This is the debut Solid State release of As Cities Burn. When I received this cd, I listened non-stop for about a week, and then gave it a little rest before coming back to see if my first impressions were a little skewed. 2 weeks later, I still like what I hear. The best word I can come up with to describe this band's sound is "urgent". The vocals are frail without falling apart, the lyrics vulnerable, the guitar lines are intricate, moody, and creative, and the rhythm section settles into one time segment just long enough to sink in before frantically searching for a new direction.
Each song on "Son, I Loved You" has something to offer, I'll bring out a few high-points. The opener meanders between quiet and soft with a healthy dose of screams and a melodic break in the middle. "Love jealous one, love" finishes with the worshipful line "I know now that glory has not a place in my hands or any man's." "Incomplete is a leech" actually at one point reminded me of a Joan of Arc song from "So Much Staying Alive & Lovelessness" with its tricky guitar line. "Bloodsucker pt. II" was one of the most memorable songs on the cd with its melodies and its meaningful conclusion: "are you the man now that you've got what you wanted." Track 5 intros a lo-fi Death Cab for Cutie sound before kicking in. "The Widow" takes a step down in intensity and is a nice break from the action conveniently placed just when I was worried things might get old. The song offers a transparent vocal and musical approach, and fittingly so, as the song refers to a coward father deserting a wife and three young boys, yet offers hope in its lesson of forgiveness. A pretty intro gives way to chaos in "Admission Regret", but still, perfectly executed guitar work alongside the screams of Josh Scogin of the Chariot make this one of the best songs on the album. One: TwentySeven is the easiest song on the cd to like, and where the band could have fallen into the conventional pitfall of sounding like every other band with pretty singing screaming, they tweaked out the guitar whittling and slides and re-worked the hook to make it still stand out without getting bland.
Similarities to other bands are indeed present at times, but I believe an open mind might allow you to stumble upon this diamond in the rough of the whatever-core that's sweeping the nation.
3/4
Similar sounding releases
2002Project 86Truthless Heroes
2005Chasing VictoryI Call This Abandonment
2003NoraDreamers and Deadmen
2001TraindodgeOn a Lake of Dead Trees
2005A Day to RememberAnd Their Name Was Treason
1999StavesacreSpeakeasy
