Metal and Rock Reviews and More

By - #d

(view my personal Tumblr here)

Album: Poison The Parish

Artist: Seether

Genre: Post-Grunge/Alternative Metal

Label: Canine Riot, Concord Music

Release Date: May 12, 2017

About time Seether made a new album. It’s been a whole three years since Isolate and Meditate, and Seether are one of my favorite bands. Isolate was alright, but it’s on the end of the list of Seether albums that I listen to in frequency. Poison The Parish kicks it in the ass. It is fresh and produced by singer Shaun Morgan himself. I don’t think Wind Up Records (their previous label) wanted Seether to ever stray from the radio rock formula. Well they did more than just stray on this album.

The first song Stoke The Fire, opens with an eerie sound, then transcends into a metal riff. Uhmm sorry, since when are Seether metal? In addition to the metal riffs, there are some awesome screams that reminded me of “Needles” from their debut album Disclaimer. The message of the song is wanting to be famous and how that will be accomplished. The next track, Betray And Degrade, makes a very welcome appearance by Dale Stewart (bass player). I appreciated the loud bass solo, as I don’t believe bass always needs to be quiet. I love the song “Breed” by Nirvana for that reason. This song is about a relationship that needs a new direction, and from the perspective of Shaun Morgan, he’ll accept the degrading he receives from his girlfriend as a sign of emptiness within her. Unrelated, I particularly loved the sarcastic tone of the lyric “And yeah I'm guessing, that I should be kind of happy. It's a fault of mine”. Ouch.

Skipping ahead a couple of tracks is, I’ll Survive, which seems to have a very familiar riff. The opening riff to the chorus instantly reminded me of “Nobody Praying For Me” off Isolate and Meditate. I’m not a fan of recycling one’s own work, but I can’t read music so I’m not the best source. I will however say by this point, it’s very obvious this album is talking about the same relationship in each song. Let You Down is the first single off the album, and I agree it was a good choice. Different sounding enough, but undeniably Seether. There’s some metal-ish guitars, but the chorus is pretty classic radio rock sounding. Whatever relationship Shaun was/is in may be kinda shitty, he apparently see’s good in the girl as he says “So say something beautiful. Say what you're keeping inside”. Well that’s good, I thought you were just staying in this relationship so you could write an album.

Next up is, Against The Wall, which opens with a prominent, but minute guitar solo with juxtaposing screaming vocals from Shaun. I believe this shows confidence in a singer and their abilities when this technique is applied. They’re willing to stand out. It reminded me of Can You Feel My Heart by Bring Me The Horizon. However, a bit of a different subject matter then the former, this song is about being at the end of all possibilities in a relationship. Getting away from the failing relationship is the song, Saviours, which preaches about religious fanatics. Shaun states that people who claim to be saviors just “worship themselves” and are “all just bigots and liars”. I was kinda surprised to see a semi-political track by this band. They usually keep it pretty relationship oriented. I applaud them for branching out on this nice little upbeat track.

I love the next track, Nothing Left. I particularly love John Humphrey’s (drummer) use of the cymbals in the verses. It reminded me of the iconic intro to “Blind” by Korn. I also love the screams by Shaun in the chorus. Since Seether have already demonstrated they can be political, I suspected this song was political as well. Lines such as “It seems you're trying to capture what's not really there. And so, remember the ones that you used up for gain” reminded me of Donald Trump. I believe the message of the song is Donald Trump tried to fulfill a political ideology that is not actually wanted, and he used people too dumb to realize what they are actually voting for. #Liberal. Towards the end of the album is Emotionless. This song proves grunge is NOT dead. The muffled vocals, in combination with the guitar and bass being at the same level (while at the same time making the guitar still very noticeable) reminds me very much of Alice In Chains. I wouldn’t call it a rip off, as this song does have it’s own soul. Shaun also grew a pair in this song, as he said, “you won’t amount to more than this” and “I know somehow you will never be found”. Bout time he stuck it to the bitch.

