I hate to be the one to accuse a band of selling out. So I'm not gonna do it this time. Instead, I'm going to apply a little perspective and treat Luna Halo's self-titled album the way the band probably intended: As a brand new start by a brand new band. It may be true that a band by the same name produced a Christian rock album entitled Shimmer that I really enjoyed way back in 2000, and still enjoy today. But all that band has in common with the current incarnation of the band is their lead singer, Nathan Barlowe. To insist that this is the same band as the old Luna Halo, and therefore they must deliver the same type of content and musical style that would please they same audience they were previously aiming at, would be like expecting the old Luna Halo to sound like Barlowe's older band, the rap/rock outfit Reality Check. It simply wouldn't be fair. I might have a bone to pick with Nathan for keeping the name, but whatever. He really liked it.

My big beef about this band is that after deciding to break out of the cramped prison cell known as the Christian music industry circa 2002, and having to start over more than once due to a rotating band lineup and extreme amounts of difficulty getting and staying signed, the album that they finally delivered in late 2007 really isn't the kind of rock album that one would expect to wait seven years for. Luna Halo seems to have no aim other than to be a lean, mean, radio-ready rock machine, and I've certainly heard a lot of bands do worse than this because they don't play with as much fervor as these guys to, and don't have the same amount of fierce vocal talent as Barlowe does. But honestly, I've heard this same type of songwriting from plenty of other bands in the early 21st century, most of whose names start with "The". One can easily sum up this entire album by saying, "You're hot, I'm desperate, and I want you something awful." And I don't begrudge them for the subject matter being "secular", but I am a bit annoyed that it's all so... well, superficial. The whole things flies by in little over half an hour, without really saying much other than the same old, "Come on baby, give me a chance" over and over again.

But is the music fun? Yes, when the band works their hardest to come up with a riff, rhythm, or melody that really jumps out at you. Roughly half of the songs have that "grabby" quality to them that gets you almost instantly singing along. Nathan and his brother Cary Barlowe, the band's current guitarist, certainly conspire to create a solid hook at times. Nothing too heavy, but they play it loud and proud, so the best songs of the bunch are a total blast. Nathan has also discovered a certain snarl that suits him well since the days of Shimmer - I noted this when reviewing the band's independent EP Wasting Away, and it's only improved with time. He can sing a killer melody one minute and let out a vicious scream during some of the more aggressive songs, and it somehow works without pushing the songs into creepy territory. This approach is about 10 times more direct than that of Shimmer - all pretense of being adoring Radiohead followers with an accessible U2-inspired sheen has been dropped, and now they remind me a lot more of The Killers, with less quirky lyrics, but also a vocalist who can actually stay on key.

To sum up, Luna Halo is an enjoyable record by a capable band, but it doesn't show a lot of innovation or lyrical prowess. It's mindless fun rock & roll. The sum of the band's assets and deficits comes out somewhere in the range of "just above average", so I won't jump on the bandwagon and say it's an improvement over their old stuff simply because it reaches a wider audience. But it's fun enough to warrant a discounted purchase.

Kings & Queens
I can see inside your head
And make you come undone
I could show you love again
If you would only turn around, hear the sound
Of my heart beating for you...
Electric guitars come charging right out of the gate on this highly addictive single, one whose life cycle seems to have come and gone a good year before the album saw the light of day. It's a pretty good summation of the album's attitude as a whole - Nathan Barlowe is expending his energy trying to convince a woman that she's "special" and that he'll do just about anything to be with her. For reasons that are unexplained, he proclaims that if they were together, they could be "the envy of the kings and queens". I suppose that could allude to some sort of a real happiness that your average glitzy celebrity couple never finds, but there's not enough descriptiveness in the lyrics for me to really read that much into it. This one's mostly worth a listen for Cary Barlowe's zippy guitar playing and the relentless rhythm of the whole thing. You can cut and paste my comments here to nearly every track on the album - though not all of them are as fun as this one.

Untouchable
And in the middle of the night, when I'm in this dream
It's like a million little stars spelling out your name...
More than any other on the album, this is the song that I figure will be left rattling around in your head like a loose marble long after you've processed and forgotten about much of the rest of the album. It's simply that seductively catchy. This is mostly due to the unapologetically bouncy rhythm and jangly guitar chords - it's the type of rock & roll that's designed to make you dance, and I'd be remiss to not credit Chris Coleman for hammering out such an effective beat without the band needing to resort to a pre-programmed stand-in (which can be a common downfall on dance/rock hybrid songs). Nathan's need to be with the girl he's singing about here reaches an almost religious fervor - he figures she's so way out of his league that it would be a miracle for her to actually make his dreams come true. Whether his "Come on, come on"s are creepy or seductive is up to the listener - that little vocal snarl adds an odd aggression to his pleas for requited love, but I figure that's just the rock & roll swagger talking, and his intentions are probably genuine. In any event, it's an all-around showcase for the band's talent, with Nathan's vocals in top form, Cary delivering a positively space-aged guitar solo, and the rhythm section locking together for a tight, but playful groove. Hell, this thing was enjoyable enough in its demo form that had been floating around on their MySpace circa 2005/2006 that I didn't even think they needed to re-record it - but doing so didn't take away any of the original version's charm - it just upped the volume level and added some very minor production effects. I hope that this one gets its shot at rock radio - it's too much of a party to pass up!

