Jonah Carden- The Great Depression

It has been my intention to review this album for quite a while now.  One might assume that I would review it only to give my good buddy Jonah an ego boast regardless of what I actually thought about it but that's not true.  If the album sucked I would simply just leave it alone.  Fact is, the album does not suck, and in fact is the most solid album Jonah has been involved with to date.  The actual reason I want to review it is because it is so good and I hate that it is going without any attention being paid to it.  Indeed, the nine songs found on this album are so on par with anything available within this genre from signed artists that it annoys me that it's not being heard by the people that will appreciate them.  Of course, I highly doubt that me writing this will at all change this situation but if I can get any body else at all to check this music out it'd be worth it.

The absolute strong point of the album for me is the way that he uses his vocals and his labyrinthine guitar layers to make the songs  instantly catchy.  That said, the opener, aptly entitled Intro, sets the atmosphere for what is to come so well that you won't even notice the lack of vocals. The three songs that follow, Down in the Pine, Chains the Ghost, and To Carry the Cross make up the heart of the album I think.  Any one of them could have been released as a single and they all (Down in the Pine especially) inform the type of music this album is striving for which is downtrodden acoustic epics.

The next song, The Sleeping Widow, is another instrumental that acts as a bridge to the latter half of the album.  Of all the songs on here it is probably the one I could do without, but it serves it's purpose and is a nice transition.  Following The Sleeping Widow is another rock solid trio of songs: All I Wanted, The Great Depression Part 1 and The Great Depression Part 2.  As with the prior three songs I spoke about these songs are all awesome.  Despite feeling that those were the "heart" of the album, All I Wanted and The Great Depression Part 1 are probably my two favorite tracks.  The Great Depression Part 2 is also a good one, and is where Jonah's Pink Floyd influence becomes the most apparent.  A final instrumental entitled Outro finishes out the album in a grand fashion.

Though the album couldn't be considered  metal exactly , a fan of a metal will probably be able to determine the influences here.  Hints of the slower songs from Down's second album, Zakk Wylde's earlier more respectable acoustic efforts, and even Pink Floyd all mix with what I feel is probably the most prevalent influence which is Alice in Chains' acoustic stuff.   A fan of any of those or even just fans of good songwriting would not be disappointed after listening to this album.  It's important to realize that aside from the drums (which were performed by Travis Oliver, who also helped with some of the songwriting so his contribution can't be forgotten) Jonah performs every instrument and does all the vocals himself which is quite a feat.

If this has gotten you at all interested you should definitely try to check out the music for yourself.  It is available on iTunes or you could purchase a physical copy of the album (which I recommend as it features an amazing hand painted cover by Jonah's mother Anita) by contacting Jonah on Facebook HERE.