From Autumn To Ashes – Abandon Your Friends review
From Autumn To Ashes is known for mixing soft melodic parts with metallic riffs. Their debut CD, Too Bad You Beautiful (Ferret), combined singing, acoustic parts, and brutal screaming accompanied with heavy guitars. The follow up, The Fiction We Live (Vagrant), added a more commercialized sound that gave the band some more popularity, never the less it was still good. Through those albums the band has been featured on Warped Tour, Headbangers Ball, and other stints popular among the scene. Now, the long awaited new CD has arrived. This is my first review so please don’t bash me too much.
Abandon Your Friends has a different sound then the other two CDs. After the first listen I did not dig this CD. I felt uncomfortable and had a weird feeling about it. A gave it another listen and this time through I enjoyed it. Through the whole album you notice the pattern they use for the track list. It goes: heavy song, melodic song, heavy, melodic, ect. The pattern has few variations. Also you notice that the main vocalist is used less. Heck, about two songs you don’t even notice him. Another difference in the CD is the lyrics. It seems as if they spent more time on these lyrics. The song “Sugar Wolf”, which is about the music industry/lifestyle, has very good song writing in my opinion.
The album’s instrumentals/vocals are pretty good too. The guitars are clean a lot more. There aren’t any more acoustic parts in the songs. The bass goes with the flow of the song. The drums aren’t bad either. The screaming is less but is good. Then there’s the singing. I enjoy the singing and like it, but I know some people will dislike the singing and I know why. Frank’s voice does get whiney and it might get on some people’s nerves. Don’t get me wrong, just because I said the album is softer doesn’t mean there aren’t heavy tracks. There are several heavy songs. The instruments are good and work but are nothing to be amazed about. The CD is softer but not poppy or catchier.
Now a track by track.
Where Do You Draw The Line
The song starts with a very good metal riff that builds suspense which is perfect for opening an album. This is one of the heavier songs on the CD. The singing and screaming compliment each other fine in this song. The lyrics are okay. It’s a pretty good song. 9/10
Inapprope
It’s a softer song. Most of the song contains singing. The verse is melodic, but once the chorus kicks in the song is upbeat. Its a pretty good catchy energetic song. I’ll give it a 7/10
Sugar Wolf
In my opinion this song has very good lyrics. I think the lyrics/message come off very good. The song is about the current state of music. I think the way they play this song fits with the lyrics and message in a very good way. It starts out with yelling and cool guitars. Its not a heavy song or a soft song, its in-between. Definitely a stand out track, one of the best on the CD. 10/10
Vicious Cockfight
This starts off with a mellow acoustic part. But the song quickly goes into a metalcore song. This is one of the heavy songs on the CD. It has a very interesting bass line that is used as a transition to link some parts together. Nice song but one of the weak ones. 6/10
Streamline
After an intense song we go back to a soft song. The lyrics are written very nicely in this song. The song has no screaming in it. The instrumentals remind me of Explosions In The Sky. The singing doesn’t seem whiney in this song. It’s a good written song overall. 10/10
The Funny Thing About Getting Pistol Whipped Is...
Now we transit to another heavy song. The song starts out fast and heavy with relentless screaming. The guitars sound good in this song. Your head will be nodding through the whole song. Good song, the guitars stand out in this one. Fun song. 8.5/10
Placentapede
Not a heavy song, but not a soft song. The guitars, bass, and drums all work very well together with this song. This song is more of a ballad. During the chorus the singing is accompanied with back up screaming that adds more to the emotion. It contains a pretty nice solo. Okay song. 7/10
Kansas City 90210
This is another softer song. The bass fits in really good with the song. They lyrics are okay in this song. The song sounds kind of familiar. Okay song in general. 6.5/10
Short For Slow
Now we move on to a heavy song. I like this song, its cool. The instruments are interesting in this song. Its a very nice metalcore song. One of the best songs on the album 10/10
Long To Go
This starts with a clean guitar that makes you want to move. Its another softer song found on the CD. Its a good written song the guitar is very nice.. 8/10
Jack & Ginger
Has a very nice metallic riff through the whole song. The part verse’s tempo is fast and part of it isn’t but it gets upbeat during the chorus. It’s a good song. 10/10
Abandon Your Friends
This is the final track of the CD and probably the slowest. It has a piano playing which adds to the melody of the guitar. The bass and drums add a sad mood to the song that is complimented by the singing. Then around half way through the song the guitar stops playing the melodic parts and goes a little bit heavier but doesn’t loose the soft feel of the song. Nice way to end this album. 8/10
Conclusion
This CD is not for everyone. It depends what you like if you want to rate this CD. It will work for some people but for other’s it won’t. I can see FATA losing some fans with this release but they also will be gaining new ones. Overall the CD is very good. I like it a lot. If you get this CD you might not like it after the first time but you have to give it another chance.
Positive Stuff
•The song writing is better.
•Variety in the songs.
•The music fits the lyrics and vocals
•The band is more mature now and has improved
Negative Stuff
•If you like the heavy stuff off the earlier albums, you will be disappointed with half of the songs on here.
•The songs aren’t as catchy or poppy as the old stuff. Yes, its softer but people might grow impatient with the songs.
•Don’t pick this up if you don’t like the singer’s voice.
•It takes more than one listen to digest this CD.
Favorite Tracks
“Where Do You Draw The Line”, “Sugar Wolf”, “Short For Slow”, “Streamline” and “Jack & Ginger”
4/5
