Huh. After I think they've found a place in a genre with the success of What It Is To Burn, they felt the urge to completely change. There's hardly any songs reminiscent of anything on WIITB. Is that a bad thing? Yea. Why?
Well, for the most part, their lyrics fail. I mean, I guess I wasn't really touched by the lyrics on What It Is To Burn, but they didn't jump out at me as being ridiculous. I don't think they have much of a talent in the department of writing dark lyrics.
Also, when trying to be innovative in a new sound, they made too many songs alike. Some of the choruses are even hard to tell apart. I think there's a lack of clean singing, and that causes problems because they used to rely so heavily on it. This sounds more like Finch after being possessed with a demon, because almost all songs on Say Hello To Sunshine are dark, sometimes morbid.
THE GOOD
Track #1, INSOMNIAC MEAT starts this sorrowful album in a sorrowful way. The chorus is fairly catchy, the vocals are nice. The ending is a little "ehh" though, constantly screaming, "THIS IS THE WORST THING THAT YOU HAVE EVER DONE!" REVELATION SONG refuses to settle on a certain steady pace during the verses. The chorus shows us some clean vocals but awkward lyrics, in my opinion. BROTHER BLEED BROTHER starts with some furious guitar plucking. It has some amazing vocals, and throws a few curves at you while you're listening. There's a few awkward parts but nothing too much to complain about.
INK flows through intensely whispered verses into an intense chorus. I like the modern rock flavoring when they sing, "THE army aaants have e-scaaaped." The bridge is also pretty cool when we hear some clean vocals. "Ink spills on paper, paper spells my blood."
A MAN ALONE is a crazy and bouncy song found later on in the album. It's got a jazzy rhythm with the drums and some sort of addictive guitar work. This combination surprisingly works well, and it also sounds good when they scream in the chorus of how "old man loneliness is a son of a b*tch." Another curve is thrown, to me at least, when a song this upbeat carries on for almost 4 and a half minutes. MIRO follows at track 10. It is catchy and more positive sounding (but still dark). It's also sprinkled with a bit of tropical, jazzy guitar work.
Title-track RAVENOUS has pure energy and tests with a bunch of different styles in its 2:39 runtime. Rock, hardcore, punk, emo (to an extent)...it's all here. DREAMS OF PSILOCYBIN is a song that I am liking. It has some catchy parts and enjoyable music. The melody is also some of the best on the album. It's a pretty good closer.
THE BAD & THE UGLY
Fourth song A PIECE OF MIND doesn't have anything exciting to offer. Simple riffs, simple everything...too boring. FIREFLIES suffers a similar fate...it's better in every aspect but still dull.
HOPELESS HOST is so bizarrely paced and executed for the most part that it's barely listenable. It has seemingly random melodies and hooks, and it just doesn't work. REDUCED TO TEETH is another bland song, with boringly quiet verses and a dull but heavier chorus. It does have pretty interesting lyrics.
Lead single BITEMARKS AND BLOODSTAINS lacks anything a single should have. Subpar lyrics, subpar music, nothing catchy about it...not quite sure what they were thinking here. CASKET OF RODERICK USHER is, for the most part, a rancid abomination. I guess it's this cds Project Mayhem; testing their hardcore limits. This time the "project" didn't turn out so well...
CONCLUDING REMARKS...
There is no way a casual music fan is going to like a majority of the songs on this cd. They're so expiremental and sometimes downright bizarre, and would probably be written off as "a bunch of noise." Heck, I even thought that a few times. In my opinion, there's no way that this type of music is gonna come close catching on like their previous genre ("screamo" or whatever you want to call it).
TRACK RATINGS
1. Insomniac Meat - 7.5/10
2. Revelation Song - 7/10
3. Brother Bleed Brother - 8.5/10
4. A Piece of Mind - 5/10
5. Ink - 8/10
6. Fireflies - 6/10
7. Hopeless Host - 4.5/10
8. Reduced to Teeth - 5/10
9. A Man Alone - 8/10
10. Miro - 8/10
11. Ravenous - 7.5/10
12. Bitemarks and Bloodstains - 6.5/10
13. Casket of Roderick Usher - 4/10
14. Dreams of Psilocybin - 8/10
