Glass Hammer - If

http://grooveshark.com/#!/playlist/Glass+Hammer+If/83184725

1. Beyond, Within
2. Behold the Ziddle
3. Grace the Sky
4. At Last We Are
5. If the Stars
6. If the Sun

Glass Hammer is an American progressive rock band from Chattanooga, Tennessee, formed in 1992 by multi-instrumentalists Steve Babb and Fred Schendel. The band combines many progressive rock influences into a characteristic style all their own.

Released in 2010, "If" (their eleventh album), marks a transition to a more symphonic sound and, to date, is one of their best received recordings.

My thoughts:

The best way to describe how I feel while listening to Glass Hammer's "If" is like you are taking a confusing and long road trip and you don't know where you are going to end up. The road twists, bends, and goes in different directions as you pass many sceneries along the way; meadows, trees, hills, buildings, going through sunshine and rain, ect.--my point is that you see so many different things, but as this trip goes on, you can't help but eventually wonder, "Are we there yet?"

To continue with the road trip analogy, if you're not noticing the detailed and full scenery that's passing you by, it can all really start to blur together. And that's what I felt that this music was doing to me: blurring together. I tried to pay attention to understand the complexity and depth of it. And I'm not really sure I successfully did--my brain has been used to the traditional verse-chorus-bridge-end in 3 to 4 minutes pattern. Simple understandings and predictable patterns--this album was certainly not that!

So it's hard to say if I really liked it or not. I didn't hate it, but I think it took some time getting use to. It was a musical experience that was challenging and really did demand more of my attention.

The vocalist for me was hard to hear; I mean, you can hear him, but it's hard to make out exactly what he's saying. The vocals are not the center piece of the music like other songs. The voice is more like another instrument, complementing and adding to the many layers these songs offer. Here's a good link to read the lyrics. They are definitely worth a read and complement the musical road trip. http://lyrics.wikia.com/Glass_Hammer:If_%282010%29