Northcote

Hope Is Made of Steel (2015)

drumsonlustforlife

Hope has a more immediate energy to it than the band's previous releases. Perhaps, this is due to the fact that these tunes seem more informed by ‘70s rock than country or folk. The ten tracks on Hope achieve a kind of Springsteen-lite vibe (not for nothing, on a recently-released EP, Northcote covers Springsteen’s “Radio Nowhere”): Goud’s songs don’t sound like the Boss per se, but lyrically they, like Springsteen, concentrate on characters searching for redemption, going on late-night drives, leaving dead-end towns for something bigger, or summoning the dogged determination to keep on going amidst life’s challenges. Goud fronted the Christian post-hardcore band Means for a long time, and I don’t know whether he still comes at music from a fundamentally religious standpoint or not, but the songs on this record display little preoccupation with religious themes. The lyrics aren’t revelatory, they’re positive and inspirational, and at times they come off a bit corny. Still, they’re heartfelt and Goud’s rough-hewn, earnest delivery sells them. If you don’t like that style; you won’t like this album, if you do, you likely will – it’s about that simple. Musically, these tracks are all pretty mid-tempo, with the exceptions being the slow-burn of the Chuck Ragan-assisted opener “This is Our Time,” the affecting countrified ballad “Leaving Wyoming,” and the nostalgia-tinged closer “Your Rock and Roll.”