Blue October finally escaped their indie days and broke into the mainstream earlier this year with the release of “Foiled,” their fifth studio album. Though the band falls into the rock genre, their latest disc features such a diverse, in-depth sound that it’s hard to place any sort of label on it, other than just “good music.” 

   Though the band formed in 1996, and released albums at regular intervals since then, they didn’t get much recognition until recently with their hit single “Hate Me.” While all their past albums contained a few jewels of their own, “Foiled” comes chock-full of addictive songs that never seem to get old. 

   The band maintains a knack for creating music that sounds surprisingly fresh and can be enjoyed in large doses. This is, in part, due to lead singer Justin Furstenfeld’s exceptional – almost therapeutic – songwriting abilities. Furstenfeld’s ability to convey emotional lyrics, but not at the expense of a good tune, is what finally pushes the band past its competition. 

   While the album’s first two singles “Hate Me” and “Into The Ocean” solidly reflect the band’s trademark sound and lyrics, even better can be found elsewhere on the disc. “She’s My Ride Home” and “X-Amount of Words” will be looked upon as the best the album, or the band for that matter, has to offer.  The latter contains heavy electronic influences, which fits nicely with their already dynamic sound. 

   Very few missteps can be found on “Foiled.” Though most listeners could probably have done without “Let It Go” and “Overweight,” they’re not so bad that they detract from the rest of the album. The quality of most of what’s here overshadows what few shortcomings nitpickers will be able to dig up.  

   “Foiled” features 13 tracks (or 14 if you count the two stuck together at the end). Rarely can you say over half the songs on a disc are good, or even listenable for that matter. With this collection of tunes, over half of them can be enjoyed on repeat, mainly because nothing else out there right now sounds quite like it.

Rating: A