Album Review: Neonfly - The Future, Tonight

Rock music seem to me, for the most part, smaller than ever. I don't mean that as any kind of observation regarding whether 'rock is dead', or to say anything about the number of people who listen to rock, buy rock records, or attend rock shows. What I mean is that rock has never sounded less vital, and less important than it does now. The appeal of hearing music that tied us together is mostly gone. Neonfly is describing this album as "10 modern rock anthems, heavy yet catchy allied with hard-hitting riffs, big metal grooves". I haven't heard many real rock anthems in many years, not much to make us raise our fists and shout together. Rock has become insular, hence small.

I desperately want rock to have big, undeniable songs that cross over and endure within us for years to come. I find it hard to believe it's only a function of changing taste that there hasn't been a "Livin' On A Prayer", a "Don't Stop Believin'", even a "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams" in god knows how long. There has been a shift not just in how we hear rock, but in how rock is writing songs, and it hasn't been for the better.

Neonfly kicks off the album with "The World Is Burning", with a riff and tone that brings a hint of metallic heft into the mix, leading to a chorus that is enjoyable, but flat enough there are no edges to hook us, nor any roller-coaster moments to give us that feeling of our stomach being pulled up into our chest. It's a perfectly fine song, and I would be quite happy to have it come on the radio, but it isn't memorable enough to be an anthem. Not even close.

That remains true through most of the record. Neonfly gives us enjoyable enough modern rock songs, but the main hooks to the songs need more polish if they are going to be coveted as gems of the genre. Songs become anthems when they connect with the audience and take on a life of their own. I don't think you can declare your own song an anthem any more than you can give yourself a nickname, and I don't think these songs are going to catch fire in that way. "Flesh And Blood" comes closest, where the subtle strings and more dramatic melody give the song a tension and release that is palpable. If they could have captured that feeling more often, they would be closer to achieving their goal.

That leaves Neonfly in the uncomfortable zone of over-promising and under-delivering. As with any product that says 'new and improved!', the truth is usually less enthusiastic than that. "The Future, Tonight" is a fine album, but when we're promised a collection of modern anthems, you can understand why I might feel disappointed. It's the same way I was disappointed in "Chinese Democracy" when it finally came out, even though half of the record is great, simply because it was given a mythic stature that meant it could never live up to my expectations. Neonfly isn't to that degree, obviously, but coming up short of what you tell me I'm going to get is going to color how I hear your music.

"The Future Tonight" is a modern rock album through and through, which includes being a bit anonymous and faceless. It's solid stuff, and I enjoyed my time listening to it. Maybe it was my fault for thinking rock could still be something more than this.