Customer Reviews

Avalanche

5 star:		(70)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I'm so happy that others agree with me on this album. I purchased it, I think the day it was released, nearly 2 years ago and it is still consistently my favorite cd. Sure I purchase a new one every now and then but this cd always finds its way back into my stereo for a few days stint at a time in order to get my emotional fix from powerful music.

The lyrical content might be confusing to some, including myself, but the vocals and the music in this will blow most people away. I love how Matt Good has moved from more traditional rock to experiment with some other musical mediums on this album and the marriage of the two types of music and his voice still moves me after hearing the album hundreds of times since I bought it. From start to end, it's damn good listening.

My favorites are "While We Were Hunting Rabbits", and "Nearing Fantastica"... they build up and get you rolling!

I hope he can match this album in the future but I can't see how. He never lets me down per say but his newer album doesn't compare to Avalanche in my opinion, but mostly because it's simply a different style and I prefer the more complex music of Avalanche.

If perfection was something that was truly attainable and not merely subjective, "Avalanche" would the the Webster's defintion.

This is a man who's just rediscovered creative control and, like a kid at Christmas, can't wait to use it. Matt experiments with whatever pops into his head and the result is a surprisingly cohesive album. The album can be defined in general as a rebellion album, where Matt rebels against politics, the music industry, the current state of society... you name it. He's still pissed off but he's not trying to cram his thoughts down your throat. He's explaining in great detail the reasons why you should be pissed off too.

The album can be listened to from start to finish without a moment you'll regret. And there are some definite standout songs. "Pledge Of Allegiance" is a great opener and creates a soundscape with a delayed guitar that's very visual. You lose yourself in this song. "Weapon", the first single, is still an amazing song with a great combination of acoustic guitar and crunching electric guitar. "A Long Way Down" is an upbeat ballad with a beautiful chorus, "House Of Smoke And Mirrors" is an amazing closer with some impressive piano work, and "Double Life" is the most upbeat song of the bunch with two infectious guitar solos.

But wait, there's more. In fact the best two songs on this album are polar opposites. "While We Were Hunting Rabbits" is a powerful lament about the state of the music industry and has the type of ending that makes you say "That should be at the end of a movie!"

The other song, which somehow manages to top the previous, is "Near Fantastica". This song is a driving rock song with an incredibly loud chorus which will surprise you considering how toned down the rest of the album is. It has a rhythem guitar effect throughout the whole song which is really hard to describe but I guarantee it will have you coming back again and again.

So, to sum this album up?
"It's been alright."

When I heard Weapon I knew I had to buy this CD the day it came out, and I was not disappointed. Every track is a crazy musical rush.

Pledge of Allegiance is awesome with its soaring choral lines and bells.
Lullaby For A New World Order is totally moving. Weapon, of course, is heavenly.
In A World Called Catastrophe is fun, but Avalanche is just plain exhilarating: when Matt starts singing
"aaaaaaavalaaaaaanche..." it actually evokes a real avalanche, and the mixing effects are cool.
Then there's 21st century living, which is maybe my least-favourite song because of the slightly-less-than-clever spoken parts, but then again the chorus is catchy.
While We Were Hunting Rabbits is nice and relaxing.
Et cetera, whatever, the rest of it is good too.
Almost every song, if not every one, has orchestral backup that brings the whole experience to new heights of beauty.

Buying this album is like making 100% profit. You'll love it and want to listen to it all day... and make all of your cheapskate, CD-burning, MP3-downloading friends jealous at the slick pictures in your CD booklet... You'll also notice the little white card to access matt good's members-only site to download other versions of the songs, and, on the last page of the booklet, a nearly-invisible little poem that you may have to hold up to the light to read.

Brilliant. Different. Beautiful. Some more Brilliant. That's what comes to mind when I think of Avalanche. I once read in a fan's review that Matthew Good is a lyrical genius, and I couldn't agree more. His lyrics take some time to figure out, but they're completely worth it. Matt has some strong opinions and he's not afraid to speak his mind. See 21st Century Living, for example, where you get two lovely angry rants about supersizing, ambition, and society in general. Or Pledge of Allegiance, where he's good old and cynical.

Something completely different is the love song Song for the Girl, where Matt shows his (gasp!) happy side! He has obviously traded in the angry and nervously energetic Matthew Good Band rocksongs like Everything is Automatic and Load me up for more melodic and calm songs, that still make you think. Lots of strings, piano and acoustic guitar, and Matt's best vocals to date.

