So here we have, a year and some-odd later, the unimaginatively-named Vol. II. Unimaginative, but perhaps appropriate. J. Loren and crew are back at it, dishing out song after song of exploration in dynamics from acoustic to electric to heavy breakdowns. Which is all to say, if you liked the first CD, you'll dig this one too. For those not acquainted with Hurt, let's dig in... The disc opens with "Summers Lost," a song that fades in slowly with a simple acoustic motif. The bass and a heavy, plodding drum riff kick in along with the vocals, leading to a buildup that stops more or less dead in its tracks to give way to a second acoustic groove. Of course, before the song calms down too much, the main riff comes back in on an electric, and this time the buildup leads to a crashing chorus. The song fades to a snare pattern, followed by a breakdown with distorted vocals and a drum pattern reminiscent of Tool's "Aenima." Then of course there's the fade out with the main riff repeated and a string pattern over it, finally fading out to electronic noises.
Which lead in turn to "Ten Ton Brick," with a riff that reminds me of... ah yes, Headstrong's "Adriana." Man, that's been bugging me for like 3 weeks. Anyway, with the exception of the acoustic strumming in a few places in the song, "Ten Ton Brick" is decently heavy as radio-friendly rock goes and is pretty catchy. The acoustic guitar- and piano-driven "Aftermath" follows, again with the varying dynamics as the CD takes the listener on a roller coaster. "Abuse of Sid" is another decent track, not really breaking the mold but that doesn't have to be a bad thing. It also has, at least for me, one of the more obvious-to-understand lyrics, telling somebody that she's being abused and it'll keep happening as long as she lets it, and at one point threatening to take up for her.
The remaining songs are all in the same sort of mold, acoustic here, electric there, atmospheric strings in and out. The track list on both the disc itself and the CD case are divided into two sections, but I really can't tell any difference between the two "sides." As I said in the beginning, if you liked the first Hurt CD, you'll dig this one. If you've only heard "Ten Ton Brick," you might want to take into account the softer portions of the CD before picking this one up--unlike Vol. I's lead single, "Rapture," I don't think "Ten Ton Brick" represents the whole CD as well. The main complaint I have is in the vocal patterns, I don't really know how to describe it but there are one or two patterns that I feel are overused across the disc. Beyond that though, this is an excellent addition to Hurt's catalog, and definitely worth checking out for fans of heavy rock.
