Forgiveness Rock Record

Artist: Broken Social Scene
Label: Arts & Crafts/Spunk/EMI
Website: brokensocialscene.ca

I can't believe that it has been eight years since Broken Social Scene's 2002 breakout record You Forgot It In People showed off a Canadian collective of talented artists that have had a major impact on the indie scene as we know it today. It has been five years since their excellent self-titled follow up, so with the bar set extremely high we finally get to hear the new long player Forgiveness Rock Record.

The task seems completely impossible but without a doubt this record delivers on all levels and once again provides a thrilling listen that only the group of Broken Social Scene could deliver. What really appealed to me the most on Forgiveness Rock Record was its complete focus on the songs. The structures, the lyrics and playability all come together here.

Compared to their earlier work, this record shines the most in this category, as every track but one contains vocals and some of their more abstract artistic numbers are non-existent on this album. Now for fans of these instrumental moments, don't fret too badly because Broken Social Scene still give you exploratory sounds within some of their longer tracks like in upbeat opener "World Sick" and the atmospheric moments on "Ungrateful Little Father".

It would have been easy for Broken Social Scene to let each individual ego get in the way on Forgiveness Rock Record but instead the collective was able to harness every available talent to the fullest, while offering an equality both vocally and musically throughout the albums hour long running time and still sounding totally cohesive.

Forgiveness Rock Record will not surpass the band's greatest accomplishments but it does place them into an upper echelon of artists that may not produce tons of records but the ones they release are nothing but the best.

Christopher Anthony

For more of Christopher Anthony's music reviews, check out The Fire Note