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The current student at Berklee College of Music has a rock 'n' roll pedigree, but delivers a pleasing and diverse collection of soft pop on his debut record. Enter our contest for your chance to win!
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Release Date: March 20, 2007 Label: Fearless Records Related Sites: ·Official Site
Grade: C+
Post-hardcore band Alesana re-releases their full-length debut On Frail Wings of Vanity & Wax and the first thing I have to say is that I like the old cover better. You'd also think that updating the packaging would include proofreading but, to the contrary, "Congradulations, I Hate You" is misspelled right there on the back for all to see. The slick
12-page booklet contains all the lyrics, which isn't as helpful as you might
think, and a centerfold picture of the band confirms that they would feel right
at home in the Magical Grid Of Bad Emo Hair®.
So, what's new here besides the sea mist color scheme? Two additional tunes include the subdued "Early Mourning" and a scream-less remix of
"Apology". The enhanced CD also showcases four performances filmed at The Sanctuary in San Antonio, Texas on December 8, 2006. By the time I got through "Apology," "Ambrosia," "Congratulations, I Hate You," and "Tilting the Hourglass," the concert footage all kind of blurred together into a comical morass of screaming and thrashing around. Finally, there's a video interview conducted for NewBandTV.com.
Alesana:
Dennis Lee: Vocals Shawn Milke: Vocals, Guitar, Piano Patrick Thompson: Guitar Adam Ferguson: Guitar, Vocals Steven Tomany: Bass Jeremy Ryan: Drums and Percussion
About three tracks into this I felt like killing myself, and if that's the measurement of success in the screamo genre, then this album is great. Greek mythology inspires much of the content, and colorful imagery permeates with lyrics such as "in my mind blood drips from your eyes a beautiful last goodbye" ("Apology") and "blood soaked feathers rain down my wingless angel so broken falls gracefully from the sky to waiting arms" ("Pathetic, Ordinary"). My favorite, though, has to be from "Congratulations, I Hate You" -- the only track that demonstrates real anger -- as the bawlfest concludes with "I'll tear off your face to see your smile as you build your dreams on my shattered hopes". One after another, the songs spew bitterness over departed loves, or outright thirst for vengeance ("Daggers Speak Louder Than Words"). Your life sucks. I get it.
Keep in mind that I'm getting these lyrics from the booklet, because once the incomprehensible screaming starts it's impossible to follow along. They could be ordering Chinese take-out, er... earnestly loud, for all I could understand. The thing is... the band's got talent. When they quiet things down for "Third Temptation of Paris" and the first half of "Apology" you encounter some clean guitar playing and discover that Shawn Milke actually has a great voice. The poetic emo trades off between singing and screaming in such a way that keeps those not enthralled with yowling delivery listening, but may turn off more hardcore fans of the genre. "Alchemy Sounded Good at the Time" even throws in cinematic sound clips from "Underworld" and "Full Metal Jacket" in this most metal-sounding track of the bunch.
Vocalist Dennis Lee throws in a few guttural death screams, but otherwise keeps those to a minimum. On the whole, Alesana mixes it up but the songs still fail to stand out as anything particularly special. In one sense, they're just another cookie-cutter band on the post-hardcore scene. But then they'll thrown in an intriguing syncopated groove ("Ambrosia") or piano riff to hint that Alesana is capable of genre transcendence. So, whether they're singing about the Fall of Rome ("Nero's Decay") or the Fall of Troy ("Third Temptation of Paris"), or names out of a phone book, Alesana's On Frail Wings of Vanity & Wax is an energetic package for the suicidal.
01. Icarus
02. Ambrosia
03. Pathetic, Ordinary
04. Alchemy Sounded Good at the Time
05. Daggers Speak Louder Than Words
06. Last Three Letters
07. Apology
08. Tilting the Hourglass
09. This Conversation Is Over
10. Congratulations, I Hate You
11. Third Temptation of Paris
12. Siren's Soliloquy
13. Nero's Decay
14. Early Mourning
15. Apology [Remix]
