Album: Pagoda
Artist: Pagoda
Official Site: http://pagodaonline.com/

For those of us wondering whether or not grunge rock had seen its last days with the death of Kurt Cobain, the dismantling of our favorite bands from the era, and the consequent obscurity of some of their individual members, we can rest assured that all was not lost.

Pagoda's music is creatively explosive. The album takes you back to what some might say were much simpler times in music—when style, image and public persona were on popular bands like Nirvana's back burner, and it was all about the music. Pagoda makes it clear in many ways that they intend to carry on that legacy.

Though I'm not really sure whether it's Pitt's conscious effort to sound like he's channeling Kurt Cobain's every vocal nuance, or if it's just happenstance, I cannot deny that his vocals are effectively haunting. Consistently, while listening, you’ll swear you’re being visited by a ghost. The songs featured on the disc have Pitt leading us in and out of dark places where one learns the lessons of the beauty of pain. Simultaneously he pushes it away and then embraces it as if it’s the only thing keeping us alive. He throatily whines at us about the journey from death to birth, and all that is endured in between. This again causes the image of Kurt to materialize. If you close your eyes and listen very carefully, the image Pitt paints with his skills as a poetic lyricist makes the resemblance uncanny.

Whether that was what he was going for, or the exact opposite (what he was desperately steering away from), it doesn’t matter so much. He could, in fact, be completely indifferent to how people perceive him. Track after track he builds this image up and then destroys it again and again. From the cellist that provides the right amount of mood to go along with Pitt’s somber voice, to the man speaking true words about our society in a digitally imposed background, Pagoda creates the right atmosphere for a nostalgic remembrance of times way past. From relationships to abortions to unwanted fame, the messages stream past your eyes in highlighted words colored by Pitt’s passionate screaming. Even the whispered poetry reading Pitt engages in on the album's end takes you back. Its fascinating and hypnotic.

Beyond all of that, it’s just a damned good rock album. Fast-paced and energetic at times; deliberate and leisurely at others. Are comparison’s drawn to Nirvana’s Nevermind so terrible? Or even unavoidable? Pagoda isn’t as epic as Nevermind was, certainly, because the phenomena of something different, pure and fascinatingly irreverent is somewhat muted in the wake of the initial explosion of grunge over ten years ago. But this is a different kind of explosion. A defiant resolve on the part of Pitt and his band mates to keep on doing it, and do it better than anyone before them.

They are the first major player to step up in a long time to play a game most believed to be long over. They fly the grunge/alternative/garage banner proudly and do it justice here. It isn’t a cheap imitation, but a real journey—an awakening of the kind of emotion, the kind of self deprecation and self-mutilation coupled with self-examination those emo boys only pretend to grasp and wail about.

This album is the correct mix of lyric, bass, cello, guitar, and vocal. An almost perfect meeting of skill and passion. The band had a long road to trail to get to this point. We’ll definitely be watching to see where their fiery determination takes them because it’s hard to take your eyes off the flames. Pagoda is in stores now.

• Learn more about the band here.
  
• Listen to a few tracks here.

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Read or add comments about this item.

No. 2 :

I miss this kind of music.

Submitted by mike O • 2007-05-27 21:53:36

No. 1 :

Sounds like I need to check this one out. thanks for the review.

Submitted by Dee • 2007-03-08 01:46:36

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