been hammered in the middle of an emotional four-track ending to a tremendous album, leaving us with a significant lump in our throats. Finally ‘Glow’ takes the title of both the best track and most emotional three minutes of our entire day. This delicate grand finale is a polar opposite of the first half of this album but the contrast works so well it’s hard to grumble.
Hands down one of the most outstanding records of this summer: long awaited but completely worth it.
