THE DARK THIRD

A different album indeed with the band showing they have potential, but have to work on various flaws here. I forgive them since this is just their beginning: a debut. The music is actually more in the heavy and modern brit-pop vein with hooks throughout and a constant use of harmonies. This sound is mixed the some space-rock and progressive rock elements. Production is good enough for the first album and the instrumentation is surprisingly crisp and clear, but i think the vocals are not recorded very well with some "s" sh"s all over the album which are distracting for me. The main issue I have with the album are really the vocal harmonies which take out some of the diversity of the album because they generally sound very similar and get old. I think they should be a more subtle and use them sparingly next time.

The first three songs are my favorite part of this album. Aeropause is an instrumental piece heavily influenced by Pink Floyd (but at the same time doesn't sound like it) with many variations and an outstanding spacey and trance-like riff at the end which leads to the highly melodic Goshen's Remains and Apprenticee of The Universe which introduce the sound of the album pretty well. The Bright Ambassadors of Morning also introduce the album, but the bad side of it. This is a highly repetitive and overlong piece with a huge vocal harmony hook that is more irritating than catchy and is repeated several times "The Bright Ambassadors of Boring?". The last song also uses that annoying melody and has a big void lasting several minutes in the middle. Pretty disappointing ending.

So overall, this album has its ups and downs and while I disagree it being voted #2 here (though the #1 is even more unusual as I found their myspace songs unlistenable), this is a strong debut from a band that may become as musically rich as Radiohead's Ok Computer/Kid A period if they mature, avoid mistakes and focus on their strengths.