THEORY OF A DEADMAN: Say Nothing (POP): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

It's been a long time since Canadians played music that mixed grunge, alternative rock and hard rock! On the eve of their twentieth anniversary, the pop/rock orientation impelled by the quartet is taking shape with a new album called "Say Nothing". As we had first glimpsed on the cover of the previous opus released in 2017 ("Wake Up Call"), the artwork only mentions the name Theory, Theory Of A Deadman being certainly too metal to remain in its entirety. A first strong indicator of the band's change of artistic direction.

On the ten tracks of "Say Nothing", all of them seem perfectly calibrated for the radio format. Nevertheless, some of them manage to do well, with the opening track at the top of the list. 'Black Hole In Your Heart' has the particularity of having a chorus with very successful backing vocals and a certain depth thanks to a very appropriate violin. This is also the case with 'Strangers', a song like 'Imagine Dragons' with its heady chorus carried by a slightly funky guitar.

A double-edged sword since a certain number of tracks seem to rely a little too much on the efficiency of their choruses to the detriment of the weaker verses, like on 'World Keeps Spinning' where the band seems to bet everything on the choruses. The rap/RnB influence is relatively present in the vocals on the verses, like on 'Affluenza', or on the track 'Say Nothing' to a lesser extent.

But the few strong tracks will tend to overshadow the majority of the songs on the album. 'Affluenza' doesn't bring any real added value to the whole, just like the end of the record with 'Quicksand' with a flat encephalogram or 'White Boy' looking like Hozier. In addition to this, there are often mawkish lyrics, the paroxysm of which can be found on the chorus of 'World Keeps Spinning'.

It's never easy for a band to definitively abandon one genre in favour of another much more commercial and radiophonic one. Behind this turnaround, the question of the economic and financial interest is still a mystery, but let's salute the risk-taking of the band who dared to take the step, because in view of the great stylistic difference made, we can safely say that the fans of the first hour must be few to follow the Canadians in their new adventures. - Official website

THEORY OF A DEADMAN

SAY NOTHING

ATLANTIC RECORDS

POP