I admit this song is lighter rock than we usually review. It’s more indie rock than traditional. However, this is a rock review blog and Strawberry Lemonade is a rock song, even if it’s indie rock, so here we go.

The beginning of this song is a bit electronic. Then, as the song progresses, it gets more of a “vintage” sound. The lyrics sound sad, but they are sung well. Haydn’s voice is well suited for the music. According to the press release, he was trying to reach out to a past love with this song. It’s a post-breakup love song.

The instrumentation on this song is solid. There are drumbeats in all the right places and there is a nice keyboard melody over them. Guitar notes round the sound out.

The only negatives I can find about this song are that there is a lack of a bass beat (or if it’s there it’s not loud enough) and the song itself is pretty short. Overall this is a good indie rock single. I’ll review the rest of the album when it comes out. The full album, Love Is Pain, does not currently have a release date.

You can buy/stream this song here.

Royal Blood just released their single Turn The Lights Out on Friday. Royal Blood is a rock duo from Brighton. Lights Out is an upbeat song that would work for both listening in the car with the windows down and hearing in an underground bar scene of a TV show or movie. Even though they are a duo, their music has a very full sound. It has full guitar sound as well as a hint of electronic. The singer is talented and his voice works well with the music.

Royal Blood’s new album How Did We Get So Dark comes out June 16th, 2017.

By Dan #d

(view my personal tumblr here)

Album Title: The Sick, Dumb & Happy

Band: The Charm The Fury

Genre: Melodic Death Metal, Metalcore, Groove Metal, Pop, Rock

Label:  Arising Empire / Nuclear Blast

Release Date:  March 17, 2017

When I read Metal Hammer or Revolver magazine, I usually just stick to reading about bands that I’m familiar with. Occasionally I’ll read a random article. But in the most recent Metal Hammer, I decided to do some more exploring and pay attention to the ads and new band articles. The Charm The Fury are one of the bands I saw an ad for, and I am glad I did. This album is something else, plus I’m all about female fronted bands. Yeah yeah Floor Jansen, I know it’s not a genre.

The Sick, Dumb & Happy opens with the song, Down On The Ropes. I wasn’t entirely sure of the song’s message (which would happen more than once proceeding), however it was very pleasing upon first listen. Opening with some speedy guitars and awesome drum beats, it eventually transcended into some nice grooves. Which instantly reminded me of Pantera. When vocalist, Caroline Westendorp made her first appearance, I was instantly drawn in. These vocals are not your typical Halestorm or Evanescence. They’re dirty and raw. Kind of reminded me of Christine Maynard of Level C or Carla Harvey of Butcher Babies. The next song Echoes put me on a trip (in a good way). I had to read the lyrics like ten times to figure out the message of the song. I suspect it’s about believing that fighting yourself is dumb. The lyrics say “Step down, show respect, for the folly of man. Some things are better left unsaid”. Then continues to explain that pounding forces (presumably in her head) are not a war within, but just echoes. Explained by the lyric “This is not a war, this is who we are. I remember what I stand for. It echoes in my head”. On this lyric, the song sounded like Demi Lovato or some pop singer stole the mic for a second. I was very confused by the sudden mood change in the music, but I was cool with it.

Most people know that love is a huge risk. The third track, Weapoonized says “You barely even know that you’re ever going to die” and “You’re just a victim of love’s industry”. Well I knew love was risky but that’s a sad (but probably realistic) view on love. This song is cool in that it has what I like to call “battle of guitars”, in which high guitar riffs and low guitar riffs play interchangeably. Love it. I also like the low, gut wrenching vocals during the bridge. Reminds me of Marilyn Manson or Chris Motionless of Motionless In White. The later is probably a realistic influence, as she also says “Fuck!” at the end of the bridge in a similar manner to how Chris says “Ugghh!” in multiple songs.

