Gonna Fall. My favourite song off the album would have to be Outta My Head. It’s slightly less gritty than Renegade, but delivers a great rhythm and a nice change up from the rest of the pop rock tracks on the album. Daughtry pushes himself more vocally in the song and there are great guitar moments throughout the track. All the songs on Break the Spell are written by Chris and his song writing has improved immensely since he began his career. This shows in Gone Too Soon, a slow, heartfelt song about a lost baby. Daughtry creates a powerful image in this song and it lingers in your mind long after the song has finished. It’s a brilliant track and a credit to the whole band. The only reason Break the Spell doesn’t receive a perfect rating is the lack of diversity from the previous albums. While die-hard Daughtry fans will find this pleasing, I personally would have liked to see their music head in a slightly different direction. I would have liked to either see more gritty songs such as Renegade and Outta My Head, or more meaningful and slower songs such as Gone Too Soon. But this is a great album, and a definite to add to your rock collection.
Lights Siberia
Album Review by Melissa Low
(A-)
Canadian synth electric princess Lights is a sweet power-pack of sound. No longer holding the clean electro-pop sound that showcased on her first album, The Listening, Lights has roughened up with a bit of grit and grunge for her second album. A heavy influence of dubstep, Siberia welcomes a better layered and more daring sound. From the start, the title track Siberia punches sound in loudly with the bass. Lyrically, Lights can be a bit repetitive, and melody wise it can be a bit thin, but the drive for this song comes from the heavy bass. It sounds fantastic through a set of loud speakers and is pretty catchy to listen to.
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issue 01 2012
The following track, Where the Fence is Low, is a stellar song. Its tripped up intro and poetic lyrics complement each other into something mesmerising, with the main lyric “the fence is low” so distinct and resonating. The layers of synths and the chorus’ dub step uniquely stand out. Lights knows when to hold back the dub step in the right places too, playing with the song’s natural rise and fall. This then smoothly transitions to the ever so catchy Toes (featuring electronica band Holy Fuck). Strong beats, catchy melody and happy lyrics makes this song the album’s anthem track. Holy Fuck definitely seemed to have contributed a positive influence over this track and they also contribute in the song Everybody Breaks a Glass. A real gritty dub step track, so many contrasts play and work together, from Lights’ strong vocals in a dub step heavy verse, to the soft melodic vocals in a light, fantasy like chorus, and then to hip hop artist Shad’s crisp rap. On the other end of the electronic spectrum, Cactus in the Valley is the closest to being an acoustic track on the album. With soft vocals and a slow delicate melody, it’s a refreshing break from the heavy dub step and bass tracks. While I really enjoy and love many of the songs on this album, there are a few I don’t particularly favour as much. And Counting… is a track I’d call “energy sucking”, a phrase that is emphasised when it follows punchy beat strong songs like Flux and Flow and Fourth Dimension. I’m also unsure how to feel about Day One, the last track on this album. While I believe all albums should have peaks and dips in beat for variation, it should never end on a dip. Day One isn’t a strong song – if you can even call it that. Recorded live in an eight minute synth playing session, you would need to be a major synth/ dub step lover to appreciate this track. And I am not one of those lovers. Despite this, the positives outweigh all the negatives. The choice to use dub step and heavier bass is well fitting and provides more dimension to her music. The way Lights’ vocals have evolved has given her a better varied sound and thankfully lacks the auto tune she had in her last album. She’s come miles from her debut; I’m very excited to see what she releases next.
The Maccabees Given To The Wild
Album Review by Ashleigh Muir
(B+)
The Maccabees are a largely unknown band in the New Zealand music scene, even among indie rock music circles. However their earlier albums (2007’s Colour It In and 2009’s Wall of Arms) became quite popular in England with singles appearing in the top 40. Given to the Wind has a totally different tone and atmosphere from the previous albums and can be likened to the musical style of Coldplay. It’s soft and mellow rock as opposed to the stronger definition of their older style. In saying this, The Maccabees seem to be shying away from a mainstream sound, more so than their earlier style. This is very much a chill out album. I don’t know why it was released during the English winter; it certainly has a relaxed summer feel to me. Ayla is the fourth song on the new album and is one of the strongest. This is one of the first songs I was able to sing along to. It is more upbeat than a lot of the other songs and the vocals come through stronger. Pelican is a great song for get you up and going in the morning. It’s vibrant and alive right from the first beat. Contrast to the almost jolly sounds, the lyrics can be quite depressing if you read into them – “before you know it you are pushing up the daisies”. This use of cliché has been common across a range of early and current Maccabees singles and it is great to see a continuum of this aspect of their style. Slowly One is a great mix of relaxed background but manages to pull in some fantastic manipulated sounds to keep you wanting more. It is something different and challenges what you thought you had been listening to for the last 11 tracks. This album is a great one if you are looking for something to chill out to when summer finally turns up. It has a great mix of slower, relaxed songs and a few that are more upbeat. This is the album to have on at your next barbecue or drinks night.