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Expertly Crafted Album | Posted April-05-2014
Ghost Thief offers more of what makes Living Sacrifice so great to listen too. From its expert breakdowns to the inspirational lyrics, the band does what it does best and delivers another solid album. It does sound a bit similair to their previous album, and is not quite as impactful as said former album, but Ghost Thief is a good enough album to please any fan of the band or the genre.
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A Great Viewpoint on Heavy Subject Matter | Posted February-03-2014
Fight the Silence has a unique backstory in that the idea for it came about when frontman Matt Montgomery saw a video about human trafficking that had a strong emotional imapct on him. He decided to make this album to give us his thoughts on the subject and from that, he delivered the band's most personal album to date. The sound of the album is consistant with all of their other albums which might make some people disappointed that they haven't evolved and done other things sonically, but the band is great at presenting us with hard hitting metal and they largely present it well here. Fight the Silence could be considered more of the same, and it kind of is, but the lyrics dealing with the heavy subject of human trafficking are so well convied and personal that you kind of forget about the sound and start thinking about how much of an impact the lyrics have on you. 5 albums in and For Today is still going strong.
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Good Solid Rock and Roll | Posted February-03-2014
From Water to War does a great job in bucking the sophomore slump and delivering a sound that is similar yet different. While the band's debut sounded like any other hard rock album, this one delivers the hard rock and gives us more diverse sounds as well. The lyrics remain a highlight as they end up being just as inspirational as ever. It's a good solid rock n' roll album that you should pick up.
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Good, Not Great | Posted February-03-2014
After two albums of solo work using the Number One Gun name, Jeff Schneewis gets the old band back together. However in doing so, he also brought back the band's old pop punk sound which makes this album end up sounding just like any other pop punk album out there right now. It's a shame that this is how the album turned out as it did have a chance to be really good, but it ended up being just good. There are a couple of great songs, including the final track which is the closest to sounding like the solo efforts that were more experimental.
This Is All We Know only manages to be good, not great. Jeff Schneewis' vocals are very strong, the fact that the original band members are back, and the final track being the highlight of the album are the things that make the album good. The pop punk sound does get old after a while and the lyrics aren't all that inspirational or memoriable. It's a good effort but just not good enough.
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Early Album of the Year Contender | Posted February-03-2014
2014 barely begun and right away we got treated to what I see is the best album of the year in Switchfoot's latest Fading West. If you thought that this album would follow the more subdued indie sound of the band last two albums, think again. Fading West maintains a more radio friendly pop sound that ends up working well with the album in general. Think of Oh! Gravity but done much much better. (And with no label interference.) Lyrically, Fading West gets to the heart of what Switchfoot is while also uncovering a need by the band to "reboot" themselves. If that is the case then I welcome this change wholeheartedly. Since this album is technically a soundtrack to the band's documentary film of the same name, (a film I haven't seen yet,) the way these tracks are ordered is great in that the band took time to meticulously place each track in order for maximum emotional effect.
Fading West is Switchfoot's most accessible album to date. People will dig their new pop rock sound. The lyrics are inspirational and revealing as to who the band is and what they want to do. It's Oh! Gravity done right and ends up being an early contender for album of the year.
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Better Production Quality Makes This Mixtape Shine | Posted November-16-2013
After Lecrae's last album, Gravity, made its mark in the mainstream market, I became intrigued by what he was going top do next. When he announced that he was going to make a "sequel" to last year's mixtape "Church Clothes" I was a bit skeptical. I liked the original mixtape but there were a few things that I didn't like as much, namely a few too many slower songs. But I am happy to report that Church Clothes 2 is a wonderful album that surpasses the original in almost every way. There are a few slower songs but they are well produced enough for me to not have a problem with this time. The overall production quality is stellar. This doesn't sound like a mixtape, instead it sounds like another album. There is no reason as to not download this mixtape as, just like with Church Clothes 1, Lecrae has put it out for the price of free. So download what I consider to be the best rap album of the year, heck, one of the best albums of the year.
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Entertaining | Posted November-08-2013
The Letter Black's second album, Rebuild, largly sticks to the formula that made their debut album stand out. The hard rock sound is still there, the empowering lyrics are still there, and lead vocalist Sarah Anthony's vocals are still as strong as ever. Some people may find this album to be a bit on the genric side sound-wise. While I feel like that is the case with the band, they find a way to pull it off very well and have managed to craft two pretty entertaining albums in a row.
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A Fitting Title for a Fitting Album | Posted October-24-2013
The Fold's fourth album, Moving Past, does just that. It shows a growth and maturity in not only sound but lyrically as well. Whie their are some songs that have the same fun pop rock sound the band is known for, the lyrical themes of learning from the past and moving on from that is a fitting theme.
Moving Past has the fun rock sound that The Fold is known for and adds in a maturity in the lyrics that results in a very good album that you can get for free from the band's Bandcamp page.
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An Enjoyable Listen | Posted October-24-2013
Icon For Hire's self-titled second album largely shakes up their sound by adding in more electronic sounds alongside the hard rock sound they had on their debut album. As a result the album has a Linkin Park-esque vibe that works on more tracks than it doesn't. The lyrics are uplifting as usual and lead frontwoman Ariel sings them very well. There are some tracks here where she attempts to rap and at first it sounds a bit odd tone-wise but gets a bit better as the album goes along.
While not as good as their debut album Scripted was, Icon for Hire's second album does have more good songs on it then bad ones. The Linkin Park direction this album takes might make fans of Scripted scratch their head at points, but the sound grows on you as the album progresses. It's not album of the year quality but it is an enjoyable 40 minutes.
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Not As Memorable As Their First Album | Posted October-17-2013
The long awaited sophomore album from Search the City manages to showcase two sides of the band. One side is all about the fast pop punk sound that was present on their debut album, the other side is all about trying new things. While there is growth in the sound and lyrics, the album as a whole isn't all that memorable. There are good songs on here for sure, but most of them don't have the same elements that made almost all of the songs off the band's previous album so memorable. The new memnbers fit in well especially the new lead singer, whose voice fits in pretty well with the sound. Overall, Flight is worth at least one or two listens. It's got some good elements to it and it does remind you of the superior debut album, but most of the songs are forgettable.
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