Hundred Reasons - Ideas Above Our Station (Cover Artwork)

Hundred Reasons

Ideas Above Our Station (2002)

Columbia


Hundred Reasons. A British band, and a damn good one at that. Me being British I am lucky enough to have been able to follow the band and the extensive hype they have been getting in the run up to their first LP release ‘Ideas above our station'

The album kicks off with the most up-beat song on the whole album ‘I'll find you'. It's got the lot, Riffs, Hooks, and killer lyrics; it sure has got the lot. This song being as good as it is I would recommend it to anyone who has yet to experience the wonders of Hundred Reasons. As this song finishes it slides smoothly into the next song ‘Answers'. A slower one than the first but by no means any worse, the chorus will have you humming along with ease wanting more, as with most of the songs on this release. The next song ‘dissolve' has quite possibly my favourite intro of all time, the lead singer, Larry, shows off his unique vocal range with these great lyrics and catchy ass melodies.

Song Number 4, ‘What thought did' changes the pace and tone of the album, this has cutting riffs, showing off there "heavier" side and pulling it off with style, the drumming in this song is something special, as is the guitar half way through, also Larry teaches us how to scream and he pulls this off better than one would expect. Now onto the first single, ‘If I could'. There is a reason this is the first single, because it is simply fantastic. With it's too-catchy-for-its-own-good intro and the way this song tells a story and keeps the listener captivated, you can start to understand why this band had been receiving so much hype in the alternative press.

The album ticks nicely along, with songs which is where the filler would usually be, although these songs are not superb they are by no means terrible either, they are all good songs in their own right. In fact, I have just decided, ‘Shine' is in fact one of the best songs I have heard in a long while.

Silver. Wow. I don't know how I could describe this song and do it justice at the same time. Its got everything, and more (cliché – I know, but sometimes clichés are clichés for a reason, this being one of them). I'd go so far as to say get the album just for this song, but I wont because the whole damn thing is special.

The next song, ‘Gone too far' is by far the heaviest song on the whole album, and its good, again Larry, leans towards the screamy side of things and pulls it off magnificently, again. I think you could even compare this song to some early big wig. The song finishes off with ‘avalanche'. The slowest song on the album and the perfect ender, this song is beautifully written and sung, Larry truly has an amazing range.

Overall, buy this album. I'm not going to give this a perfect score because there are things better out there, just not much, and they are, of course, rare. This will be remembered for sometime as a amazing disc. And although the title is ‘Ideas above our station' that is in fact a lie. It is above a hell of a lot of other bands stations, but not this ones, they are special, if you don't know them then you really are missing out. Do yourself a favour and check them out, and if haven't heard anything try, ‘silver', ‘I'll find you' and ‘if I could'. Thank me later.