And The Rest Will Follow [Us Import] [Enhanced, Import]

I will start this review off by saying that, up until this point, Drawing Black Lines was my favorite Project 86 album. It was an album that proclaimed the band as masterminds of metal. Their heaviness combined with dark, perfect melodies, and intelligent, poetic songwriting instantly made them one of my favorite bands of all time.

Truthless Heroes was a great record as well, but it was a concept record, a story-telling album. To that extent, Schwabb proved he is an amazing songwriter as TH's lyrics burned vivid picures in my head, and the dark, melodic music provided a very cinematic soundtrack to the story. Granted, it was an odd story, and a lot of people either didn't get it or didn't want to get it. It was an ambitious rock opera, and it was probably my second favorite album of the Projects.

Songs to burn your bridges by... yeah, it was a very punk, angry, and bold record. But it should be very obvious now that Project 86 has punk deeply ingrained in their roots, and with all the drama they were going through at the time (record label woes, spiritual issues, finding themselves again), it was an album they deserved to make. Free of pressure to write a certain way, STBYBB was probably as close to the heart and soul of this band as we will ever see.

Self-Titled was an amazing debut. Not my favorite, and now it feels somewhat dated, but much like STBYBB, this was probably a record that, at the time, was 100% Project 86 being themselves.

And The Rest Will Follow... If you've read the interviews the band gave while they recorded this album or attended any recent shows, you can see that this is an album Project 86 had to make. This is them expanding their horizons, renewing their passion for music, and as they said at the show I saw Wednesday, this album is a rebirth for Project 86. There are elements of all 4 previous albums here, the heaviness, the dark melodies, the experimentation. This album sounds like nothing they've done before, and yet, it is true to their roots. This is the proof of life for a band that continues to get better and find new ways to put their passion on cd. This is now my favorite Project 86 album.

This is, by far, one of the best Project 86 releases to date. With each new CD they bring forth a musical creativity that is unrivaled and lyrical originality that is unmatched. This is no exception.

The sound is actually a little bit of each of the last four records released, so, if you like any P86 album, you'll love this one. It's more melodic, more aggressive... it's darker and different. The message is just as in-your-face as the other albums and the music is there to compliment it.

This is truly a must-buy!

...This album definitely doesn't suck. One reviewer says that this album is like a sequel to "drawing black lines" while another says that this album is closer to "truthless heroes" than anything else. The fact of the matter is, Project 86 are artists, and Andrew Schwab is one of the most prolific poets in the hardcore/punk/christian rock industry today. Although some may say that his lyrics have slipped on this record, I am inclined to disagree. Although the lyrics on "Songs to burn your bridges by" were heartfelt, intense and driven by their situations at the time, their current situation doesn't make their new lyrics any less potent. What Andrew lacks in agression and bitterness, he makes up for in witty allusions, seeming riddles, and clever references to past albums. ("they search and strain and drink and stagger"; "When we are hollow"; "We once drew some lines in black") So it may seem that Andrew isn't as passionate about this album, but I prefer to think that he is rather on top of his game. As for the music, P86 sounds tighter than ever. They have brought elements from every album of their career, played them with more elegance, and even come up with riffs, rhythms and combinations that P86 fans have never heard before. A few songs need a few spins of the cd to really be appreciated to the fullest extent, but I'm fairly confident that the vast majority of P86 fans old and new will be extremely pleased with this offering.

On a final note, although any band that doesn't have swollen heads would be pleased for people to appreciate their music whether downloaded for free or purchased in store, I feel that if you are going to buy any cd this year, make it this one. It is obvious that the album art has been professionally designed, and the cover features a very unique transluscent copper sticker.

Buy this album. It's a fantastic accomplishment.