 | Tracklist:
1. Sleep Apnea
2. Mexican Sun
3. Shameful Metaphors
4. Jars
5. Fell into Your Shoes
6. Letter From A Thief
7. Highland's Apparition
8. Roswell's Spell
9. Interlewd
10. A New Momentum
11. This Circus
| Ranking: #58 for 2009 | |
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On 51 Lists
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| Summary: Commercial, experimental, brutal, and simply fucking amazing. |
4 of 8 thought this review was well written
In a wash of mediocrity in hard rock (Breaking Benjamin, Nickelback, Theory of a Deadman), there is Chevelle. There has always been Chevelle. They’ve stuck around churning out ridiculously consistent albums (even if they never really stretched any boundaries), and have found moderate success with this formula. Yet, on Chevelle’s latest release, “Sci-Fi Crimes”, it’s a bit different for Chevelle. They’ve torn down a lot of these cliché boundaries that has burdened them, and ended up releasing one of the most solid, consistent, and strong hard rock albums in recent times.
Nearly abandoning their cliché loud/soft rock dynamics and angst-ridden vocals that they’ve literally worked over throughout their career, Chevelle has evolved into something no one expected. Suddenly, Chevelle is brooding, dark, aggressive, and completely immersive. The track all still sound pretty obvious at first, but songs like “Sleep Apnea” and “Roswell’s Spell” have this slickly hidden, darkened tempo that includes, dare I say it, a bit of rhythm. The album’s most unexpected tracks, the completely acoustic “Highland’s Apparition” and the short “Interlewd” just expel this uneasy, foreboding tone that is absolutely surprising, especially coming from Chevelle.
With all this “progression”, Chevelle hasn’t necessarily forgotten how to make a smash hit radio single, however. “Shameful Metaphors” and “A New Momentum” are classic Chevelle material destined for radio exploitation. Yet, “Shameful Metaphors” is just too damn good to ever become radio trash. It’d still be amazing even if “Kidz Bop” covered it or it ended up on “Now! That’s What I Call Music”. The constantly building groove, Tool inspired guitar riff, Pete’s heartfelt vocals, and the unusually dark lyrics just altogether form the best song Chevelle song of all time. In fact, “Shameful Metaphors” is so good the rest of the album tries it's damnedest to stay on the same level raised by this song. The typical rocker,“Jars”, which keeps the album from being perfect, would have been amazing on a different album, but when you have songs as strong as "Shameful Metaphors" it's nothing. Looking on to the rest of the album, the quick-sped grit of “Mexican Sun” just exhumes pure adrenaline (it’s a hell of a workout song), and “Letters From a Thief” is a great track that has a pretty awesome guitar solo with an oddly dark atmosphere surrounding the sound.
My biggest problem with Chevelle’s past albums is that they always seemed so mechanical. It was hard to hear a band through all the slick production. “Sci-Fi Crimes” has all the trademarks of the polished classic “Wonder What’s Next”, the noise and human sound of “Point #1” without the ridiculously mechanical sound of “Vena Sera”. “Vena Sera”-not to say it wasn't good-suffered from the same issues the Smashing Pumpkins’ ambitious “MACHINA” album had. That album was just so produced it didn’t have any spirit. Whether it be Pete’s unrestricted vocals, the vintage guitar sound, or Chevelle actually making an album that sounds like an album and not just a collection of ass-kicking songs. But “This Circus” finally shows Chevelle developing an ability to make an epic closing track as they slowly strip away instruments towards the album’s end. It’s the first Chevelle album in which the closing track actually sounds like it's actually supposed to close out the album. There’s plenty human touch, as Pete sings unrestrained and the guitars roar sloppily, similar to their debut. Even then, this album is so much more refined and eclectic then, for example, albums like their repetitive debut.
At the end of the day, Chevelle have settled into a niche, and found that, much like the Deftones found with “White Pony”, hard rock isn’t a black hole. Instead, the Loefflers discovered that if you play hard rock right, it can be accessible and lead to stardom but still kick plenty of ass while sounding experimental. Chevelle essentially just blew the doors off of the hard rock scene and made life a whole lot harder for their peers. That’s how awesome “Sci-Fi Crimes” is.
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Album Rating: 3.5 | Sound Off
you say Chevelle a lot in this review. lol
also i'm glad we share the same opinion on Shameful Metaphors being the best thing to ever happen to this band, and Jars being the worst on this cd.
Digging: The Weeknd - House of Balloons Digging: The Weeknd - House of Balloons | | |
is this out yet?
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im sure this is bad
| | | Album Rating: 3.5 | Sound Off
pretentious pricks for the win!
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Oooooooooo! Very good review! I was actually excited to go to class today so I could walk around all over campus listening to this on my iPod lol
Digging: Soulwax - Nite Versions | | | Album Rating: 2.5
is this streaming anywhere? and yeah album is pretty good but it's still in the 3.5 region for me, also I thought Jars was pretty good : (
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Oooooooooo! Very good review! I was actually excited to go to class today so I could walk around all over campus listening to this on my iPod lol
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double post?
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^ Iluvatar poser
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wait i just read BEST CHEVELLE SONG OF ALL TIME? it would have to be one freakin' helluva song to take that title away from Family System.
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go back to ign
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What's up with people hating "Jars" around here? I think its a good first single . . .
Digging: Andrew Bird - Break It Yourself Digging: Andrew Bird - Break It Yourself
| | | Album Rating: 4
Good review, but you don't give Chevelle's earlier work enough credit. Such as Pete has always had dark lyrics, and Sam has always provided good beats and rhythm. And also, This Type of Thinking... had an excellent album closer, Bend the Bracket. Although it's not as good as Highland's Apparation for an acoustic ballad, or This Circus as a closer.
Digging: Our Lady Peace - Curve Digging: Our Lady Peace - Curve | | | Album Rating: 4
^I agree with you Observer, the chorus is catchy as fuck.
| | | Album Rating: 4
Another one to bash on Vena Sera :- That's ok though. I wish that Chevelle would make some more songs like Sleep Walking Elite and In Debt To the Earth cause those are some badass bonus tracks that they've put out.
On another note, Shameful Metaphors is a fantastic track. Buying this Monday after college!!!
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i dunno so far about this
it's giving me mixed vibes right now
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Is this better than Vena Sera? Also, is it on par with their album before that?
Digging: Between the Buried and Me - Colors Digging: Between the Buried and Me - Colors
| | | Album Rating: 2.5 | Sound Off
Either im really missing out on something. Or the fact that the average score is 4.1 is a bit baffling.
I'll try to give this a listen again....my taste for this style have music has decreased over the years. I thought Vena Sera was killer though.
Digging: Death Grips - The Money Store | | |
I also think Vena Sera was a great progression for them.
| | | Album Rating: 2.5
So is this band sort of like Hurt?
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