Show of hands: who remembers that odd song “Marilyn Manson Ate My Girlfriend”? The debut single from teenage pop-punk band Relient K got a bit of a mixed reaction when it hit the Christian airwaves last spring, but that and a few other bouncy, witty radio singles caught on like wildfire, establishing these four young bucks from Ohio as basically the Christian response to Blink 182. I’m glad they didn’t get written off as a novelty band. Their approach to songwriting is a bit unorthodox - chock full of puns and pop culture references. But they’re not a comedy act - they know how to make a good point in the midst of all their fooling around. However their approach might be best summed up, it worked, and despite my initial misgivings about the immaturity of some of their lyrics, I was roped into buying their debut CD. I later came to question that purchase. Repeated listens got irritating. However, they established themselves as an excellent live act via an opening slot for the Supertones, which left me looking forward to their sophomore album due out the following summer.

Needless to say, I was a little more cautious as I approached The Anatomy of the Tongue in Cheek. It had a great title, a few songs I already knew I would love, and amongst the 17 tracks present, at least four of the titles were puns. Simultaneously prepared to fend off annoying repetition for the sake of a few cheap laughs and maybe a few profound thoughts in the midst of it all, I downloaded and sampled the band’s new disc. Everyone had been raving about how its sound was more “diverse” and “mature”. I suppose I could concede to that. But the first few listens left a bad taste in my mouth. I was practically willing to label it as being worse than their first album due to a few particularly off-putting songs. Well, as with many of the CD’s I end up reviewing, I’m glad I put off writing about this one for a few months. It took another live show, and spotting this baby in a used CD store, to finally admit that it was ridiculously addictive and I just had to have it in my collection.

Before I go any further, I have to make one thing clear - lead singer and songwriter Matt Thiessen isn’t known for his tact. In other words, if you’re not a Christian, a few of these songs will likely annoy or offend you. I’m sure that wasn’t his intention. He just has a way of telling it like it is and inserting clever quips to keep the mood from getting too dour. Sometimes this approach works - usually when he’s writing about hypocrisy within the church or something like that. When his focus is more evangelical, he tends to sound a bit judgmental, which I suspect will especially irritate older listeners. When his focus is pointless humor, his success rate is about 50/50, though the sillier songs can seem a bit jarring in between the more overtly “Christian” songs. Aside from that, the music sticks mostly to happy pop/punk, with a dash of acoustic rock here, a small dose of swing there, a gang shout or two for old times’ sake, and the quintessential pointless interludes. Think Five Iron Frenzy with no horns and better vocals. (Oh, yeah, these guys like to harmonize. That’s a big turn-on.) Sound like fun? Sound like you could at least tolerate it for 45 minutes? Then read on…

Kick-Off
Here‘s the kick-off
Hope you‘re not sick of Relient K and all the songs we play
‘Cause then you’ll want to throw our CD away !
The CD starts off with a silly little 40-second track (the lyrics are quoted above in their entirety). This basically serves as your warning - if this is annoying, you better back out now. I personally thought it was hilarious.

Pressing On
I think we‘re going somewhere
We‘re on to something good here
Out of mind, out of state
Trying to keep my head on straight…
The jumpy first single from this project gets the “real” songs underway. It’s been a fan favorite ever since its premiere on the Supertones tour earlier this year. It’s fast, fun, and repetitive enough to learn easily without being to annoying. The song is essentially about growing up and leaving the old self behind. The way Matt puts it is simple but inspiring: “To go back to where I was would just be wrong.” The pace slows just a tad near the end of the song, where Matt addresses God: “You look down on me, but You don’t look down on me at all.” Nice play on words, and a very good sign of the band’s more “mature” side.

