Review Summary: While the vocals are, for the most part, good, the bass is set on hiding, the drums do what they are asked to do, and the guitars could do with a little trim job. This album does exactly what it set out to do, bring a good enough follow-up to On Frail Win
Alesana; the band that you either love or hate, and trust me there is a lot on both sides of that spectrum. There has also been a debate on what genre Alesana fits in. They have been placed in Screamo, Post-Hardcore, Metalcore, “Sweetcore”, “lolcore”, and “Mythologycore”. As you can tell, some of these are just insane and down right moronic, but no matter what you label the band; this is their third original release, fourth if you count the re-issue by Fearless Records, and they have headlined their own tour. They are also set to headline the Smartpunk Stage at Warped Tour this summer. In January of this year, the band began working with Steve Evetts (Senses Fail, Story Of The Year, Saves The Day, Every time I Die, Dillinger Escape Plan) on their new album,
Where Myth Fades To Legend. This has became one of the most anticipated albums in the scene, so does it hold up to everyone’s high expectations?
We will now enter the great dance of ’08 to see how this album shapes up.
Entering the dance first is the two “Bro” princes who are both trying to date the princess they enter with. While the “Bros” each have something else to do, Shawn Milke (Vocals, Guitar, Piano), and Adam Ferguson (Guitar, Vocals), the princess, Dennis Lee (Vocals), only has one duty that must be done. If you are not familiar with Alesana, they employ a three vocal attack to the listener’s ears. For the most part though, it is not an actually attack. However, the clean whiny vocals done by Shawn Milke can be considered an attack at times. Shawn’s vocals are a lot more bearable on this album then their last,
On Frail Wings of Vanity and Wax. His singing is decent on "
This Is Usually The Part Where People Scream" and horrible on "
As You Wish”. Shawn is the prince that will end up as “the brother the princess never had” because of his rollercoaster personality. He pulls off the singing on "
Goodbye, Goodnight, For Good" but almost lost it at one point. He then has his best performance on "
A Most Profound Quiet". It’s sad that his peak is on the fourth song of the album because it goes downhill from there. His pitch choices are bad on the songs "
The Uninvited Thirteenth" and "
Sweetheart, You Are Sadly Mistaken". "[b]The Uninvited Thirteenth[/b" is almost ruined by these choices, while the clean vocals on "
Sweetheart, You Are Sadly Mistaken" are ruined.
Now let us get to know the princess, Dennis Lee is the screamer of the band. Dennis starts the album off good with his vocals on "
Goodbye, Goodnight, For Good". He also pulls off his harsh vocals on "
A Most Profound Quiet" and "
And They Call This Tragedy". Alesana also employs death growls and vocal trade-offs. The death growls are used the most on the song "
Red and Dying Evening”, this is also where they are the best. The death growls are also found during the opening of "
The Uninvited Thirteenth". The vocal trade-off during "
Endings Without Stories" is good, but the best is found during the opening of "
Seduction". As far as lyrics are concerned, they chose to base many of their lyrics on The Brother Grimm and other fairy tales. While they may be the case, the lyrics are poorly written, and come off as typical lyrical themes.
Joining the two “Bros” at the dance is the king’s son and third guitarist, Patrick Thompson. The main concern when a band has three guitarists is if they will use all three or could the same thing be done with two guitars. There are harmonizing guitars to start the album; however in this case, most of the time you only hear two guitars most of the time. During the opening of "
Sweetheart, You Are Sadly Mistaken" the two intro guitar riffs are great. On the topic of guitar riffs, the intro riff on "
A Most Profound Quiet" is good. The breakdowns are a mixed bag, you have some good, some decent, and 3 great ones. The three great breakdowns are found on the tracks "
Red and Dying Evening", "
Sweetheart, You Are Sadly Mistaken", and at the end of the album. The clean guitar lead during the middle of the song "
Seduction" is decent at best.
The king and queen, Jeremy Bryan (Drums) and Shane, arrives to make sure that the princess is not overly drunk and taking her cloths off. Shane stays right in Jeremy’s shadow except for two seconds on “
Obsession Is Such An Ugly Word”. Jeremy is usually a passive king and rarely outshines when he does not have to. Most of the time he uses his snare drums and double bass pedals. When the drums do shine, it is usually during a song intro, ex. "
Red and Dying Evening". Two instrumental breaks, found during "
A Most Profound Quiet" and "
Endings Without Stories", benefit the drums. There is one piano based song on the album, “
As You Wish”, but it’s simply horrible.
Thus ends the dance with the princess somewhere in the castle with the king and the “Bros” getting the queen hammered.
The biggest claim for the new album was that the catchy parts got catchier and the heavy parts got heavier. The catchier claim is true, as found on "
This Is Usually The Part Where People Scream". While the vocals are, for the most part, good, the bass is set on hiding, the drums do what they are asked to do, and the guitars could do with a little trim job. This album does exactly what it set out to do, bring a good enough follow-up to
On Frail Wings of Vanity and Wax to the table to keep their record label happy. One thing that is nagging me is the fact that the band is not wanting to acknowledge their first EP
Try This With Your Eyes Closed and re-release all of those tracks redone. Out of thirteen tracks, four are old tracks. These four are "
Goodbye, Goodnight, For Good", "
Red And Dying Evening", "
And They Call This Tragedy", and "
Endings Without Stories". As far as what Alesana should do for their next album, they should reference what they have done on "
Better Luck Next Time, Prince Charming" and "
Obsession Is Such An Ugly Word" while making the tracks more up-tempo, ex. "
And They Call This Tragedy".
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Rating (?/5)
Vocals: 3.5
Lyrics: 3
Guitars: 2.5
Bass: 2
Drums: 3
Production: 4
Creativity: 2.5
Lasting Value: 3
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