Gravity Review
A. Ethan Miles, HMV.com
With the departure of longtime guitarist
Mike Turner and the arrival of new shredder Steve Mazur, Canadian
alt-rock poster boys Our Lady Peace are entering a new, and not entirely
unwelcome, phase in their career. Shedding the conceptual conceits that
permeated their last album, Spiritual Machines, this time around OLP is
favouring a meatier, heavier sound much more in line with Creed, Nickelback and
the current crop of modern rock growlers. Everything from the undertstated album
art (no arty etchings to be found here) to the title itself suggests the band is
getting back down to earth. Sonically, the grit suits them - tracks like album
opener All For You and Do You Like It are perhaps the heaviest
things OLP has offered up since the Naveed days, and producer Bob Rock
(the man behind the board for Metallica and The Cult, among
others) has done a wonderful job in getting the band to focus on the simple,
sheer power within the Rock Song template. Kudos also to lead singer/ lyricist
Raine Maida, whose lyrics are refreshingly direct this time around, and
there's nary an 'Ee-yahee, yahee' (as in Superman's Dead) to be heard
anywhere here.