Octoberman

Marc Morissette's journey as Octoberman has always threatened to be more rewarding than his recorded output. At times, the songs that he wrote as he travelled around were quite compelling, but there was too much filler to recommend either of his earlier albums. Fortunately, Fortresses is a step in the right direction, although it isn't without its problems. There is a definite shift in the balance of good to bad songs but there is still the periodic blandness, which has been mentioned before. In fact, the criticism of his earlier albums has had an effect, as he kicks things off with a confrontational stance against critics and bloggers that didn't like his earlier records. At least it isn't bland. The songs with a full band sound like Thrush Hermit and are the strongest the album has to offer, but Morissette's delivery is sincerer on the quieter, folk-y moments. So while Fortresses is the band's strongest record to date, thanks to more solid tunes and better production, it still has all the issues the other work had. Not a bad record by any means, but just more of the same.