The Classic Crime presents their fans with their full length sophomore effort The Silver Chord on Tuesday, July 22^nd. Four days before the release, the band made public the full album in conjunction with Myspace Music. On the heels of their Seattle EP released last fall, The Silver Chord offers fans a harder and darker work, slightly tainted by repeating lyrics.

The silver chord is a term directly taken from the Bible. Ecclesiastes 12:6-7 says just before the well known Meaningless passage,

“Remember [your Creator]-before the silver chord is severed…and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.”

The silver chord is a representation of life, a life given by the Creator just once to every man. And likewise, The Silver Cord album is a representation of the ups and downs of life, a searching for that one thing, that longing.

Before I talk more in depth about the songs themselves, there is one thing that brings the album as a whole down. This is the fact that certain terms and phrases are repeated over and over and over again in most songs. However, the vocalist does use different pitches and volumes and melodies during the ad naseum that follows the changing of the beat, melody and tempo of the song.

The CD begins with a track called “The End,” and ends with a track called “The Beginning.” “The End” is a sorrowful song about a hard fought battle and leading followers into an ambush. Shame is present, and leads into the next song, “Just A Man”, which deals with regrets. Choices were made because they were the easy thing to do instead of the right thing to do (especially as a leader). (”I’m just a man” ad naseum.)

One of the first singles from this CD, “Gravedigging” is about a man’s struggle with suicide…resorting to digging his own grave because things in life are useless…leading others to follow (the last line exclaims, “We’re digging our own grave!”).

“The Way That You Are” is a song directed towards a guy and a girl in separate verses (makes me think of TFK’s “This Is A Call”). Ultimately they are both discouraged by their life, and the song encourages them not to let what others think become what they really are or could be. (”This is the way that you are” ad naseum.)

The next song, “5805″ begins by reminding me of the music of a modern waltz with vocals. The lyrics are a reminiscence and longing for the good times gone by growing up, spending time with our friends and listening to concerts shouting at the top of our lungs. (”Like that” ad naseum.)

“Salt in the Snow” is a look at where the singer is right now in life, how “like salt in the snow / I’m melted and left on the side of the road.” He is not pleased or happy with where he is, and so he is looking to the hope that “winter’s cold will give way to summer’s warmth.” Powerfully, he cries out to someone bigger than himself (God?), “I took you for granted again….I was wrong again / are you listening?” (”Woah…” ad nauseum.)

The first single released last month, “Abracadavers”, is a rant against vanity and selfishness. “We’re all the same, made of hair and bones and water and blood cells / We’re all to blame for spending way too much time on ourselves.” We’re all human but we think we can make ourselves look better than any other human, but in reality the way we really grow and become a true hero is through suffering.

“R and R” is a regret of choosing to run away and a longing for home. Like the title implies, the seeker is looking for true Rest and Relaxation where he belongs. (”How long, how long?” and “Woah” ad naseum.)

“God and Drugs” acknowledges that God won’t go away, even while we look elsewhere for Him through our own efforts. (”Oh oh oh oh” ad naseum.) Similar to it, “Medisin” is an interesting twist on a common concept. Usually, we take medicine to help our bodies stay alive. But this song acknowledges that we also indulge in sin in the same way, to try and stay alive. However, the singer knows that “there is more to life” than taking the tranquilizing medicine of sin to keep him asleep and in oblivious slavery.

“The Ascent” is a voiceless track 1:54 long, with an upbeat and hopeful feel. This is immediately followed by “Sing,” which is a synthetically accented song calling for the singer himself to sing, to lift spirits, and change things for the better

The next track, “Everything” is a song about the pleasures of intimacy of the singer with his girl, and his love and longing for her.

“Closer Than We Think” reveals that in spite of the downs in life, “I am true and I am living” An attention-grabbing play on a line in the well known 23^rd Psalm says that “We will walk through the valley of the shadow of the boring and we will burn it all. We will not go quietly” But this is all because of the hope that “that despite what we’ve done, we’re closer than we think to home.” (”To home…” ad naseum.)

The last song, called “The Beginning” feels hopeful, as the singer is finally coming home (which could be symbolized as his homeland, his girl, and/or his God, maybe all three) and the revelation hits him that God has taken his life, through the ups and downs, and continues to make him a beautiful thing. (”The sea…” and “I’d let her go” ad naseum.)

Ultimately, The Silver Chord is a stirring account of life’s experiences. The Classic Crime was not afraid to be truthful and honest about these experiences and feelings, which is evident in the various struggles each song exemplifies. Life is a journey, and the only thing you can do is press on through the good and the bad, the ups and the downs, searching and longing for something else. That something else is home. That is The Silver Chord.

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