Collective Soul - See What You Started By Continuing (2015) [Hi-Res]

It's hard not to see the title of See What You Started by Continuing as a bit of a jab at Collective Soul themselves. Twenty-two years and nine albums deep into their career, the alt-rock-era band has neither burned out nor faded away -- they've merely persisted, putting out records at a steady clip that only slowed in the 2010s, when they took six years to succeed 2009's Collective Soul with this record. The delay may have been the result of some lineup rejiggering -- they have a different drummer in Johnny Rabb, and Jesse Triplett takes over the group's historically unsteady position of lead guitarist -- and the new members invigorate Ed and Dean Roland to return to their heavy, hooky roots. Most of the record pulsates to a fuzzy, primal beat, the lightness coming from the harmonies and melodies, the very things that have always been Collective Soul's ace in the hole. Sometimes, they shake things up with a few old tricks -- the horns on "Am I Getting Through," a hint of gospel on "Without Me," a stately power ballad on "Memoirs of 2005" -- but the record is front-loaded with the kind of riffy rockers that always made the group a pleasure. Maybe it's a mere continuation, not a revival, but this heavy dose of straight-ahead hard rock makes See What You Started by Continuing one of Collective Soul's best records yet. [See What You Started was released digitally and on CD.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine