Veil
Mr. Sunshine
Reviewed by Dan MacIntosh
It should be no secret by now that the sun can either bring warmth and happiness to the faces of children, or cancer and death—through our ozone depleted atmosphere—to beach baptized tan seekers. The Veil—which has dropped "of Ashes" from its name—has done a fine job on Mr. Sunshine of pointing out this often obvious duality. Many of these songs are structured in a kind of compare and contrast mode, in order to reveal the two sides of this coin in great detail.
Although the cover features a drawing of a Jester, there is little here to laugh about. The album opens with a song about death, "Marilyn's Right to Twinkle," which sounds like a follow-up to an old Jim Carroll song called "People Who Died," and ends with "Three Years Old." The latter ends with these grin-inducing lines: "I will never be three years old again/I will never be so innocent." Makes you want to just break into a giggle, doesn't it?
Sean Doty, who does all the singing and takes most of the writer's credits, proves himself to be an intelligent, and often witty writer. In "Marilyn's Right To Twinkle" which is little more than an obituary put to music, Doty mentions John Lennon's death with this line: "John was killed by Goldman and Yoko got the cash." Doty knows his pop music history well; in this same song he also refers to Mama Cass, Buddy Holly, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Syd Vicious, Johnny Thunders, and Judy Garland. Don McLean, are you listening?
The album's strongest section appears smack dab in the middle with three songs about love. "Pimps and Preachers" is a laundry list of civilization's losers which reminds us that we should love all, in spite of what or who they are. "20 Loves (One With Promise)" is all about the misuses of love, but it ends with a verse about Christ's death on the cross which "means everything." The third song in this trilogy is called "This Love" and urges us to learn all we can about love.
Queen fans take note, Mr. Sunshine also contains the first, and probably the last tribute to Freddie Mercury you'll ever hear on a Christian record label. This ode to Mr. Mercury, who was never a poster child for Family Values in his lifetime, features some crafty lyrics, and would have been even more enjoyable if the band had thrown in a few of that band's bombastic musical touches.
Beatle fans will either love or hate The Veil's rendition of "Norwegian Wood." This "Plugged" Fab Four classic sounds nice in this psychedelic guitar drenched setting. Isn't it good.
Veil may never be the next Beatles, or even Queen for a day, but with this better than average album, they will, they will rock you.
3.5/5