No Motiv

No Motiv is about to release their second full length on Vagrant Records. Their first c.d. "And The Sadness Prevails" was an excellent punk melodic album that found itself in my c.d. player for many spins. Vagrant says that these guys are the hardest working band on the planet, and I believe them! If anyone has ever seen a list of tour dates, well, you know what I mean.

The song "Celebrate" is the first track. If you've heard Vagrant's latest comp this song was on it. "Diagram For Healing" also contains the track "Get A Life", which was also on the compilation. Just like "From Here To Infirmary" by Alkaline Trio, both tracks have been re-recorded for this album. Unfortunately, I preferred both versions from the compilation over these two versions. Especially on "Celebrate", I thought that the singing "gusto" is sung better on the comp version. As well, this album contains the song, 'Only You" from the "Darn Punk Motion Picture Soundtrack". I'm not saying these songs on this album are horrible, I listen to them all the time when I play the album, I just like them better on the "Another Year On The Streets" comp better.

The rest of the album is excellent. "Broken and Burned" is a good track that features strong vocals. This song always helps me to think back on my past relationships. "Give Me Strength" is another great track that features a super catchy guitar hook that I've had in my head for some time now. The band, far from spiritual or "Christian Rock", comes across as to almost talking to the "higher powers" in the song. Once again, the vocals are very strong, powerful, and straight to the point.

I thought this album was a pretty good improvement over "And The Sadness Prevails". I can only imagine that after this is released the guys of No Motiv will be touring like crazy in support of this new album, so go see them and see why these guys are getting all the attention lately.