Sadie Hawkins Dance
Since I‘m rather smart and cunning
I took off down the next hall running
Only to get stopped by a girl so stunning…
The first “silly” song packs quite a musical punch. It’s about as cliché pop-punk as it gets - this will likely get compared to Blink‘s “All the Small Things”, even if it’s never a radio single (and I’m pretty sure it will be). It fades in on a ringing guitar intro, and then the distortion kicks in good and loud. Anyone who had the typical high school social life will get a smile out of this one as Matt tells his happy little story of that joyous occasion when for once, the girls get to ask the guys out. The song kind of wanders off into other high school antics - the lyrics are mostly an excuse to throw out some clever rhymes. The definite highlight of the song is when everyone stops during the chorus for Matt’s high-pitched “oh-oh-oh”! If you could imagine a 50’s sock hop with a modern-day soundtrack, this would be it.

Down in Flames
We‘re cannibals, we watch our brothers fall
We eat our own, the bones and all…
Things get a little more serious here - the band suddenly shifts into social commentary mode, likening backstabbing among Christians to a plane about to crash because everyone on board is too stupid to notice. This one has a lot of clever lyrics such as “We don’t shake hands, we shake our fists”, or one of the most amusing rhymes I’ve heard in a while - “We see the problem and the risk/But nothing’s solved, we just say ‘tsk, tsk, tsk’”. The rhythm changes between a swingy 6/8 and a straight-ahead punkish 4/4 kind of annoyed me at first, but I guess that’s just a staple of the punk genre, and the album would be ridiculously boring if everything were in 4/4. And Matt gets bonus points here for acknowledging that “I’m part of the problem”.

Maybe It’s Maybeline
People make mistakes, we took the apple from the snake
And it always is the same, gotta find someone to blame…
On the heels of “Down in Flames” comes another song about hypocrisy - this one focuses more on our tendency to blame others. A synthesizer works its way in and out of this song to give it a slight 80’s feel, much like an All Star United tune. This one threw me a bit at first, too - the title had me expecting another humorous song. I’m sure they pulled this one off with wry smiles on their faces and all, but it’s not really meant to be funny. It basically uses throws the familiar advertising slogan in from out of nowhere as it describes our tendency to blame our problems on everybody else - “Maybe it is them, or maybe it is me, or maybe it’s Maybeline.” I guess that works… sort of.

Breakdown
Oh, what a lousy excuse for a car
One mile to go, but I can‘t push it that far
I think I‘ve had enough, I think I‘m giving up…
This song was reincarnated from a live track they tossed out to the fans a little while back that they hadn’t gotten around to recording for their first album. This one takes it fast and furious, almost stumbling on the tempo changes at times. It’s not one of my favorites, though I do like the “breakdown” in the middle where it’s just vocals and drums. It shows that the guys can hold their own without the help of loud guitars. It basically compares a car breaking down with the frustrations of life that distract us and keep our thoughts from God. With a little work and a few more lyrics, it might fare a little better.

Those Words Are Not Enough
When it‘s twice as hard to realize
That I‘m still trying twice as hard to satisfy myself on my own
And I‘m still waiting for things to change…
Guitarist Matt Hoopes tries his hand at songwriting for the first time here - his style is a little different from Thiessen’s, but not jarringly different. The lyrical focus is something new for Relient K - it’s more of a worship song. Musically, it keeps the beat pumping along like a good pop-punk song should. I’m not sure if Hoopes is taking over some of the lead vocals or not - the verses sound a little scratchier than Matt’s usual cute-boy approach. It turns out to be a pretty good song with some great harmonies during the chorus - the melody almost sounds like it could have been lifted from a hymn. I like how the lyrics describe the futility of trying to explain everything on our minds to God, how He knows our hearts and understands us far beyond the things we pray verbally. I like the bass outro, too.

For the Moments I Feel Faint
I think I can‘t, I think I can‘t
But I think You can, I think You can
Gather my insufficiencies and place them in Your hands…
Detractors of the band will hopefully find this track to be a pleasant surprise - it picks up right after the last note of “These Words”, and has a similar worship focus, but it’s entirely acoustic. Some rock bands sound uncomfortably raw when stripped down to their musical underwear, but Relient K pulls this one off with some angular but bright chords and subtle bass to back it up. Granted, the production helps, throwing a few strings into the mix and bringing the song a tad too close to Green Day’s “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” for comfort. (Gee, didn’t the Supertones do the same thing at the end of Chase the Sun? Never mind, this is a better song.) Matt gently sings to God about his shortcoming and the things that frustrate him from day to day, but concludes confidently, “Never underestimate my Jesus/You’re telling me that there’s no hope/I’m telling you you’re wrong.” I’m guessing this one will get picked up by just about any youth group whose worship leader knows more than four guitar chords.

