Quick Thoughts on: "Throwdown" and "Friend Like That"

A friend of mine challenged me to review these two old tracks, after some discussions we've had about our musical tastes. So I thought, "why not review it on my blog?". So I am.

"Throwdown", Pillar, For The Love Of The Game
Pillar. One of the cornerstones of Christian Hard Rock music, one of their founding fathers. A plethora of modern Christian bands can have their style traced to this band. While they were never one of my favorite bands, I do respect their skill as musicians. "Throwdown" is exemplary of their style, fairly fast rock music similar to that of bands like Linkin Park and Skillet. It's decently heavy with a lot of chugging guitars and a really powerful drumbeat over the standard yelled/screamed vocals of the genre. It's not something I would listen to very often, but I can't deny that hummed along a little bit. It's not a hard song to get into. 6/10

"Friend Like That", Hawk Nelson, Hawk Nelson Is My Friend
I'll say this first. Hawk Nelson has never been a band I've liked very much. They're one of a multitude of rather bland pop/punk bands that kind of permeate Christian rock. While the trend towards that is starting to fade, Hawk Nelson is really the band that still stands fairly strong, even though some of the other bands have faded into oblivion (Does Stellar Kart do anything anymore?). Unfortunately, "Friend Like That" is one of my most unfavorite songs from Hawk's library, because it really embraces everything I don't really like about their music. It's way too sugary for my tastes (though I really can't fault them for that, since that what this genre's all about), it overuses gang vocals to a fault, and I've never been a fan of Jason Dunn's singing style. The guitars are rather basic and simple, and the solos have a tendency to feel off-key. But I do have to say one thing they do really, really well. It's catchy as heck, I even found myself singing along to it. But I still don't really like it that much. 3/10

This is just my opinion, if you like these songs, I do see why, and I don't fault you for it. Thanks a ton for reading, if you enjoyed it, be sure to subscribe to this and my other blog, Musing of the Master, where I'll post my fuller reviews of songs and albums, in the "subscribe" box in the upper right corner! And if you have a song or album you want me to review, feel free to comment and tell me!

~Zero