Review Summary: For those who enjoy strange experimental pieces with emotional derivatives. This album is an exotic piece of candy waiting to be eaten by your ear drums for a unique experience.
An album that was almost exclusively heard or owned only by people who were previously fans of Second Monday, Imagery is among the greatest albums I have heard from the alternative rock scene during the years 2008-2009. Although the album is heavily underrated, it is quite the diamond in the rough, due to the authenticity of the sounds and the symbolism presented in the album's songs.
It starts out with the quiet introductory song, "Cue Speech", which is very mellow and surreal sounding to slowly absorb you into the rest of the album. Then "Boom!", you're in a catchy chorus and you realize your feelings are subdued by a grainy, yet strange set of riffs. Throughout, it is quite intriguing to hear the lead singer's voice; whiny, somewhat hard to decode, but almost understandable through the tone and length of his voice saturating feelings away. Finally, as a closing to the ending the track subsides into a faded, almost ghostly tone that leads into the next song.
We then have "Mono Injection", which starts out with a slightly distorted riff, while the singer sings "I’m this old rusted and overused, waiting for you". After this intense verse, the music upbeats and the whole band starts jamming, while the singer starts yelling emotionally subliminal words that haunt your heart's beat. By 3/4 of the song, it subsides into a lonely riff playing, while the lead slowly whispers the lyrics as if he is lost in a trance of some sort. Then it all continues once again, leading to the ultimatum with the guitar playing and a concealed piano synchronized along somewhere in the mix.
As the previous track slides back, our eyes digest the vocalist singing cleanly and a delayed tone playing solemnly. This is where the song "Task Destination" starts, with a nice, soft beginning that leads into a chorus of odd riffs and ecstatic yelling. This continues normally until an intermission starts with the vocalist starting to whisper in an off-key tone, while a violin plays with the softly chatting guitar, which starts to fade until the chorus interrupts suddenly, like a moment of happiness destroyed by some traumatic event! As the chorus ends, an electronic intermission comes and then the calm tones introduce themselves once again, leading into a toned down ending that is repeated by the vocalist's almost inaudible lyrics continuously pounding until the very end of the track for a depressing aspiration.
Distraught, yet in a sense, awake, the next track stops your train of thought with a "swishing" piano or violin. As a beat is in the background fading, yet shooting away. Leading into the song "Something About A Forest-Fire", which bears a similar emotion to the last song, yet in extreme tendencies of nostalgic recollection and depressing undertones. The distorted guitar intermixes a few times, as the mutual clean guitar tone and violin/piano continue the dramatic rhythms of the song. All while this goes on, the song ends somewhat abruptly as the guitar plays a distorted riff, while the vocalist's voice cuts out, as if the track was yanked during recording in some auspicious suspense.
Swaying your thoughts around, you wonder if the band is going to lighten up, but they just keep coming with more "Happy" tunes with the next track, "Create, Destroy, and Rebuild" that apparently continues the serenade of "Something About A Forest-Fire". This goes along with a clean piano chugging a depressing tune, while the guitar sadly follows along, like they are one of the same, yet different creatures all at once. As this is progressing on, the tune keeps uplifting throughout, as the gain continues to heighten, and the drums starts to beat more abruptly and harder; then!; you feel released from the torture as the riff goes to a steady volume and goes distorted and faded-like. Once this riff ends, you hear all the instruments slur and tangle as the guitar is slided down the fret board, and then ends the song perfectly, as if the band was playing an instrumental sacrifice.
Just as you think I'm going to review the rest of this album, you're hardly believable. I was only trying to entice you with a few of the songs, so you could see the rest and tell everyone yourself how the rest of the album goes. To conclude this appropriately, I will put in my own personal opinion and state that this album is definitely a listener and a keeper. That is a guarantee for the people who like this type of music from my very self. If you're not a fan of this band, or very fond of a wide variety of genres in the rock generalization, then you should still take a look at this, since it not only introduces experimental elements, but incorporates orchestral elements amazingly as well. The quality of this album is amazing and I'm positive the band who made it put their time, passion, and entire creativity into this masterpiece. I'm also assured that any person that is new to this, will find at least one of the songs to their liking. So I personally invite you to listen to this album, for the wonderful sound waves it offers our ears.
Recommended Tracks:X
Every Song Is Essentially Recommended [X]
