Passafire - Vines

"It don't have to be serious to be positive"

For those who like:
socially aware music
alt reggae
guitar and bass driven music

Pass if:
your reggae has to be pure roots

I've seen Passafire in concert before and they put on an energetic show despite playing for a small crowd.  They've produced four decent albums already.  Each is a mellow alternative reggae sound.  I should probably clarify that point, because I have a tendency to make up genres and then assume people know what I'm talking about.  They have a more rock sound than straight up reggae, though reggae shows through stronger.  They fall somewhere between Sublime and Ziggy Marley, but closer to Ziggy.  Or at least that's how I would have described their first four albums.  This new one is something else.

Vines was released just a couple weeks ago.  They've picked up a heavier guitar driven reggae atmosphere, and it sounds great.  The reggae sound is still there, but has taken on a less mellow and more rocking mood.  Some of the songs have nearly metal sounds.  A  heavy bass guitar leads through the song 'Souvenir'.  It goes into solos that are borderline metal bass tracks.  The track 'Go' also follows a very fast bass line.  In fact, the choppy style actually sounds like a ska riff but played on a bass guitar.
Several of the songs are more ska style than reggae.  'All of our Minds' has that very choppy beat.  'Invisible' is an interesting tune- it has the ska beat, but halfway through has a big guitar solo that reminds me of the guitar style of Avenged Sevenfold.
They still have a few of their traditional sounding songs too.  'Phoney Imposter' and 'Stowaway' are mellow alt reggae tracks.
And then there is 'Steam Rising'; it combines the ska and rock styles to form a kind of industrial ska not unlike 311.
Even the slower 'Right Thing' mixes in some guitar riffs, and yet the sounds flow together very well.  This song also starts off the socially aware mood this band maintains.  It's not about forcing others to do good, it's about leading by example with a natural sense of doing good.
Besides the social messages, they convey other uplifting ideals; being true to yourself is a common theme.  'Black Dog' is a moving tale of a stray dog he adopted and how they are now inseparable.

All in all, a great album.  These guys are on their way up and mark my words, you will be seeing a lot more of Passafire, especially if you're into the reggae music scene.  It was hard to pick one song to demonstrate, but in the end I picked 'Go'.  As mentioned before, it has the bassist playing a ska beat, and I like how the reggae bleeds through during the chorus.