Audio CD review:
New Model Army - High

New Model Army - High

Band: New Model Army Title: High Rating: Release Date: 04 September, 2007 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Wired 2: One Of the Chosen 3: High 4: No Mirror, No Shadow 5: Dawn 6: All Consuming Fire 7: Sky In Your Eyes 8: Into the Wind 9: Nothing Dies Easy 10: Breathing 11: Rivers 12: Bloodsports

Customer Review Meditations on different forms of highs and addictions Many fans of early NMA may have a difficult time adjusting to the new musical directions NMA is exploring on this album. Justin Sullivan et al craft another challenging album. It took a number of listens before I was sure of my own opinion of this one. 'Wired' takes a typical rock 4/4 beat to serve as a backdrop for a look at love and desire. 'One of the Chosen' is a meditation on the seductive power of fundamentalism and religious conversion, the dangers associated therewith are implied obliquely. The song is musically intense and drives one like conversion syndrome itself. 'High' - the title-track - provides an antidote to the addictions of megalomania, power, nationalism, etc. It has an almost orchestral feel at times with sweeping faux-string parts approximating the feel of looking down from the heights, whether of the hills and/or our higher nature. It is difficult to tell whether 'No Mirror, No Shadow is a personal bit or a really enjoyable lambaste of the current American administration's refrain of 'I can't recall' every time they are asked a question. "It seems so simple, but they just don't get it/I meant what I said at the time that I said it/Nothing is ever meant to last. . . " This song certainly has one of the more catchy refrains on this album. 'Dawn' - takes a somwhat more musically minimalist lament as a backdrop for an examination of personal and familial loss. 'All Consuming Fire' - is the most unique song on this album, with a very tongue-in-cheek look at the demise of traditional culture in the swirling flames of modern, global, mercantile, and media controlled psuedo-culture and the terrible irony of the 'Pax Americana'. And so it goes . . . new musical explorations, often more like soundscapes with lyrics, provide a vital backdrop for NMA's brave and clear-sighted viewpoints on life, the universe and everything associated with the highs and addictions of being human, of human being. . You can see a complete list of all New Model Army discography, or go back to the New Model Army tabs