Review Summary: Safe and Synthetic Age
Apparently, every time the bands As Lions or Rise to Remain arise in conversation, there is an obligation to mention the fact that the front man of both bands, Austin Dickinson, is the son of the singer of some other band named Iron Maiden. With that kind of identity, his bands are either doomed or blessed before their audience has even heard any music, and the pressure on Austin’s shoulders to live up to the legendary status that Mr. Dickinson has flown to has built up immensely.
After the, rather outspoken, collapse of Rise to Remain two years ago, Austin Dickinson quickly formed As Lions. Gaining support slots with celebrated and high-ranking acts such as Trivium and Five Finger Death Punch and releasing a debut EP, Aftermath, under the As Lions name, the band has steadily crept up to the same level of popularity that Rise to Remain were at before their disbandment. So, promising past material? Tick. Approval of significant bands? Tick. Influential lineage? Big tick. Accordingly, all things appear to be in favour for As Lion’s debut album “Selfish Age” then.
The general summation for “Selfish Age” is that if you listen to one song, you’ve heard the entire album. Not to mention, half of this debut is comprised of their entire “Aftermath” EP, where each five previously released songs are lodged between the six new ones. The introduction, ‘Aftermath’, effectively illustrates the aesthetic of As Lions. The lyrics are reflective with a pop catchiness to the song, and Austin’s clean vocal performance extinguishes any thoughts of a return to his previous growls. ‘White Flags’, ‘Deathless’ and ‘One By One’ follows an identical route that ‘Aftermath’ travels, differentiating only in lyrics. The issue here is that every song sounds incredibly safe and repetitive, thus utterly failing in gauging any serious reaction that the lyrics attempt to instigate and also rendering the songs entirely forgettable.
“Selfish Age” relies heavily on creating a climactic effect during specific moments in its songs. Austin’s catchy choruses alone act as one way of establishing the soaring moments; however, the only other way they attempt to captivate their audience is the production job. Unfortunately, the production is extremely overdone to the point of As Lions’ debut album sounding synthetic. The title track, ‘World On Fire’ and ‘Pieces’ all focus on building a reflective atmosphere that establishes the hackneyed radio friendly rock theme: “we can make it through, but only together and if we try really hard.” However, instead of heightening the atmosphere, the production job just makes these moments sound so sickeningly corny. This artificial production is especially frustrating considering there are some decent, gritty grooves in ‘The Suffering’, yet they’ve been spruced up so much that the guitars sound glittery, without a trace of oomph to them.
Luckily, As Lions aren’t just another metalcore band with bland riffing and a bit of clean vocals for musical accessibility. They’ve made it very clear that they’re dedicated to the sound they’ve created on “Selfish Age” and don’t claim to be anything other than that. Therefore, accessibility is the underlying strength of As Lions. This album has the, albeit diluted, lyrical messages that made Shinedown popular and the musical method of Alter Bridge. Those bands have done well for themselves, who’s to say As Lions won’t either?
