Artist: The Myriad
Album: You Can’t Trust a Ladder    
Label: Floodgate Records
Tracks: 11
Length: 37:48
Review by: Luke Kruse

 

You know those charts they have in the music section in Christian bookstores?  The ones that say something along the lines of: “Quit listening to Jimmy Eat World you heretic and listen to something safe and wholesome like Audio Adrenaline!” The concept behind those charts has always been extremely frustrating, as it has made for a lot of copycat bands in the Christian scene that lack the talent and ability to stand a chance in the secular realm.  The Myriad is one of those bands that on their debut album “You Can’t Trust a Ladder” for the Christian label Floodgate Records just might be pegged by Christian bookstores as a “safe” version of bands like Muse, Radiohead, or Coldplay. 

 

Thankfully, unlike many Christian alternatives, The Myriad actually posses the musical chops to deserve a nationally distributed record.  These boys from Seattle have a very European rock sound that relies on huge choruses, dynamic shifts in sound, rolling pianos, squealing guitars, and thundering bass riffs to drive home their art.  The first thing you’ll notice about “You Can’t trust a Ladder” is how huge it sounds.  Producer Aaron Marsh, whose name you might recognize as being the primary songwriter of Copeland, does a great job in making the album sound incredibly crisp and pristine.  These songs were made to be played at high volume.  Lyrically, vocalist Jeremy Edwardson writes in vague prose that allows just about anyone to be able to relate to the content.  Thematically, Edwardson seems to be dealing mainly with faith issues, but does so in a way that would not ostracize non-Christian listeners.  A sample lyric from “10,000 X 10,000 says, “Slip away with me / Close you’re eyes you’re free / Dreams are often lost / But heavens not far off.”  These lyrics would be right at home on a Coldplay record, in that they seem profound in the context of the music, but have very little depth on paper.

 

There is a lot to like about this record, but unfortunately The Myriad falls into copycat mode at times, leaving the listener with the feeling of, “I think I’ve heard this before somewhere.”  Opener “Stretched Over” is an apocalyptic rocker that does what any good lead track should do by grabbing the listener’s attention.  Unfortunately, the next track, “When Fire Falls,” sounds so much like a Muse song that I had to double check to make certain my copy of “Absolution” hadn’t been put in by mistake.  “Nothing is Safe” has a squealing guitar bridge that sounds dangerously close to the climax of Radiohead’s “Paranoid Android.”  “Perfect Obligation” could easily be misconstrued as a Switchfoot B-side, which, if you are wondering, is not a compliment.  Unfortunately the band has chosen the latter track as their radio single, which seems like an obvious bid for CCM radio airplay.

 

They Myriad have clearly put a lot of passion into their art on “You Can’t Trust a Ladder.”  The talent is there.  Now all they need to do is find their own sound - a sound that Christian bookstores won’t so easily be able to put onto one of those charts.   After all, no one wants to be the “safe” version of anything.