Lest anyone think that the massive popularity of AOF guitarist/co-vocalist Dallas Green's Dashboard Confessional-inspired City and Colour project was going to take his band into whiny power ballad territory, Crisis is here to set the record straight. Not only is the bands sound as aggressive (possibly even more so) as ever, Greens vocal role is still that of the melodic yang to lead vocalist George Pettits screaming yin.
The juxtaposition is still poignant. It could be argued that Greens side-project is actually allowing him a vehicle to exorcise his Paul Simon tendencies saving all his venom for AOF. So while all the key elements that have gone into making AOF one of Canadas most exciting bands, both live and in the studio, there's also no denying that Crisis is a different kind of record for them. With production help once again from Julius "Juice Butty, its a much bigger sounding record — big as in huge, as in MASSIVE. But it's also a more interesting album with a host of intricately-crafted musical passages.
(Distort)The juxtaposition is still poignant. It could be argued that Greens side-project is actually allowing him a vehicle to exorcise his Paul Simon tendencies saving all his venom for AOF. So while all the key elements that have gone into making AOF one of Canadas most exciting bands, both live and in the studio, there's also no denying that Crisis is a different kind of record for them. With production help once again from Julius "Juice Butty, its a much bigger sounding record — big as in huge, as in MASSIVE. But it's also a more interesting album with a host of intricately-crafted musical passages.