Our Lady Peace charted a few modern-rock hits in the ’90s and then
quickly dropped off the radar. Like their last studio album, 2005’s
Healthy in Paranoid Times, and 2002’s Gravity, Burn Burn,
the group’s seventh record, is tailored for mainstream success, built
on arena-ready melodies and radio-friendly rock hooks. But the album,
which takes its name from a Jack Kerouac quotation, is decidedly better
than its two recent predecessors. “The End Is Where We Begin” surges
with epic-sounding guitar riffs and frontman Raine Maida’s urgent
vocals, while disc opener “All You Did Was Save My Life” is a precise
rock song with a driving, calculated hook. Burn Burn is
generic-sounding, its songs coming off like dozens of other radio-rock
songs. Maida’s production is clean and polished, but the tunes still
resonate with impassioned energy. All but their devoted fan base may
have forgotten OLP, but this record is a reminder of what they’re
capable of. — Emily Zemler
This article appears in Jul 22-28, 2009.
