Do you suffer from uncontrollable anxiety over the amount of similar-sounding rap/rock bands in the music industry?
Do you find it difficult to sleep at night due to being haunted by how well Limp Bizkit, Slipknot, and other bands of their ilk are doing on the charts?
Are you afraid to turn on your radio because of the amount of overplay these bands receive?
Do you suffer from suicidal thoughts when forced to hear these bands everywhere you turn?
If you answered yes to any of the above questions, you may be suffering from Chronic Nu-Metal Disorder. But you’re not alone. More than 25% of adults and 60% of teenagers are affected by this disease. And now, there is a solution. It’s called Pax217.
Pax217 helps to correct the chemical imbalances in your brain by injecting it with an optimistic, catchy blend of rap, hard rock, and reggae. It gives your ears the sound they desire without depressing you like many other bands of the genre.
Pax217 may not be for everyone. Cynical music critics and stuck-up conservative Christians who believe rock music is a tool of the devil should not take Pax217. Possible side effects include extreme bounciness, contagious optimism, dynamic dialogue with strangers, and radical forgiveness toward the physically and sexually abusive.
Consult your doctor today to see if Pax217 is right for you!
Forgive the cheesy commercial. I just couldn’t help but recognize the correlation. Pax217, a seven-piece rap/rock act from Southern California, seems to have posed themselves as the anti-depressants of the genre with their sophomore album, Engage. While I realize that joyful optimism doesn’t exactly mix with the genre (especially in the minds of those who still think “Christian rock” is a joke), I have to say that these guys pull off a genuinely happy (and still somewhat hard) sonic mixture that I find refreshing.
I’ll grant that Pax217 isn’t the first band to do this. The massively popular P.O.D. has left quite a mark on the music industry, more recently discovering that melody fit quite well into their sometimes harrowing but often uplifting depictions of the Christian life. As for most other bands in the genre that I can think of, the mainstream bands either tend to exude profane anger, or write pointless party songs, or just whine about girls that hurt them (or all three, in the case of Limp Bizkit). The situation isn’t too much better in the CCM industry, where a lot of bands that should have stayed underground (I won’t name names now) have found something of a new platform for their sometimes extremist preaching and sub-par music. I don’t know; maybe it’s just me. Maybe I’m just a guy who likes a lot of poppy, melodic music and therefore doesn’t understand the raw turmoil that a lot of the members of these bands have been through. And to be fair, I like songs that are “angry” or “bitter” every now and then – I just need to see a little light at the end of the tunnel, a way to vent the anger or bitterness and then move on.
I didn’t catch onto Pax217 completely when their 2000 debut Twoseventeen came out, finding their mish-mash of styles to be a bit awkward, but I loved the radio singles “Prizm” and “No Place Like Home”, and looked forward to seeing what the band had to offer next. I was prepared for Engage to have a few more catchy singles and perhaps a few surprises, but to be honest, I didn’t expect it to be such a solid album. Pax217 has cooked up a solid stew of tasty guitar riffs, rapid-fire rap verses, anthemic choruses, chunky beats, and believe it or not, actual lyrical relevance. What can I say – these songs just make me happy (well, except for one particular song, but that one makes me angry in a good way). The band places a lot of emphasis on overcoming frustration instead of just throwing their anger out there for the world to hear. They also encourage listeners to overcome their selfishness and connect with the world around them – hence the album’s title.
There may be a few flaws or awkward moments here and there – a rhythm that stumbles slightly, a grating vocal line, a rap that falls flat – but surprisingly, Engage ended up being the first album released this year that I feel fully comfortable giving five stars. (I can tell that’s going to be a rare honor in the year 2002 if Jars of Clay and The Benjamin Gate didn’t get it.) Okay, so I’m actually rounding up from 4 1/2, but hey, the band put me in a good mood, so I’ll give ‘em the benefit of the doubt.
Tonight Everybody always talkin' about movement
Talkin' hype but their mouths can't prove it...
Kicking off triumphantly with an extremely jumpy drum beat and guitar riff, the lead-off single is a good sign of things to come. It’s an anthem for Christians on the move, believers who have the desire to mature in their faith and not stay stagnant. Even though lead singer Dave Tosti has a fairly gritty voice, but when the other guys in the band join in and harmonize, they can sure create a grin-inducing chorus. Dave handles most of the rapping as well, though the other guys in the band back him up by singing or shouting a few of his lines here and there, making the song feel like a much happier Linkin Park. While it’s not the deepest song on the album, “Tonight” does a great job of drawing the listener in, even if the chorus – “Tonight, can you hear us?/Tonight, we are moving” may make it seem like a party song on the surface.
