This week finds a review of a new band to Christian music, Falling Up. They
are currently out opening for Kutless and Thousand Foot Krutch on the Sea of
Faces Tour so catch them in a city near you. Also, we have new reviews on
cMusicWeb.com of Jody McBrayer, Everman, P.O.D., and more. And this week we
also continue Meanderings, our exclusive in-depth look at the religion
behind the Lord of the Rings books and movies.

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CRASHINGS - FALLING UP (2004)
by Bert Gangl

It has often been argued that getting one's big break in the music world is
equal parts raw talent and personal connections. While such a premise is
debatable, those holding such a view could certainly point to the hard rock
sextet Falling Up to make their case. Formed by vocalist Jessy Ribordy and
guitarist Tom Cox during their freshman year in high school, the Albany,
Oregon group spent several years touring with longtime friends and fellow
Albany natives Kutless. Eventually, the members of Kutless took it upon
themselves to pass a Falling Up demo to BEC Recordings owner Brandon Ebel,
who signed the six-piece to his label in mid-2003.

Musically, the better portion of the debut record, Crashings, is built
around a lively metal/hard rock hybrid. The terse rhythms and soaring guitar
work of the leadoff track, "Bittersweet," fall somewhere between the
plaintive emo rock of Brandtson and the groove-intensive alt-metal of Linkin
Park. The softer-edged "Escalates," on the other hand, pulls from the
infectious, pop-tinged post-grunge of acts like Tonic and Third Eye Blind.
"New Hope" and "Jackson 5" feature impressive forays into rap and reggae
territory. And "Broken Heart" is buoyed by the sort of chunky, slightly
dissonant guitar textures that most '80s pop-metal bands would have given
their last can of hair spray to own.

Lyrically, the group alternates between the straightforward and slightly
oblique, often within the context of the same song. The obscurely worded
verses of the first radio single, "Broken Heart" ("In this moment,
synchronized inside / Words that paint a legacy of life / Sifted times, I
take another breath"), for example, are reminiscent of Michael Stipe's
cryptic murmuring on the first few R.E.M. albums. The simple, clear-cut
language of its refrain ("Father / Healer / Deliver me from broken love"),
on the other hand, sounds like something that might have been lifted from a
modern worship chorus. Elsewhere, Ribordy and his cohorts achieve similarly
impressive results, applying this same clear-cut/indirect dichotomy to
themes ranging from materialism to romantic love.

To be fair, the group occasionally wanders into musically generic territory.
And songs such as "Falling In Love" ("You are my one true love / You are my
wings to fly / You are the wind beneath them") highlight the band's
intermittent lyrical struggles. That said, the Falling collective's
infectious combination of funk, riff and melody delivers the goods far more
often than not, providing an impressive selection of well-crafted,
radio-ready singles. And, with towering, arena-sized anthems like "The
Gathering" in the lineup, one has little trouble imagining the group's live
shows as anything but utterly rousing affairs. To be sure, even at its most
familiar-sounding points, Crashings sports a tense, driving energy that
carries it nicely through the occasional rough patches and places it firmly
in the ought-to-own category.

Find out more about Falling Up on cMusicWeb.com:
http://cMusicWeb.com/modernrock/fallingup


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http://cMusicWeb.com/features/meanderings/history1.shtml

Review: Everman - Everman
http://cMusicWeb.com/pop/everman/everman.shtml

Review: Payable On Death - P.O.D.
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