When No End In Sight came on, I started to hear even more influences in Caroline’s voice. Her screaming vocals reminded me a lot of Angela Gossow, previously of Arch Enemy. She even reminded me of Jill Janus of Huntress at one point. Specifically because she was still screaming, but in a lower octave then I think Angela usually sung. I’m all about the instrumentation on The Future Need Us Not. There is an epic opening that reminded me of the intro music you hear before fighting a boss in a video game. Okay Okay I admit it, its another high and low contrast. But it almost sounds like during the low riffs, the guitarist is stroking the very bottom of the guitar strings to make a very warped sound. When the singing begins with “The future need us not. It will go unopposed”, there’s so many cool things going on. The low gut vocals are back, with a guitar riff that sounds like the strings are old and deteriorating. All with some awesome, deep drum beats in the background. This is all just within the first 30 seconds of the song

Towards the end of the album is Silent War; which marks the very first appearance of an acoustic guitar. The Demi Lovato pop vocals are totally high jacked, however there are some nice clean vocals here that kind of remind me of Storm Large or Lesley Roy. This is the only non-metal song on the album. It talks about a man who is being tortured by his own mind. The man is “using all of his strength, but still loosing. A war in his head”. Some of the reasons why he’s loosing may be because “the memories won’t show mercy”. Also towards the end is Songs of Obscenity, which I wonder if it’s about Avril Lavigne. The verse “We don’t wear brands. Don’t watch TV. Oh can you say, hypocrisy? We’re singing Woo oo oo, Woo oo oo. Straight to the bank we run this scene” makes me think so. I know Avril Lavigne was sported wearing Dickies in her “punk” days, but when I hear “Woo oo oo, Woo oo oo”, I instantly think Avril. Cause she sings it in a lot her songs. Is this song about her possibly? Probably not.

About a month ago, the singer from Eye On Attraction DMed me this video on twitter. Eye On Attraction is a rock band from Scranton, PA. They sound similar to Paramore and Circa Survive.

Pleasantville is not a super upbeat song, but it’s fast enough to not be boring. The lyrics are about a picture perfect life not actually being as ideal as it looks.

One thing about this song that’s different from a lot of other rock songs is you can clearly hear the bass, and it’s actually playing something interesting.

This song is available on iTunes. The band’s bandcamp is here.

By Dan #d

(view my personal tumblr here)

Album Title: Revenge EP

Band: The Nearly Deads

Genre: Rock, Pop/Rock, Hard Rock

Label: Independent

Release Date(s): 

January 15, 2017 (Digital Download for Pledge Music Buyers)

March 19, 2017 (Vinyl release for Pledge Music Backers)

May 26, 2017 (Public release date)

I came home the other day to a vinyl at my door. I didn’t remember ordering a vinyl, although it was very possible since I order music all the time. I looked at the return address and saw it was from The Nearly Deads. I had totally forgotten I supported their Pledge Music campaign. Was it worth the $30 + I think I paid for the vinyl? Meh. Why not. The Nearly Deads kinda disappointed me on their debut album Invisible Tonight. But I really liked their self titled EP and Survival Guide EPs, so I continue to be a fan. I wasn’t a fan of their debut LP just because it was more of the pop/punk type sound. Which has always been a part of their sound; but that record just wasn’t my cup of tea.

This EP was definitely a step towards the sound that I liked about them originally. However, opening with Diamonds In The Rough, it easily sounds like something Kelly Clarkson could sing when the chorus comes around. Which makes sense since they cite Kelly Clarkson as an influence in their Facebook bio. (They also cite Courtney Love and Halestorm as influences…which I don’t really hear in their music, but okay). They do however keep it pretty rocking in the verses and put Kelly on hold, so I’ll take it. Just no pop/punk please. Next up is My Evil Ways, which I kinda liked and didn’t like lyrically. Yeah we all are evil and sometimes try and live a NO RAGRETS type attitude, but TJ (lead singer) says maybe she’ll one day stop breaking hearts…Uhmm excuse me? I’m fragile. Stay away from my heart you bitch! (I say this with love).

By the time the fourth track Revenge rolls around, I notice a common theme of bringing it down during the bridge in their songs. I prefer it when the bridges become an intense climax and a big build up, but that’s just me. If you like songs about wanting to prove someone wrong who fucked you over, this is the song for you. If you’re all about hard rock, this is probably the one song for you. The guitars are tuned pretty low for this one, which I liked. I didn’t like the muffled vocals though at certain parts of the song. Sounds cool, but no clue TF what you saying girl.

