Uplifting

Anthemic choruses, multi-tracked vocals and stadium-sized guitars. Of all the ways to describe 311, those would be the last things you would use to sum up the band’s reggae-filled style.

But with producer Bob Rock at the helm, the band’s ninth studio album manages to combine those sounds with the usual laid-back vibe present throughout most of its body of work. The new collaboration has seemingly paid off, as “Uplifter” debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, the band’s highest placing to date.

The liveliness of “It’s Alright” harkens back to earlier 311 hits such as “Beautiful Disaster” and “Amber” by providing the forceful nature of the former and the peacefulness of the latter. The crunching guitars set the tone, as the heavily layered vocals soar through the chorus. Apart from the hard-driving chorus, the song is mostly laid-back, with reggae-vibing guitars and lead singer Nick Hexum’s soft voice.

“Golden Sunlight” starts out with a trippy, hypnotic sound before delving into the larger-than-life sing-along chorus. As with “It’s Alright,” the band once again makes good use of several layers of vocals, with the array of Hexum’s vocal tracks clearly overshadowing the rest of the song. This number is sure to have swarms of 311 fans singing along.

Despite the fresh sound it presents on many tracks, “Uplifter” is not without lackluster efforts.

“Too Much Too Fast” treads along into boredom with no highs or lows, just middle-of-the road monotony. “My Heart Sings” is a soft ballad that starts out like it could be one of the band’s best works ever, but the magic soon falls off, ending up as nothing but a boring closing track.

Though “Uplifter” has no shortage of sweet melodies and pounding riffs, the album starts to get stale as it winds down. Still, considering there are so few bands with a vibe like 311, the fact it’s still putting out music is automatically a good thing.