Hawk Nelson - Crazy Love

Hawk Nelson has been a busy band since hitting the scene. Crazy Love is the band’s 5th album in 7 years. But their quantity hasn’t always meant quality. Yes, Hawk Nelson has released songs that I enjoy and albums that are nice albums to listen to, I’m never blown away by. Crazy Love is much of the same.

Having given the record several spins, on various listens I have different opinions. My first listen through I enjoyed the record. But late into the day yesterday I found myself bored and not into Crazy Love like I had been earlier. This morning the album has hit me as both good and underwhelming.

On the one hand Hawk Nelson has recorded their two best songs yet for this album. Your Love is a Mystery and Crazy Love are really catchy songs with great keyboard lines and both are a nice new spin on Hawk Nelson’s sound. There are a couple of nice songs (Skeleton, One Shot) the rest of the album just doesn’t work for me.

Tally-Ho feels like a forced short pop punk song, like something that’s expected from the band. LAX is Hawk Nelson’s attempt at hardcore and it’s a tragic song. Somebody at Tooth and Nail should have stopped this from being on the record. The emo/punk songs become tiresome and the slower heartfelt songs never grabbed my attention.

A few nice moments but a lot of Crazy Love just misses. Hawk Nelson’s brand of emo/pop punk just doesn’t work for me. When they brand out do something different (Love is a Mystery and Crazy Love) it works out great. But too much of Crazy Love is what we’ve already heard from the band.