We Came As Romans - To Plant a Seed

[npmshah]

We Came As Romans - To Plant a Seed
Record Label: Equal Vision Records
Release Date: November 3, 2009

In today’s music scene, mediocre post-hardcore have become the norm. Bands sing about average “emo” fare with mock-br00t riffs backing a cliché sing-scream-sing (or vice versa) formula. Thankfully, We Came As Romans, though far from creative or groundbreaking, manage to breathe some life into this tired genre.

From the beginning of To Plant a Seed, it is clear that the band takes a page from The Devil Wears Prada. It was The Devil Wears Prada that popularized the use of synths and keyboards to enhance a dissonant atmosphere, and this style has since been emulated by other popular heavy acts like In Fear and Faith and Attack Attack!. We Came As Romans, however, take this a step further. Everything keyboardist Kyle Pavone does on this record is far more orchestral than anything in The Devil Wears Prada’s back catalog. This works extremely well, for it gives every track on the record a haunting atmosphere that gives more meaning to both the crushing riffs and the soft interludes of clean singing. These orchestral pieces of keyboard work are what set We Came As Romans on the better end of the “generic spectrum.” Unfortunately, within the band’s greatest strength also lies their biggest weakness. Pavone also provides the clean vocals in the record, and he shirks from this responsibility by hiding behind layers of Auto Tune and reverb. The excessive use of Auto Tune hinders his range of emotion. For example, in “I Will Not Reap Destruction,” the atmosphere calls for more emotion to be inflected in the voice. Though Pavone clearly attempts to inject the emotion into his voice, it is hidden by the Auto Tune, and brings the song down with it.

Aside from Kyle Pavone’s inconsistent performance, the rest of the band proves themselves to be adequate at what they do. For most of the record, the other members of the band provide fairly average post-hardcore and above average screaming. Though the band never falls below the mark of “average,” at times they soar well above it. On “Intentions,” the dueling guitars of Joshua Moore and Lou Cotton prove to be the perfect backdrop to David Stephens’s crushing growls, while on “Beleifs,” bassist Andy Glass and drummer Eri Choi prove themselves to be capable instrumentalists. All these elements come together most seamlessly on “Dreams,” which is quite possibly the only track on the album where Pavone serves as an adequate vocalist.

Overall, this is an average album. Though not groundbreaking, it is certainly among the better albums in its genre. Pavone’s weak, Auto Tuned clean vocals are, for the most part, made up by his impressive ability to create epic keyboard pieces, and the rest of the band provides for an interesting, albeit predictable, show.

The Devil Wears Prada; Chiodos; Burden Of a Day; A Day to Remember; Underoath
myspace.com/wecameasromans (http://www.myspace.com/wecameasromans)

[KennyDRomans]

why do you keep commenting on their pages? rofl

[KennyDRomans]

if somebody like's an album then they're gonna review it dude get over it.

[batmannj]

super generic music, yet I really enjoy this album for reasons that I can't quite say. Although I would say that production wise this sounds really slick, that might be part of it.

[Aaron90]

Despite the fact "To Plant a Seed" is really generic, I must admit that I have enjoyed listening to the album. I'm not quite sure why given that I have been very much opposed to the scene's latest trend of over-production.

[i_was_a_lid]

This is a much better review than the last one. I agree with you very much. Good job

[npmshah]

This is a much better review than the last one. I agree with you very much. Good job
thank you. I noticed how ass kissing alot of the other reviews were, and i decided to write a fair and balanced one. And i don;t mean "fair and balanced" by fox News' standards.

[icynova]

Awesome review man. Your commentary was well structured and your observations were spot-on. My friend went even so far as to say "the clean vocals sound like that Kanye guy on the alcohol song" - but we both agreed we liked everything else about it, so we'll be seeing them this Saturday. Hopefully they shred it live, keep up the good, balanced reviews. This was a pleasure to read.

[fashionshowdown]

how is To Plant a Seed generic? I am really sick of hearing that. It is unique in the sense that no one is attempting to spread the same message that WCAR is. I think that makes it the opposite of generic.

[red8ge]

good review.

[red8ge]

how is To Plant a Seed generic? I am really sick of hearing that. It is unique in the sense that no one is attempting to spread the same message that WCAR is. I think that makes it the opposite of generic.
even though they're trying to tell everyone how great love is or whatever, they still sound incredibly trite.

