Review: City of Ashes’ All We Left Behind

Emo rockers City of Ashes are an interesting prospect. The band often sound like Brand New and Pitchblend wrestling with In Case of Fire but on occasion they throw in a chunky, alt metal riff that wouldn’t sound out of place on an earthtone9 album. ‘All We Left Behind’ is the band’s debut album and it comes pretty late into the band’s career as City of Ashes formed back in 2008.

It’s no surprise then to hear that all that time touring and mastering their craft has allowed the band to deliver an extremely polished album that is superbly crafted and well produced. ‘All We Left Behind’ sounds enormous and it makes songs like ‘Falling Star’ sound absolutely epic. ‘Falling Star’ in particular sounds like the making of a huge radio hit as vocalist Orion Powell belts out an amazing chorus.

Powell’s vocals become the big draw on ‘All We Left Behind’. The man never sounds like he isn’t giving it his absolute best and he impresses with his wide vocal range that allows him to deliver some absolutely soaring high notes. Lead single ‘In Retrospect’ was clearly chosen to showcase Powell’s talent because all the aforementioned elements get their time in the spotlight during that one song.

It’s a shame then that the band lose their way around ‘Sententia’ which marks the beginning of the last third of the album. This isn’t to say the band get any less talented at this point but the songs begin to meander and lack the focus of the first two thirds of the record and even that showcases a bit of what happens after ‘Sententia’. ‘The Highest Point of Living’ in particular simply follows a single guitar melody for the whole song and doesn’t change for the entire 4 minutes. ‘Sententia’ is almost identical in this sense. I don’t quite understand what causes this but it’s almost like the band run out of steam.

There are glimpses of greatness in this last section of the record but it simply isn’t as inspiring as what came before it. ‘Dorian Gray’ certainly has power but it lacks a strong melody. The final two tracks ‘Masks’ and ‘Waves’ feel unfocussed and generally a bit too long for the amount of ideas they’re trying to portray. It’s a bit of a limp ending to what was generally a solid and well crafted record.

‘All We Left Behind’ is an album of two halves. One showcases City of Ashes as an exciting rock band with tonnes of talent, massive choruses and stunning melodies. This side of the band is the one that will see them blow up into one the UK’s biggest bands and with this sort of quality there’s no doubt they’ll make it. But unfortunately there’s a side to the band that isn’t quite sure of what it wants to do and it can create songs that sound rushed and unfocussed. Luckily City of Ashes’ brighter moments outshine their duller moments but there’s definitely still room for the band to improve.

7/10

City of Ashes’ ‘All We Left Behind’ will be released independently by the band on 11th of November. A pre-order isn’t live yet but I’m sure it’ll be live on the band’s Big Cartel soon.

Review: Black Market Serotonin’s Something From Nothing

Where have Black Market Serotonin been hiding all this time? No band should be allowed to have such a unique and accomplished sound and stay off the radar for so long. This Manchester trio appear to have been together since 2008 with their debut single only coming out in 2010. It appears that Black Market Serotonin have been locked away perfecting their craft for quite a long time, but my God has it been worth it.

Black Market Serotonin’s debut album Something From Nothing sounds like earthtone9, Pitchblend and Muse got sexy and had a proggy, space-rock, riff-baby and they fed him synthesisers. We can’t stress enough how beautifully original this record sounds.

The whole thing kicks off with the epic instrumental Singularity which gently starts with some warm electronics before stepping up a notch with some brilliant tremolo picking. The song builds and builds and feels like it’s about to explode before it catches you off guard with a moment of respite. Then the riffs hit and man do they hit.

The album continues in a similar fashion. None of the songs on Something From Nothing stick to a standard song structure and instead favour a progressive flow that twists and turns but continues along a natural path that isn’t jarring to listen to. Vocalist, keyboardist and guitarist Andrew Pimblott commands with his booming voice and does a fantastic job of earthing the band’s sound into something more palatable. His melodies are simple yet memorable which allows the music to go off on interesting tangents without becoming too much of a prog headache.

Stand out tracks include DeadByFiveOClock and Irons in the Fire which deliver the right amount of experimental musicianship coupled with the mightiest of riffs. The first half of the album really succeeds in delivering catchy vocal hooks yet maintaining some down-right engaging and intriguing rock that wouldn’t sound out of place at an arena show.

Unfortunately, Black Market Serotonin get a little too ambitious with their 5 part album title track. That’s right, 5 parts. Muse’s Exogenesis symphony is now quivering in fear. While certain parts of the song still showcase the band’s truly epic prog rock, other parts feel like filler for the sake of filler. Part 4 in particular is 4 minutes of a single hook that never progresses into anything else. It just feels a bit unnecessary.

But really, this is the only negative we can throw at Black Market Serotonin’s Something From Nothing. The band have unleashed some truly epic prog rock that deserves your attention. If there’s any justice in the world, Black Market Serotonin will be playing stadiums and festivals where their music can be truly appreciated on the sort of scale it was made for.

8/10

Black Market Serotonin’s Something From Nothing will be released on CD April 22nd on Super Star Destroyer.