Burden Brothers - Mercy Review
Posted by Matt Clifford on 12.14.2006
Remember the Toadies? They were awesome. Does Vaden “Todd” Lewis’ new band the Burden Brothers' latest release ‘Mercy’ live up to his own high standards?
Formed by platinum-selling vocalist Vaden “Todd” Lewis (Texan rockers, the Toadies, fame) and acclaimed drummer Taz Bentley, the Burden Brothers have been making quite a racket since their 2004 debut ‘Buried In Your Black Heart’ hit the stores. The band has already shared stages with the likes of Papa Roach and Velvet Revolver and their latest offering ‘Mercy’ is set to fling the proverbial door open for more mainstream and international recognition.
The album suffered a big set-back along its journey to completion with the band parting ways with their bassist during early pre-production. Justin Meldal-Johnson (Air, Gnarls Barkley) was drafted in for the LA recording sessions and fill-in bass player Zack Busby eventually joined as the band’s permanent replacement.
Joe Chiccarelli (U2, Beck, Hole) was called in on production duties along with David Castell, who worked on the bands debut, also getting involved at the helm for a couple of the newer tracks. In addition to producing the new songs, this also gave the band a chance to try some new ideas with the previous Chiccarelli produced tracks and really open things up. Guitarist, Corey Rozzoni describes the album brilliantly as “Like a good movie. It has its nice, sweet part; it’s deep, thought provoking part; it’s dark, brooding part; it has the car chase. It’s all there.”
So, how do the tracks fare I hear you ask.
Opener ‘Its Time’ is a spooky Beatles-esque track with strange effects and Todd Lewis doing his best to deliver some downright unnerving vocals. ‘Shine’ gets the album properly started, rocking guitars and head banging rhythms makes this song slightly in the vein of the Foo Fighters or Irish rock revivalist’s The Answer.
Single choice ‘Everybody is easy (we sink / we swim)’ is full of catchy middle of the road rock that’s all easily digestible and makes it classic single material. Piano ballad ‘Life Between’ slows the tempo down while ‘I Am A Cancer’, with its dirty sounding guitars and thumping drum sound, is a titanic and gloomy heavy rock track. ‘In My Sky’ is another track that it worthy of mention and Lewis really stands out on this laid back acoustic offering, his gently sung verses and screams of “I can see your stars are shining in my sky”, combine wonderfully and make the vocals the outstanding focal point of the track.
Only a few of the songs on ‘Mercy’ were completed when the band entered the studio and the majority were works in progress with no lyrics. The time taken over the production of the record is clearly evident in the sound and ‘Mercy’ is definitely a growth in depth and diversity from the first record and artistically and conceptually, a huge step forward for the band.
‘Mercy’ is in stores now.
The 411: Overall, a pretty solid effort from the boys. There are some quality, balls-out, rock songs and some nice slower offerings, however there are noticeably better tracks than others on the album and at some points it can sound a little overproduced. Still, buy the album and you won’t be disappointed.
