Vice Verses is the work of a band that is so restless, they devote an entire song (Restless) to the condition. Its that very uneasiness an unwillingness to choose the treadmill over the triathlon that fuels the bands forays into new musical territory and Jon Foremans unflinchingly honest lyrics. You can hear the tension build along with the first chords of album opener Afterlife, leading into a bold statement of intent: Ive tasted fire Im ready to come alive/I cant just shut it up and fake that Im alright/Im ready now/Im not waiting for the afterlife.I believe we start forever now. Songs like Afterlife and The War Inside take the harder-edged approach of Hello Hurricane a step further, creating what Billboard has called powerful, anthemic rockerslike an amalgamation of U2s Achtung Baby, Linkin Park. Overall, Vice Verses is a more eclectic collection than its predecessor with quiet gems like Souvenirs and the title track next to the infectious The Original, reminiscent of Foo Fighters, and the biting, largely spoken-word Selling the News. The latter is a poetry slam Beck-meets-Beastie Boys style examination of a media-mad nation: America listens the story is told/the hard sell, all caps, all boldbegging the question mongering fears/stroking the eye and tickling ears/the truth aint just what it appears/were selling the news. But SWITCHFOOT isnt content to merely detail the gaping contradictions they find within themselves or the surrounding culture. As the rousing lead single Dark Horses makes abundantly clear, we were designed to transcend, to stand up against the darkness. Its a theme echoed in Foremans latest Huffington Post piece (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jon-foreman/meaning-of-life_b_874934.html), excerpted here: The art comes from the awkward ache. The knot in my stomach usually teaches me more than comfort ever could. The sculptors chisel carves away at the block to bring something new into being. In the same way, we hammer away at the world we're given to bring something new into being. We re-appropriate the past and present to create the future breath by breath.
