Finger Eleven - Five Crooked Lines (2015) [Hi-Res]

„Five Crooked Lines“ is the seventh album from Canadian rockers Finger Eleven and their first in five years. Though the new album, entitled Five Crooked Lines, took a long time to perfect, the band recorded it in just 11 days, with four additional days for mixing. When band members Scott Anderson (vocals), James Black (guitar), Rick Jackett (guitar) and Sean Anderson (bass) decided to start writing the follow-up to their 2010 album Life Turns Electric, they all agreed they wanted to do something different. As the members poured through the material they had written, they agreed that the best songs, the ones that rang truest and were the most natural, were the more aggressive ones, and that became the essence of the new album.

“When we started the band, we just wanted to blow everyone away with force and power and MAKE them take notice of us,” said guitarist James Black. “We wanted this record to be that same kind of punch in the face. On our past couple albums, we’ve taken full advantage of the ‘studio.’ We’ve had songs with hundreds of tracks, some with forty tracks of guitar alone. This time, we wanted to keep the songs so raw they sounded like they do in the rehearsal room.”

In addition to capturing a primal, authentic feel, Five Crooked Lines incorporates the band’s earliest influences and recontextualizes them in an explosive modern framework.

Since their formation in high school in 1990 (then known as Rainbow Butt Monkeys), Finger Eleven had released seven full-length albums – including the 2007 Juno Award winning Them vs. You vs. Me, which featured the smash hit single Paralyzer – and experimented with a variety of styles such as hard rock, classic rock, heavy blues and textural pop. So, over a two-and-a-half year period, they decided to try a bit of everything over a multitude of writing sessions.

The band chose the album title after they realized that Anderson’s lyrics to the title song had a universal appeal and a particular relevance to the album.

“For me it’s symbolic of fortune and luck and how fragile those things are,” said Anderson. “In one instance you’ve got five crooked lines, which in one position is just a heap of bent sticks. But in the right way, they make a star, which is the most glorious shape there is.”

Scott Anderson, vocals
James Black, guitar
Rick Jackett, guitar
Sean Anderson, bass
Steve Molella, drums, percussion

Tracklist:
01. Finger Eleven - Gods Of Speed (3:31)
02. Finger Eleven - Criminal (3:14)
03. Finger Eleven - Save Your Breath (3:02)
04. Finger Eleven - Wolves And Doors (3:08)
05. Finger Eleven - Come On, Oblivion (7:17)
06. Finger Eleven - Not Going To Be Afraid (3:47)
07. Finger Eleven - Five Crooked Lines (3:43)
08. Finger Eleven - Blackout Song (4:05)
09. Finger Eleven - Absolute Truth (3:06)
10. Finger Eleven - Lost For Words (5:24)
11. Finger Eleven - Sensory Eraser (3:34)
12. Finger Eleven - A New Forever (4:20)