Stükenberg - 'Novella'

Novella is Stükenberg's third full-length Christian Rock album. That particularly genre of music tends to either have overtly Christian lyrics, that never leave you guessing and often feel like you're getting beat over the head with it, or leaves the lyrics vague enough that anyone can enjoy the songs. Stükenberg often tries to straddle the line with some songs leaving you with no doubt as to the subject matter and other times is more vague.

Singer David Stükenberg's vocals are fairly strong for the album, able to offer some variation in many of the songs. Some of the stronger tracks tend to be the ones that allow his voice to take center stage and the southern guitar twang backing him up. The singer has a strong enough voice to carry the songs, like "So Am I" that push the vocals front and center with only a piano softly played in the background.

The album starts off with two fairly simple songs that don't offer much in the way of variation between the two. It's not until the third song "All The Same" where the album starts to get going. That song also offers a nice change of pace from the normal loud singing/yelling with more melodic vocals.

Much like "All The Same", another two standout tracks are "Brighter From Here" and "Seasons." "Brighter" edges away from the full range of instruments and switches it up with wails from the singer countered by a simple banjo tune, bringing the vocals to the forefront. "Seasons" is a nice ballad as it features both the more melodic vocals and a competing electric guitar solo that makes it one of the album's standout tracks.

"No Home" tries to keep things lively with the occasional use of a falsetto, but once the song settles in, it's a rather mundane track with a weak chorus that you quickly tune out.

Overall Novella is a fairly enjoyable, if unremarkable, album. The band doesn't offer much to separate it from the rest of the pack, but when it chooses to go offer more melodic vocals, it becomes just that much more enjoyable.

WordPress › Error

There has been a critical error on your website.

Learn more about debugging in WordPress.