Ending the album is the song As Good As It Gets. It opens with piano, which reminded me of the song Fact and Friction from their self titled EP which I liked (I always welcome piano in rock music – actually not really. I can get down with some Billy Joel and Elton John. But that’s on special occasions). I appreciated how the song was kind of like a story. It starts by asking, is this as good as it gets, and saying how the relationship might not have happened. Then it proceeds to saying IT IS as good as it gets, and ends with saying the relationship might not have happened. Reminds me of how I was always taught in school how your conclusion paragraphs in essays should only repeat already stated information…I always hated that, why am I appreciating this?

By Dan #d

(view my personal Tumblr here)

Album: Between Here And Lost

Artist: Love & Death

Genre: Nu Metal/Alternative Metal

Label: Tooth & Nail

Release Date: January 22, 2013

Korn are one of my favorite bands. But its sad to say, I haven’t really ventured onto many of the members’ side projects. I actually stumbled upon this album by accident. I knew Brian “Head” Welch (guitarist for Korn) had a solo career, but he’s super religious so I had no interest in checking out his solo stuff. Then I stumbled upon his band, Love & Death, by accident and was blown the FUCK away. Holy shit, this is an amazing album.

I instantly knew it was Welch on the opening track, The Abandoning. Cane Hill came pretty close to sounding like Korn (not meant as in insult) on their debut Smile with their riffs. But there is something about the way Welch plays guitar or has it tuned that I can tell it is him. The song talks about pleading for a master to save Welch because he can’t save him from himself. I appreciate him not saying God or Lord, who he is actually probably referring to since he is super religious. Makes it more appealing to a general fan base. Proceeding next is Whip It, a cover by the band Devo. I didn’t recognize the title or band so I YouTubed it…some weird 80s up-tempo rock with people wearing cones on their heads (don’t mean to sound ignorant, but that shit looked weird).  Love & Death improved the song to my liking by metalizing it. Welch continued his low-tuning style through this song. Which I thought he might only be doing for one song, just as an ode to Korn. But he continued it through the album which I have no problem with.

By the fourth track, By The Way, I started to think how the average metal fan would probably be annoyed with the low-tuned riffs by now. But I was loving it, and the lyrical themes that accompanied them. This song is about a relationship ending, and how hard it was to live again. But the person who left is never going to know the struggle Welch had to go through. Probably better that way. The whole friendship after breaking up has never been my cup of tea. Proceeding this song, I became even more mind blown. Meltdown opens with Welch saying to a silent background “I think I’m having a meltdown” and then goes into an awesome riff. My instant response was “fuck yes”. Introducing screams to the album, there are some brief screams on the chorus and I’m all about it. I wouldn’t be mad if there were some more. It calms down at the bridge and mellows out. Then instantly goes into the same amazing riff from the beginning of the song. And instantly again I am like “Fuck yes. This is some fucking epic shit!”.

Its really hard to not praise every song on this album, besides the song Fade Away. I’m sure you can tell by the title it’s not an original subject. Neither were the lyrics. But skipping ahead a few tracks is a guest appearance by For Today vocalist, Mattie Montgomery. He appears on the track I  W8 4 U (Hey! 4 U is a Korn song… was that on purpose?). I was hoping for more screams, and I got them on this song thanks to Montgomery. Kind of beating around the bush a little bit, is the song Chemicals. An obvious reference to Welch’s prior drug use, because why else would you be a “A fallen friend, [with] no family.”? It’s because of “…the burn Of chemicals”. The standard edition of the album ends on a somewhat soft note with the song Bruises, where for the first time a piano is present. However it speeds up at the bridge when Welch picked up his guitar again. If you were like me however and got the deluxe edition, you get the bonus track Empty. Probably the most diverse song on the album; it opens with Congo drums! I love towards the end of the song when Welch sings the line “remove the stain of your curse”, with just him singing and the electric guitar. Especially since proceeding in the prior verse he was screaming. I think it’s cool when songs go from loud to soft, or vice versa. Maybe that’s why I like grunge. Oh and there are remixes of The Abandoning and Meltdown. But I don’t give a shit about remixes.

