Pedals

really, if youve been listening to united by fate for the past eight years as have i, you will be enormously grateful for this latest blessing from walter and bandmates. just a great, great album. it sounds so ambitious and yet it is balanced by a perfect simpleness. the melodies, the lyrics, the tempos, the riffs, the layering of the guitar rythyms and leads, which i hear playing pleasantly in my head while falling asleep at night,or even while im at work and people are boring me to death with stupid questions, the production, even the order of the songs is just so perfect. and of course walters vocals, one of rocks most unique and under appreciated vocalist,(actually the band itself seems under appreciated, and are so great they will probably stay that way.)which give this collection of songs an unmistakeable rival schools sound. yet there are moments where the ghost of quicksand and walking concert reveal themselves briefly. and then there were moments when i was reminded of coldplays x and y and maybe a bit of stone temple pilots. pedals, the album rocks, walter schreifels is a musical genius, and my writing skills (comma, comma,comma,) tonight are atrocious, but i highly recommend that if you are cheap you overcome your cheapness, and if you spend without end you buy two or more, or you know you could just buy one like me and hope that the rest of the great band liking world actually takes notice and starts buying huge amounts of this cd because, you know i think these guys really deserve to be up there. unbelievable amounts of recommendation for rival schools pedals.

All in all, I would rate this CD higher overall than United By Fate, BUT none of the songs on this CD are as good as some of those on the other CD. For example, Travel By Telephone, and Everything Has its Point are absolutely great songs. However for me the rest of United By Fate tails off for me after the first few songs, but it might be an unfair comparison based on the strength of those two songs. Pedals also starts off on a strong point. For me, Wring it Out is another great song. However, the songs on this CD have a lot more going for them when listening to them making this a better overall effort.Another important point to watch out for is if you download the MP3 album, like I did, there are two versions to choose from. There is the standard version which only has the 10 songs that come on the CD, and a deluxe version where you get 3 bonus tracks and a video of Shot After Shot. The weird thing is that they cost the same (or did when I bought it). I would buy the deluxe version since the 3 extra tracks are better than some of those that come on the standard CD.So on to the album review on its own merits. As I already mentioned, Wring it Out is the best song on the CD. It followed by another strong song, 69 Guns, which has a hard rocking verse but then when the chorus hits, the aggressive guitar gets out of the way for a string accented, melodic chorus. After Choose our own Adventure, the band changes up the first three hard rocking songs to 'Running To Red Lights', which starts off with an acoustic guitar strumming, and is only accented by electric guitars.After this more mellow song, it doesn't take long for the band to get back to rocking hard again with 'Shot after Shot'. The song that follows is probably my next favorite on the album, which is 'A Parts for B Actors'. On this song, I feel that Walter's voice really shines during the lead in to the chorus. When the chorus hits, you are hit with a nice arpeggiated guitar riff. Great stuff!The next song, which I feel is appropriately named, is Big Wave. The first few seconds of the song reminded me of Walter's days in the band Quicksand. The guitar riff and wall of sounds hits you like a big wave would. Small Doses is the next song, and is sort of ho-hum. Not bad, but not really great either. The Ghost is Out there is another song that I am up in the air about. There are parts that I like, but others that I don't.Now if you are curious about the deluxe edition, the songs that come with it are 'You Should have Hung Out', 'Arranged Marriage', and 'Paranoid Detectives'. All three of these songs are solid. I am surprised they didn't make the cut for the normal release. The chorus to Paranoid Detectives also remind me of some old Quicksand, sans the heavily distorted guitar that you would find in Quicksand. The main part of the song has an uptempo feel to it, but when the chorus comes, a half tempo riff is played which makes its impact huge.In summary, if you liked United By Fate, then I am pretty certain you will like this CD. Definitely buy the deluxe version. The three bonus tracks are all great, and it won't cost you more than the standard CD (unless Amazon fixes(d) the pricing).

If you are even bothering to read this review, then you probably are already a fan of Walter's previous works so I will save you that tangent. This has turned out to be a pretty decent rock record. Less heavy, more polished than Rival's United by Fate but still with plenty of presence and hook. It still has plenty of jangly riffs and Walter's classic grovel. I took a flyer on it for $5. On first listen, I would have called it decent. On subsequent listens, however, more has been revealed. Good stuff, nothing to shy away from here. Heck, in retrospect, I would have paid $10 and still felt like I got a good deal. Take the plunge...

This is a great album. I was a fan of Quicksand and have their two studio albums. This is Walter Schreifels' band a number of years later and they did three albums, this one being the second one. A bit different than Quicksand, but very good. I don't know if everyone who likes Quicksand would like this, but I definitely do.

What can I say? RIVAL SCHOOLS does it again! This album is full of dynamic, drive, subtlety, atmosphere.... it's just a good, good solid album. GET IT!

I'm loving the album. I can't stop listening to it and I can't keep it out of my head when I'm not listening to it. Thanks to Walter, Sammy and the boys for doing us all proud. Now if walter can only do a solo tour, tour with Rival Schools and a Quicksand reunion album/tour then I ( and a lot of other people!) can die happy.

Awesome cd!!!!

From the opening track, "Wring it Out", this CD is great. I really enjoyed this album just as much as I enjoyed the last one. I hope the next one doesn't take just as long to come out.