"The Long Way" is the debut from New Jersey’s Raftree. The band’s style fits in well with the contemporary sounds heard on local radio stations like WDHA and fellow American hard rockers Three Days Grace, Sevendust, to harder edgier sounds of Godsmack on album opener ‘What I Say’ with its accenting guitar leads. The harder guitars continue into ‘All The Time’, getting switched out for more melodic verses and chorus allowing Ken’s (Raftree) vocal and the backing harmonies to be the focus. I like the building riff at the beginning of ‘Rage’ as it carries throughout contrasting with the melodic chorus, and the solo works well. Maybe at first the influence of Nickelback can be heard in the riffing for ‘Over And Over’ but given Ken’s tone and the backing vocals and how they arrange the music around a chorus its more themselves . Even though the title track drags a bit, the somber Alice In Chains vocals harmonies and well placed more aggressive solo section saves it. Slide guitar is a nice addition to ‘The Eyes You Hide’, a noticeable funked up bass sets ‘Center Of Attention’ apart a bit from the rest, and percussion with acoustic guitars transitioning into the harder edged solo section for ‘Safe To Say’ adds the variety to the album.

Not my thing, but not bad, these guys are off to a good start and unlike many independent releases the production is solid.