Disco de Pillar: “For the Love of the Game”

With so many rock bands out there trying to come up with the next anthem tune, it's nice to see that Pillar has returned to their anthemic ways with "For The Love Of The Game." This time around, Pillar is rocking harder and heavier and still manage to squeeze in some melodic tunes. Unlike their two previous albums, the late 80's/early 90's metal and hard rock influences bleed through. I can hear a little bit of Def Leppard and a whole lotta Skid Row (especially in "Reckless Youth," which borders on plagiarism). There are plenty of songs to shout to that beckon one to remember tunes like "Frontline." Some of the highlights of this album include the title track, "Get Back," "Turn It Up" and the wonderful "Smiling Down." My personal favorite tune is "State of Emergency."

Hard rock fans will rejoice with this album and its sound so rooted in hair metal and hard rock. This is not only an uplifting album, but a great album to relieve stress to. Highly recommended to anybody who loves great hard rock, nu metal, and hair metal.

Well, the past couple CDs have been back and forth. WDWGFH was a great release, with good chunky songs that stick with you. The Reckoning had a few moments of greatness, but overall seems more subdued and an attempt to get pop radio acceptance. This new CD reaches back to more of a WDWGFH sound, with the addition of a clear attempt at hooks and anthem style sing-along rockers, while maintaining a modern sound.

For the Love of the Game - A great energetic athem style song. Personally, I think this track would have been so much better if they would have kept up the energy and killed the three slowed-down sections that follow each chorus; the song is great, but kind of dies everytime they shift to that gear.

Turn It Up - a medium speed rocker with a big "whaooo-oooo" chorus for audience participation. Great rocking edge during the chours and brigdes, but seems to mellow out a bit too much during the verses, as if they are still looking for a pop radio friendly song. Good song, but had potential to be so much more.

Reckless Youth - This song stays consistent and presents a good sing along rocker. This song reminds me at times of "Youth Gone Wild" by Skid Row. Overall, this is a great song.

Throwdown is another good steady hard rocker, which at places reminds me some of P.O.D. This might make a good single from the CD later on.

The rest of the tracks are pretty typical Pillar sounding rock tracks, with a couple mellow places here and there. Overall, I enjoy this CD a bit more than The Reckoning, which I did like, it just seems in places to be inconsistent with the style Pillar normally gave us; almost like a stretch at commerciality. This CD has elements of many previous Pillar albums, with a new twist here and there to keep it fresh. I do agree with one of the previous reviewers, that for this day and age, and with their popularity, this CD should not have ben so short. Nine songs? Less than 40 minutes? Come on, that is kind of cheesy only filling half a CDs time in the day when bands typically put out 50+ minute releases. But oh well, what we have is quite good, just being greedy I guess.

My boys are back and ready to give you 9 anthems and 1 slow song that will make you cry. Most people didn't like the reckoning, I did, but it was missing the WDWGFH anthems, this cd has returned to give it to you hard, and this cd is the closest to dc talk's Jesus Freak with a bold message but could reach to Christians and Non due to the music. This cd will help bring you back to God, if your not a Christian and want to rock hard, you will still love this cd, Pillar is what the name means, HARD and Cannot be moved easily.

Item arrived in promised time and undamaged. Excellent music that glorifies God and provokes thought and prayer, while permitting the listener to bang their head freely.

From the title track, "For The Love Of The Game" jumps out at any true Pillar fan. The sound is a bit more rough-cut than other Pillar albums, making it unique. It presents a call to those willing to stand for Christ, the unafraid and unashamed, to remain so. "Reckless Youth", one of my favorite tracks, gives a new view of the younger generation: unafraid to stand for Christ, not concerned about stereotypes, but devoted and sold out to the callings on their lives. Then there's "Throwdown", a personal challenge to the forces of darkness, going toe to toe with your demons. Continuing in the fight theme, Pillar unleashes "Get Back" an admonishment to Christians on the ropes that we must continue the fight of faith, and "get back on the strings". Pillar also presents a call to the fearful with "The Runaway", a loaded track that admonishes staying in the presence of God. If you're looking for a more mellow side to the album, there's always "Smiling Down", a song that reminds that God and our loved ones who have gone to be with him are forever smiling down on us, even when we want to compromise or give up. It is certainly worth a listen or two.