The album provides listeners with nice, heavy, not so angry
songs along with displaying a lighter side, more so than most bands would feel
comfortable doing nowadays. The album starts off on a nice heavy note with Die Trying, the album’s first single.
The song has one of the albums many sing-able choruses, and it displays lead
vocalist Jonny Hetherington’s vocal
range, with his low toned soft spoken voice singing the verses, then his wail
of a yell singing the chorus.
Songs such as Get Thru
This, Completely, I Will Be There, You Don’t Know Me and Raining
are all songs that the band had originally recorded on their independently
released self titled debut (which featured Jonny and guitarist Greg Bradley, of whom are the only two
members to appear on both albums). All five songs were re-recorded and frankly
perfected for this album. Get Thru This
(originally spelled “Through” rather than “Thru” on the debut) is the album’s
undisputed anthem and second single. It is a faster tempo song compared to Die
Trying, and features the inspirational “If I can get through this, I can get
through anything” message throughout the chorus, and frankly would have made
for a better album opener, but the band probably didn’t think it would be a
good idea considering it was the first track off of the self titled album.
Other heavy paced hard rockers off of the album include Whole World’s Crazy, Completely, Straight Across My Mind and You
Don’t Know Me, the latter being the heaviest, most aggressive and fastest
paced song on the album. All four songs prove to make the album a true gem for
the listener looking for some good heavy tunes.
The albums third single, Sorry,
is among a few of the softer songs on the album. The song features well mixed
acoustic guitars with electric guitars and perfectly harmonized vocals that make
the song a very memorable tune that has a heavy enough rhythm section to stop
the song from being considered a “ballad”. Other softer songs on the album
include I Will Be There, which is a
much softer song than Sorry, featuring much more obvious acoustic guitars and
beautiful vocals by Jonny. Best I Can
is an acoustic tune, and a live staple, and truly stands out due to it being
the softest song on the album, with yet another sing-able chorus. This track
also has some electric guitars, drums and bass in the background, but it concentrates
on acoustic guitars, but progresses into an aggressive yet passionate display
of instrumentation in the last 2 or so minutes.
The album’s final track, Breathe
Again, is much like Sorry in structure. In fact, it could be described
practically the same in structure, with its acoustic and electric mixed
guitars, harmonized vocals and a heavy rhythm section. This track does however
have a much stronger chorus, and more inspirational lyrics to give the listener
a positive feeling to end the listening experience.
The albums deluxe version features two bonus tracks. Better Off is a mix of emotion. It
starts off with a loud aggressive and distorted intro that leads to a very soft
spoken verse, and then to a chorus so aggressive that it would stand as one of
the heaviest moments on the album. Watching
You Watching Me is a re-recording of a song called Fits of Clarity, a track off of the band’s first album. This is
another song that sounds nothing like anything off of the album in style. It
would fall under the softer song category, but it’s definitely not a ballad,
however the song is hardly aggressive in any way, so it’s tough to pin-point a
listener it would appeal to, but at the same time it is one of the best tracks
off of the album.
Art of
Dying set out to record songs in a more positive manor. They opt
to perform inspirational songs that depict the finer points of life, and not
giving up the fight, but they still maintain a perfect hard-rock edge. The
result is one of the best examples of modern rock that has been released in the
past decade.
ALBUM HIGHLIGHT
“Whole World’s Crazy” – It is hard to
pick out a track that best displays the many different musical abilities
displayed throughout the album, so instead, this album’s highlight is the best
melodically written song off of the album. The song is a heavy, yet not too
aggressive track, that covers serious matter in its lyrics by speaking of a
young man living on the street, and a young girl who lost her innocence and
became a very young mother, and uses these as examples on why the “Whole World’s
Crazy”. The song features Jonny’s strongest vocal performance and shows a great
musical intelligence on how to use his vocal melodies at the perfect moments.
Not to mention the song has a KILLER guitar solo.
FINAL RATING
9.5 (Out of 10)
Track List:
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