Hawk Nelson

Live Life Loud

BEC Recordings

September 22, 2009

By Kim Scroggins

You put in the latest album by Hawk Nelson and almost instantly you’re hit with a sound that brings you back to the days when New Found Glory and Sum 41 were the most played artists on your iPod. Well, at least that’s what this album did for me.

Live Life Loud is a perfect blend of the band’s familiar pop/punk energy with touches of classic rock guitar riffs and softer melodic ballads thrown in here and there. The main fear with an album like this is that all the songs will sound the same. Surprisingly, that is not the case here. Hawk Nelson successfully grasps the use of various genres to really complete a solid structure that is this record.

Lyrically, this album isn’t bad. Being labeled a Christian rock band, it’s easy to get caught up in the subject matter. However, the focus here is on living your life and making a change. For example, take lyrics from “The Meaning of Life”: “Find a way to make a change/in the lives of all of us who need it/Today’s the day don’t hesitate/everybody with me sing.”

With every strong track list like this one, which is comprised of feel good tunes, there is always that one song that doesn’t quite fit in with the rest. That song for me was their ballad “Shaken.” Versatility is a good thing, but you can’t fall short just because the song is a bit softer.

Any band that can properly use the element of the string and bagpipe opening is something that any listener should respect. It’s something more of an old band style that really stands out against the pop/punk angst.

From the beginning of title track “Live Life Loud” to the last note of “The Final Toast,” you find yourself moving and that is something not many bands have been able to master. It’s not everyday that you find a record that has your toes tapping from the very first line. In a word, the experience of listening to Live Life Loud was this: fun.

Overall, you do have to give Hawk Nelson credit, at no point throughout the album did I find myself bored or tempted to hit the skip button. And, with the special 3-D glasses and booklet that come with the album, it makes listening that much more enjoyable.