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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
same as always and thats a good thing , 5 Jun 2008
I couldnt agree more with my one and only fellow reviewer here,this album does take a while to appreciate,on the first spin i thought this was terrible,nothing seemed to stick in the mind and it all sounded the same,the second spin opened a few doors for me and each listen after has helped me believe that this is a very good,dependable album from the alaskan boys.
This is the fourth album from the band now and the changes from when they started until now and very diminutive,they have their style and they stick to it,some may find this a surprise as roadrunner dumped them after their last albums poor sales,the label 'ferret' has taken them on board and this album is much the same as before and thats ok with me.
Vocalist brock has sharpened his scream somewhat but calls that this would be their heaviest album yet havent bore fruit in my opinion,the guitars are still the same and while there may be more screaming there is still as much clean vocals as you can shake a stick at.
The album itself contains the familiar jagged riffs with the odd breakdown thrown in and the same crashing drums and of course well structured tracks that have melodic and memorable choruses.
The odd moment is wasted here but generally and to cut a long story short this is a fine album,business as usual,no new tricks,nothing brave or different,one thing that remains foremost is that 36 crazyfists are still a very important metal band and this is a little beauty in 2008.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Makes up for a first impression, 11 Jun 2008
I absolutely love 36CF, and had to buy this album. At first I wasn't majorly impressed, I liked it nonetheless, but didn't find it anything special like I did with Rest Inside the Flames.
But the songs still draw you in, and after ending up listening to it several times, you realise it is a quality album.
The songs vary in the level of interest they maintain, but I always felt that was 36CF problem.
Not every song is the same either, some songs such as The All Night Lights and Absent Are the Saints are strict modern metalcore, breakdown a-plenty and melodic-yet-heavy riffing. Some take a dissonant rock 'n' roll approach like Every Time I Die's earlier stuff ("The Black Harlow Road" for example), and some are more recognisable as 36CF, with their signature melodic sound ("The Vast and Vague" showing this best for me).
It is quality, but only after adapting to it. They're changing stylistically, to keep the band interesting to fans and themselves alike, but I'm dubious as to where they'll go from this.
Either way, a sound album /.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
A New Chapter, 24 Oct 2009
I first encountered 36CF, along with the majority of non-Alaskan fans, with the appearance on TV (and various magazine compilations) of 2002 song 'Slit Wrist Theory', the most effective product of the idiosyncratic, misanthropic sound of their major-label debut Bitterness the Star, a sound laced with weird white noise and grit, difficult to swallow; the unapproachable sound of genuine outsiderhood. At the start of their career they inspired curiosity: what sound would come from such an isolated music scene? Over the course of a further two records, the Kenai collective saw out their tenure with the corporate metal monolith Roadrunner Records with a gradual shift towards a more commercial and self-conscious sound, a smoothing-over of rough edges; all surprises excised. Now having served their major-label apprenticeship, they are free to experiment a little more.
Now on the New Jersey-based Ferret Records, and with guitarist Steve Holt on production duties, the band are back to sounding taut and confident again after the disappointing Rest Inside The Flames. Vocalist Brock Lindow has gruffed up, removed some of the whine from his singing and screaming; there's more of a growl now. He maintains his long-standing weird lyrical style (the spoken-word track 'Song For The Fisherman' from A Snow Capped Romance best illustrates his inclination towards constant grammatical aberration) - the line "coherent and so unclear" from 'We Gave It Hell' best sums it up - they are decent enough lyrics but he clearly feels it necessary to mess with the syntax in an unnecessary attempt to make things sound more poetic.
'We Gave It Hell' itself is an early highlight - a bit Therapy? (the intro)/Die So Fluid (the groovy riff that follows)/Machine Head (the enunciation of "And I'm lost at sea with guides to spare")/36 Crazyfists (the chorus). Overall, the band are hardly reinventing themselves; it's difficult to spell out exactly what makes this such a step up in quality from the previous album. If you listen to the samples from Rest Inside the Flames and this album, it all sounds much the same, but here the songs when heard as a whole add up to more. It's the same tools but applied with passion and ideas flowing makes all the difference. 'Clear The Coast' features Adam Jackson of former Ferret label-mates Twelve Tribes on guest vocals, his hardcore sound sitting well with the choppy riffs and rhythms, and duelling with Lindow. The songs keep your attention, listening for the changes. The album may not earn them many new fans - people who baulked at first listen of Lindow's bizarre vocal quivers and gravel-gargling growls are unlikely to change their minds now - but it should at least satisfy those who had already taken note of the band's potential and may have felt that they were losing their way.
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