[npmshah]

how is To Plant a Seed generic? I am really sick of hearing that. It is unique in the sense that no one is attempting to spread the same message that WCAR is. I think that makes it the opposite of generic.
We Came As Romans are generic. However, they play generic well. "Generic" simply means that they are breaking no ground. That doesn't they don't excel at what they do, and, to be honest, the band is GREAT at what they do. It still makes them generic. Also, TDWP, Burden of a Day, Attack Attack! and COUNTLESS other Christian screamo acts have pretty positive uplifting lyrics. WCAR is nowhere near groundbreaking in that category either. That still doesn't change the fact that their lyrics are also great.

[npmshah]

Awesome review man. Your commentary was well structured and your observations were spot-on. My friend went even so far as to say "the clean vocals sound like that Kanye guy on the alcohol song" - but we both agreed we liked everything else about it, so we'll be seeing them this Saturday. Hopefully they shred it live, keep up the good, balanced reviews. This was a pleasure to read.
wow. thank you. :blush:
and i hope you enjoy the show. this is the I See Stars tour you're going to, right?

[npmshah]

if somebody like's an album then they're gonna review it dude get over it.
ummm... wtf are you saying?

[lemontie]

great tour, saw these guys live, basically replicated their album. regardless of generic or not, these guys were great.

[sinkinginthesea]

still remains started the keyboards metalcore fad. prada took it to another level.

[Dirge07]

We Came As Romans are generic. However, they play generic well. "Generic" simply means that they are breaking no ground. That doesn't they don't excel at what they do, and, to be honest, the band is GREAT at what they do. It still makes them generic. Also, TDWP, Burden of a Day, Attack Attack! and COUNTLESS other Christian screamo acts have pretty positive uplifting lyrics. WCAR is nowhere near groundbreaking in that category either. That still doesn't change the fact that their lyrics are also great.
Couldn't have said it better myself mate :D

[icynova]

wow. thank you. :blush:
and i hope you enjoy the show. this is the I See Stars tour you're going to, right?
Yeah, with I See Stars. They're coming with Broadway too, whio don't sound bad on their cd.

[KennyDRomans]

ummm... wtf are you saying?
i was replying to the longdistancedrunk guy that posted here saying "why does everyone keep fucking reviewing this trash" lol he must of deleted his comment

[npmshah]

Couldn't have said it better myself mate :D
thank you!

[npmshah]

Yeah, with I See Stars. They're coming with Broadway too, which also don;t sound bad on their cd.
I actually have not heard Broadway's debut yet. Will check that stuff out tonight. of Mice and Men are on that tour too, i beleive. I heard they KILL IT live.

[npmshah]

i was replying to the longdistancedrunk guy that posted here saying "why does everyone keep fucking reviewing this trash" lol he must of deleted his comment
he probably did, since i didn't see it.
That dude's a pretty good reviewer, but he needs to stop being such an elitist at times

[KennyDRomans]

yeah haha

[KennyDRomans]

btw i think this was one of the less un-biased review's for the band and i really enjoyed it good work dude five thumb's up

[npmshah]

btw i think this was one of the less un-biased review's for the band and i really enjoyed it good work dude five thumb's up
you used a double negative "one of the less unbiased reviews" haha :-p
but in all seriousness, thank you. It means alot.

[Joey (J-Train)]

dude, wrong info because it was Underoath NOT the Devil Wears Prada who popularized the entire synth keyboard thing. Learn your history son

[npmshah]

dude, wrong info because it was Underoath NOT the Devil Wears Prada who popularized the entire synth keyboard thing. Learn your history son
Underoath is one of my favorite bands. the synth is nowhere near as evident in all their songs as it is in TDWP's music. TDWP was the first band to use it on nearly every song.

[andthetruthwill]

I haven't been able to afford to buy this since it came out. And I had a hard time finding a decent quality download, but I finally did, and I listened to it last night and on first listen this record is awesome. Very excited to spend more time on it.

[Derka Derka]

Underoath is one of my favorite bands. the synth is nowhere near as evident in all their songs as it is in TDWP's music. TDWP was the first band to use it on nearly every song.
You should listen to more music, you saying that The Devil Wears Prada made using a synth in a metal band popular is laughable.

and as far as Underoath goes listen to The Changing Of The Times by them, there is a lot more synth in that album then in any of The Devil Wears Prada's albums

[npmshah]

You should listen to more music, you saying that The Devil Wears Prada made using a synth in a metal band popular is laughable.

and as far as Underoath goes listen to The Changing Of The Times by them, there is a lot more synth in that album then in any of The Devil Wears Prada's albums
that was the last album with Dallas, right? I will listen to it and get back to you.

