Nine Lashes - World We View

Hard Rock is a tricky genre for me. Bands start to run together and sound the same after a while. What distinguishes the good from the mediocre? How catchy are the hooks? How memorable or interesting are the guitar riffs? It's the little things that grab the listeners attention that make a hard rock record worth ones time.

Insert Tooth and Nail's latest signing Nine Lashes. For a quick description the band falls somewhere between Red and Thousand Foot Krutch. Trevor McNevan of TFk even has a guest appearance on World We View (The album also features a guest appearance from Ryan Clark of Demon Hunter). There are some great tracks on World We View. Believe Your Eyes is more a ballad but it strikes a nice note. Our Darkest Days has a killer guitar riff that reminds me of Red's Until We Have Faces (which I love). Plus the bridge features Ryan Clark.

The problem with World We View is it's just a nice record. I've listened to it at least a dozen times and every time it's a good rock record. But there's nothing that stands out to me. The hooks won't stick in your head so you're singing these songs for days on end. It's just not that type of record.

Nine Lashes have delivered a hard rock album. No more, no less.