Lion Wilson
A cute little acapella track makes for a smart segue between the mellow preceding track and the upcoming silly track. Honestly, these guys are good at this and I’d like to hear more than thirty seconds of it from them in the future. I’m assuming the title is an obvious pun to acknowledge that they’re ripping off the Beach Boys.

I’m Lion-O
Fighting evil, we drink milk, and growl a lot
Ask me to cross them, and I would say I’d rather not…
This is about as brainless as the CD gets. The boys basically decided to do an annoyingly catchy tribute to the Thundercats. It’s fun for the first minute and a half or so, but it rapidly gets insanely repetitive, with the bulk of the lyric being, “Thundercats, Ho! I’m Lion-O!” As far as songs based on TV shows go, “Charles in Charge” from the last album was much more amusing. The abrupt ending pulls off a smart segue into the next track, though - the flow of this album is part of what keeps me listening to it.

What Have You Been Doing Lately?
Pardon me while I throw up
I guess some people never grow up
What happened to the salvation you claimed?
It breaks my heart to see how much you’ve changed…
You’ll start to realize at any moment now that Relient K makes no apologies for being obnoxious. This song kicks in immediately with a chorus that will rattle around in your head for days. It brings back that swingy feel from “Down in Flames” and speeds it up, and Matt adds a bit of a rockabilly swagger to his voice. They go back to normal pop-punk mode for the verses, which detail reunions with a few old friends from high school who have apparently gone off to college and fallen away from the faith. Yup, sounds like typical freshman year to me. I don’t know, I’m torn on this one. It’s so much fun, and at the same time, it sounds a bit judgmental (given that the main hook is “What have you been doing lately, your life could use improving greatly”). But I’m sure a lot of high school and college kids will relate to this one, since most Christians either know someone whose faith went on hiatus at some point during school, or let it happen themselves. It eventually degenerates into a guitar riff that slightly bogs down the momentum of the album, but it’s not too egregious.

May the Horse Be with You
I trot by the fillies, they like me of course
They all dig my band, yeah I‘m a rocking horse…
Pun alert! Pun alert! Oh, wait, you’ve already heard the punch line (the boys should have had the forethought to not make the punch line the title of the song). This is basically another pointless song, sandwiched in between two more serious songs. It’s all about being a horse, which basically allows the boys to make references to Mr. Ed and Star Wars all in one breath. It’s not brilliant, but it has a few amusing lyrics, and I like the call and response of “All in favor, all in favor say NEIGH! We like the flavor, we like the flavor of HAY!“ For the most part, though, it could have been a lot funnier.

My Way or the Highway
Which hand holds your soul? Do you want to guess one?
If that scares you to death, may that be a lesson…
This was the song the really made me want to throw their CD away. Musically speaking, it’s quite cleverly produced, with a nice little string break just as Matt is wondering if he should “add a cello here to add a sad impression”. Basically, he’s trying to figure out how to write a song that will convince an unsaved friend to become a Christian. I’ve got a hint for ya, Matt - saying “It’s my way or the highway to hell” isn’t exactly going to bring in the kind of numbers that Billy Graham does. Ironically, it’s when the band’s lyrics are the most blatantly Christian that they are the most immature. The song basically relies on scare tactics - fear of hell generally creates a lot of fearful and guilt-ridden Christians. It’s a shame, too - musically, I really like how the strings added to the song and how Matt starts and ends it “with a question”. But I have to hate it on principle.

Breakfast at Timpani’s
Once again, guys - if you want a joke to be funny, don’t tell the punch line before you tell the rest of the joke! This is basically a pointless sound clip in which Matt thanks said musical host for an amazing breakfast. It would have been better placed as an intro to one of the silly songs.

