If your church's worship band sounded like Green Olive Tree, you would be stoked. They bring hope to the downtrodden with big, dirty grunge guitars and some peaceful acoustic melodies, and one or two songs apiece for the 'pop punk,' 'nu metal,' and industrial kids in the service trying to get in the Spirit, too. There's a variety of vocals, from soaring pop grunge singing to Grammatrain or Stavesacre-style whispers, but they're at their best when the singer lets loose with throaty, tortured Cobain-descended howls drenched with the emo desperation of Dear Ephesus (like the breathtaking end to "Shadows of a Dream"). It's at those moments when the music blends most intensely with the lyrics, which explore painful struggle and questioning like modern psalms. Song writing arrangement and execution is inconsistent and sloppy in spots, and they need to forge further past their influences to their obvious potential for musical greatness. But overall, Green Olive Tree has put out the best worship disc for butt-rockers I've ever heard.
Other coverage for this album
The Phantom Tollbooth 2001Reviewed by Darryl A. ArmstrongThings I Tried to Be, the debut release from Green Olive Tree on Syntax records, opens up with a very strong track, "Unassisted." It's a song about trying to fight through life alone, unassisted. The song is musically heavy and very catchy. The next song, "For Andy," heads in a very different musical direction, almost alterna-pop. The third song switches musical styles yet again having a very…Opus 2001Reviewed by Jason MoreheadIt's a dangerous thing when a band tries to be too many things at once. It's rarely done successfully (none come readily to my mind). Too often the results are a jumbled mess that either comes off as nothing more than artistic indulgence, an attempt to cash in on whatever's popular at the moment, or just a confusing mess. Unfortunately for Green Olive Tree, Things I Tried to Be comes across as a…HM Magazine #78Reviewed by Doug Van PeltHere's some pretty cool modern rock that reminds me of Collective Soul and the funkiness of Hot Pink Turtle (remember them?). The production is kinda fuzzy and slightly dull, but the band experiments with some cool tones and the vocals are pretty melodic. I like the song "No Escape," makes the Psalm-ish request for God to "search me and know me!"Similar sounding releases
1999ElliottIf They Do
2001Jeremiah's GrottoThrough It All
1998MisprintAnother Broken Promise
2001Raft of Dead MonkeysThoroughlev
2001StavesacreCollective
2004The Shivering& Brand the Ground With Storm and Song
