Review Summary: Fallenmania, Part 23
To me, Florence and the Machine are the perfect example of “Evanescence without electric guitars”. It’s something about Florence Welch’s powerful, expressive voice, her macabre and romantic lyrics, and obsessions for the sea. Today’s album is a great example of that, and my favorite of hers. I had to keep one of the best non-rock fallenmaniacs for, well, later in the series.
In fact, my favorite song on this album includes all of Florence’s trademarks and writing quirks: “Never Let Me Go” is a sort of grandiose but sad ballad about the narrator killing herself by drowning, probably because of her overwhelming guilt. The song starts off quiet, with a sort of ringing sound before becoming a repetitive mix of piano and percussions, and progressively getting louder, almost triumphant, before climaxing into a repeated chant of “Never let me go, never let me go”, which feels almost comforting, uplifting, before you remember that the only comfort she’s found is death by drowning. That’s what I meant by obsession for the sea and macabre lyrics.
It’s a good indicator of the album’s mood and themes. The songs can either be about celebrating death as a happy ending, or a celebration of life, but they’re always very intense, with great melodies and vocals. The best song in the latter category would be “Shake it out”. This one’s about finally leaving the past behind and embracing happiness, and it sounds as uplifting and fun as a song like that should. Everything, from the somber organ in the intro to the verses building up to the incredibly catchy chorus sounds perfect.
Well, this album is about celebrations, but also about rituals of her own: “Dancing on tiptoes, my own ceremonials”, she sings on “Only if for a Night”, a great opener to the album that starts with a sweet piano melody (a lot like Evanescence’s pre-Fallen works) before becoming a very upbeat number about dancing in a graveyard at night with the ghosts. There’s something about the album’s sort of mystical, morbid, and poetic lyrics that really appeals to me. Again, you’re either really into that stuff or you find it annoying, you either love Florence’s singing or you find it weird and overwrought.
But enough of that, what about other songs with a magical tone and theme? There’s another water-themed song, “What the Water Gave Me”, about making a magical ceremony with the sea, a quirky-sounding but haunting instrumentation, and a great “Lay me down, let the only sound be the overflow” chorus. “Seven Devils” has a simple but strangely haunting instrumentation and a sinister but catchy chorus.
The last songs have similar themes to the songs I’ve already discussed, but I have to admit that the middle of the album is a little weaker. It’s not necessarily bad, but it’s not as great, because it feels too “normal” for Florence and the Machine. For example, “All This and Heaven Too” is completely bland and forgettable, except for its backing vocals. “Breaking Down” is a fairly simple, sad ballad, but her great vocal performance saves it. At least, the haunting backing vocals and violins sound cool. “Lover to Lover” is just a simple pop song, but at least it’s catchy, especially the bridge and last chorus. “No Light, No Light” has the mysterious feel of previous songs, and some nice harp parts, but it precisely feels too much like other, better songs on the album. “Heartlines” is similar, but that “Yeah-eh-eh-eh” hook is catchy.
Wait for the end, with “Spectrum” and “Leave my Body”. “Spectrum” builds up perfectly to its powerful “Say my name” chorus, the harp is featured much more and sounds even better. The song’s powerful feel is its best aspect, but even the more melancholic bridge, where she repeats “Say my name” in a softer voice, sounds amazing. “Leave My Body” has some great haunting backing vocals, it builds up to a soaring chorus about soaring to the afterlife, it’s a perfect ending for the album.
“Ceremonials” can feel very long, and it has some weaker moments, but it’s a great album. I had a lot of fun reviewing it. It perfectly achieves what it was going for: a mystical, intense atmosphere. It’s a one-of-a-kind album, one that exists outside of genres and trends. It has some definite fallenmaniac undertones, but they’re more like shared traits between 2 otherwise different artists than deliberate imitation. Florence and The Machine could also be considered the new Kate Bush, or more broadly, a symphonic/atmospheric metal band without the metal part. It’s the kind of beautiful, otherworldly music that I love and that can only be described with words like beautiful and otherworldly. But I like to think that, deliberately or not, there’s a direct line from Kate Bush to Within Temptation and Evanescence, then to Florence and then to Oceans of Slumber’s “Starlight and Ash” album. This series would be so boring if it were only about bands like The Letter Black. Another interesting thing is that, out of all the non-rock fallenmaniacs, Florence was the only one who had a long and productive career without changing her style. How did she stick around for so long, with such a loyal fanbase and so much critical acclaim, which is rare for artists in this series? Well, simply by making great music. Sometimes, I need to review good albums in this series, albums that, deliberately or coincidentally, could be considered the “Fallen” of their respective sub-genre.