Released: September 9th, 2016

Label: Sand Hill Records

Worth The Pain is Letters From The Fire’s first album. It starts off with Perfect Life, a song about trying to be perfect and living a perfect life, and giving up things to do that. It concludes that we shouldn’t have to do that, and nobody’s perfect anyway. The second song is Mother Misery, a dark song about waking up to the same thing again and again but not wanting to give up the comfort of familiarity. The next track is Give in to Me, which I believe is about ADHD medicine helping out but also being the only way to get anything done, so she has to take it.

Bruised is a bit slower. It’s a sort of love song. It feels more like a breakup song, except she’s still in love and doesn’t want whoever the song is about to worry about hurting her because she’s “already bruised.” Live A Lie is another relationship song, although it’s not explicitly romantic. It’s about pretending everything is fine with someone, even though they hurt you. It’s about rewriting the past to seem perfect, even when it wasn’t. My Angel continues with the bad relationship theme, as it’s about someone who is not an angel and never will be. She trusted the angel, but he wound up being “a false god.”

Last December is about someone who started doing drugs last December. They had so much potential to do other things but they took drugs “to fly” and apparently lost sight of the ground. This is a loss of innocence song. Holy Ghost is from a bit of a different perspective. In this song, someone else is looking to her to be a savior, and she’s not one.

The next track, At War, slows it down again. It’s a mostly piano and vocals song. This song is a real downer. It’s about hopelessness and wanting everything to end because nothing matters anyway. Control starts out with some creepy music box sounds. It is about not being controlled by someone, or something, else.

Worth The Pain switches it up. It’s a Fuck You! song. It’s about how someone put her through a lot of shit but she’s a way better person now and that someone can only dream of being/getting someone like her.

The twelfth song is Scars. It is another negative one. It’s about how she “took a chance on a broken man” but he ended up breaking her too. It permanently messed her up and she’ll never be the same. The last song is One Foot in the Grave. It’s about feeling trapped by a place she once called home. She got out of there, but she still has a lot of memories of it. This is a hopeful song. She wants to get out of her bad situation and detach from her past, and she’s doing her best to make that happen.

(The cover I have is white, but for some reason the only ones I can find are black)

By Dan #d

(view my personal tumblr here)

Album Title: Time & Pressure

Band: Devour The Day

Genre: Hard Rock

Label: Fat Lady Music

Release Date: May 7, 2013 (re-released January 14, 2014)

“Here I am again, honest and afraid. Doubting who I am, the reason I was made”…whoops sorry. Wrong album. That lyric is from Devour The Day’s song “The Bottom” which has been a big active rock hit since it’s 2016 release. It appears on DTD’s second album, S.O.A.R. I am a huge fan of that song, and thought the album was decent. So I thought I’d go back in time and review their first album, Time & Pressure.

The album opens with the song Respect, which instantly gave me a (modern/Matt Walst style) Three Days Grace & 9Electric sound. The vocals are kinda muffled because of special affects, or Blake Allison had his hand near the receiver of the microphone. Proceeding next is their first single off the album, Good Man. The song is pretty relatable to the typical depressant (me for example). It pleads to the lord, if he’s listening, to take the darkness away and make everything better. I like to hope everything will be better, but generally I just listen to songs like this instead of being proactive. The re-release also includes an acoustic version of the song.

The album slows down for a hot second, not like acoustic but a little less upbeat, on the fifth track, Move On. I’m going to take a guess by the lyrics, “I won’t let myself forget all the fucked up things you did”, someone came back into Allison’s life and it was tempting to get back with them. But in the end he needed to remember the relationship wasn’t good and needed to move on. Do they always come back? Seems to be a common theme in songs. The album takes a complete turn though on the song, Oath; asking to not give up on him and he is going to make his way back. Woah, switching it up much, or totally different relationship?