[Derka Derka]

that was the last album with Dallas, right? I will listen to it and get back to you.
also check out some older Horse the band releases, they use a lot of synth in every song. still remains used a lot of synth, so did showbread, children of bodom, chiodos, and thursday (i could think of more). All of those bands are heavier bands that have used synths and keyboards in almost all of their albums, and all of them have released at least one album before the devil wears prada did.

[npmshah]

also check out some older Horse the band releases, they use a lot of synth in every song. still remains used a lot of synth, so did showbread, children of bodom, chiodos, and thursday (i could think of more). All of those bands are heavier bands that have used synths and keyboards in almost all of their albums, and all of them have released at least one album before the devil wears prada did.
wow... thanks for the insight.

[crimes]

generic seems to be a popular word to describe this album, haha.

i would like it much more if they didn't use the same synth intro in almost every track.

[nathaniel]

I saw this band live with Oh, Sleeper and The Chariot. Killer show. Should I buy this album?

[npmshah]

I saw this band live with Oh, Sleeper and The Chariot. Killer show. Should I buy this album?
Its a fairly decent album. I would say go for it.

[Colinreturn]

good review. well written.

[codyskidmore]

very accurate review. i like this. hate the auto-tune, but the positive lyrics, good screaming, and epic keyboard parts make up for it. not great, but something to build upon.

[PureBlueSF]

Their bassist claims that Kyle did not use autotune....

Oh and Also I’d like to clear one thing up. A lot of people have been saying that there was auto-tune on the CD. And ah, actually, we were in the studio, Kyle sat down, we did the vocals. We were in the studio for a month and a half, or a month and like a week or something like that. And Kyle recorded every single part without auto-tune except for on “Roads [That Don't End and Views That Never Cease]” we wanted to purposefully put an auto-tune part. A lot of people are like “You guys are auto-tuned!” And not everyone knows exactly how it goes down [in the studio]. It’s not that we’re so [head] strong that we want people think it was all Kyle, but some people don’t exactly know and they just kind of assume and that’s ok. I do the same thing. But Kyle did record all those parts and put those different parts together and combinations. So for people out there thinking that it’s not.

I call bullshit. It's so hilariously obvious that Kyle's voice was autotuned to hell and back. His vocals were the only issue I really had with the album (that and the genericness).

Then again, Joey Sturgis puts obscene amounts of autotune on nearly every record he produces.

[LostAllways]

Their bassist claims that Kyle did not use autotune....



I call bullshit. It's so hilariously obvious that Kyle's voice was autotuned to hell and back. His vocals were the only issue I really had with the album (that and the genericness).

Then again, Joey Sturgis puts obscene amounts of autotune on nearly every record he produces.

You're an idiot, straight up, and clearly, you're not a musician either. There's a HUGE difference between autotuning vocals and using the keyboard/synth to parallel vocals and give the vocals a haunting sound--We Came As Romans, as Kyle said, only used autotune on one song, and it was blatant and purposeful; they weren't trying to hide it. The rest of their songs were not autotuned at all. Joey Sturgis didn't use autotune in TDWP's album, either, at all.

[Derka Derka]

You're an idiot, straight up, and clearly, you're not a musician either. There's a HUGE difference between autotuning vocals and using the keyboard/synth to parallel vocals and give the vocals a haunting sound--We Came As Romans, as Kyle said, only used autotune on one song, and it was blatant and purposeful; they weren't trying to hide it. The rest of their songs were not autotuned at all. Joey Sturgis didn't use autotune in TDWP's album, either, at all.
Melodyne, google it kiddo.

[PureBlueSF]

you're not a musician either.
Never claimed to be one.

There's a HUGE difference between autotuning vocals and using the keyboard/synth to parallel vocals and give the vocals a haunting sound. Uh, that so-called "parallel vocals" thing is just a bunch of effects put on the voice. AKA autotune. I've heard enough music to know what autotune sounds like.


We Came As Romans, as Kyle said, only used autotune on one song To me it sounded like a vocoder, which is similar to autotune but not exactly the same.

they weren't trying to hide it. Obviously not.

Joey Sturgis didn't use autotune in TDWP's album, either, at all. Joey Sturgis uses autotune on pretty much every album he produces.

[asightsetonyou]

Actually, Autotune was used on the record, it was used as more of an effect than to correct vocals, but in reality, it's correcting vocals. I got the whole scoop on this band, but that's basically the deal with autotune was to clear all this stuff up.

[Derka Derka]

Good bump