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Oct. 16, 2000

Review - NME
November 1999

Oil Change Review
by Philippa Watton
Magnet, March 2002

"We catalogue the stars / pretend that they are ours / but like everything we've made / they are gonna fade."

With "Out of Time," DriveSHAFT plunges past a mere paean to a broken relationship, musing further on the ephemeral essence of time and love. Likewise, with Oil Change, their latest effort, the band grapples with the abstract and simple, emerging with a well-rounded tour-de-force of an album that earns the evocation of its tongue-in-cheek title---well, at least the "change" part (and, if the metaphor may be stretched, "oil" for its sleekness).

Whatever demons DriveSHAFT exorcised to emerge from the hiatus between their previous eponymous album and this one, it has left them reborn. This, their second release for Rhythm Records, is a refreshing alternative to hackneyed, transparent mainstream rock. Often straddling the line between melodicism and dissonance, Oil Change surges forward, pushing the boundaries of pop sensibilities, while maintaining a simplicity that hooks the listener and holds on.

The shimmering "Seven" undulates with Adam ‘Sinjin' St. John's looping, tremolo-laden guitar over the swift syncopation of the rhythm section, featuring Charlie Pace's trademark bass licks and Patrick Gleason's relentless percussion - a cyclone of sound that belies the friction in the lyrics. Meanwhile, "Wrong Way" provides the antithesis of the cloying break-up song, balancing the narrator's bittersweet yearnings with healthy doses of self-aware sarcasm. It is also the gentlest number on the album, displaying a maturation in DriveSHAFT that the remainder of the songs equally supports.

With Oil Change, DriveSHAFT prophesizes their fate: to metamorphose, not fade away.