This came out in 2003 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
“Ambition’s a tricky thing,” veteran Can-rocker Matthew Good admits midway though his new disc Avalanche. “Ambition can backfire.” As usual, the uncompromising Vancouver singer-songwriter has hit the lyrical nail right on the head. This time, though, he might also have nicked his thumb in the process.
Avalanche is undeniably the most daring act of Good to date — he’s ditched most of his long-serving (and apparently long-suffering) backing band for a new ensemble, all but deleted the snarling post-grunge guitars from his sound, and even seems to have tempered his relentlessly caustic worldview ever so slightly (or at least found a way to imagine a light at the end of the tunnel). All of which is fine. But like many artists who dump their past and boldly stride toward a brave new future, Good has also fallen victim to his own ego and self-indulgence — the 69-minute Avalanche is weighed down by eight-minute songs and grandiose, high-falutin’ arrangements slathered with the strings of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the soaring voices of choral group Musica Intima. Sure, it all has its moments — mostly on shorter songs like the tense opener Pledge of Allegiance, the hard-rocking supersize soundscape 21st Century Living and the throbbing Double Life, which remind you Good can still produce a tight, solid and thought-provoking alt-rock gem when he puts his mind to it. The rest of the sluggishly heavy and smothering Avalanche makes you wish he put his mind to it more often.
