There are some things you should know up front before I begin to talk about Relient K and their newest album "Forget and Not Slow Down."

With each new album Relient K manages to concoct a different feel.  They stay true to who they are, while at the same time always delivering something new, and always something different.  In this way, you will never hear the same album come from RK.  Not some rehash of them trying to recreate the success of a past effort, nor the same-old-same-old that seems to infect the majority of the bands out there.  Because of this, there is something about each album that manages to speak towards that specific time in our lives.  For me, it helps me to remember.  Where was my life.  Who were my friends.  How did I feel.  All these because each album has that specific feel, allowing me to recall these specific moments, and not treat the past as if it were a blur.  Then there are the songs, and as me and my friend Ellen believe:  There is a Relient K song for every situation you may ever come across in your life.

This is why I love Relient K.
This is why they are my favorite.

So when I sit down in a quiet place upon receiving my pre-order in the mail to listen to the album all the way through, as has been a tradition of mine since "mmhmm" of 2005, a habit of which I only reserve for Relient K, it's not so that I can compare it to past albums, nor is it so I can review/criticize (Relient K also being the only band I tend to blog about.)  Instead, it's only so that I can get that feel of the new album, and to fully understand the sound that's going to be the backdrop of my life for the next few seasons.  Part of me only wants to know the important things:  Do I like these songs?  Do I like this sound?  Will it blow me away?  Is it good enough?

Are they still my favorite?  (This will always and forever be a resounding "YES!")

If I had to have a review for "Forget and Not Slow Down", it would be thus:

 The first true follow up since "Five Score and Seven Years Ago" ("Birds and the Bee Sides" cannot count, as it was a release of extras and B-Sides, and therefore nothing new.) sees Relient K once again with a new drummer, their fourth (I think) since they started back in 2000.  This is also their first album that will be released under their [own] new label Mono vs. Stereo; which is definitely a factor when it comes to how this album is presented.  In essence, it is as if they are starting from scratch once again to bring us something totally different, as always, while giving us the same Relient K that we have come to know and love.  The question is, how does this album compare to previous efforts?  Does it hold up to their much acclaimed 2005 album "mmhmm"?  Is this the next big thing that we've been waiting for?

I'll answer bluntly.  It's much better than Five Score, but it just doesn't quite reach the pinnacle that was mmhmm.  A theory of mine for years has been that 'every other album' from this band will be 'great', while the others are just 'good', so back in 2007 I had already anticipated this album to be their best yet (as it would be the skip-jump after mmhmm.)  Maybe this put my expectations a little high, as I am inclined to do, but I made sure to listen through a couple of times before I started to write down my thoughts.

There are plenty of gems on this album, and the few songs that are pretty OK, but all the while one can't help but feel that there is something missing here.  For one, there is no "epic song" that can be found on this album, at least, not in the same vein as they've done in the past.  There is no 11 minute, much less 6 minute, ballad here, and that leaves something to be desired.  Interestingly enough, the album itself is also fairly short.  5 of the 15 tracks are actually considered outro's or reprises, and continuations of the songs that came before them.  That leaves 10 individual songs, and with each falling just around essential 3 1/2 minute mark, it is quite a short trip.  Also missing is the witty humor found in past releases.  Sure, RK has become more serious with their last couple of albums, but even then there was a spinning of lyrics by Matthew Theissen that would leave me, and I'm sure others, truly impressed with their meanings; and you could still find something fun.  Here though, Matt tends to be more straightforward in his songwriting.  His lyrics still impress, but there's no longer any question about what these songs are about, and at the same time there is a definite lack of the fun-factor going on in this album.  It's sort of depressing at moments, a downer compared to the upbeat Five Score.  He puts it all out there, and one can still relate as much as they could before, but this time you don't have to think about it.

One theory was that God was missing here, but I found that to be nonsense considering one song blatantly mentions him by name, and even the first feels like a prayer during some lines.  For someone to say there is lack of a God in a Relient K album is ridiculous, or they just simply don't know Relient K.  Unfortunately, something is missing that I can't quite put my finger on, and because of that this doesn't seem like the Relient K we've known before; which is a shame.

Regardless, here I find myself completely satisfied with the album, while at the same time I feel incomplete.  I couldn't tell if they just got lazy or if we might see something more in the future.  Either way, those who are fans of Relient K are going to love this album, and as I always suggest to those who aren't, give it a listen anyway.  As their feel tends to change from album to album, you may find that you didn't like one in the past, but this is something totally different to sink your teeth into.

Pretty solid, and I would have stuck by this review had I not found out a bit of information that served to change my perspective completely, and upon listening to the album one more time, I found myself quite surprised.  This album could be their best, and here's why...

As it turns out, Matt Theissen was engaged a while back, something I was totally unaware of, and as such, when I first listened to this album I had no idea that - unfortunately -  his fiance called everything off due to details that I still haven't educated myself on.  This resulted in Matthew locking himself up in a lake house for 2-3 months, by himself, while he wrote the album that has been playing on my car stereo for the past 24 hours.  There was only one thing on his mind during the writing of these songs, and I took this new perspective into mind as I started from track one, and almost immediately my eyes were opened and the subject of the album became perfectly clear.

First off I will note that whoever says that God is missing from this album is correct.  He is more absent than in the past.  The thing is, I do not blame Matthew one bit for this.  He is human, and as such he is capable of being hurt, but instead of creating something completely bleak and trivial he was able to spin the story around, move on, and create songs that were relatable and touching at the same time.  No matter what this man does, he is able to speak to those that know what this feels like, and for a person in a situation like I am in right now, this is the perfect album to listen to.  It's not that God's presence isn't within this album, it's that he is just not referred to the majority of the time, and to be frankly honest, I could care less.

Knowing what I know now, I understand how this album came out to feel so short.  Matt Theissen doesn't waste time getting to the point, and he doesn't linger on the issues to create songs that are more of a man feeling sorry for himself, instead giving us songs that can speak to us over and over again - giving us more positivity not in the lyrics themselves, but in the musicality.  Borrowing from one of the songs; which describes the album better than anything else:  This is "Therapy."  He's doing this to get over a girl, because he has to, and the product of his therapy is what we end up listening to.  All his prayers and his frustrations can be summarized right here, and in a way that never goes into detail of his own situation, but leaves it open for us as people to pull from and to know exactly what he's talking about.

As for the songs themselves, "Savannah", from the very beginning, had a very classic sound to it, and the first in which I thought truly invoked his number one influence:  The Beach Boys.  It's a love song that should be among the greats, using strings in a way that I feel they should be used, as part of the song, rather than just during a specific segment to make it feel sappy.  Hitting off of what I mentioned earlier, "This is the End" is like a steam engine rolling down the tracks at full speed.  It doesn't want to stop, and it's driving the entire point of the album straight home and not giving you a chance to second guess.

Whereas I would have told you before that I'm not a fan of a few songs here, I can say now that there is not a song here that I do not like.  Sure, I have my favorites:  "Forget and Not Slow Down", "I Don't Need A Soul", "Over It".  But when you take this album for what it is supposed to be, as a whole, then you realize it's one of the best representations of a broken heart that you may ever find, and that is what makes Forget and Not Slow Down their best album yet - in it's own right.

Sure, I can't wait for their next one; which should return to the Relient K-we-know-and-love-while-giving-us-something-different formula, but for now I will gladly stick with this one.  It's a standalone, and as such I don't feel can be compared to what came before, nor what will come of the future, but on it's own pedestal it is simply amazing, and it will be one that I recommend (right beside Mmhmm) as an Essential Relient K.