Hurt - Vol. II

Genre rock Publisher Capitol Records External Links Official Hurt Website Official Capitol Records Website

What's most surprising about the hard rock band Hurt after listening to their second album, appropriately titled Vol. II (Vol. I was released early in 2006), isn't the use of melody, or the symphonic aspirations the band has, but rather the conviction the band brings to their harder edged material. You see, singer/guitarist/lyricist/de facto band figurehead J. Loren Wince grew up in a household where rock and roll wasn't allowed. Raised on a diet of gospel and classical music, studying to be a classical violinist at an early age and citing Antonio Vivaldi as his idol and greatest influence, J. Loren discovered hard rock later than many others.

This late blooming explains why Hurt doesn't sound as cliched or trite as so many of their brethren do. There's a feeling that anything can happen in Hurt's music, that this is a band intent on turning people's expectations on their collective ear and making them do what they command. The closest comparison to Hurt one can summon is the Maynard James Keenan-led project A Perfect Circle. With APC gone, Hurt fill a void for melodic, virtuoso hard rock with a commercial bent. Vol. II positively shimmers, all bright sounds and perfectly mixed instrumentation. In all honesty, perhaps the album is a little too perfectly mixed. The album is a hair close to going overboard into becoming a soulless piece of product until someone, probably J. Loren, pulled back the reins just in time.

There are some masterful songs here. Though album opener "Summers Lost" would indicate something different awaits the listener, it's not until the double-dose of "Alone With the Sea" and "Talking To God" that hammers this notion in. "Alone With the Sea", features layered harmonies, gorgeous symphonic sweep and delicate banjo picking. "Talking To God" takes to task a hypocritical mother who spends her time praying yet ignores her son. The song mixes hard-driving guitars with a melodic rush that's undeniably powerful to listen to. Bursting through after the second chorus wherein J. Loren lets out a blood-curdling scream and a gospel choir falls in, the whole thing is sent to the heavens before ending on a lovely bit of muted guitar.

Split into two parts (as if the band long for the days of the LP format), the second half comes close to matching the highs found on the first. Leaning a little more on the hard rock edge than the first, songs such as "Loded", "Better" and album closer "Thank You for Listening" are surefire crowd pleasers live. If a little less majestic than the album's first, the second portion of Vol. II shows the listener where the band came from.

Though Hurt haven't made a revolutionary album with Vol. II, J. Loren and company (Paul Spatola - guitar, dobro, piano, Joshua Ansley - bass guitar and Evan Johns - drums) are making strides towards something truly special in the future. The mere fact that they elevate the rather tired and cliched hard rock genre as much as they do here would indicate that great things are in store for the band as well as for their fans.