The full album debut of Haugesund rockers Pedestrians Of Blue is upon us. Since their excellent 2005 EP, the three song “The second monologue”, the band has shortened its moniker to P:O:B and substituted Geir Luedy for Daniel Flores in the mixing department. In all other respects, however, this is very much the Pedestrians Of Blue of old.
That is to say - P:O:B has evolved and risen very competently to the occasion with this long player’s worth of songs. “Father & Son”, now promoted to album opener, allows the listener a few moments to breathe, before the extended intro church organ gives way to a fairly bottom heavy riff, augmented by some atmospheric synthesizers and recurring organ parts. Johannes Stole’s leads vocals, perhaps surprisingly melodic context wise, round off everything very nicely, while the song itself wavers between solemn and nightmarish in mood.
Track two, “Promises”, is lighter, but there is no mistaking the occasional wall of heavier six strings underneath the keyboard flurries and variety of lead guitar lines. Both guitarist Torfinn Sirnes and singer Stole find themselves filtered heavily during the intro for “The Garden”, but the whole band kicks in quite efficiently after the first verse, lending a great drive to a song that was wisely chosen as the lead off track on the abovementioned EP. Needless to say, its album incarnation remains equally powerful.
“Where the Rain Falls” builds from a dark, but melodic chorus guitar riff, musically not a million miles away from Winger’s wonderful “No Man’s Land”. The overall effect is a little spookier here, further emphasized by a somewhat unexpected bridge and the deeper end of singer Johannes Stole’s register.
The drums and bass, here courtesy of Daniel Flores and Rudolf Fredly respectively, settle on a slower, but majestic tempo for the title track, which is richly melodic and also features an excellent guitar solo by Torfinn Sirnes. “The Line” sees P:O:B flex some non-vocal muscle, and is instrumental (pun intended) in offering a little somewhat light relief prior to the appearance of the in my opinion occasionally over-textured “World of Things”.
“The Other Side” strikes me as the distant cousin of “Where the Rain Falls”, while offering a classy backing vocal arrangement and some nifty lead guitar trade-offs between Torfinn Sirnes and guest guitarist Daniel Palmqvist as a bonus. “How Much More Than a Dream”, on the other hand, sees lead singer Johannes Stole mostly alone with his keyboards to great atmospheric effect. Again, the harmonies are great, courtesy of Paul Hansen on this particular song.
Track ten, “The Altar of Love”, stakes an excellent course to an even better chorus, which to my disappointment is sacrificed (yet another intended pun) for extended instrumental parts. I have kind of forgiven P:O:B by the time “Altar…” elegantly segues into the powerful “Why”, but there’s the vague feeling of having gotten cheated over something. Hm.
“Out of the Rain”, the album’s closer, covers quite a bit of musical ground, from a gentle acoustic guitar intro to Kansas-like pomp, via heavy guitar riffing and extensive vocal arrangements, quite an enjoyable finale that still manages to sound coherent through its duration. Furthermore, it offers the ending to a story that the observant listener will find running through all of the songs on “Crossing Over” – praise to P:O:B for spinning us a distinctively above average yarn in this respect!
Unsurprisingly, my conclusion is that “Crossing Over” makes an excellent full album debut for P:O:B. Their songs are solid and varied, the musicianship, arrangements, mixing and mastering are all top notch, and perhaps most importantly: The melodies prevail!