Towards the end of the album there are some pretty stellar tracks. The Drifter is the first acoustic appearance on the album. Definitely cell phone and lighter raise worthy, it talks about something written about probably a thousand times. Not to mention there are probably a thousand other songs called by The Drifter. But it’s okay, I like songs about people who get hurt and continue on. It’s kinda my thing. The album ends with the song Check Your Head, which is exclusive to the re-release. It was the first song where I instantly was like, “I have to add this to my go to song playlist”. It opens with a cool guitar riff that reminds me of Slash, and proceeds into a good self reflection. Reflecting on whether you are going to give into the suckiness of life, or stand up and be strong. I have kinda been doing the former, and really do need to check my head. (Hence why I liked the song so much).

By Dan #d

(view my personal tumblr here)

Album Title: Reincarnate

Band: Motionless In White

Label: Fearless

Release Date: September 16, 2014

Motionless? The fuck, why review them? Isn’t that the Marilyn Manson wannabe band who oddly took up a metalcore sound? YES, and no. They are not Marilyn Manson wannabes, although Chris Motionless’s (lead singer) low and daunting vocals are very Manson inspired in my opinion. But yes, they are metalcore. I even heard Chris Motionless classify themselves as metalcore on The Jasta Show podcast. Which I give him huge props for, as metal fans need to stop viewing the “core” subgenres as something bad. If you don’t like a mix of break downs, screams, and clean vocals than metalcore just isn’t for you. But if it is, than this album may be for you. Why review this 4 year old album though? Well, because I fucking like it and their new album is due May 5, 2017. So why not revisit this before taking a listen to the new one?

I will say off the bat, this is the most commercial friendly of Motionless In White’s albums. Their first album, Creatures, has never appealed to me too much, as it is more traditional metalcore and relies on more breakdowns and harsh vocals. Their second effort, Infamous, definitely became more melodic and went towards the direction I like. Reincarnate however hit it out of the park in my opinion. It is extremely catchy, has the growling vocals with a balance of clean, and awesome lyrics.

The general theme of this album I would say is recovering after a relationship; learning to rebuild yourself after someone fucked you over. And someone fucked Chris over, that’s for sure. “Six fucking years I have waited, to fucking cut you out of my life. No turning back”. Woah. That lyric is from the grand finale of the string of Puppet themed songs throughout the MIW albums. “Puppets 3″ features Dani Filth from Cradle of Filth, which I applaud MIW and Chris for bringing on someone so far out of their realm for their album. Cradle of Filth is an extreme metal band who many of the fans of MIW would probably not be familiar with. Because let’s be honest, the average MIW fan is very likely to stay in what I call, “the warped tour realm” of music.

Another awesome collaboration on this album is on the song “Contemptress”, featuring Maria Brink of In This Moment. This song revolves around the idea of going back to a lover repetitively, even when both people know it’s not going to work. “Every time you beckon, I’m self destructing, trust in nothing. Save me”. Maria whales this line with great ferocity, as Chris goes on to say how they repeatedly build up the passion, only for their true crimes to always be revealed in the end.

Other stand out tracks include “Everybody Sells Cocaine” where we have some deep level, The Great Gatsby metaphors going on (I kid, for my friends who enjoyed that high school symbolism bullshit). We’ve all heard how everyone tells white lies. Well, in this song the lyrics twist lies to symbolize cocaine. Because you know, cocaine is white just like white lies! In all seriousness it is a cool song. “Generation Lost” also stands out, especially since it kinda strays from the general theme of the album. It’s an anthem for the underdog; screaming how we may bleed, and we may be dark, but we will raise our fists and overcome. I’m sure it’s a crowd pleaser and gets the kids to put down their phones for a couple seconds. (Except for the quick snaps before Chris yells “Alright everyone, get the fuck up” – just a guess). Overall, I would have to say the title track “Reincarnate”, stands out the most. It is a great representation of the album’s theme. The lyrics are on point, and the build up towards the bridge where Chris starts with “I won’t bite my tongue! I am not afraid!” is fucking epic. The bridge is even better than the chorus.

