The Living End - Modern Artillery

It takes a spark to start a fire. Simple as it sounds, it’s true, and it holds in almost all aspects of life. Take your favorite album, for example, and look at why you love it. Chances are you can trace back to one moment where you heard a song, or you saw a concert, or something happened that made you give the album a chance or start to fall in love with it. The spark comes from different and sometimes weird places, and for me the fire came from a film that had drawn plenty of fire itself, Fahrenheit 9/11. I listened to this disc a couple times while at work, and nothing about it jumped up at me. Then at home one night, I saw a commercial for the DVD release of Fahrenheit, and I thought, “That song in the background is great! Why does it sound familiar though?” Then the spark went off to ignite the light bulb above my head, and we were off. I popped in the disc, and this time made sure I wasn’t distracted with work. What I found was a darn good little rock record. The album starts off with two of its best cuts in the first three songs. “One Said To The Other” and “Who’s Gonna Save Us?” (the song referred to above) are instantly catchy and hold up to repeated listening. What follows is a solid outing from a band who has struggled to really crack the US market. Hailing from Down Under, The Living End was an established act well before this release and had had a minor success here, but with MODERN ARTillery they have their best shot yet at gaining more. I had to box-in bands by comparing them to straightforward, but the label “Australian Green Day” seems to fit pretty well, a trio with punk roots whose polish in the studio help clear up the melody and lyrics, but also takes away some punk edge. Lead vocals take a jump into the forefront on this album, with crisp guitars and harmony mostly supporting and not over-shadowing the lead. “Jimmy,” “In The End,” “Rising Up From The Ashes,” and “The Room” headline what is a stellar meat of the album. This is one of those discs that, while a little too polished to be punk, and a little too gritty to be pop, rides a nice line between grit and gleam. Holding up to repeated listening is one of the biggest strengths of the disc, but the lack of anything really original keeps it from making the leap to a great album. Great for some toe tapping while in the car or at the office and a very good album from some veteran rockers. [www.thelivingend.com]