Posted: November 30th, 2008
Contributed By: Nick

	Click To Purchase Release Date: October 14, 2008
	Maven is: Joe Glass (Vocals / Guitar) Micah Yglesias (Guitar) Justin Snyder (Bass) Brandon Knutson (Drums)

Overview: June 18, 2007 I went to the local Guitar Center to purchase a new bass drum pedal. Armed with cash in hand, I waded through the high decibel cacophony of “Sweet Child ‘O Mine” and “Enter Sandman” to the drum room. There to assist me was Maven’s drummer Mr. Knutson. He advocated for Tama’s Iron Cobra series, and based on his testimony I slapped down 400 coin for one their new models. I had a show that evening and was excited to give my new toy a test drive. Everything was fine and dandy until the middle of our third song, when the beater on my main pedal decided to completely collapse, rendering it useless for the remainder of the night. That B-Random sold me a lemon. I shoulda known not to trust the opinion of someone who spends more time on his hair each day than on drum practice. Luckily, the pedal has since been fixed and has worked well ever since. What does this anecdote have to do with Maven? Not a blessed thing. But when Brandon sent me a copy of this, his band’s new album, I was super curious about what I was going to hear.

The Good: And happily, my curiosity was pleasantly tickled, as ‘Truth Lies Fact and Fiction‘ is a juggernaut of biggie sized riffs and rhythms. Leading you in is the sludgy, seismic, and surprisingly nimble “Figured Out”, introducing Maven’s pleasing proximity to the defunct Dogfight. “Waiting” is a perky and consistent hammer spearheaded by a fat drum sound, while “Stay” hangs back, its verses dabbling in Weezer-land to give its choruses blunt force striking power. Heartfelt and honest, “Goodbye Goodnight” steadily blossoms, colorfully blooming by this bedtime story’s end. The brooding “Right Again” spins ethereal verses and hustling choruses for a fluid product, but the gnarly jam that is the song’s bridge steals the headlines. Bassist Justin Snyder and drummer boy B-Random are owed all the credit for the success of “Moldy Crown”, laying down a smooth, unflinching groove that even goes so far as to aid in the track’s catchiness crusade; however without the slight Confederate taste that rings from the strings of Micah Yglesias and Joe Glass, “Moldy Crown” would lack much of its personality. Maven twice kick the ass end of ‘Truth Lies Fact and Fiction‘, first with the pummeling bridge from the harmony-dipped “Better Off Hiding”, then with the high voltage “Never Forever”, where Knutty’s gradual transition from riding on hats to a warm, robust crash adds an immeasurable dynamic presence. The band walks on “Wasting Away”, a thorough tune that showcases the group’s finest attempts at serenity; the final cry vocalist Joe Glass belts out before Maven take their final gasp is hella crafty.

The Bad: Before the main crack in the glass is revealed, there are some other minor rock chips on this windshield. “Waiting” on the whole just sounds awkward-that’s the best way to describe it. The whole thing seems very stiff, very pieced together. Maven takes their dear sweet time between the first and second choruses of “Right Again”, a gap that feels like years. Because chorus one is about a fifth of the size of chorus two, it makes waiting for something bigger and better to arrive tedious, foiling the flow and strategy of the song. On a smaller, but similar note, Maven should have ended “Right Again” with the same intensity they showed in the bridge, as a stomp rather than a tip-toe would have worked out better here. The verses of “Better Off Hiding” would be just that, that’s all I’ll say. After such a lengthy and billowing build-up, I would have expected more progression and more ingenuity out of “Wasting Away”. On a larger scale, the trait missing from ‘Truth Lies Fact and Fiction‘ is a true, well-defined hook, something that really grabs you and locks you in. Without that hook, these nine cuts become lost within one another, potentially losing the interest of impatient listeners.

Bottomline: ‘Truth Lies Fact and Fiction‘ won my heart because of one thing-the mammoth, cannonball riffage. Hell yeah! If you want a first class trip back to nu-metal’s royal palace while still keeping one foot in the present, then let ‘Truth Lies Fact and Fiction‘ take you there. In the end, Maven’s debut album sports a fortress of strong muscles. But to keep these muscles in top tier shape, it requires listeners to regularly revisit the disc. Without that certain something to keep folks coming back, ‘Truth Lies Fact and Fiction‘ seems to pump less iron on each return. Still, Maven have made an album that will satiate everyone from modern rock fanatics to nu-metal leftovers, a versatile red herring that makes it easy to overlook its flaws.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10