 | Tracklist:
1. Project Wake Up
2. The Common Hours
3. 3D
4. Save The Cheerleader, Save the World
5. The Big Bad Wolf
6. I Am Jacks Smirking Revenge
7. Comfortably Confused
8. Where The Sidewalk Ends
9. Sing This (featuring BIZZY BONE)
10. The Ocean
11. What This Means To Me
Release Date: 2009 | |
| | other reviews | Bitstream (3.5)
Straying from gimmicky (but plunging into generic), I See Stars delivers the fun in a rather short b... | Chris Higgins (3.5)
I See Stars makes an attempt to bring back fun and catchy post hrdcore/techno, and they really did a... | Ryan Lizotte (3)
I See Stars provides a little bit of breathing room for the Post-Hardcore community, and drops the b... | DropdeadWHA (3)
I See Stars deliver a good debut effort while sticking to the usual formula.... |
On 16 Lists
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| Summary: A Skylit Drive have some younger rivals. |
1 of 2 thought this review was well written
I See Stars is going somewhere fast. These boys are underage and are rivaling the scenes top notch contenders. They play Post-Hardcore that lies on the boarder of synthcore, nothing special, but they are very good at what they do.
The singing reminds me of Of Machines, and Saosin, they are high pitched, and energetic. To get a perfect sample of the singers vocal range, listen to one of highlight tracks The Common Hours. The vocalists wail of “And she screams my name!” at about the middle of the song just makes you want to jump around. Yes, there is a hint of an autotune, or vocoder in every song. But hey, I think it fits right in. Their biggest secret weapon is the keyboardist, who does the screaming vocals. They have an authority about them that shouts “Hey! Listen up!” They are unique in themselves but his low growls remind me somewhat of Agraceful. They are refreshing from the upbeat singing, and they usually accompany a breakdown.
Now, these guys aren’t super serious or balls-to-the-walls heavy. But they throw in some super heavy chug-a-lug breakdowns every once and a while, and when tied together with the synth, the get the job done and more. The guitar work is nothing special, but is above average for Post-Hardcore. They have a refined technicality to them. Think of Oceana’s The Tide, with less breakdowns. They really shine in the album opener Project Wakeup. The fretwork becomes frantic and concentrated while keeping up with the synth to make a built of to what is in my opinion is the best breakdown in the whole album.
The drumming and keyboards/synthesizer in this album at least, go together for me. They are perfect for the kind of music these guys play. The keyboardist has this way of making you listen to upbeat synth loops and have you not even realize it. It will sneak its way into the song and you’ll be like, “Whoa, this is pretty cool.” There’s the cliché electrodance song titled Sing This!, which could have been left out completely, but that’s really the only downfall of the album. The drummer does his work to keep the tempo while keeping everything simple; he has a certain technicality to him just as the guitarist. The fills are refreshing instead of boring same old drumming that all too many bands want to copy.
Overall, this is a solid debut album for a young band that will do a lot in the future, if they continue to be inventive and fun. I recommend them highly if you like Of Machines, Oceana, We Came As Romans, Harp And Lyre, or A Skylit Drive.
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| Recent reviews by this author | | |
Album Rating: 2.5
Saw them a couple times, and they are alright.
Review is pretty good
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Not to say exactly what I said in one of the other reviews, but I hate this band. I've seen them live and it was a terrible experience. They also have the worlds worst mic-checker on vocals.
Digging: Ne Obliviscaris - Portal of I Digging: Ne Obliviscaris - Portal of I
| | | Album Rating: 3
Review is awkward in a lot of places. Descriptions are good, but you have to work on your grammar because there are a lot of poorly structured sentences here. I'm not gonna neg, but you should work on that for future reviews.
Also, those recommendations are not really too relevant. Oceana has no buisness being there, and A Skylit Drive really doesn't sound like this at all. Only one that sounds remotely similar is We Came as Romans, and I'm amazed that you failed to reccomend Attack Attack considering they're the most similar band to them musically that is well known. But, I guess it could be a really roundabout way of saying that if you're into scene music you'll like this.
| | | Album Rating: 4
I find them to be similar to Oceana's earlier works because of the guitars. The small bits of technicality stand our to me. And, the vocals are similar to ASLD, I find AA! to be much heavier than them, and more techno oriented. But thanks for the help. =]
| | | Album Rating: 2
Definitely not a 4.
Digging: S. Carey - Hoyas Digging: S. Carey - Hoyas | | | Album Rating: 3
No way is it a 4 but it is a fun listen for sure. Good review.
Digging: The Grateful Dead - Terrapin Station Digging: The Grateful Dead - Terrapin Station | | | Album Rating: 4
The review is awkward, and at some times has very bad diction, (misplaced commas, quotations, spelling errors, general stuff). And the 'hint of autotune' should be 'a strong heavy dosage of overpowering autotune'.
I'm not a hater of reviews, it's just your second, and make sure you look it over for any mistakes. After spell checking it, of course.
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The guitar work is nothing special, but is above average for Post-Hardcore.
Do you even know what Post Hardcore is?
| | | Album Rating: 3
Vocals aren't really close to ASD at all. In fact, I'm pretty sure no one even comes close to how high Jag can go. But that's probably a good thing. I don't think Attack Attack is really that much heavier than these guys, and they make a much better comparison for people who haven't heard this.
But opinions are opinions.
This album is so catchy, and there is a bit of technacility hidden behind the synth. Saw them live and they were kinda meh though. Still a fun show.
| | | Album Rating: 2
saw these guys last year
not a huge fan of autotune
and the song with bizzy gives me a headache
| | | Album Rating: 1.5
Heh, my friend's cousin is in this band. I really can't stomach their music.
Digging: The Dopamines - Vices Digging: The Dopamines - Vices | | | Album Rating: 3.5
saw them live for the second time last night, MUCH better live than on the recording.
| | | Album Rating: 3
Really? I couldn't really differentiate anything when I saw them live. And the singer really didn't sing too much. But i guess it could be technical issues or something.
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