Review by Ryan Onstad
Pillar are back on track!
Pillar's latest release, For the Love of the Game, is just what fans have been desperately wanting for the past couple of years.
After a few independent records under their belt, Pillar first appeared on the map with their release Fireproof, which gained them attention through the album's title track. But the album that kept them on the radar is Where Do We Go From Here, an album that simply rocked from start to finish. Pillar built their house on the Christian music map with Lester Estelle's massive beats, while Noah Henson showed the Christian music world what exactly a "riff" is. Kalel's bass lines are the cement to this band's foundation while Rob Beckley's vocals lead the charge with songs that are more like anthems for hope and change like "Frontlines", "Simply", and "Hypnotized".
Then the walls crashed in with 2006's disastrous album "The Reckoning". There wasn't a track on that album that was even close to being salvageable. What the band was thinking by making this album is still unknown! Everything that fans came to love about the band they completely threw out the window. The only thing that was even noteworthy was Lester's drumming. Despite the bad songs, he plowed through the crap with his consistent studious playing.
Fans had high hopes for The Reckoning after the band released there Nothing Comes For Free E.P. shortly before The Reckoning hit shelves. With new tracks like "Our Escape" and "Dangerous" containing Pillar's usual high energy song structure, fans like me were foaming at the mouth for what the band had to offer in the coming weeks. But I guess the "reckoning" came in the form of fans realizing that the band had dropped the ball and delivered a less than great album.
So how did the band recover from what could have been the end? After a poor tour in support of the album, they returned quickly to the studio and answered with 10 blistering rock tracks that make up there latest disc For the Love of the Game.
The album gets started with the high energy title track, which could be used in the background on any sports highlight reel show from now until the end of time! The interesting thing is that the song has nothing to do with sports. For the Love of the Game are simply metaphors for something bigger: "For the love of" means "the passion of" and "The game" equals the pursuit of Christ.
The band follows with the same vibe on "Turn It Up", their first anthem style track on the album. "Reckless Youth" is next, another anthem track that almost reminds me of some of the great rebellious tracks that came from Skid Row in the 80's. "State of Emergency" is next, which is a great song about screaming for change. The ballad "Smiling Down" is next, the album's offering of a breather for the listener. Then it's back on track with Pillar's quick, 3:30 min rock tracks with "The Runaway". "Throwdown" is my favorite track, laced with breakdowns and everything Pillar fans expect from the band. "Throwdown" even sounds like something that could have appeared on Where Do We Go From Here. The album eventually closes with the track "Forever Starts Now". If the bands continues to make more high energy rock records like this, their fans will continue to love them forever.