Default - One Thing Remains CD review

As we all know, without a doubt, Nickleback is the most popular modern rock band to come out of our neighbor to the north. Yes, I'm talking about Canada, land of ice hockey and Celine Dion. However, most people don't even know about a modern rock band that I consider to be better than Nickleback, yet Nickleback lead singer Chad Kroeger is the reason they even exist now. In the late 90's and early 2000's, a band by the name of The Fallout caught the eye of Kroeger, and he produced their first album. Before the album hit the store shelves, they renamed themselves as Default, and named the debut album "The Fallout" instead. With hits like "Wasting My Time" and "Deny", Default made a name for themselves in the modern rock genre. Their 2nd CD, titled "Elocation" did not fare as well, with only one hit, that being the song "(Taking My) Life Away". After a 2 year hiatus, Default is back with a new CD named "One Thing Remains". This album is by far their best CD yet, and has already spawned hits like "Count On Me" and "It Only Hurts".
The CD starts off with the amazing song "All Is Forgiven". Dallas Smith, lead singer of Default, says that "All Is Forgiven" was his favorite song off the entire record. Dallas personally wrote the lyrics to the song, and the music that accompanies it is truly a masterpiece. After such a dramatic start, some CD's fall off in quality immediately. That is not the case with "One Thing Remains", as the first 5 songs off the CD are good enough to stand as singles by themselves. The second song, titled "I Can't Win" is a hard rocking song that describes a love/hate relationship. "I can't win with or without you, don't know why, I can't win with or without you, but still I try" is the chorus of the song, and Dallas sings it with great intensity. The 3rd song, "It Only Hurts" is my personal favorite off the CD. The song starts off just with vocals and a barely audible guitar, then bursts into the sunlight with ripping guitar riffs and Dallas raising his singing voice. The fourth song, "The Way We Were" is a slow song about longing to return to a relationship that has gone sour. The 5th entry, "Count On Me", is the first single off the album. Already a major hit, this song rocks moderately hard, it is definitely a radio-friendly song. The bass drum hits and guitar riffs combine for a catchy tune the entire length of the song. The next six songs, "Hiding From The Sun","Beautiful Flower","One Thing Remains","The Memory Will Never Die"."Get Out of This Alive", and "Found My Way Out" can be considered the weaker portion of the album. Out of those 6 songs, "The Memory Will Never Die" is the best of them, with a nice slow song and rythm that takes time to remember a loved one that has passed on.
Overall, "One Thing Remains" is a great modern rock CD, and a must-have for any rock music fan. Although Nickleback has enjoyed more success, Default has been leading the way for the "underground" modern rock scene. Too bad there aren't more people that know about Default...when Wal-Mart doesn't carry your CD's, I guess you aren't going to get many fans. Of all the Wal-Mart stores I visited in pursuit of this album, NONE had any Default albums in stock. I had to go to a Sam Goody specialty shop to even find this CD, which is quite rediculous because Default deserves much more recognition than they receive.

Overall rating: 4 out of 5 stars