There are few voices that can rock your world, but Bear Rinehart sings with so much passion it gives you goose bumps. Fans of Kings of Leon should rejoice, as a vocal powerhouse similar to Caleb Followill is present in Needtobreathe, and unlike those rockers, it doesn't look like a hiatus is in the near future, as Needtobreathe’s The Reckoning brings down the house.
Although the album can be recognized from its first track “Oohs and Ahhs,” featured on ABC’s commercial for its show Alcatraz, The Reckoning should be applauded for much more than just that song. The Reckoning is literally a record of reckoning, "a time when the effects of one's past mistakes or misdeeds catch up with them.” Many of the songs on the album have this common theme of coming to terms with one’s actions and sins, dealing with the karma that will inevitably come your way. On “Drive All Night,” Rinehart pleads to find a girl that can save him, and on “White Fences,” he sings, “you leave me in the dark, recounting all my sins.”
Photo Courtesy: Flickr.com (JanetDancer)
“A Place Only You Can Go” will stop a listener dead in their tracks. Easily my favorite track on the album, its unique ability to integrate bag pipes into a deep and emotional song about broken hearts and passionate love makes it different. The lyrics, “Oh, I know this song won't do, enough to prove my love to you. In my heart you'll always know, there is a place only love can go, there is a place only you can go” are what catapult this song from being slightly different to the song you replay every night as you fall asleep.
Toward the end of the album, it’s as if Rinehart realizes that the only way to win against himself is to change, and hold himself accountable. Ending with “Learn to Love” the lyrics change to saying he “wants” to do something, to he “needs” to do something. “I need the fear of a love that’s lost, I need to stop trying to count the cost, I need to fight on the losing side,” Rinehart sings. As listeners, we travel this journey with the band as they fight through their own day of reckoning, and as listeners, we can battle our own demons with The Reckoning.
Photo Courtesy of: Flickr.com (Susieq3c)
Although they display a slightly religious undertone, none of the songs are overtly about God, but can be interpreted to be about anything or anybody the listener wishes them to be which opens up the audience pool a great deal. Nevertheless, The Reckoning speaks to the faith in all of us, religious or not. There’s always a moment in time where you have this immense hope inside of you--hope for happiness, success or love. The Reckoning speaks to the hope that sometimes gets stifled with the constant buzz of our thoughts, and when you play Needtobreathe's new album, all you feel is hope.
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