Search - Thousand Foot Krutch :: Welcome to the Masquerade

Ear Candy... Scrath that... EAR STEAK

C. Smith | New York | 09/09/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Heavy riffs, lyrics, touching ballads... everything down to the cover of the cd is delivered almost flawlessly. The CD starts off with an intro which sets us up for the title track, inviting us to to drop our guards and admit, "I'm not o.k.". Continuing the TFK tradition of writing fist pumping, "rawk" songs, Fire it Up gives us another anthem to be heard in sports arenas. It delivers some awesome riffs and a very cathy chorus that is guaranteed to stick in your head. Bring Me To Life was offered as a sampler from Taco Bell's feed the beat, which TFK was one of the three winners. It is an epic in every sense of the word. With a simple (and often overused) theme, it offers some of TFK's best lyrics, and is one of the best songs in the TFK library. E for Extintion misleads you to thinking it's the albus first ballad starting off with atmospheric vocals and airy guitars, but some heavier guitars lead into a screaming bridge, and a catchy chorus which reminds me of Quicken from Phenomenon in which Trevor screams the first couple words of each sentence along with his singing for a very anthemic song. Wathing Over Me is the albums first ballad. It offers a nice remider of God's prescence without sounding cliche and it ends with a soft orchestra. The Part That Hurts the Most immediatly gets things moving again and introduces a small dose of synths to compliment some of the guitar work. Scream offers some honest lyrics of when you feel that you're "at the end of the rope". Also some piano is thrown in for good measure. Look Away sounds like something that would fit nicely with Trevor and Steve's side project FM Static, especially their newest album Dear Diary. It's a nice acoustic driven track with a bit of piano and a really nice string arrangment for a more epic ballad sound. Forward Motion is TFK's first true pop song and they pull it off very well. It's sound adds a nice element to the CD. Outta Control is another heavy riffage song, and although less memorable than all of the other songs, it's still a great song. Smack Down is TFK's attempt to get some more exposure to sports fans. I was almost reluctant to hear the song before buying the CD thinking it would be just a generic rock song. A huge smile went across my face when hearing this song. The song is a cross between Queen's We Will Rock You and some of TFK's earlier work. Already Home has a nice orchestrated opening and just great ending to an epic album. With 8 rock songs, 1 pop song, and 3 ballads the CD is very balanced and all of the songs have "hit" written all over them."

TFK does it again...

M. Hodges | Murfreesboro, TN | 09/08/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I love how this band really knows who they are as musicians and delivers to their fans every time. As to be expected from this group this album brings alot of rock with very powerful lyrics that will raise your blood pressure and put a smile on your face. Songs such as; Welcome to Masquerade, Bring Me to Life, Fire it Up, Outta Control, deliver on a heavier level. However, this album really does have a little something for everyone, example "Look Away" is a great song that is very capable of tugging on your heart strings. Basically this cd will not dissapoint. Whether you a returning fan like myself, or have no idea who Thousand Foot Krutch is, "Welcome to the Masquerade" is a must have in your collection and I highly recommend it."

Silly, Fun, but Nothing Special

Clifton Gardner | Alabama | 03/04/2010

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I admit that I was very skeptical when first popping in this disc. I'm quite a discriminating rock music fan, but after having people recommend it to me and praise it as if it were the next "Jesus Freak," I decided to pick it up.



And was completely - not over - not under - just "whelmed," if I'm allowed to make up words, by the overall "meh" quality of it.



Don't get me wrong, the production value is as close to perfect as is physically possible: the guitars are plenty driven without losing clarity, the drums are sufficiently punchy, the vocals are clear and crisp, and the background instrumentation and effects are non-obtrusive while layering the sound. But where this album gets it wrong is just the general lack of freshness it brings. This is basically your Christian-in-name hard rock band borrowing many nu-metal conventions that are, simply put, tired and tasteless. Emotionally charged as a corpse, it sacrifices any sort of feeling with volume. Left at that, this album would still be fun and enjoyable, even if we've heard it all fifty times before. However, the real culprit behind the "whatever-ness" of this album is the lyrics. They're silly; they're immature; they're shockingly cliche. Example: one of the more solid pieces on this album, "E for Extinction," is all but ruined by a pre-chorus loaded with lyrics like "Break down, you really want it? / Want to make a scene? / Show me what you mean / Let's get it started / Let me see what you got / Can you take it up a notch?" "Fire It Up" does not help the situation with the chorus "I've got a bad case / Of turning it up / It's getting cold in here / So somebody fire it up!" The obvious Evanescence knock-off song "Bring Me To Life" ruins itself with wholly unnecessary in-your-face screaming that is the complete antithesis of the message presented in it. Finally, there is but one reason why "Smack Down" is bad - it exists. I can't help but describe it as the silliest Christian rock song (or rock song period) ever heard.



That's not to say there are no gems to be found on this disc. "The Part That Hurts The Most (Is Me)" has an Anberlin-meets-POD sound that actually fits like a glove. "Forward Motion" is how a power ballad should be done, and I can find no complaints to direct at it. In fact, it is during these two songs that we hear TFK fire on all cylinders, and if they could take a little time to tweak everything else, the result would be nothing less than fantastic. "Welcome to the Masquerade" and "Outta Control" are also standouts on this album. It's unfortunate, to say the least, that the rest really sounds like emotion-less and silly filler material (and I apologize that I can find no other way to express my complaints than by calling this album "silly" again and again).



Overall, if you really have a misplaced devotion to hard rock with nu-metal influences, then you'll find "Welcome to the Masquerade" to be worth your cash. Everyone else, I have to recommend Decemberadio's self-titled album or Disciple's "Southern Hospitality" if you want some truly inspired Christian rock/metal.



Genre: Alternative Rock / Nu-Metal

Objectionable Content: None

Recommended: To fans of the genre only"