Medicate
I never thought I'd lose control
But it seems to happen every time
When the drugs are too powerful
Here come the lows, here come the highs...
Here's the point on the record where we start in with the uncomfortable drug metaphors. I've never been a big fan of comparing God to drugs, and I'm only slightly less irked by this song's description of a woman as a powerful drug. It's just too easy to write songs like this - either you make the addiction sound like a bad thing that you're trying to shake, and you come off as a bit demeaning, or you make it sound like a high that you can't get enough of, and you risk objectifying the person. So obviously there's not much intelligent going on here, but then, it's nothing you haven't heard on a million classic rock albums. The beat's more laid-back here, though the drums still kick in with a good deal of force, and Nathan turns in another one of his best vocal performances here, particularly in the way he breaks into falsetto during the chorus and drags out the song's title into several syllables. "Medicay-ee-ay-ee-ay-ee-ay-ee-ay-ayte". It's fun to sing along with.

I'm Alright
I'm digging, I'm clawing, I'm doing anything that I can
I'm dealing, I'm feeling, that something's got to give in the end...
Another zippy, scratchy, staccato guitar riff gets us going here, as the band zooms through a by-the-numbers rocker that expresses... uh... help me out here, guys, because I'm not sure much of anything's being said. Something to do with being hurt and wanting to be left alone, because eventually you'll be alright again. Whatever. It's actually kind of a boring song despite the relentless pace. I've probably said this before, but we really need to put a moratorium on songs called "I'm Alright", because they're almost always about the same nondescript rubbish.

On My Way
My silhouette remains
Faded remnants of the day
So scatter the ashes
'Cause I'm moving through the past...
This song has more of a poppy quality to it - it's still got your basic rock ingredients to it, but the guitars have more of a processed, robotic rhythm during the verses, getting more revved-up for the chorus, which is another one of the band's highly singable concoctions, due to the way that the background vocals trade off with Nathan. There's an air of jealousy to this one - he's just seen his girl (or at least the one he imagines should be his) with another man, and this puts him on the brink of madness, but he insists that he's "Temporarily insane, but I will be just fine". He also mentions that "these pills are treating me right", so let's take a look at the scoreboard for a second... Songs Using Stupid Drug Metaphors: 2. Songs About Being Vaguely OK: 2. Songs About Something Actually Intelligent: 0.

On Your Side
Is this weakness in your eyes
Telling me that we're allies
There's nothing left to hide...
This one almost immediately put me on the band's bad side when it started out with its slow, laid-back, programmed bass-and-tambourine beat that was way to close to The Killers' song "Everything Will Be Alright" for comfort. I mean, if you're going to imitate The Killers, that's about the worst song you could have picked (well, maybe not - there is the entire Sam's Town album, but I digress). Thankfully, Nathan doesn't rip off the completely obnoxious vocal style of that song, and the band remembers to actually start rocking again by the time the chorus comes around, so it ends up resembling one of their more brooding pieces like "Over the Edge" or "Bittersweet", but played as a ballad. He's trying to convince a woman he's having some sort of a conflict with that they don't have to be enemies. It's all a bit vague, but it's delivered passionately, and that's what makes the difference between a decent rock ballad and an off-kilter karaoke session that brings the album to a screeching halt.

The Fool
You wear the mask
And we dance pirouettes until the sun is cast
The masquerade has ended
This charade is never going to last...
If you liked "Wasting Away", then this one's for you - it's one of two tracks co-written by the enigmatic Kevin Max (who has borrowed a few members of Luna Halo to play backup for some of his live gigs, so I guess he's returning a favor here), and it bears a strong resemblance to the fierce title track of the band's 2004 EP - minus the Radiohead similarities that the band has left behind. It's one of those songs that just plows right through you with a walloping guitar riff, building up the tension more and more until it all explodes at the end, getting the listener's adrenaline charged in the process. It's the album's angriest song - Nathan is calling out a woman for basically being a tease and turning him on despite having no real intentions of falling in love with him. He actually goes so far as to gripe, "Every time you say something predictable, it's the same damn thing I've heard before", which is nothing by mainstream rock standards, and doesn't bug me at all, but it's slightly surprising coming from a former CCM band. There are some hackneyed moments ("Your lies have been detected" Awkward!), but the guitar playing and Nathan's fierce cries of "FOR YOU!!!" totally rescue it, making it the second-biggest blast of a listening experience on the album, after "Untouchable".