Engage Come come, come out your cages called offices
And pop the bubbles that you're in...
The title track picks up with a subtle guitar intro before breaking into a solid beat (Dave’s younger brother Skwid is quite the energetic drummer), over which Dave raps about the multitude of lonely souls in the world that Christians carelessly pass by in their day to day lives. While the song (and the album’s theme) carries a specifically evangelistic tone, it goes a step beyond just asking Christians to share their hope with others, calling out to “black, white, brown, gay, or Muslim, Buddhist or Christian”, and asking all of these diverse people to “Let your actions speak love”. I really appreciate a willingness for Christians to dialogue with others and understand where they’re coming from rather than simply preaching at them. The chorus seems to fit the song oddly at first, but it definitely kicks in strong as the guys shout “Engage! Tell your story to the world!” The verses meander between rapping and melodic reggae-style singing. It’s diverse, but it fits together beautifully – kind of like the collage of people featured on the album cover.
Voices We are all obsessed with comparing
One another to each other and it scares us...
Flowing straight out of the last shout of the previous track, a bit of static breaks in and Dave confidently croons, “Sing it loud and clear, this is who we are.” At first, I expected this to be one of those “We’re a cool band and we’re here to show you how it’s done” sort of songs like P.O.D.’s “Boom”, but the song is really about “the voices of the generation”. Pax217 is very clearly speaking out to their peers to this one, encouraging them not to waste their time downcast with petty frustrations, and get out there and make a difference. Over a bright, ringing guitar sequence and another solid drum beat, Dave points out how we all end up scared of each other because we tend to judge each other so much. One aspect of the song that always makes me smile is at the end of the first two verses, where the band pauses for a second, leaving only Dave’s voice to swoop down and lead smoothly into the chorus – “Awwww… This is who we are!” The song gets a little more aggressive towards the end when the guys defiantly shout in a more typical rapcore fashion: “You’ll never shut us up, you’ll never shut us down!” Reminds of something Han Solo once said about C3PO, actually.
I'll See You Can't explain the way of how I make it through this
But like a psalmist I'm asking you to calm this storm...
After “Voices” suddenly falls off into a sea of voices and car horns, a slightly scratchy but extremely hooky guitar riff picks up, leading into one of the album’s poppiest but most irresistible songs. This one just screams future hit single, because most of the sung is sung and Dave’s vocals are a little smoother here, only breaking for a rap during the bridge. Also, the lyrics are more “vertical” here, offering thanks to God for being “amazing” when we are sinful. The song is basically a prayer: “Show me You in everything”. It’s also a lesson in snagging unassuming listeners with a persistent, memorable beat and a typical but satisfying chord structure. What can I say – the song just hits all my sweet spots. Skwid just nails it as soon as his polyrhythmic beat breaks in – “Thump, thump, BAM! Thump, thump, BAM!” The band also isn’t afraid to rock out despite the poppy nature of the song, adding a little more “punk” energy to the chorus and offering a fairly delicious breakdown during the bridge.
PSA Frustration filling up in my chest
Makes my lungs bleed greed, because it’s all about me
How can I die to myself when I live in hostility?
The very end of track four is a quiet, acoustic guitar intro that makes for a rather jarring transition into one of the most aggressive songs on the album (but cleverly, it’s the same riff that gets recycled on an electric guitar during the verses). This one is basically a “Public Service Announcement” to warn listeners against pride and selfishness and it’s a smokin’ hot track. Noisy as heck, too. Dave and DJ Bobbito the Chef (a new addition to the band since their debut) trade off lines with each other during the verses, sharing accounts of their selfish worldviews and reminding each other that “You can’t control even a second of your soul, ‘cause what you think is yours, you need to let go.” The chorus is a definite crowd-mover, sounding like a call-and-response party tune, but actually calling for surrender: “PEOPLE, PEOPLE! Let go! DON’T YOU SEE IT’S over? THROW YOUR HANDS in the air!” The rap breakdown in the middle is just sweet, and since they repeat it twice, it’s fairly easy to learn and recite back while you have your stereo on full blast. And Skwid gets to show off with a pretty cool drum fill somewhere in the middle of all that, too.
Move on This All of this is beautiful
But there is one thing that comes back around to haunt me
I used to have a family...
