“Truth in Lies” is the fresh single from Human Anyway. Beginning with crunchy palm-muted bar chords, the guitars slow down for some background harmony, making way for a chain of angst-ridden lyrics in a song about bullying and loss of self-esteem.
The speaker has a pervading sense of inadequacy: “I look in the mirror and all I find / Is less than what God made me to be.”
“The eyes looking back at me…condemning me for every move I make” …One can picture squirming before the scrutiny of junior high’s most relentless clique.
“These dirty little lies / Get under my skin” …It appears the speaker has begun to internalize all the nastiness. A lifetime’s worth of therapists will be kept busy, one might assume.
Lead singer Zac Rantz has a stellar alt-rock voice a la Three Days Grace or Crossfade. A little more than halfway through the song, there is a rap-metal outburst from guest vocalist Steven Cooper. It’s pretty cool in a tormented sense, almost like something you would hear from Papa Roach.
“Truth in Lies” also has its own carefully constructed music video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UX5OgzJ5OY
All potential viewers should be advised: There is some rather malicious schoolroom behavior depicted in this video.
One poor girl has a chair kicked out from under her. Gravity takes effect, and she hits the floor pretty hard. Then there’s some young dork with glasses who feels so ashamed that he curls up his body into a ball, while hiding in the corner of a hallway. Then there’s a scrawny pubescent who gets his weak ass pushed into a locker.
A possible theme is: Losers, you are not alone. And in the fullness of time, the oppressors will either learn some humanity and compassion, or else karma will track down their empty souls and rock them something horrific!
The scenes of rejection could resonate with anyone who ever received a bloody wedgie, had their brand new Starter jacket stuck in a disgusting locker room toilet (that was my birthday present, you thoughtless shitheads), or otherwise felt excluded by one’s more glamorous peers (not that any of this ever applied to the present reviewer).
As for the single, it can be purchased at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/truth-in-lies-feat.-steven/id617014724
For further info on the band: http://www.humananyway.com/
Ray Cavanaugh – owleyesgatsby@yahoo.com
