Favorite Project 86 Albums

Well, it's arrived- our final addition of Project 86 Mondays. I hope you've had as much fun following as I've had reliving my favorite band. If you haven't heard of these guys and you are inclined to listen to heavy music, I highly recommend them. If you have heard of them then I'd love to hear what you think about my choices.

Tomorrow the new LP Picket Fence Cartel hits shelves. I preordered mine a few weeks ago, and I'm super excited- Project 86 FTW!!!

Where will Picket Fence Cartel rank amongst Projects' albums? Only time will tell. For now though, I present you my ranking of Picket Fence Cartels ancestors.

8)Project 86, 1998- Their self-titled debut, and the CD that got me hooked on these guys. It hasn't aged particularly well, although there are still some gems like Bleed Season and 1X7. Nonetheless, I do enjoy to listen to it every now and again as a reminder of where I've come from.

7)The Kane Mutiny EP, 2007- It's really hard to rank to rank a five song effort any higher, especially when two of the songs are remixes. To be fair, though, the remixes are solid, and I really like what the did with From December. Rte. 66 is a nice song, but what makes this EP worth the $5 purchase price is Lucretia, My Reflection and The Kane Mutiny, which are definitely two of the most B.A. songs that Project 86 has ever done.

6)Drawing Black Lines, 2000- Their sophomore release is still a solid effort, and if it wasn't for the amazingness of their later works then this would have ranked higher. There are some very intense songs on here, Stein's Theme, One Armed Man, and Set Me Up. I really like Sad Machines, and Star is one of the classic melodic songs that Project has ever done (to be fair, it's one of the only melodic songs they've ever done).

5)This time of year EP, 2008- Again, EP's are hard to rank very high, since they have a much smaller body of work. However, the fact that this is a Christmas album gives it some bonus points. I always wanted to have a Project 86 Christmas album, and when I got it I wasn't disappointed. Well, maybe a little disappointed. There definitely should have been more songs. However, this is definitely worth listening to for Shiny Skin, a song about presents, and a very unique interpretation of What Child Is This?.

4)...And The Rest Will Follow, 2005- Definitely their hardest rocking album, this starts off with the absolutely hard and heavy Sincerely, Ichabod, and goes from there. There is enough filler to keep this from ranking higher, but I would definitely put All Of Me, Necktie Remedy, and From December against any other trio of songs. Doomsday Stomp and My Will Be A Dead Man are very interesting as well.

3)Rival Factions, 2007- This is by far the most adventurous album that Project 86 has undertaken. I was particularly impressed by how far Andrew Schwab was willing to stretch himself as a vocalist. Out of all the albums they have done, this one sounds the least 'Projectish', and yet you can definitely tell that it is a Project album. This is to their credit as musicians, that they were able (and willing) to take chances, regardless of what critics said. If they had included The Kane Mutiny on the regular release (it was only available if you purchased the album on iTunes), then I would have ranked this higher. But they didn't, so I didn't. Fair is fair.

2)Songs to burn your bridges by, 2004- At first, I didn't really like this CD...I felt like most of the songs sounded all like, and so I didn't really listen to it too much. But it had staying power, and grew on me, and before I knew it, I just absolutely fell in love with it. True, there are songs that I don't get into so much, but the cream of the crop is superb- there are powerful worship tunes (Safe Haven and Shadow On Me), hardcore rocking tunes (Spy Hunter and Sioux Lane Spirits), and just flat-out amazing songs like Breakdown In 3/4. But I really had to rank this album at number one because a) it is so cohesive as an album, and b) it is not as amazing as my number one pick...

1) Truthless Heroes, 2002- A concept album dealing with the trappings of our society, this is probably their most (in my opinion) inspired work to date. The whole album is solid- there just aren't any bad songs. I just love listening to this whole thing- and that to me is what makes a great album. To be sure, there are some absolute cut-above-the-rest songs- Soma and Hollow Again come to mind- but this whole album is just rocking. The best thing about it though is the lyrics- Andrew Schwab brings his sharp wit and worldview on this musical social commentary. His wit is especially biting on SMC, Another Boredom Movement, and Hollow Again.



Thanks for reading! Tune in next time for...well, shoot, I don't know! I might write about Jon and Kate, I have an article that I've been sitting on about how there are too many bowl teams- and who knows what will happen between now and then! Love to all, God bless. See you on the flip side!