Intercept - Magnolia Road

Intercept hailing from North Hollywood has released their sophomore album entitled Magnolia Road. Magnolia Road offers a mix of Alternative, Rock and Pop Songs.

Intercept is made up of four members. Christian Knudsen on Vocals, and Rhythm Guitar, Jeff Knudsen on Lead Guitar, Jason Weiner on Drums and Phil Romo on Bass Guitar.

“Stand Back” offers soft well polished vocals that mixes and stirs the perfect remedy to blend with the Acoustics in the song. The song starts off with a very soothing acoustic feeling which is later mixed with a heavier Electric Guitar sound. The song tweaks my interest because of Jason continually clashing with the cymbals. I find the mixture works really well because it shows the different characteristics and influences that Intercept incorporates with their music.

My choice for Intercepts first single off of Magnolia Road I would have to go with “Home”. The song starts off slowly with a high tone echoing guitar effect sound. “Home” is a good example of how Intercept has blended Alternative, Rock and Pop genres together. As in many songs off of Magnolia Road the vocals really stand out to me. The Vocals always seem to stay in the right tone and softness to match the instruments in the song. The guitar riff that appears in the opening of the song is played throughout most of the song, while the riff is noticeable throughout the song the loudness of the riff is turned down a bit so the vocals and other guitar sound above the riff.

“Beautiful One” is a song that has to be heard off of this album. This song is my favourite off of the album, the songs could be easily follow “Home” as a single from the album. The song starts off with a Ocean sound effect, which you immediately feel throughout the song. After the ocean effect finishes, and by the way that the Guitar is being played it gives you a “Wave effect” sound. The great guitar picking in this song really makes “Beautiful One” stand out in Magnolia Road. The opening guitar riff is the main base of the song, as the riff is played throughout the song. I think this is the one song on the album where the vocals are not the best feature about the song but they take the backseat behind the guitar. The Bass Guitar very noticeable in parts of the song which I find doesn’t happen very often in songs., but does add a nice touch to the main riff of the song.

If you are a fan of acoustic tracks with great vocals then “Berlin” is the track for you. What I like about the song mostly is the simplicity of the song. The acoustic guitar stands out more to me than the electric guitar that is played overtop of the acoustic later on in the song. If I had a choice in the final outcome of the song I probably would have kept the song an acoustic track only. I would however have kept the drums in the song as the drums have a nice bass sound to them. But going with the Electric Guitar in the song Intercept keeps with their own sound.

You can buy your own copy of Magnolia Road off of their own band's website www.intercepttheband.com or www.myspace.com/helcionband.