Album Review: Poets of the Fall -Temple of Thoguht-

Temple of Thought- (5/6)

I will preface this by saying I’ve been waiting for this album for a long time, I cannot begin to tell you how much I love these guys.

Poets of the Fall is at it’s core a three person rock band( Marko Saaresto (Vocals)Olli Tukiainen (lead guitar) and Markus "Captain" Kaarlonen (keyboards, production). They have also brought in at least on tour and Temple of Thought Jani Snellman (bass guitar), Jaska Mäkinen (rhythm guitar, backing vocals) and Jari Salminen (drums, percussion)

To say that these guys are a rock band really doesn’t do them justice, their sound is not like any other I’ve heard. I can hear bits of folk rock, progressive rock and classical guitar work in all of their albums. Saaresto’s lyrics are filled with striking turns of phrase and the way he sings them is both innovative and articulate. One of the things I adore about the band as a whole is that they ar constantly innovating, without completely losing their core sound. Saatsto’s voice make’s this most noticeable. Evolving from a simple, lovely tenor to someone with a range from baritone to first tenor and masterful control. Saaresto is particularly good at sensing when to experiment whit sound and where a simple, clean vocalization is best. His diction is amazing.

Musically, their sound runs the gamut from hauntingly simple to ornate sometimes within one song. It is constantly developing but never loses it's surreal quality.

Every album has been utterly poetic and beautiful. Temple of Thought is no exception. It takes the fantastical romance of Twilight Theater and adds the kick of rock that was present in Revolution Roulette in fact you can hear where they blended the pieces of every album of theirs that worked well. In a time where I’ve seen more and more of my pet artists slowly lose what made them so strong to a sound closer to pop, it is refreshing to see an album that very much represents the artists that put their effort forward.

This is one of the very few albums I’ve heard where my finger wasn’t hovering over the skip button.

One of the things that really struck me about this album besides its cumulative nature was the drum work. It is utterly fantastic, particularly in “The Ballad of of Jeremiah Peacekeeper,” there is a steady pulse to the album.

The track that stands out most as completely different from anything else on the album is “The Happy Song.” It was written for the Alan Wake soundtrack. I think it shows off a side to the band that is not often seen-- that is their abllyt to be playful. This is particularly apparent if you listen to the background, Saatesto just kind of goes nuts, frestyling the song’s one repeated line (“I'm a psycho”) in various intonations and at various speeds. Saaresto also has this wicked, wonderful laugh that is infectious and creepy.

Album review: Shinedown -Amaryllis-

Shinedown streamed their newest album Amaryllis (available for purchase March 27th) on iTunes this week and I’ve given it a listen thorough. Here are my thoughts I may write more when it comes out:

Amaryllis offers the bouncy, hard rock sound that is expected from Shinedown with a more pop sound. It lacks the teeth Sound of Madness had. Both of Shinedown’s most recent singles, “Bully” and “Diamond eyes(boom-lay)” are both crowd songs, written to be easy to sing along with even without having heard these song before. While every band has at least one of these songs, it feels like Shinedown is trying for it with these two songs.

The trouble I have with bully is that it feels like Shinedown is hopping on the anti-bullying bandwagon that has been so active lately. It doesn’t have the painfulness of a lot of the anti-bullying songs out there. However, It does have drive. This is where I see the old Shinedown coming out. “Bully” is a ferocious, hard edged anthem. I’m a sucker for songs like “Bully,” that are meant to give strength to the picked on kids.

The slow songs on this album were a bit of a letdown. After the emotional grind that came from “Crow and the butterfly” and “Second chance” it is hard for me to really get excited about the title track “Amaryllis.” While it does have the occasional glimmer of the emotional drive that Shinedown is known for, it is not the power track it should be.

I am intrigued by the addition of strings on this album. Normally, I find strings add to the songs I’ve heard them in. I’m not sure that is the case here. Jury’s still out on that one.

If I had any advice to the band I would say , do not lose that edge.

I found Amaryllis much softer than previous albums and lacking some of the bite of previous albums, It could be simply that its not as angry , which can be good live. We shall see in May. Stay tuned, folks.
(4/6)

Coming very soon: Poets of the Fall Temple of Thought.

Speed reviews Round 2: Mona -Mona-

Mona Mona--(5/6)

I was suppressed at the quality of the sound on this album. Most of my YouTube finds feel a bit like they were recorded in someone’s basement, because sometimes they were.

This album has a very professional feel. The sound is largely alt. rock, but plays with dance, pop, and country. The tone of the album is cheeky and flirtatious. It is the kind of music i personally indulge in a lot. Is it the most fantastic and original thing? no. But it does something a lot of music these days dosn’t do, it has fun without being god awful. There are a lot of song that are motivational on this album. At the same time it isn’t all bubblegum and bounce. There is a sly romanticism about some of the tracks.

The lyrics match the music to the letter . Flirty, sweet and unrepentant, it captures the wanderlust of youth and its soft smile.

