Chevelle - Point #1

The 11 tracks of Chevelle's Point #1 pour out more passion in 42 minutes than most people will experience in an entire year. It is an album that will brand you. Not because of offense or unashamed shock tactics, but because the emotion offered batters into the soul and causes it to shudder in resonance with the writhing of the music. Applying simple and poetic reasoning, Pete Loeffler's lyrics exhibit the tension between life's paramount questions and heaven's inscrutable answers. The dualistic nature of his vocals (reminiscent of Tool's Maynard James Keenen) displays a trembling meekness that often abandons itself to full-throated roars of aggression. This meticulously rhythmic debut carries the fingerprints of Steve Albini's recording genius. The production is just raw enough to preserve the unfeigned vexation from which it was born, yet clean enough for each lashing expression to communicate its full fervor. Dynamics crest and fall as the storm-tossed melodies cut through a raging sea of edgy guitar and undulating drums. Leaving a curiously enjoyable lack of resolution, the weight of these songs beckons the listener to repeat play. It gets better every time. --Israel Button Amazon.com

First albums are always the best

I bought this album when it first came out in 1999, and it's one of the few albums from that era that I still listen to regularly. Why do I love it so much? Maybe the nostalgia is part of it, but mostly it's because of the raw emotion that comes through, more emotion than almost any other album I've heard. I know most people here seem to like the newer albums better, but for me they just fail to match up. Sure they are more polished, more accessible to the main stream audience, but to me there is something special about this album, the way it sounds like a couple of teenage kids making music in their parent's garage, not because they are getting paid to do it but because they love the music. Even if you are a fan of modern Chevelle, you need to buy this album, and listen to it with an open mind. July 26, 2007

A Great Start

Chevelle is a pretty good modern rock band and with this first release, Point #1 is a great start. This is just a sign of things to come for the band. Each track on the album is at least okay. There aren't really any bad songs. Some of my favorite tracks on the album are "Point #1", "Skeptic", "Blank Earth", and "Peer". Here are the track ratings...

1. Open - 10/10
2. Point #1 - 10/10
3. Prove To You - 8.5/10
4. Mia - 9/10
5. Skeptic - 10/10
6. Anticipation 9/10
7. Dos - 8.5/10
8. Long - 8.5/10
9. Blank Earth - 9.5/10
10. Sma - 8.5/10
11. Peer - 9.5/10

Overall: 91% A-

This thing probably deserves 4.5 stars but since you cant do that on amazon it's going to show up as 5. It's an overall solid release with plenty of good tracks. Basically no bad points throughout this cd. It's slightly different than modern Chevelle as it is less commercial but it is good. If you like bands like Tool or Breaking Benjamin you might like this. Hey, even if you enjoy modern Chevelle this is worth checking out. November 13, 2006

Mixed

The intro and Point #1 are great - just incredible - the song still doesn't make any sense to me though. Prove to you is TERRIBLE - I HATE THAT SONG and I wish it wasn't on the CD. The other songs are just well just OK - they are good - but not like the first song, and they lose something along the way - but overall it's a great CD - and I've listened to it many times. I think I like the newer ones better. I didn't pick up anything Christian on this at all. The lyrics are strange and don't make sense to me. The voice is super, the music is great, and overall, it's great - I buy these and give them as gifts to friends. They all seem to like it ok. November 9, 2006

A passionate debut

Point #1 is Chevelle's first album, and undoubtedly more raw and a little different than later releases, obviously because they got onto a bigger label. I doubt Wonder What's Next will ever be supplanted as my favorite release by Chevelle, but as it stands, this debut is better than the more mainstream and less passionate This Type of Thinking (Could Do Us In). This is actually the album of theirs I obtained the most recently, and its impact is probably negatively affected by the strength of the follow-up. I still appreciate what they did here though, as it shares more strengths with Wonder What's Next than This Type of Thinking does.

Chevelle is supposedly a Christian band, but that doesn't really come through in the lyrics at all. Their faith might provide them with a little more emotion in the music, which is good, but it's not really that big of an aspect. The first track is an interesting two minute instrumental intro that leads into the awesome title track, which combines the band's skill at writing very listenable hard rock with the great, soothing vocals the singer provides. The next few songs are above average, adequate rock, but the next great song is the six and a half minute "Dos." It starts off quite, but it builds up over time into an explosive, passionate climax, and has more emotion in it than most songs you hear these days. "Long" is another song that starts off slow before exploding. The band does that a lot. "Peer" is a strong closing track, again, starting off quiet and ending with a burst of high energy power.

This is a good rock album, its only problem is that too few of the songs stand out. The few I mentioned are really good, and the rest are solid too, you just have some trouble remembering them all as their own thing, preventing this from being great. April 28, 2006

They are NOT a christian band, people!

First and foremost - Chevelle are not a christian band. Yes, this was released on a christian label, but they have publicly stated that they are not christian, do not mix religion and music, and are not religious... So don't let that mistake deter you from a great cd.

Now that that's out of the way, this is a great cd. It's more rock-esque and there is a raw and quality about the tracks which may have helped their later cds. July 13, 2005

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