The Myriad (You Can’t Trust a Ladder) :: Deeper Devotion

By Todd Kavanaugh

Artist: The Myriad

Site: www.themyriad.net
Album: You Can’t Trust a Ladder
Label: Floodgate
Release: 2005

Type: Euro-Rock
If you like: Muse, Cold Play, The Killers

The Myriad’s You Can’t Trust a Ladder is an album that so effectively executes it’s genre of Euro Pop Rock that you would think they are invading from London rather than the grunge rock capital of Seattle. It is incredibly refreshing to have an album that technically and artistically fits in with the likes of Coldplay, The Killers, and Muse but is written, produced, and executed by Christian artists. You Can’t Trust a Ladder is just one of the albums. After the first ten seconds I could tell that this album would be overworking my poor little iPod.

Melodic tones, falsetto and passion exude from Jeremy Edwardson’s lead vocals. One cannot help but be drawn into the subtle force of his voice. Every word is sung with intention and haunting delivery. One can definitely hear influences of modern Brit (Euro) Rock like Chris Martin of Coldplay, Matt Bellamy from Muse, or even a little Bono from U2, but certainly not at the expense of the individuality that belongs solely to The Myriad.

You Can’t Trust a Ladder’s artistic delivery is refined and “spot-on” (guess where I got that one), but not over-produced like so many albums tend to be. Credit for this goes to Aaron Marsh of Copeland who skillfully produced the album for The Myriad. Faint similarities with Marsh’s other ventures surface in the production of this work and all of them good. You Can’t Trust a Ladder evokes almost unsettling reflection (which is good for someone like me, who so readily seeks the comfortable).

Skillful layering of melodic guitar hooks, percussion that begs you to move, the above-mentioned vocals, and even electronic programming in some songs all blend to form a set that ranges from emotional ballads to almost dance-like tracks reminiscent of The Killers. Songs like “Tethered” will have you imagining you’re running through a dark forest filled with fog, while others like “Perfect Obligation” will encourage you to get up and dance, but in all of it never compromising the content and lyrical value. The Myriad may come off as ambiguous at times, intentionally asking the listener to find their own significance in each song, but one cannot deny the underlying hope in Christ that the members of the band rest in.

According to this reviewer, this album is definitely a must-have. For those of you out there looking for a band on par with some of today’s most successful modern Euro-Rock bands, but that doesn’t compromise lyrically, this is the band for you. The Myriad does what they do well, and I think it will probably be in my top five albums for their year.

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