Overall I’d have to give this album a 4/5. I praise it for it’s catchiness, great balance of screaming and clean vocals, and awesome consistent theme. There really aren’t many throw away tracks on this album. It was not written just with the intention of just having popular singles. Which honestly in the age of streaming, that’s what a lot of bands do. So thumbs up to MIW, I’m looking forward to the 2017 release of Graveyard Shift. :)

Universal Death Squad is the fourth track on The Holographic Principle, Epica’s seventh studio album. The song shows that the band’s sound is growing and evolving, but not so fast that it is unrecognizable as Epica.

The song starts with some piano and violin, making a sweet melody that is quickly cut off by guitars. The violin sound makes its way back into the song, as well as a chorus doing some intro and background vocals, as it typical on many Epica songs. Finally, Simone enters. If you’re on this blog you probably already know she can sing, and this song continues to demonstrate her talent.

This song is almost 7 minutes long, but it’s worth all 7 and more. There is enough going on with the music and the lyrics that it doesn’t feel like it’s dragging you through for that long. Instead, as the saying goes, time flies when you’re having fun, and despite the word “death” being right there in the title, this song is musically fun to listen to.

I’ve been putting off doing this one because every time I listen to any song on this album I hear new things I didn’t hear the last time I listened to it. Listening to this album has become such an experience. I recommend listening to it a few times before forming an opinion on it. Listen to it with the volume up, listen to it with headphones, listen to it in the car, keep listening to it. It keeps getting better.

The album starts out with some spoken word by Richard Dawkins at the beginning of Shudder Before the Beautiful. Then it jumps right in with an upbeat, catchy, violin-including melody that immediately gets you interested. Floor’s vocals come in low and a bit slower, but they pick up during the chorus and the whole thing keeps you interested. Then we get into Weak Fantasy, which is upbeat but dark-sounding. It features Marco on some of the vocals. The next song is Élan, the first single. (Link is to my review of Élan).

After that, we get Yours Is An Empty Hope, which gets its own paragraph because it’s great. It starts with the usual violins into guitars thing Nightwish does so well. The chorus is where it starts getting interesting. Marco sings “Yours is an empty hope” but listen closely or turn up the volume because Floor is growling the same words underneath! (Side note: Yes, she does this live too. It’s great.) Then comes this ethereal part where Floor is singing very light and very high. The vocals are almost background here. (Second side note: Yep, she does these live too. She’s incredible.) This is one of my favorite songs on this album.

The next song on the album is Our Decades in the Sun. This song is about parents and loving them. There is some acoustic guitar going on here, and Floor’s vocals are restrained but by no means lacking. It picks up toward the end but doesn’t lose its acoustic feel. The next song is My Walden. After the show I was at, some people were talking to Troy about a song and the fact that it starts in a different language. I didn’t hear them say which one it was but this one starts in a different language so it was probably this one. Basically he found a woman who spoke a really old version of Welsh (?) and then he tried to imitate what she said. It features Troy heavily, not just on vocals (which he’s mostly just on in the beginning) but on pipes. This song feels folk-y.

The next song is Endless Forms Most Beautiful. It starts with some very high notes by Floor. (You guessed it, she nails them live.) This song is upbeat and could easily be a single. It is fun to sing along to. Then comes Edema Ruh. Apparently the name comes from The Kingkiller Chronicles, which I have never read. Musically, this song is soft but not acoustic. It has low parts and high parts (mostly the chorus) and a pipe solo. There are some male vocals which sound like Troy but I’m not positive.

Alpenglow starts with violin, too. The chorus starts with “We were here,” which I think is the most important message in this album. It’s repeated in the last song, so I’ll go into more detail when I get there. There is some lovely flute on this song (or probably tin whistle since I’m pretty sure it’s Troy’s part. Either way it sounds great). The Eyes of Sharbat Gula starts off slow but not boring. Vocals are used instrumentally and the overall effect is very pleasant. There is also a children’s choir featured.

