Story of the Year - The Black Swan
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Free Music Notes for The Black Swan
Free Music Review: 3rd time the charm
Hit: 5 Stars
Well, I have been a SoTY fan since I first heard "In wake of determination". After that I went out and got their first record, Page avenue, as well. The albums are quite different. The first, Page Avenue, is soft, radio-friendly and catchy tunes with the occasion hard song. Their 2nd album reversed the roles, having a heavy rhythm the whole way with a few relaxed songs.
With the Black Swan, they tried to put it all together, and the result is an amazing post-hardcore album. NOTE, that this will appeal MUCH more to the fans of Wake of Determination than Page Avenue. However, If you are just a SOTY fan and enjoy both their previous albums (like myself) then you will absolutely love this. Better riffs, catchy songs, MUCH more thought-provoking lyrics, and you have an album worth keeping in your car for months.
Free Music Review: Fanominal record!
Hit: 5 Stars
This CD is amazing on many levels. First of all, anyone who was a fan of this band before will only be impressed. They have really stepped it up on this record. The song writing is better than ever, the hooks are catchy, the guitar work is brilliant, and the overall 'theme' of the cd is perfect. For every heavy part of the album there is an equal soft side. They managed a perfect blend of everything. There is def. something for EVERYONE on this cd. If you like HEAVY music - Choose Your Fate; if your looking for something a little calmer and soft - Terrified; Looking for more of the modern radio rock? - We're Not Gonna Make it.
Story Of The Year has this amazing ability to give something new that fits with everything that is going on in music today without blending in with everyone else. My hat is off to the band for this record. I am a die-hard fan and a professional musician, and just from a musical stand point alone; I would have to say I LOVE THIS ALBUM. If your sick of the same crappy music you hear all over the radio and MTV (bands like Seether, Daughtry, and all the c@ck rock bands like Buck Cherry and Hinder and MANY MORE) then this CD is perfect for you.
The production is great and you'll be humming the hooks the second your done listening to the album. Every song on this CD is a hit. I wouldn't take any song off the album, though after listening to the CD you only wish that there were about 47 more songs, unfortunately there aren't. Its great to see a band that is about the musis and not just getting paid. I'm sick of bands putting out the same songs crying about their ex and how they got hurt or whatever, if I want to hear someone whining I'll watch Dr. Phil. So if your gonna spend any money and support a band, why not a band that actually stands for something and does what they do for the love of music? You WILL NOT be dissapointed.
Free Music Review: Simply amazing
Hit: 5 Stars
I respect all of the people who have voiced their opinion on this album. However, now is my time to let you knwo why this is the best album of the year by far.
Look up the lyrics to each of the songs. NO album over the past couple of years has taken on all of the problems that the world is dealing with nowadays and said were going to tackle all of these problems to music.
It is utter bliss.
Altough everyone things Page Avenue was the bands "best" record it must be noted that the reason people think this was becaus at this time Story of the Year greated that new rock sound.
In the Wake of Determination went back to rock and people were like...this isnt Story...this isnt there sound.
Here in the Black Swan they mix it up satisfying both sets of fans and I couldn't be more pleased with this record. If you have the opportunity try and find someone who pre-ordered the album on itunes and has the extra track "Never let it go" its one of the best songs on the album by far
Free Music Review: BETTER THAN THEIR LAST CD, BUT NOT THEIR FIRST
Hit: 3 Stars
Overall a fairly good effort with SOTY's newest cd, Black Swan. I don't know if they'll ever match the quality of their first cd, which as absolutely fantastic. With this cd they seem to have gone heavier on a handful of the tracks and I do mean HEAVY! Personally, I think the best songs are The Antidote, Tell Me(P.A.C.), and We're Not Gonna Make It, which is my favorite. I really dislike the first track titled Choose Your Fate. It just seems too heavy for SOTY and doesn't sound good at all anyway. There are 12 songs and 1 interlude on this album. In my opinion, there is only 4 really high quality songs that you'll want to listen to over and over again. A bit of disappointment, but still not bad. Maybe they'll do better with next effort. Hopefully when that time comes they will stay away from the heavier stuff. Overall I give it 3.5 stars because the songs on their that are good are really good even if the majority of them are bad. Free Music Review: A step in the right direction
Hit: 4 Stars
So there's this formula that a lot of bands use, it goes like this.
1.) Breakout album achieves much notice.
2.) Sophomore album tries a bunch of new stuff, which creates new fans but also deters some of the old fans.
3.) Third album takes a step back and satisfies both the new and old fans.
This happens to a lot of bands and it happened to Story of the Year, not that that's a bad thing. This CD basically continues the journey that "In the Wake of Determination" began, while also reflecting on the original roots of the band that lie in "Page Avenue" This is a huge step up from their sophomore release, and it took me a while to figure out why, but I think I finally got it. Whenever I listened to "In the Wake..." I couldn't help but get the impression that the band didn't know where they wanted to take their sound, all they knew is that they didn't want to write another "Page Avenue" So that CD was all over the place in it's effort to get something new.
Almost three years later we get a much more professionally done "In the Wake of Determination" The CD opens up with possibly the rawest display of Dan's vocals ever, but then we transition over and the sound is cleaner, the songs are well constructed, it's not as blunt and 'TURN THE AMP UP TO 11 RAWR!' as its predecessor, which is good. Althogether this album goes down smooth and is a pretty easy listen to a fan of either of the other SOTY albums.
Music wise, it's pretty much the same SOTY. We have the obvious emphasis on guitars and those catchy-as-ever hooks, solos, and breakdowns. The guitars here are just as amazing as ever if you've been following this band since their beginnings, like I have. Again we see the bass being totally ignored (Grrr...), in fact, the only song where I could consciously stop and say "Oh yeah, there's the bass guitar" was "Cannonball" Lyrically, Dan is as brilliant as he has ever been, with lyrics that stretch back to the days of "Page Avenue" when the songs would actually make me ponder my life through that he was saying (Let's face it, with songs like "Meathead" and "We Don't Care Anymore," the lyrics on "In the Wake" were not very good.) I don't hold it against them that they're not 'trying new stuff' but that might have something to do with the fact that I bought "The Bright Lights of America" the same day as this CD.
So yeah, if you liked them before, you'll still like them, if you didn't like them before, you're not gonna like them this time around. This is still the band we know, and in my case, love, and they continue to be the frontrunners in this kind of rock with its obvious metal/punk/alternative/other stuff influences, so if you're into that sort of thing, this is definitely for you. Highlights on the CD are "Choose Your Fate," "Cannonball," maybe "Tell Me," and the best track on the CD in my opinion and best track SOTY has ever written, "Message to the World"
Oh man... and I had intended this to be a short review.