After five tracks of fairly aggressive material that flows quite well together without much room to breathe in between, the band decides to show us their mellower side here with a thick reggae groove framing a personal song about love and family. The song still has more of a street-wise, Los Angeles sort of attitude to it, rather than the relaxing-in-the-sun-with-an-umbrella-in-your-drink feel you might expect from most reggae-inspired songs, but I kind of like it that way. Mostly melodic but occasionally a little scratchy, Dave’s singing tells us of his hopes to one day have a family like the one he knew before his parents divorced (see “No Place Like Home” from the last record). The chorus definitely sticks in my mind, having recently fallen in love myself: “I fell in love with this beautiful girl/And well you know, she fell in love with me/So the two of we, we took it one step further/Put some action into history.” I like how the language of family and destiny are closely intertwined in this song. Eventually, the lyrics fade away and the song becomes a brief jam session for the rest of the band, though they pretty much remain locked in their groove rather than soloing or anything like that. Because of that, the song might run a little long, but it’s still a fun little chill-out number. (Surprise, surprise – I checked the liner notes today and found out that the song was co-written by Charlie Peacock. What the heck is he doing here? Well, he is working for ForeFront Records these days…)
Fly Away Splatter ink on a page in such a clear way
So we communicate, break down the stage...
I love songs where the vocals start right in with the rest of the music. It just adds a sense of urgency to the message. “Fly Away” is definitely one of those songs. It’s faster-paced than anything else on the album and still pretty rocking, but the overall tone is different from the average output of a rap/rock band, likely due to the tempo. Once again taking on the subject of pride, the point of this song is easy to miss if you’re not paying attention, basically because the whole thing just blows through you like there’s no tomorrow! But listen carefully, and the guys get some clever little zingers across, even going so far as to name past icons like Buddy Holly and Richie Valenz who apparently got big heads after becoming successful, and asserting, “I ain’t that kind of rocker.” Dave sounds confident, on the one hand, in proclaiming that the purpose of the band is to glorify God and not themselves, and yet at the same time, he sounds afraid of what might happen to him if he ever allowed his ego to get inflated. There’s a line in the second verse about his head being a plane that gets hijacked and explodes, which would probably be funnier if not for some of the painful memories associated with hijacking planes, but it’s still a fitting analogy regarding what the industry can do to young bands like this one if they don’t watch it. It’s interesting to note that though the song has some memorable repeating lines, it doesn’t follow the typical song structure, having a few sections that could be construed as the “verse” or “chorus”. Not a lot of people will point out such subtle toying around with song structure, but it’s encouraging to see a young band thinking outside the verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/chorus box a little bit.
Yesterday You're gonna break down today
Take a breath, for tomorrow may not make its way to you...
Here, the band breaks out of 4/4 land a little bit, basing the main guitar riff and chorus on a 6/8 call and response, somewhat similar to the chorus of “PSA” except for the rhythm. It can be a bit awkward at first when the song switches back and forth between that rhythm and the verses (which are in a normal 4/4 rhythm), but for the most part, it flows pretty smoothly once you get used to it. (Their Christian rap/rock peers in Pillar tried to do this a few times on their new album, and it didn’t work as well.) The song is about letting go of memories and past regrets that you can’t change, and even though I don’t entirely agree with the sentiment that “You can forget about yesterday, so throw it all away”, I think the song carries a solid message that we don’t have to kick ourselves over the mistakes we’ve made. Anyone who’s ever been depressed to a near breaking point will certainly agree with the idea that continuing to ride ourselves over such things will only make us go insane and trust God even less. Apparently Josh Kemble from Christian punk band Dogwood co-wrote this track and sings/shouts on it, but not being a big fan of that band, I can’t pick out his voice.
Melody Everybody's in the mixture, but we can't seem to figure
So picture love wrapped around your soul
Like a little girl in her daddy's hold...
This track is a bit schizophrenic – apparently it’s popular with a lot of the Paxnation, but it’s actually my least favorite on the album. It’s a song about wanting to see the world set free, wanting God to overcome our personal downfalls and give us a song to heal the hurting souls around us, but the chorus seems to be a bit jarring for its message, and then it breaks into a clever but somewhat choppy rap verse. I know I’ve been making a lot of U2 comparisons lately, but the drum beat and slightly dissonant guitar chords played at the beginning of the song really remind me of “Bullet the Blue Sky”. Not a bad song by any means, but it does drag down the momentum of the album just a tad, and I find myself a little impatient to get to the next song, though that might just be because of how awesome that song is.
What Is Love You stole something that you can't give back from the one I love
And now she's forced to pray daily to fight against your flashbacks...