The Big Escape
We don't belong here in this town
Where all is lost and nothing's found
Lets steal a car and change our names
You grow your hair to hide your face...
Keeping the energy level up, this one kicks the rhythm into even higher gear, as Nathan suggests a little Bonnie & Clyde action, insinuating that he and his lover should ditch their current lives, don disguises and assume fake names, and get the hell out of Dodge together. OK, so the organized crime thing is really just my imagination talking - it's more likely just about going off on a romantic retreat and saying the world and all its stress will still be there when you get back. I could see Anberlin singing a song like this, though they'd probably describe it in a more oblique and intriguing manner. More great singing from Nathan here - I'm surprised that the guy doesn't strain his vocal chords from the sheer force of it. Just listen to the end of that chorus!

Falling Down
Some days I have to miss you
It makes me wonder why I wear this crown
You leave me more than lonely
More than broken, I just can't be found...
This is another one that I'm mostly "whatever" about. The tempo's too lukewarm and the lyrics are too vague for me to really care that much, but if I must attempt a description, it seems to be a more introspective track about a girl who can't make up her mind about a guy, so he wonders why he keeps falling for her. (What a shocking change of pace, eh?) The way that the rhythm is beat out is mildly interesting, I guess, and I like how the background vocals overlap with the chorus near the end of the song, but beyond that, there isn't really much to it.

English Boys
Like a punch in the face, I'm hit with the proof
Is it really so hard to tell the truth?
Alright, so the "unrequited love" angle is really starting to wear thin at this point. We're back into bouncy pop/rock territory here, with some sort of processing effect on Nathan's vocals that makes him sound vaguely similar to Kevin Max during the verses (and strangely, this isn't one of the two songs that Kmax co-wrote). He's going on about how his girl moved to London and how her calls home seem insincere, so he's worried that she's off having her fun with a different British lad every weekend or something. Honestly, it sounds like the insecure ramblings of a college kid whose sweetheart decided to spend the semester abroad or something. It's probably the album's most embarrassingly silly track, but only because some of the others aren't specific enough to easily be made fun. I suppose this one's still mildly enjoyable at the end of the day, but sheesh, these guys are sounding awfully shallow at this point.

World on Fire
Elevated evolution
The problem and solution
You taught the serpent how to dance
You're the siren of romance...
The album's closing track makes its best attempt to go out with a blaze of glory - literally - as Nathan gives a spirited salute to a woman so jaw-droopingly gorgeous that he'd gleefully ignore the entire world burning to ashes around him just for one last chance to be with her. This might be the zenith of the record's superficiality, but it actually wins me over in a humorous sort of way - it basically describes what happens when a dude thinks with his hormones instead of his head. (Thanks again, KMax!) Wars have been fought over the woman described in this song, and highly classified secrets have been stolen by her winsome gaze. Hell, the way this guy describes it, you'd think she was Mata Hari, and he's now facing a firing squad because of her. And somehow it was all worth it. It's the joyous "Hey, hey!"s, the nimble drumming, and another zippy little guitar melody from Cary that bring the album to an exciting close, though I must admit I'm disappointed that they simply let his guitar riff fade out at the end, rather than bringing the song to the big, crashing, end-of-a-killer-rock-show conclusion that it really deserves, given its subject matter. Hey, as far as songs about wanting one last makeout session before Armageddon go, this one beats the hell out of the Dave Matthews Band's "When the World Ends".

So that's the skinny on Luna Halo's new outlook on life. No more of the grandiose, moody, heavily spiritual Radiohead/U2 concoctions. It's all about fast, big, dumb, fun rock & roll songs that penetrate the brain as quickly as possible. My reactions to some of the songs clearly show that this approach works at times, and doesn't work at others - it's the kind of thing that I can enjoy in limited doses, but enough is enough already, because I'm kind of hungry for something more. Still, it's that ability to put together that perfectly poppy kick-butt rock song that keeps me interested in what they'll do next, even if I fear that their inability to stand out from a lot of bands with similar sound and subject matter could mean that their mainstream label deal could end up to be a short-lived one as the head honchos go chasing the next thing. Hopefully, next time around, they'll come up with enough quality and quantity to justify the wait between albums - and it won't be another seven years in the making.

ALBUM WORTH:
Kings & Queens $1.50
Untouchable $2
Medicate $1.50
I'm Alright $0
On My Way $.50
On Your Side $1
The Fool $2
Big Escape $.50
Falling Down $0
English Boys $.50
World on Fire $1.50
TOTAL: $11

Band Members:
Nathan Barlowe: Lead vocals, Guitar
Cary Barlowe: Guitar
Aaron Jenkins: Bass
Chris Coleman: Drums

Websites:
http://www.lunahalo.com
http://www.myspace.com/lunahalo

Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Driving