So he grabs a pitcher of water and fills the jar to the brim, saying, “If this jar is your life, what does this experiment show you?” A bold student replies, “No matter how busy you think you are, you can always take on more.” “That is one view,” he replies. This time, the class is divided, some feeling that the jar is obviously full, but others are wary of another trick. So next, he adds a scoop of sand to the jar, filling the space between the pebbles and asks the question again. He asks again, “Is the jar full?” They agree. He says, “Really,” and pulls out a pile of small pebbles, adding them to the jar, shaking it slightly until they fill the spaces between the rocks. He asks the class if the jar is full and they agree it is. He silently places 2-inch rocks in the jar until no more can fit. Move On is available on vinyl and digital at Bandcamp.A teacher walks into a classroom and sets a glass jar on the table. The By Gods get it and it’s one of the many reasons Move On is a strong contender for album of the year for me. Move On merely represents what was so special of that era and how its missing in today’s mainstream. All this talk of a by-gone era might lead you to believe The By Gods are archaic but that’s not the case by any means. The great rock artists of my teenage years are getting older and slowly easing into the dreaded Dad Rock category, so hearing a band like The By Gods releasing music like this is a sound for sore ears. These unexpected twists and turns of vulnerability are what makes Move On a cut above most rock albums of 2017. And “Let It Go” is not only a beautiful shoegaze-flavored ballad but it just might be my favorite track on the entire album. “Something Real” with its Pixies-esque harmonies and power-pop chorus, proves The By Gods are more than capable of delivering variety. There’s plenty of times when the album showcases more than brooding angst. It’s not all grunge and teen spirit though. Move On isn’t a tribute to the 1990s, but rather a representation of why that era remains the golden standard of guitar-based alternative rock. The larger than life guitar riff is elevated by a vocal hook Dave Grohl has lost sight of for the better part of a decade. This is where the album officially kicks it into gear. The title track, “Moving On” is a bit reminiscent of Nirvana with its raspy vocals and discord melody but things don’t hang around the 90s neighborhood for too long with the very next track “Never Know”. It’s not an album trying to reinvent the wheel, it’s about getting it up to speed and leaving town. Everything about Move On is streamlined and focus. Where other bands struggle, The By Gods excel. Go too big and it contradicts what the genre is all about. Make things too simple and it can get boring. But things can get a bit tricky when it comes to ambition. In theory, it doesn’t take much to make a rock record. If genres are based on principle, The By Gods would be in the dictionary under rock n’ roll. Perhaps in that sense, rock n’ roll is dead? It’s certainly easy to feel that way if you haven’t listened to Move On, the new album from The By Gods. Folk rock, alt-country, dance-rock, shoegaze, I could go and on about all these genre labels. Most of the mainstream rock bands tend to lean hard into a particular sub-genre. On the other hand, when I turn on the radio it’s not a bad observation. It’s upsetting to hear people saying ‘rock n’ roll is dead’ especially when there’s so much good music out there.
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