4 out of 5

Label: Kirtland Records

Produced by: Rob Schnapf

‘Heretics’ is a reimagining, of sorts, of Toadies tracks – from Rubberneck, Hell Below, and Rock.Music. – as acoustic, which, as any fan of the rip-roaring rock outfit should know, is a pretty fun trick.  Especially when it’s committed by the band itself, who toss in a couple of originals just because they’re so nice.  Remakes can simply be fun, of course, either to hear your favorite track sung by a new voice or done in a new style, or they can be hollow reproductions.  At the best of times, though, the variation brings a different light and mood to the song, making the remake stand completely on its own, as a separate beast.  And happily, that’s how the majority of Heretics works.  The slower, more contemplative style of the tracks and their delivery highlights the moody underbelly of vocalist Vaden Lewis’ lyrics, as ever punctuated by his lovely croony howl; grown-up alt-rock fans (and reviewers of the time) might’ve easily set Toadies into a pile of surface Nirvana-ers, and subsequent albums to that single-spawing Rubberneck – while awesome – probably wouldn’t convince them otherwise, still kicking out the jams in a similar fashion after however many years, so it’s rewarding to have a set of songs now to point to that might reveal the depth of the group to a wider audience.  And then, surprise, here’s that song you used to rock out to in your dumb college days, motherfucker.

Opener and newbie ‘In the Belly of the Whale’ is a wonderful place to start, instrumentally layered with great narrative imagery, leading into Kingdom’s ‘Tyler,’ which, slowed down, makes the creepiness of that song even more clear, as well as sets up Lewis’ focus on that blurry line between passion and obsession, which ripples throughout the album.  The Blondie cover – Heart of Glass – rips that song into a modern setting, and I love that, though I haven’t heard Play.Rock.Music., some of the tracks from that – such as Rattler’s Revival – absolutely work, swirling you up in the album’s confident cadence and the band’s collaborative groove.  Pro Rob Schnapf – who worked on the first two “official” Toadies discs – is a great helping hand here, helping make these songs both warm and snappy.

Of course, some things don’t click 100%.  ‘The Appeal’ and ‘Send You to Heaven’ – while the latter again has delightfully creepy lyrics – end up sounding rather generic, the former a faceless lovey song, ‘Heaven’ a generic Toadies song.  And ‘Jigsaw Girl’ was already a quieter track, so it doesn’t necessarily gain anything from the remake.

But on the whole, the fact that hearing these songs makes you thirst for more in the same vein is a good sign – as well as the circular listening habit it encourages, of going back to listen to the originals, then right away coming back to the ‘Heretics’ take.  There are plenty of groups hanging around long after the single has drifted into “I remember that song” territory for most, and a proportionate amount of fans for each group that will tell you you’re missing out by not having hung around to hear what that group has been doing.  With Toadies, they’ve been semi-consistently putting out such solid rock albums that, yeah, if you thirst for something meaty to tap your toe to, you’ve been missing out by not listening to them.  And Heretics is another chance, with the added bonus of hooking you with nostalgia while also maybe surprising you with what else the band has to offer.