Thousand Foot Krutch - "Phenomenon"
Year: 2003
Label: Tooth & Nail
Favorite songs: Last Words, Faith Love & Happiness, Bounce, Break the Silence, Quicken, Step to Me
Lyric sample: "We come rushing through your stereo system / Into your ear canal like the alignments of the solar system / Have you forgotten about the days / When we just wanted to rock 'cause we like it that way? / And, no more hate, no more lies, no more politics / Seen the fakes who cry over copied riffs / This is the day that we rise and we conquer it / Raise your mics to the sky like apocalypse"
This is going to be a tough review to write. Not because I don't love Phenomenon. I do. It's just that I'm not sure exactly why. It might not have a reasonable explanation. It might be a guilty pleasure. I may have to do some soul-searching to discover its appeal. The first time I heard the record was actually in school. One of my classmates had brought it into the classroom as was playing it, somewhat softly, on the CD player while we worked. While they had received permission to do this, I'm not sure Mrs. Lewis knew exactly what she was acquiescing to. Maybe, in true rock tradition, Phenomenon is associated to me with rebellion. A harmless brand, maybe, but whatever. I don't even know what the other students thought about it, but I enjoyed it. I had heard of Thousand Foot Krutch and, before that day, I thought they were an obnoxious, low-quality rap-core outfit - not the kind of thing I cared to be associated with. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the record was instead a hard-hitting collection of melodic and rhythmic, riff-driven tracks that had more in common with Linkin Park than with Korn.
Phenomenon is dark enough musically to warrant the Linkin' Park comparison, but it is an incomplete assessment. TFK is not emo by any stretch of the imagination. While Park's lyrics tend to be introverted and pessimistic, with their floating keys and drawn out chords suggesting kind of a musical head-hanging, Thousand Foot Krutch is all about having a good time. It's a kind of bad-boy rock maybe, but it is infused with the energy of their rap roots. The result is a sublime middle ground that has the harsh vocals, melodic riffs, and down-tuned guitars of nu-metal as well as the emphasis on beat and a lyrical style that owes much to hip-hop sensibility - without anyone actually rapping. That, I believe, is the true achievement of this record. It hits upon a perfect recipe. Thousand Foot Krutch has found their voice.
Speaking of voice, frontman Trevor McNevan has never sounded this good in his career before or since. He's a powerhouse. He does absolutely everything on this record. He screams on "Bounce"and "New Design," and He spits out convoluted lines like an MC on "Quicken" and "Ordinary." He sings as sweetly as he can muster on "This is A Call." The style of this record fits him like a wet suit. Best of all, he shows a kind of grungy toughness that is missing on the later releases. He also plays guitar, and he's always solid without ever showing off. There's no crazy leads like on The Art of Breaking, but honestly no loss comes to the material. It isn't flashy - it doesn't need to be. That's another impressive part of the package. Thousand Foot Krutch was a three piece at this point, and everything on the album can be played by one guitar, one bass, and a drummer. The bassist doesn't get to shine as much as you might think, but he's very important and is often left to hold up the verses when the guitar drops out. The drummer actually gets to have quite a bit of fun. Phenomenon throws us some tricky rhythms, not the least of which is "Quicken." I have basically no understanding of what is going on during the first verse of that song. It seems like the vocals and the drums don't match up - I can't find the beats where the measures divide. Yet it somehow stays together successfully and makes for a very interesting experience.
As for the lyrics, sometimes I get an idea of what the songs are talking about. Other times I'm really not sure at all. It's my feeling that the boys were more concerned that their lyrics sounded good with the flow of the song than in being very clear. It's party music, mostly, so meaning is almost incidental. It's optional. At least they manage to include some evocative phrases such as on the fitting introduction and title track. "Don't let these spiders crawl up beside us / They want to bite us, inject the virus / Raise up your lighters, praise to the Righteous / Need You to guide us / Get prepared to go." Most of the time the lyrics seem to be chosen to compliment and maximize the hits and hooks, which is really all they need to do on a record like this. I think it works more often than not.
One more thing I want to address. From the first song to the last, this record is highly cohesive. Some might call it repetitive. I prefer to think of it as consistent. These are the only 12 songs in the world that have this particular sound, and "This Is A Call" doesn't really count, so that leaves us with just 11. They are like nothing else that I have ever heard. And not a single song is bad. Some are stronger than others, but they all have redeeming sections. Sometimes I'll be listening through, and at the start I will think "oh, this song isn't that great" but then I'll hear a portion of it later on that I forgot when there, and my opinion of it brightens.
In the words of Dr. Ellie Sattler, "You can't think through this one - you have to feel it." Phenomenon is not a cerebral experience. It's a visceral one. It plays to those parts of your body that like to swagger, bob, and rock. All of these tracks beg to be played loud and live with a crowd that can actually throw up their rawkfists in appreciation. It's far and away Thousand Foot Krutch's best album, and it has moshed and slam-danced its way to #16 on my list. Not bad for a bunch of Canucks.
Fun fact: Drummer Steve Augustine looks kind of like David Schwimmer.
Fun fact 2: The album cover reminds me of Eternal Darkness for some reason.
Alright, I'm taking a risk here. The only music video that came out of this record, to my knowledge, is for "Rawkfist." Not only is this one of the worst songs on the album, but the video is terribly bland and lame. No crowd, heck, no one even throws up a rawkfist. It's not a good representation of how great the record is. So the video I'm linking you to is just a song that plays while they show the album cover. The song is "Last Words." It's hard to pick a song from this album but since you know how much I like anti-suicide songs it seemed like the obvious choice. Enjoy.
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