| | Full Review | Ratings (98) |
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| 1.5 very poor | AggravatedYeti | November 16th 08 |
Ditching almost all of their electronic sound and adopting a prominent guitar scheme right and ready to compete with the best of top 40 radio, Shiny's flunk. 'Season of Poison' is a dud, there's 3 good tracks -- good ones. Not great, or amazing, good ('I Owe You a Love Song' 'Season Of Love' & 'Turned To Real Life'). Rather than coming to the choruses and banging through on drop d power chords they create electronic bliss, unlike the rest of the 'Season'. Shiny Toy Guns were interesting because regardless of how much they played to cliches, they surrounded it with a truly sick electronica song. Couple that with decent verses and instrumental play and you've got yourself a solid album (We Are Pilots). Mix crappy industrial, bullshit grunge and a dose of rap rock (check new singer Sisley Treasure on 'When Did This Storm Begin') and you've got this balls follow up. They may have ditched Carah (The best part...) but Sisley can hold her own; but she's barely there (3 tracks!). Me thinks Chad doesn't trust her, but if 'Frozen Oceans' is any indication, they'll find their savior in her voice. 'Season of Poison' sees a talented band flounder with the loss of an obviously integral member. They mix many styles and jumble genres in trying to move away from their previous core sound. Shinys may think they're evolving -- honestly it just seems like they're running out of ideas.
1 Bumps | Bump |
| 3.5 great | gryndstone | June 13th 12 |
Replacing the electronic sound that defined them on 'We Are Pilots' with more guitars, it's easy to understand why many don't enjoy Season Of Poison. The first half of the album is very back and forth, also being very hit or miss. But it's right after the admittedly cute yet mind-numbingly repetitive 'Season Of Love', when the album gets a lot better. Poison is an almost apocalyptic sounding rock song with a dark three and a half minute instrumental played on an organ. This blends into Blown Away, where the organ stays in the background when Chad isn't wailing the chorus to us. This is followed by Turned to Real Life, a remake of an old We Are Pilots track. Carah did it better, but Sisely holds her own. The album ends on Frozen Oceans, which trucks along and gains steam so that by the end of the track, you'll be tempted to join in to the cries of "I can't wait".
The flaw with the album is ultimately the lack of Carah Faye, STG's previous female vocalist. Sisely definitely has the voice, indicated by Frozen Oceans, but when she sneers and screams out her lyrics, it kind of ruins the flow. "When Did This Storm Begin" would've been a great opener, but Sisely raps through the verses and the mood switches too often to get into the song. On an unrelated note, I'm thoroughly convinced 'When Did This Storm Begin' and 'Poison' are telling a story.
Check Out:Poison, Blown Away, Frozen Oceans
Skip: I Owe You A Love Song, It Became A Lie On You
Bump |
| 0.0 | Nick Habisch | April 22nd 10 |
The lack of anything substantial, be it catchy songs or technical songs, hurts. It's bad when the best song your band does is a cover song.
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| 3.0 good | smokachino | July 12th 09 |
I found this album to be very enjoyable. It's more feverish and abrasive than We are Pilots, but it did a serviceable job of keeping my ears perked throughout many listens. I thought Sisley made a valid effort of infusing her edge into Shiny's sound; she's very effective at keeping up the energy and blasting you with all she's got. She can hold her own in slower tracks, but she isn't her strong point. For me, the album starts strong with "When did this storm begin" but dips down into the mediocre "Money" and "Owe" which have their moments, but ultimately stink of "filler". Then season picks back up with the excellent "Ghost Town" and remains consistently enjoyable throughout until the unacceptably flawed "Frozen Oceans". This song drew me in with a sublime verse-prechorus only to shatter it all to pieces with a lumbering, over-dramatic chorus that is both unconvincing and laughably corny. Afraid that this was Season's epic "ender" I was relieved to be treated to the very satisfying conclusion "A leading Edge". Having said that, this album is certainly inferior to Pilots, but that doesn't mean you should pass it up completely. I recommend to any die hard Shiny fans, and those who want a competent pop-tech-rock album to keep their ears busy for a few hours.
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| 1.5 very poor | romanlst | November 18th 12 |
| 2.0 poor | iGuter | October 15th 11 |
| 3.0 good | modey3 | October 9th 11 |
| 1.0 awful | Centre | October 21st 10 |
| 3.5 great | Ben | July 20th 10 |
| 3.5 great | Xelis | November 7th 09 |
| 2.0 poor | TEM | October 16th 09 |
| 2.5 average | Lokudon | September 26th 09 |
| 4.0 excellent | Tim00w | August 28th 09 |
| 3.5 great | Ben W | April 14th 09 |
| 2.0 poor | bloc | April 13th 09 |
| 2.0 poor | SVIIB | March 2nd 09 |
| 4.5 superb | icescim | February 9th 09 |
| 2.5 average | yty | December 7th 08 |
| 2.0 poor | Sconza | November 3rd 08 |
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