I Am The Pilot, Crashing Into Consciousness

If you dig this kind of modern screamo, guitar-driven, hook-laden rock, I Am The Pilot’s first album, Crashing Into Consciousness, is strong, if typical of the genre: well-executed, great-sounding, hooks galore. But what sounds like typical mid-2000’s rock on first listen becomes some serious throwback ear candy after a few listenings, especially if you are older than 25 or so. “Gone Too Far” is a strong opener, a big arena rock anthem with a smashing chorus that presages the twists that are coming.

And they aren’t twists I had heard before; I’m pretty sure that Pilot’s influences reach back to the early to mid-’80s, before hair got huge. “Warriors,” for one, is slightly reminiscent of, um, Loverboy. Seriously, it’s in that same Journey/Foreigner range, with a chorus straight off classic FM radio. The title track, “Crashing into Consciousness,” is even more ’80s pop-rock, while on the other hand, “The Frequency” is a bit less mashed-up, much more straightforward. “Rescue” rocks, and “These Machines” are as close as you’re going to get to a power ballad without squeezing into the spandex. Production is top-notch, a very nice-sounding album.

Overall, I Am The Pilot are one of the first bands I have heard that captures this era not as an ironic statement or nostalgic act, but as a serious influence that colors but doesn’t overshadow their modernity. In fact, the entire album feels like a flashback, not in a rip-off sense, but as a solid combining of the best of that classic ’80s era with mainstream 21st century rock. Very solid, really rockin’ , extremely listenable, and — dare I say — the first “cruising” album I have heard in, what, fifteen-plus years?