Review Summary: The World Alive bring the best of their influences out in their sound, but unfortunately some of their flaws as well. Will it be enough to keep their debut album from being truly great? Or will the positives overpower the negatives and create a successful
Remember the late nineties? The early 2000s, and to some extent the mid 2000s? Remember when emo was good? Yes, before it's ultimate demise, emo was something real and more than whiney kids with goofy hair. And the music was more than those kids putting their complaints into garbled vocals set to uninventive, repetitive music. The World Alive seems to hail from an era before that, and seem like they could easily open for a Sonny Moore fronted From First to Last. From the first beat, this song channels the golden age of emo gloriously, whilst adding elements of other genres, ultimately rising above the musical standard of today. With that in mind, let us take a look at Empire.
1. Battle Royale: The song explodes right out of the gate with brilliant instrumentation and catchy dueling vocals. Despite a few cornball lyrics ('every single time I see your face, it reminds me why I walked away') and an out of place guitar solo it is a great opener that sounds like it could easily have been written in 2003. The keyboards immediately begin to show as a major high point of the band, sounding like they were taken from a black metal bands lineup. Coupled with a great breakdown they are the star of the song. 4/5
2. Quit While Your Ahead: A slower song compared to Battle Royale, it still invigorates the listener with great atmosphere (courtesy of the keyboards again). Overall a catchy song and a good way to keep the flow of the album going. 3.5/5
3. Casanova Rodeo: Despite a strong opening, the song fades slowly as it plays out, and while capitalizing on drums, guitar and screaming effectively, the song would have done much better without singing. And the lyrics are just plain bad. Nevertheless a decent song, it doesn't stand out amongst the others. 3/5
4. The Only Rule Is That There Are No Rules: The talent of the musicians is wasted in this song. It juxtaposes breakdowns and completely uncatchy offbeats to create an overall mess. This is one of the vocalists best performances of the album, and the last half of the song is greatly improved compared to the first half. But that doesn't save it from coming across as a bunch of doodles on an otherwise fine peice of paper. 2.5/5
5. Inviting Eyes: Hello, improvement. The song takes the chaotic formula of the previous song and executes it way better. It's catchy instead of grating, constructed instead of random, and overall a good song. The only things saving it from a higher rating are the consistently irritating sung vocals (the album really would be so much better without them. With the exception of Battle Royale) and the fact that the stellar keyboard work never rises above background noise. 3.5/5
6. How to Build an Empire: A beautiful, atmospheric and epic closer. It sets a perfect mood and keeps you listening for the whole first half of the song, with a melodic lull in the middle followed by a noisy and heavy castoff for the ending. It nails what a closer should be: epic, melodic, and finalizing yet leaving you asking for more. Honourable mention for having the least irritating sung vocals of the album. 4/5
The World Alive capitalize on the best of their fellow genres, ending up with an original, overall effective genre. They show plenty of potential, and with a few alterations to their sound, they will resonate as one of the better new bands of today. But the little flaws in this album save it from being a truly good debut.
3.5/5 Â*Â*