The vocals, smooth with just the smallest hint of gravel, front man has solid vocal control (which a lot of artists lack) and articulates much more clearly than the average artist. I could listen to that voice for ages.

The instrumentation has a classic alternative rock sound and the gutair work is a cut above average.

Overall, I was disappointed when the album came to a close, not impatient as I am wont to be. Nicely done.

Speed Reviewing: Lana del Rey, Eli Leib, Halestorm

People send me music, often by the truckload. (At my request, I love nothing quite as much as finding new cool music, and subsequently sharing it with all of you) Because my friends know me, the music ranges from “this is hilariously bad” to “this is amazing” and hits all the points in between. It’s a point of pride for me not to be genre biased, so It also spans an insane number of styles.

In the sprit of keeping this place active I’m going to start reviewing that stuff, from the terrible to the amazing. Even if it’s older.

Ladies and gents, you’ve seen speed dating now: Speed Reviewing.

First up today:

Eli Lieb-3.5/6

Some of my favorite youtube gems are covers, Lieb is no exception. I stumbled onto Lana Del Rey’s “Born to Die” (reviewed below) and I took a shine to Lieb’s more energetic, innocent take on the song. Add to that Katy Perry’s “Firework” and I was interested enough to check out his original work . His voice is lovely, if a little plain. In his covers, i find his ability to simultaneously bring his own interpretation to the song and respect the emotion involved in the original refreshing. It is all to common to see an artist either cover a song verbatim how it was originally sung or in a “unique’ way with does not respect the original artist’s presentation of the song. I find the former boring and the later an insult. Lieb balances his covers nicely.

His interoperation of Rebecca Black’s Friday is priceless. Just priceless.

Leib’s original work is night and day different from his covers. More instrumental and fairly innovative, despite tis pop sound. Lieb takes full advantage of electronic media to synthesize instrumentation that cannot otherwise be made in a one man set up. He also use layered recording to simulate other vocals. However, unlike most artists who do so, he uses the exact same vocalizations with both layers most of the time, consequently I find it a bit excessive and distracting.

In that vein, I find his use of auto-tune unnecessary and obnoxious. He already has a very nice voice and altering it is only detrimental. Its not even used to deliberately distort the vocals, so all that I  notice is a very sleigh tininess.

The instrumentation is cohesive throughout the enter album, without making all of the songs sound the same. Rather the album sounds like one continuous song with a lot of variation. Excepting one song it is fluid and smooth. This creates a double edged sword. ON the one hand, it create for a consistent sound and style, on the other hand, none of the songs jump out at me, exempt the one stylistic diversion me toned.

I would encourage him to explore the more minimal approach that he uses in his covers as occaiosnally he adds a little to much to the instrumentation.

Lyrically, Lieb is hit or miss, the songs the are strong are sexy, haunting and just plain wonderful, the others are less than mediocre and as redundant as the bad parts of pop get. I wish that element was more consistent, because it can really work well.

I think with a little more polish and honing he could be the next big pop thing.

Next we have:

Lana Del Rey(4/6) Born to Die

I actually paused when I heard Del Rey’s sultry, muted voice for the first time. It is not a sound you hear often, especially not today. There is a weight to her voice that you don’t see often in modern music. More reminiscent of a 30s jazz singer than of a modern day chart toper Del Rey brings an at once smooth and fatalistic sound with otherwise upbeat lyrics that call your attention not by grabbing, but with a firm, gentle pull.

In particular, “Born to die” would be one of those upbeat,  “you can do anything” songs that are so common on the radio. Instead, it is a muted look back at a dangerous, painful time.

Lyrically, Del Rey has a bit of a pop sound to her, but what makes her investing is that the same lyrics at a faster tempo would be inspirational, almost happy. Instead, we have a resigned, sorrowful album that touches deep beneath the veins. Rather than the typical nostalgia for teenager-hood it is a resigned look back at the stupidity that comes with that age. It feels like something terrible happened, but it was so long ago that the pain has dulled.

The instrumentation is cinematic and polished with minimal layering and a surprising complexity. It complements Del Rey’s contralto stylings without being overpowering or being overpowered.

One more:

Halestorm (new single, album review no doubt forthcoming) 5/6

I confess I’d grown a little disillusioned with Halestorm. I love them, don’t misunderstand me, but I’ve seen them five times and things were feeling a little repetitive. The vitriolic ex-lover songs are only really powerful so many times.

As I said before, It may haven been one hell of a trick, but Halestorm still felt like a one trick pony.

“Here’s to us,” still holds that country-rock flare and gutsy voice Lzzy Hale is known for, but brings a softer edge and happiness that we don’t see on earlier albums. I have no doubt The Strange Case of…. will have the same sass and ferocity we’ve seen in Halestorm time and again, but perhaps we’ll get a little more depth with our vitriol.

Next up: Mona Mona; Halestorm Hello, it’s Mz. Hyde (EP)