Point #1

The 11 tracks of Chevelle’s Point #1 pour out more passion in 42 minutes than most people will experience in an entire year. It is an album that will brand you. Not because of offense or unashamed shock tactics, but because the emotion offered batters into the soul and causes it to shudder in resonance with the writhing of the music. Applying simple and poetic reasoning, Pete Loeffler’s lyrics exhibit the tension between life’s paramount questions and heaven’s inscrutable answers. The dualistic nature of his vocals (reminiscent of Tool’s Maynard James Keenen) displays a trembling meekness that often abandons itself to full-throated roars of aggression. This meticulously rhythmic debut carries the fingerprints of Steve Albini’s recording genius. The production is just raw enough to preserve the unfeigned vexation from which it was born, yet clean enough for each lashing expression to communicate its full fervor. Dynamics crest and fall as the storm-tossed melodies cut through a raging sea of edgy guitar and undulating drums. Leaving a curiously enjoyable lack of resolution, the weight of these songs beckons the listener to repeat play. It gets better every time