Trevor McNevan's first band was Oddball. They put out one album, SHUTTERBUG, in 1995. Trevor started Thousand Foot Krutch in 1997. Their first album, THAT'S WHAT PEOPLE DO was released independently in 1998. 2000's SET IT OFF is considered their first studio album. It featured 'Puppet', a fan fave. In 2003 the group released PHENOMENON which included another fan fave, 'Rawkfist'. The group followed that up with 2005's THE ART OF BREAKING (Tooth & Nail Records). Group members were Trevor McNevan (vocals, guitars), Joel Bruyere (bass), and Steve Augustine (drums). The album was produced and mixed by Arnold Lanni and executive produced by Brandon Ebel. Adam Gontier of Three Days Grace appears on two of the tracks.
'Absolute' is a meaty hard rocker that cries out to God: "We want, the truth/Give us the absolute/We need, Your help/Cause we've got nothing". 'Slow Bleed' asks a great question: "All this time we've been misled/Does anyone care at all?" The title track, 'The Art of Breaking', follows. It's a rocker with this chorus: "When I feel numb I'll let you know/I won't become what I was before/You cannot kill what's not your creation/This is the art of breaking".
'Stranger' is a song of one who is disillusioned: "I'm a stranger that no one can see/A stranger to every part of me/I'm a stranger to all that I know/A stranger, everywhere I go/It's so hard when you're a loser/Heaven help us find our way/And it's so hard, cause I'm a loser/Heaven help me feel okay". 'Hurt' is still rock, but slower. It includes these nice sentiments: "Hope you never hurt, hope you never cry/Hope you never lose your way tonight/Hope you never crumble/Hope you never fall".
'Hand Grenade' sizzles and is about submitting to God: "I find it hard to take, sometimes I feel like I could break/And I hope You hear my prayer tonight/Can You hear my cries?.../Take me, make me, break/Watch me get wicked like a hand grenade/Take me, make me, break me/Watch me get wicked and drop like a hand grenade". 'Move' is a punchy rocker about having fun: "Move and show me what you can do/When you step into the circle and shake like we do/Move when you just can't take it/And move if you just feel like breaking it".
Next up is 'Hit the Floor', a good rock song to exercise to: "Oh, oh, let's go/Everyone out the door/So when you hear it go, hear it go, hit the floor/Let's go/Everyone hit the floor/When you hear it go/Hear it go out the door/Oh, oh, let's go, hit the floor/When you hear the sounds, hit the floor/Oh, oh, let's go, hit the floor/Oh, oh, here we go, here we go". 'Go' offers these words of praise: "I love the way You move/You cover me like oxygen/Touched by Your innocence/We come to You with hearts open/I love the way You are/The way You move, the way You speak/And I like the way You heal/The hole inside that's incomplete".
'Make Me A Believer' includes this mysterious chorus: "Make me a believer, let you down/For the first time come undone/If you let me, so don't put me down/And don't let this feeling slip away". Last up is 'Breathe You In'. It's a pretty rock ballad pointing to God: "I took a walk to see all the love that's around me/Through the highs and lows/There's a truth that I know and it's You.../I wanna breathe You in".
THE ART OF BREAKING contains some very good electric guitar work and great vocals. Nine of the eleven tracks are fast rock ones. If you are looking for some energetic, adrenaline rushing music to work out to, consider this album. On it, the lyrics are more on the abstract and vague side of things. That being said, there are cries on this album for spiritual direction, that is, for God to work in one's life. It is He who can make us a new creation. A couple of the songs are about just getting by in life, while two are simply about having a good time. While this isn't TFK's best work, die hard fans should have it in their possession. I'm rating it 80% and recommending it to fans of Skillet and early era Kutless. For more info visit www.thousandfootkrutch.com and/or connect with the band on social media.