The Rest Is Up to You
A twist of fate, a twisted look of pain
To defeat the wheat, go against the grain…
Another “evangelistic” track, this one may be addressing the same individual who was lectured in “My Way or the Highway”, or it may be addressing a Christian who is tired and frustrated. Lyrically, it does a little better, offering the person some kind words of peace, but ultimately asserting that “I can’t tattoo your mind”. That’s an important thing to understand - no matter how good our intentions, we can’t force other people to believe anything. Musically, it’s not as interesting as some of the other tracks, and it also suffers from the chorus simply being the title over and over. But hey, better to have one track like this than an album half-filled with them.

Failure to Excommunicate
His gavel‘s gone down before he looked in your heart
He finished this racism before he reached the start…
Another ringing guitar intro starts this one off - it’s more of a fast and furious rocker, with grittier vocals. It might just fool you into thinking it was a different band - until you hit the chorus, and there Matt is, softly crooning “Jesus loved the outcasts, He loves the ones the world just loves to hate”. The song addresses a disgruntled Christian who has been judged an cast out by others who see him/her as being too different to fit in. Relient K is three for three on the hypocrisy songs. My only complaint about this one is that it ends too soon, with the last minute or so simply being a dinky recording of an orchestra.

Less Is More
Jesus, I call out ‘cause I‘m sorry
Because I fall so short of Your glory…
The final song (not counting the hidden track) is another pleasant surprise - a mid-tempo, piano driven praise song, cleverly centered around the idea that he who loses his life will gain it. It stars slow, then rises to a gentle medium tempo with a memorable chorus and some nice “doo-doo-doo”s in the background. The lyrics are very Jesus-centered, closing out the album by letting you know what the central focus of the band’s career is despite all the silliness in between. However, the sillier songs may make it a lot harder for some listeners to swallow when they suddenly expect you to be in a worshipful mood. Just take it for what it is - a good track on an album that honestly made a good attempt to rise above the repetitiveness and immaturity of their first album.

Skittles and Combos
Of course, the hidden track would have to be another silly song. Matt makes out like he’s going to sing a romantic piano ballad to the love of his life, then he busts out with this ode to his favorite candy. (The band has probably received more of said candy from fans since then than they know what to do with.) It’s a lot less annoying than the polka track that was stashed at the end of the first album, though I have to point out that there should be legal limits to the amount of reverb you’re allowed to use. Once again, not necessarily funny, but amusing. Perhaps it was an inside joke.

Well, chances are you won’t stumble across this CD, “used” but unopened, for 3 bucks like I did on my travels last weekend (side note: music stores in Berkeley rock!). So, should you buy it? I don’t know. I’d advise you against paying full price for it unless you’ve listened to a friend’s copy (or the mp3’s) about twenty times and you know for sure you’ve got to have it. The band’s becoming popular enough their next album could likely launch them into the upper echelons of Christian rock (i.e. WoW 2003), so you’re not as likely to catch this one in the bargain bin as you are with their first album (ironic that I paid full price for that one). And I do think that popularity is deserved. For better or worse, the band tells it like it is and doesn’t try to paint a pretty picture of teenybopper Christianity like some young acts are doing (coughcoughplusonecough). I think the mistakes on this CD are forgivable. They’ve got wit, and a great ear for a hook, and they know how to get a laugh or two with an odd reference out of left field. So I’m hoping this old Plymouth doesn’t plan on breaking down any time soon.

TRACK REVIEW SUMMARY
Excellent: Sadie Hawkins Dance, Pressing On, For the Moments I Feel Faint, What Have You Been Doing Lately?, Kick-Off, Those Words Are Not Enough
Good: Down in Flames, Maybe It's Maybeline, Lion Wilson, Less Is More, Failure to Excommunicate
Decent: Breakdown, I'm Lion-O, May the Horse Be with You, Breakfast at Timpani's
Weak: The Rest Is Up to You
Skippable: My Way or the Highway...

Band Members:
Matt Thiessen: Lead vocals
Matt Hoopes: Guitars, vocals
Brian Pittman: Bass, vocals
Dave Douglas: Drums, vocals

Website: http://www.relientk.com

Great Music to Play While: Reading your Bible and watching Saturday morning cartoons.


Recommended: Yes