I was a fan of Our Lady Peace at their beginnings in the mid 90s and their most intense, acclaimed albums Naveed and Clumsy. While the band has lost quite a bit of their edginess, we should simply chalk that up to maturation and growth. It seems anguish has been replaced by heart, and that’s just fine. In all honesty, there’s nothing worse than aging rockers who still insist on singing about teen angst. If anything, I can appreciate that the guys of OLP have moved on from where they were fifteen years ago.

Raine Maida’s signature vocals have tamed considerably over the years, which is a real shame because it really was that killer voice that made OLP stand out from the rest during their glory days. Remnants of what once was are still there, only muted. Fortunately, the band members as musicians are still solid. They’ve taken to the softer alt-rock very well and still seem to work very well together.

“Money Brains” is a strong, two-for-one track and “Signs of Life” is my top pick on this album. “Escape Artist” isn’t bad either, I actually liked the effect of the collective chorus giving the song a communal quality. “Refuge” listens like something the Kings of Leon might have penned while “Never Get Over You” sounds very Snow Patrol-esque.

This brings me to one of more serious criticisms of this album and of today’s OLP – the onset of sounding more and more generic seems to have taken hold. I guess that inevitability is unavoidable for a lot of long-standing bands, but still sad nonetheless. Perhaps they have a new generation of fans (and they should – this album is decent), but I will always prefer the Our Lady Peace of yesteryear.

Track Listing:

1. All You Did Was Save My Life

2. Dreamland

3. Monkey Brains

4. The End Is Where We Begin

5. Escape Artist

6. Refuge

7. Never Get Over You

8. White Flags

9. Signs of Life

10. Paper Moon