Collective Soul is back and well..they sound the same for the most part. The music is a little more experimental from their 90's stuff, showing that they haven't moved too far away from 2000's release, Blender. However, the Lyrics to Youth are a lot more uplifting than their last album.
As a fan of the downer lyrics off Blender: 10 Years Later, After All, Over Tokyo, Turn Around, and so on...it really is a change of pace to be hearing songs such as Under Heaven's Skies, Better Now, Satellite and so on.
The closest that Youth ever reaches to Blender's comfortable wallowness is on Him. The bouncy intro, it's questioning lyrics, and hypnotic outro just scream BLENDER! Thank you!
The worst song of the album is easily It Feels Like(It Feels Alright). A rocker gone bad, Ed's voice just sounds horrible during the chorus. However not as bad as the voice that joins in singing "It's alright" near the end. This song does NOT make me feel alright. Another reviewer said Counting The Days was a better rocker than this song and well yes, that's true, but I definitely think There's A Way has them both beat.
The best song hands down on the album is Under Heaven's Skies. The band said during a recent concert I attended that they wanted a rocker to be the first single...boy did they ever screw up. Counting The Days is a decent song, however this song would have owned the airwaves. Simply beautiful. Who could not buy this CD after they heard this song? Bad commerical mistake.
In review, there are a lot of great uplifting songs on this album to keep anyone who is in an optimistic mood happy. Collective Soul may have taken a step in a different direction than what I had hoped for but at least it is a step. Hopefully we won't have to wait 4 years for their next one.