The last song is 24 minutes long. The Greatest Show On Earth has so much going on musically that I can’t really sum it up without this review being absurdly long (which it kind of is already). You just have to listen to it. I will tell you my favorite part is Part 2: Life and according to my “research” (a google search where I didn’t even click on any of the results, and just one suggestion) LUCA is Last Universal Common Ancestor (AKA the first living thing everything else evolved from). This song features Dawkins 3 times. It does what a concluding paragraph of a paper should do, according to English teachers I’ve had in the past. It sums up the main ideas while offering suggestions for the future. TGSOE is about life itself. It’s about the formation of life, and the formation of man. It’s about how, among all the possible people that could exist, we exist. We did it. Just existing, just being born in the first place makes us incredible. The show is what’s going on around us. The show is life, all life on Earth but especially people, what we’re doing, how we’re behaving, even if we’re doing nothing. The greatest show on Earth is Earth itself. It’s nature, animals and people and even plants. The last sung line of the song is repeated four times. “We were here.” We existed. We exist. We will continue to exist. Instead of being cosmically insignificant, our very existence makes us the most significant thing on the planet. Each individual person is a biological miracle. It also says that we are here to take care of the “garden” that is Earth. We need to stop messing it up, and keep this show going on.

Tracks:

Élan

Sagan

Élan (Alternate Version)

Élan (Radio Edit)

Overall Impressions:

The first single off Nightwish’s latest album Endless Forms Most Beautiful gives a good impression of the rest of the album. It’s quiet but won’t put you to sleep. Sagan is fun and more upbeat. Worth the purchase of the physical CD to get Sagan and the single itself.

Track By Track:

Élan: The song starts with a catchy flute and piano melody. Then the guitar, bass, and drums join with the same rhythm. The vocals begin with minimal instruments behind them, some drums and a little bass. As the first verse is ending, some violins are introduced, and the guitar re-enters. The guitar is not doing anything super interesting behind the vocals on the chorus, just kind of chugging along. The next verse is similar to the first in melody and instrumentation, with the violin and guitar parts leading to the chorus a bit more dramatic. After the second chorus, there’s a little flute solo, then the rest of the band comes in for the bridge, and then another chorus. There’s a key change and a chorus with slightly altered lyrics. The song ends with quiet strings. I will admit I was bored the first few times I listened to this song. The guitar chugs along at time, and the tempo is not very fast. However, after that it grew on me with each listen. This song needs some volume, and it doesn’t really achieve it til after the flute solo and the bridge, but it does get there and when it ends it leaves you wanting more. This is one of few songs I could listen to on repeat for an hour.

Sagan: This is the b-side. It starts with keyboard and flute too, but the keyboard is more prevalent. The melody here is the same as the chorus melody. The guitars and everything enter with more force than on Élan, and the whole thing is more upbeat. The vocals start with drums and keyboard behind them, and the guitars are added sooner than on Élan. The chorus has a catchy melody and the keyboard is adding complexity to it underneath. After the first chorus, the vocals and the keyboard alternate dominance, with the guitar slightly behind them but not hidden. This song, too has a flute solo (or some type of flute-like woodwind) with some drums behind it. The vocals also come in as background music after a little bit, and so does the guitar. This part is really cool. The flute is heard throughout the rest of the song in addition to the other instruments. Overall, this song gives a better first impression than Élan. It is more upbeat and catchier. It seems more fun. I personally like Sagan better than Élan, although Élan gets stuck in my head more and is more fun to sing along to.

Élan (Alternate Version): This version has a different flute intro, and then it goes right into the vocals. The background parts have been switched from guitar to violins and other orchestral instruments. Even though the music under the vocals is more interesting, and the chorus is bulked up with what sounds like a children’s choir in the distance, the overall effect of taking away the guitars and bass and generally all the instruments you plug in besides the microphone makes this more of a lullaby than a sing-along-song. That being said, it gets interesting around the key change with the drums and the orchestra livening up and some keyboard sounds coming in. Musically, this version is not boring. There is still plenty going on. However, it is quiet and even less upbeat than the original version, so that is the version I prefer over this one.