MATURE ALTERNATIVE ROCK EFFORT

The expectations might be unfair. After all, The Classic Crime’s original Tooth & Nail offering, Albatross, broke all first-week debut sales records for the label—quite a feat for the alt-rock five-piece. Seattle Sessions came next, a simple acoustic filler disc to hold fans over until the long-awaited follow-up. So the question begs to be asked: does TCC live up to the billing with The Silver Cord?

That will depend upon your rock flavors of choice; The Classic Crime seems to want to sample as many as possible. Still, no matter which direction the band heads—screamo to ballad to rock radio—it’s clear Silver Cord is the older brother, more mature, more steady and surefooted.

“Abracadavers” serves as the best example for the band’s maturity and for lead vocalist Matt MacDonald’s as well. The vocals immediately display a diversity and ownership not present on anything Albatross had to offer. MacDonald’s growl and scream stand out here, yet on “Just A Man” it’s his falsetto which takes center stage. By album’s end, you wonder if Tooth & Nail has a stronger vocalist than MacDonald.

Elvis Baskette’s production work rivals his output with Chevelle, and many songs include similarly explosive moments, such as “Salt in the Snow” and “Medisin.” Other songs linger in between, the many-sided “God and Drugs” and the laboring opener “The End.” By the time you hit album highlight “The Beginning,” which comes at the close of Silver Cord, you realize you’ve tuned in to most rock formats within one album. Yet, the production and realized maturity holds it together, revealing a band able to spin many sonic plates.

–Matt Conner