As you may know, I am a huge fan of 311. I now have all 6 of their albums and I am soon getting their unreleased stuff on an album called “Omaha Sessions. I just know that 311 is something really special and their music means a lot to me. If I have a bad day, I come home and listen to one of their albums and they never fail to raise my spirits. On their fifth album, Soundsystem(1999), 311 explores more of their harder sound and stay away just a tad on their lyrical skills. Although I remember listening to this album briefly at a friends house when it was first released and didn’t care for it, I found this album to be simply amazing as all 311 albums are. Now please don’t think that I am such a fan of 311 that no matter what, I will give their albums good ratings. This is not the case at all. I never knew that I would like a groups music so much that I would love each and every album equally. This is the story about a band that has amazing fans, because they make amazing music.

::311: Soundsystem::

The album opens up with ice breaker song called “Freeze Time”. For some reason, 311 always finds the perfect song to start and end their albums as you will see later in this review. This song, in my opinion is a great representation of this album. Nick Hexum’s voice in the beginning of the song will remind you of their older albums. It’s a real welcoming song to this album and will definitely make you want to listen to more.

I remember first hearing about this album from the hit single “Come Original” which was the only single on this album to my knowledge. I loved this song when I first came out. But why didn’t I buy the album? Well, I had no job back then and it was hard buying anything with $10 a week allowance. Somehow, I just never bought it up until recently. This song is an excellent choice to play at a party and it’s a no brainier why 311 decided to make this song a single.

The next song on the album is a song called “Large in the Margin”. This song is kind of slow at the beginning but with great guitar riffs. The song progresses with Nick and SA’s trading of lyrics that will make you love this song. It really sticks out from this album at one of 311’s great songs(there are many). When I first heard SA’s first verse in this song, I began loving it and it has been a great favorite on this album. The chorus is absolutely excellent and has a great tone to it.

Track four is a song called “Flowing”. It has a very unique sound to it and it is one of the more balanced sounding songs on the album. I guess you can say that the sound of this song flowed together nicely. Seriously though, it stayed at the same pace and it’s a fun song to listen to.

Every song on this album is unique, but I have to skip songs somewhere on this album somewhere, I can’t write about all of them although I wish I could. Track seven is a very good song called “Strong All Along” has a catchy chorus and the song on a whole is fun to keep up with. Guitars play a great part in the song. They don’t do the most, but I think that listening to them, they have a lot of complexity and make the song much better. I have to say that once again, P-Nut and Tim Mahoney do an excellent job allowing 311 to play like this.

Track nine is entitled “Eons”. Now, I have seen that others writing about this album on this site and they have stated that this is not a great song. Let me just say that I absolutely love this song. There is something about how the band takes their time on this song; so much that the chorus builds up and makes this song so great. The music on this song was created by the very talented drummer Chad Sexton. He is a very good drummer and can keep up with 311’s style.

The song “Mindspin” !@#$%^& awesome! I highly recommend listening to this song before buying this album because it is one of the most upbeat songs that 311 has ever made and is great for when you are in a bad mood. It turns the frown upside down.

Like always, 311 has to end their albums with a song that leaves you loving their album. With “Music”, they left us with an excellent song that they play at their shows to say goodbye to their fans. Soundsystem is no exception. They never fail to surprise me and the song “Livin’ and Rockin’ is what makes me come back to this album again and again. It leaves this album on a good note.

So how was 311: Soundsytem? How does it compare to it’s previous albums? Will the average music fan like 311’s style? Lets see how Soundsystem stacks up. Ratings are from one to five stars.

::Here’s The Breakdown::

::Songs::
*****

Soundsystem is one of the best examples of how 311 can make amazing songs and leave you in admiration. There are some tracks on this album that define the band and are without a doubt classics from the group. I think that unlike Transistor, you don’t have to be a hardcore 311 fan to love this album. In fact, my sister walked in my room the other day to tell me that she really liked this album. That’s weird because my sister listens to the worst music.

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::Lyrics::
***

Unlike Transistor, 311 puts their lyrical talent aside for this album, but the way that the songs turned out, to me, it really doesn’t matter. With music like this, it’s either you have fast, hard, great songs or, better lyrics with a slower pace as we saw with the phenomenal From Chaos. Some lyrics on this album are silly, but that’s what makes it fun to listen to.

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::Overall::
*****

No, I don’t believe that you need to be a fan of their music before buying this album. You would, however like to listen to good music. The exception being my sister who liked it, and still listened to horrible music. All in all, Soundsystem showed off what hard-roots this band had. It took the hard stuff and made it harder and I think that it left the fans happy in the end. I just wish that their next album is a hybrid of Soundsystem, Transistor and From Chaos. A great purchase, especially with Christmas just around the corner.



Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Hanging With Friends