This song is at once the crowning achievement of the band’s career, and yet it’s an odd fit compared to their other songs. Lest you think that Pax217 is just made up of a bunch of out-of-touch, happy guys with no real problems, let me assure you that this song came out of a very painful experience. It’s dedicated to Dave’s wife, who was sexually abused as a child, and a young female fan who told Dave a similar story of a abuse after a concert not too long ago. He decided to write a song about it, and some pretty strong words came out. The song starts off deceptively, with a slightly tense, Latin-sounding guitar strum, over which Dave begins to whisper to the perpetrator who abused his wife. He clearly understands that this person, may have been abused by someone else, but makes no bones about saying that “You have no right to repeat the same.” Leading up to the chorus, a sinister guitar line breaks in as Dave muses, “Let’s just say you’re blessed/Blessed that I never met you”, and then the band kicks it into high gear with a gut-busting instrumental chorus, with guitars blazing and drums pounding, and… listen closely… the guys harmonizing in the background. Pretty cool, huh? Dave’s whispers seem more and more tortured as the song goes on, and in the second verse, he explains to the man how much these actions have tortured the victim. When the chorus breaks in again, he’s suddenly bellowing with full force, sounding much like Sonny Sandoval from P.O.D. – “Hey, you! You better take your eyes off of her! Your eyes are evil, so look away! I’m warning you, there’ll be hell to pay, hell to pay!” It just sends shivers down my spine. The first few times I heard the song, it nearly brought me to tears – righteous anger just comes seething from it. Having a close friend who was abused by her father, it hits kind of close to home too. Things come to a somewhat peaceful resolution near the end as Dave turns to his wife to comfort her, urging her to “Let my Father hold you up/Heal the thoughts that make you throw up”. But he’s still aware that “Soap can never scrub away the memories”. Hard-hitting stuff – I’m guessing it might be a little hard to stomach for some listeners who have dealt with this more directly, but it was brave for the band to record it and speak out against the crime.
Dream Away It's better for you to lift Your head
Than to take the worry to bed...
Appropriately, a brighter tune follows, this one dealing with forgiveness, and the need to resist carrying out revenge against someone who has wronged you. The guitar intro steals a page from the U2 handbook with its use of delay, to be sure, but it still shows a dedication on the band’s part to not making their songs all sound the same. Personally, I think Dave’s vocals are a little weak on the verses (even to the point where I misheard the line “Let the wrecking ball do His wrecking” as “Leave the racquetball to his racquet” – WTH???), but the song redeems itself with a strong, shouted chorus that comes crashing in after a fairly mellow verse. The message hits home for me, since I’m the type of person who likes to plot to get someone back when they’ve hurt me, and here the guys are urging me to not lose sleep over it – “It don’t matter who did this to you, ‘cause he will be dealt with too.” I don’t really like the outro where Dave repeatedly sings “It’s gonna get better, better”, but it made sense to draw the song out to a calm ending rather than leading abruptly into the last track.
Countin' Down the Days You were at the other end
Couldn't speak, but I know what you'd say...
The closing anthem is out of character in all the ways that “What Is Love” wasn’t. It’s a mellow, acoustic, string-accented ballad dedicated to a friend who passed away. Okay, not the most original way to end a rock album – I always get a little suspicious when a harder-edged rock band has a soft ballad come out of nowhere, showing no influence from their more aggressive side. But then, I have to hand it to Pax217 for being diverse. Still, the gentle drum pattern and looping guitar part seem a little subdued, as do Dave’s sleepy vocals on the verses. Maybe it would have worked better if the song built more momentum, leading back into a rocking climax and fadeout, or if it wasn’t mostly in major key – but those are mere trifles. My guess is that the band got a little pressure from their label to have a crossover single that could be played on CHR (though I think “I’ll See You” and “Move on This” would survive just fine), so they kept it mellow here. The song does a good job of leaving the listener with a longing for Heaven, as the instruments fall away and we’re left with Dave singing the line “Goodbye, I love you, come and see me sometime” over and over. Nice sentiment, but the song is definitely a startling shift in mood when I play the CD on random.
The album may start stronger than it ends, but it’s got some surprisingly powerful songs in the back half (I get the feeling that “What Is Love” will tear up the Christian rock charts in a powerful way if it’s ever released). I think it’s worth checking out if you like the idea of rap, rock, and reggae being mixed together without the lyrics being depressing or lackadaisical. I don’t know if everyone will love the CD as much as I do, since fans of the genre will probably expect something darker, but kudos to the band for helping to dispel the stereotype surrounding a genre that is rapidly wearing out its welcome.
TRACK REVIEW SUMMARY Excellent: I'll See You, What Is Love, PSA, Tonight, Engage
Good: Voices, Move on This, Fly Away, Yesterday, Dream Away
Decent: Melody, Countin' Down the Days
Weak: NONE
Skippable: NONE
Band Members (only first names are given):
Dave: Lead vocals
Jesse: Guitar
Josh: Bass
Skwid: Drums, percussion
Joey: Drums, percussion
Tito: Keyboards, percussion
Bobbito the Chef: DJ and the occasional rap
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