Flashback CD Review #72 - The Exit - Home For An Island

This review was written for the Rock Is Life.com website in 2006.

The Exit
Home For An Island
Wind-Up Records - 2005
http://www.theexitrock.com

What's The 4-1-1?

The sophomore release from the punk/rock band showcases the band's musical maturation from their first CD, 2001's New Beat.

Genre

Rock/ Punk Rock / Hard Rock

The Good

I really enjoyed when the band set more of a hard rocking page to the songs such as the songs "Let's Go To Haiti" and the closing cut "Already Gone". The latter song was a highly energetic rock track that ended the album on a very high note for me. I thought it was one of the best songs on the CD.

The subjects in the song lyrics range from love and life to biting commentary on social issues such as the war in Iraq. Normally I don't care for rockers mixing music and politics because they tend to forget songcraft in favor of bludgeoning their point across to the listener. I'm happy to report that this is not the case with the two more pointedly political songs on the CD. "Warm Summer Days" describes life in Iraq from a soldier's point of view and the acoustic track "Soldier" was a nice change of pace in slowing down the album for a bit without sacrificing quality.

The hook in the chorus for "Back To The Rebels" was excellent. I loved the tinge of reggae throughout the song. Along with "Already Gone" and "Soldier" it is the third of the best three songs on the CD.

The Bad

I thought the music on the album was pretty decent all the way around. However, I found three examples where the songs were ruined by vocals that were too high pitched.

The lead cut "Don't Push" has a great soundtrack and a great set of lyrics that the vocal style simply stomps all over, ruining the potential of the song. The same can be said for "The Sun Will Rise In Queens". The last song I found to feature this problem was "So Leave Then". It wasn't quite as bad as the first two but still quite noticeable. I did enjoy the manner in which the chorus was delivered though.

The title track came across as a bit disjointed between the vocals and the music, neither quite seeming in step with the other.

The Verdict

I'm not normally a fan of anything associated with the term punk rock. I'd say that this is definitely more in line with what is being called punk rock nowadays than the garbage of the late 1970's and early 1980's. I mean this as a compliment. The Exit is from the Green Day school of punk music.

There are some annoying songs on this CD as detailed above. A couple of tracks I didn't talk about were basically filler. However, saying all that, I still found a lot to like about the album. I think they have a great notion of where they are at this moment in time and where they want to get to in the future. I'll be looking forward to seeing the next step in The Exit's musical journey.

Did You Know?

The Exit's drummer Gunnar credits Nirvana's Nevermind as the first album that made him want to be in a band.

Rating: 3 out of 5