3 stars out of 5
Artist: This Day & Age
Title: The Bell and the Hammer
Release Date: 08.22.2006
Label: One Eleven
Make your choice, adventurous Stranger
Strike the bell and bide the danger
Or wonder, till it drives you mad
What would have followed if you had— C.S. Lewis
If for nothing else, this album is worth picking up for the literary references alone The Bell and the Hammer, the CD’s a title and the name of one of the tracks, comes from C.S. Lewis’s The Magician’s Nephew. Any fan of old children’s literature or C.S. Lewis’s work will be happy to find literary references sprinkled throughout the titles and lyrics of the CD. The references won’t be surprise to those who know of This Day and Age’s Christian-indie roots. Jesus likes good music and, apparently, these days He’s listening to indie rock as much as gospel on his heavenly IPOD.
Like This Day & Age’s last album, …Always Leave the Ground, this CD is rife with balanced melodies and a slightly dissonant mix that keeps you guessing. It’s not a departure from their last CD, but it is a progression. Soft rock-indie emo is how I’d characterize this deliciously depressing musical foray of The Bell and the Hammer. Themes on the album include a lack of trust in others, the things that distract us from what’s important in life and of, course, sin. Central to the album is the secular standby of a woman who doesn’t want the songwriter, whilst said songsmith pines (if you replace Jesus with the woman, that particular spin makes things far more angst-ridden, although I’m quite positive it isn’t at all what the band intended.) The lyrics definitely are a dark look worth delving into.
The songs deal quite a bit with the speed at which a relationship can grow. In at least five of the songs, there’s call for things to slow down, as though the couple featured in the song are on two different speeds and they’re never really in the same time zone, metaphorically (and psychologically) speaking. Thematically each song bleeds into the next, not unlike their sound. I like looking at albums as a whole, and, as a whole I found the album to be a solid, complete work. No individual song utterly hooked me, but I liked every song.
The piano work on all the songs captivates the ear and mind, particularly in the hypnotic ‘Of Course We’ve All Seen the Sun’ track. Couldn’t help but think of Plato’s allegory of the cave (and his lesser known allegory of the sun) for some reason on this track, perhaps because it seemed like an emotional extension of both. Musical skill is apparent on all the tracks, but it feels like the band is waiting for something, like they haven’t yet completely come into their own. I’m curious to see where the band will take their sound in the future.
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