Best track on the album is the bombastic but spinechilling Weapon. With a hook like you've never heard one and soaring vocals, you'll have this one on repeat for quite some time.

I was another one who was sad to see the demise of MGB and if you pick up this CD expecting it to be MGB solo you will be disappointed. This is literally an avalanche of sounds and lush landscapes. At the same time feeling clean and fresh and being some of the best songs MG has written.

While it's definitely a Matthew Good album the roaring guitars and heavy rock elements of MGB have been replaced by immense drums, acoustic guitars and soaring string arrangements. That's not to say it doesn't plug in the amplifiers and hit some big riffs when it needs to, because if you've heard or seen the great video for Weapon (which was also featured on the series Alias) you'll know that MG still rocks.

Songs like Rabbits and Avalanche have the slow, dense, mementous build of tracks like A Boy and His Machine Gun and Failing the Rorschach Test. Double Life and Song for the Girl are rockers that wouldn't be out of place on Underdogs. Lullaby is a melodic acoustic pop-rock track with an uplifting string section, and Long Way Down could be Tori Amos revisiting Surburbia.

Make no mistake, lyrically and musically (and personally!) this is still Matt Good. So when he rips apart supersized fast food on 21st Century Living or dwells on small town misery in Long Way Down you'll feel right at home.

And it's always good to be home.

All the Matthew Good Band CD's were good - I always thought the band was very underrated in the US.

This first solo CD from Matt however, blows everything away. It is an incredible 70 minutes of music, unlike anything I've ever heard. It really hits you like an Avalanche. I spend a lot of time looking for the best music out there, but with MG I have to look no further. I like bands like Interpol, Coldplay, Strokes, and Radiohead, but this is better and more ambitious than any of them. Time will show that this is one of the great records of our time. It is epic in every sense of the word. Songs like "Avalanche", "Lullaby for the New World Order" and "...Hunting Rabits" are breath-taking, amazing tracks. It's solid if not spectacular from 1-13. Very few people have the vision, skill and the cojones to pull off something like this. It's the best music Matt's ever done, and finally a product by MG that is so powerful it's impossible to ignore - I expect this to be succesful everywhere it's released.

I know the title of my review makes me sound like some 12 years old fan but that is my honest opinion. And to obtain that title in my mind Matthew Good had to compete with artists like Nine Inch Nails, Tori Amos, REM, Smashing Pumpkins, Sigur Ros and ton-loads of others...

Honestly, I have never ever ever heard anything like "While We Were Hunting Rabbits". This has to be in the top 5 of my favourite songs of all time, and that's a lot. This song alone makes the entire album worth buying. This song is so incredibly emotionally powerful that I cannot begin to describe it, I just wished everyone in the whole world would have a chance to hear it, even if just once.

This being said the rest of the album is equally amazing. "Weapon" is certainly as stunning and emotional. If we had to show aliens what sort of music we make on this planet I recommend we send them a copy of this album.

Provocative and powerful, this CD doesn't need a long review. It is simply one of the best recordings ever.

Greatest album ever. I can stop there.

Hello, I would first like to say that not only is this album a smash hit, it is quite naturally perfect, a work of art, flawless, sublime. Matthew Good is what every canadian wants to hear on their stereos regardless of place and time. I dont think that there is any other artist out their with as much creativity as Matthew Good. In every single one of his songs, comes a meaning which is not usually found in most artist. I believe that he is a perfect role model for youngsters all accross the globe, he is intelligent, clean cut artist that only people that truley know the art of music would understand. I like to say that being alive during this mans artistical musical success is one excellent time. This album hits every spot and/or emotion in your body repeadily, his deep and meaningful lyrics will be stuck with you, through out your times. If there is such a thing of an artist deserving for his songs to be baught rather then pulled from the net, Matthew Good definatley surpasses any such deserving to the point in which its a no brainer, this man deserves everything from this album. I like to think of song writing as a type of poetry, something that comes from an individual into a rythm that is enjoyable to the ear, soothing to the heart, and peaceful to the mind, and this is exactly what he is able to acomplish in the songs that can be found in this album. This album is perfect, Thank you Matthew Good for great music that actually has a purpose.