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Steel Train - Steel Train

Rating

RIYL

OK Go
Fun.
Arcade Fire

Release Date

06/29/2010

Label

Terrible Thrills

Tracklist

1. Bullet
2. Turnpike Ghost
3. You and I Undercover
4. You are Dangerous
5. S.O.G. Burning in Hell
6. Touch Me Bad
7. Behavior
8. Children of the 90's (I'm Not the Same)
9. Soldier in the Army
10. Bloody Lips
11. The Speedway Motor Racers Club
12. Fall Asleep

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After leaving major league indie label Drive-Thru Records in August 2009, Steel Train set out on their own and formed their own record label, Terrible Thrills to release their third full-length album. The New Jersey-bred band has always been well received critically, but hasn’t yet reached that zenith of popularity that their brand of quirky pop-rock strives to attain. On their junior full-length, the biggest question is whether this album will propel them to the strata where they belong or if Steel Train will continue to languish at opening band status.

As if the band knew that this would be the question on most critic's minds, Steel Train answers by opening the album with their strongest song yet. “Bullets” opens with layers of wall-of-sound guitars, hearty backing vocals, and xylophones, bringing to mind the best moments of Bruce Springsteen’s masterpiece Born to Run. In this version of Born to Run lead vocalist Jack Antonoff matches the Boss’s impassioned and cool vocals with an exuberant warble that brings to mind the most ecstatic moments of The Arcade Fire. As if to match these landmark artists, Steel Train even drops all instrumentation in the bridge except for vocals and xylophones before building back up into a massive mid-tempo rock and roll concluding chorus.

It’s relatively simple rock and roll songs like this where Steel Train is at their best. “Behaviour” utilizes a deceptively simple melody to catch your attention, and then uses it throughout the track to drill a hole in your head where it won’t leave, but you don’t mind because it is so pretty. Steel Train uses basic rock structures, riffs and melodies in “Children of the 90’s” to create what would already be a great song, but they add just enough ferocity and studio magic to turn it into something truly special. “You and I Undercover” is far and away the most accomplished song on the album, with the vocals showing a vulnerable underbelly to Antonoff’s strident voice, and the simple main melody has the unexplainable quality of making this listener feel nostalgic for better times the first time they hear it.

When you get away from these simpler songs that pull from classic tropes, you meet a different Steel Train who are more reminiscent of OK Go or a happier Modest Mouse. The angular guitars, dancing drums, varied back-up vocals (which do everything from harmonizing to shouting to just random interjections) and frantic and sometimes sassy lead vocals drive most of the other songs on the album. While it is often interesting to try to figure out where these songs will go next, this style has a hard time creating a compelling song. While the freaked out “Turnpike Ghost” and moog-tastic “You are Dangerous” are fun listens, songs like “The Speedway Motor Racer Club” and “Soldier in the Army” have too many ideas going on, none of which are that great. “Bloody Lips” and “Fall Asleep” are nice quiet songs that put a good finishing touch on the album, proving that Steel Train can write a nice layered song when they figure out how to grow up and calm down.

On this self-titled album, Steel Train has proven two things: 1) they can write some great, timeless pop-rock songs with gorgeous melodies and enough dynamics to grab any listener, and 2) that sometimes they need to calm down and not follow through with every idea that pops in their head. While this album won’t propel them into the mainstream (unless they come up with great music videos that go viral, a-la OK Go), it sets the stage for their next full-length, which could conquer the world if they follow through with their more desirable tendencies.

--Stephen Harris