Comments on: LIGHT THIS CITY SING UNSPECTACULAR SWANSONG ON STORMCHASER

By: Ivan

Ivan — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:44:47 +0000

Easily one of the best albums of the year. And for Sofa King, they added two new band members and its obvious their is new and better input for this album, which is noticeable on the absolutely shredtastic solos of Ryan Hansen. Listen to Beginning with Release and try to tell me there is no bite on the album.

By: Etan Rosenbloom

Etan Rosenbloom — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 16:47:30 +0000

I liked this album okay but it doesn’t have any bite to it. “Workmanlike” is the operative term from this review — it’s all cleanly played and most of the songs are pretty good, there just isn’t much fire to it aside from Nichol’s performances. I blame part of it on the uber-sparkly production job. Plus, some of the more fluidly melodic parts seem a bit out of step with Nichol’s hardcore-informed bark.

With the exception of that last sentence, this was the same problem I had with the last Lamb of God album.

By: Christopher Roddy

Christopher Roddy — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 03:52:56 +0000

I don’t personally care for the rating system. This is the only site where I use them and that’s simply because they’re an institution here. I actually feel it’s a little insulting to both the writer and the reader. If you couldn’t get an idea of how I felt about the album from the content of the review then I failed as a writer. And summing everything up with a rating system seems cheap for me as a writer. A cop-out, if you will.

So why only two horns? Well, like I said, as much as I think the players in this act are good their ability to construct a memorable song together just isn’t happening. Every now and again you get a cool PART that is fleeting, but wading through the other four minutes or so in the song is tedious. Most songs rely so much on speed that the guitar and bass parts get muddled and there aren’t any really solid rhythms. Beyond that there’s the problem with the static vocals. As an album’s worth of material it’s just not very interesting but I’m not one to issue hatchet jobs in place of reviews. I always try to focus on the positives because, in most releases, there are always great elements to latch onto.

I will admit that I prefer to write inebriated and this one was done completely sober after listening to the album for a week. So you can fault me for that. But I really think the individual players in this act will be better served by scrapping this project and starting fresh with new chemistry. Aside from parts here and there nothing they’ve done has truly impressed me throughout.

@ dthrasher: If you were right I would agree with you. ;)

By: CensoredMetal.com

CensoredMetal.com — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 01:06:14 +0000

I liked this album…but as Chris says, the vocals need more diversity. There needs to be some memorable breakdowns and choruses somewhere, somehow. I’m not talking about turning this into a clean vocal’d metalcore type shit, but some kind of melody in the vocals. Some better inflection in the voice and lyrics. There’s no doubt that Laura Nichol can scream like no other…but there has to be some kind of variety in there to make it really memorable. Dallas Coyle made the suggestion here earlier this year that she should do some kind of melody. But other than that, it’s a solid thrash record.

By: key

key — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:37:10 +0000

I agree with Fink, after looking at the score I actually had to go back and re-read to find parts where you were actually saying bad things about the album and not just the band in general. It sounds to me like you were looking for reasons not to like it and couldn’t find many.

By: dthrasher

dthrasher — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 23:55:11 +0000

I don’t agree with you therefore your opinion is wrong.

By: Razze

Razze — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 23:35:16 +0000

dudes, this is one of the best albums this year…

By: Sofa King

Sofa King — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 22:48:07 +0000

I was a huge fan of Facing the Thousand and Remains of the Gods, but Stormchaser doesn’t even sound like the same band. I don’t know if it is good or bad or not, since I can’t really get past the fact that I know the people that made it also made Remains and Facing, but it sounds like neither.

Here’s hoping that the inevitable reunion is sooner rather than later.

By: Fink

Fink — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 22:41:02 +0000

This review doesn’t seem to match the score; there’s considerably more than 2 horns worth of praise in there, and really not all that much criticism. I understand that this is not a groundbreaking album, but doesn’t “generic but competent” (or in this case it would seem, “generic but rather talented”) warrant more than a 2 horn score?

I just get the impression the score is an attempt to be a “tough critic.”

By: elpants

elpants — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 21:18:34 +0000

Worst. Review. Ever.