pstar
10/09/08, 09:41 PM
Falling Short of Silence - A World Apart
Records Label: Cavalry Records
Release Date: June 10, 2008
One of my favorite hobbies is to discover and listen to music by new, up-and-coming bands, so it was only a matter of time before I ran into Falling Short of Silence. I even got the opportunity to hear the band live this past summer on their tour. Falling Short of Silence definitely has a very diverse sound: double bass drums mixed in with catchy pop hooks and even the occasional breakdown. It’s almost like a mix of New Found Glory and Senses Fail with the pop sensibility of Blink 182 thrown in for better or worse.
One of the more notable tracks on the record is "Make-up the Break-up," which is very catchy and shows the more pop-punk side of the band. A piano follows the guitar all the way through to the end in a very flattering manner. The album also has a female cameo on "Peace of Mind" which works well. The best part of the song is the very creative drum part in the bridge.
There are two songs, "Your World," an electronic-based song, and "Come Back," a piano ballad, that seem a little out of place on A World Apart, but at the least they show the diversity, flexibility, and skills of the band. The last couple songs on the album, "Directions" and "The Terminal," are right next to "Make-up the Break-up" as the best songs on the record. "Directions" is my favorite song on the album; it’s fast and super catchy. The guitars, drums, and bass sound great, each shining through in this song. The middle of the song has a Drum’n’Bass bridge that is very reminiscent of A.F.I., which nicely slows the song down for a moment only to jump right back into hyper mode and start mosh pits aplenty. "The Terminal" is about taking a loved one to the airport, dropping them off, and knowing you won’t see them for a while. The lyrics are really nice and thought out and the blend of acoustic and electric guitars really accent the mood of the song very well. The song moves along at a slower pace until the end where everything just goes crazy and the song launches into a really exciting fast-paced outro, which is a great way to take the record out with a bang.
So after a full listen of A World Apart, what are my complaints? Most noticeable to me was the singing on the album. It isn’t exactly the best singing out there, even though there are certain parts where you can hear definite promise. I would go as far as to say that the instrumentation on this album is very strong and even a good contender with other major label bands in this genre, but the vocals are the only thing that are holding this record back from really breaking through the rest. Falling Short of Silence is a young band, so they still have time to improve. All they need is to work on those vocals, write more music and it’ll just be a matter of time before the vocals click and this band goes places. Also you can tell the production of this album wasn’t done in a multi-million dollar recording studio and apparently the band did it themselves, but it worked very well and I am very impressed as to how good it does sound. If you’re a fan of music that doesn’t sound over produced then you're golden.
With just a little more work, practice, and some polishing, this band shows promise. I’m very interested in how their future music develops. Falling Short of Silence put together a smart and intriguing debut album -- they’ve got my attention, but can they keep it?
New Found Glory; Blink 182; Four Year Strong; The Starting Line
myspace.com/fallingshortofsilence (http://www.myspace.com/fallingshortofsilence)
Records Label: Cavalry Records
Release Date: June 10, 2008
One of my favorite hobbies is to discover and listen to music by new, up-and-coming bands, so it was only a matter of time before I ran into Falling Short of Silence. I even got the opportunity to hear the band live this past summer on their tour. Falling Short of Silence definitely has a very diverse sound: double bass drums mixed in with catchy pop hooks and even the occasional breakdown. It’s almost like a mix of New Found Glory and Senses Fail with the pop sensibility of Blink 182 thrown in for better or worse.
One of the more notable tracks on the record is "Make-up the Break-up," which is very catchy and shows the more pop-punk side of the band. A piano follows the guitar all the way through to the end in a very flattering manner. The album also has a female cameo on "Peace of Mind" which works well. The best part of the song is the very creative drum part in the bridge.
There are two songs, "Your World," an electronic-based song, and "Come Back," a piano ballad, that seem a little out of place on A World Apart, but at the least they show the diversity, flexibility, and skills of the band. The last couple songs on the album, "Directions" and "The Terminal," are right next to "Make-up the Break-up" as the best songs on the record. "Directions" is my favorite song on the album; it’s fast and super catchy. The guitars, drums, and bass sound great, each shining through in this song. The middle of the song has a Drum’n’Bass bridge that is very reminiscent of A.F.I., which nicely slows the song down for a moment only to jump right back into hyper mode and start mosh pits aplenty. "The Terminal" is about taking a loved one to the airport, dropping them off, and knowing you won’t see them for a while. The lyrics are really nice and thought out and the blend of acoustic and electric guitars really accent the mood of the song very well. The song moves along at a slower pace until the end where everything just goes crazy and the song launches into a really exciting fast-paced outro, which is a great way to take the record out with a bang.
So after a full listen of A World Apart, what are my complaints? Most noticeable to me was the singing on the album. It isn’t exactly the best singing out there, even though there are certain parts where you can hear definite promise. I would go as far as to say that the instrumentation on this album is very strong and even a good contender with other major label bands in this genre, but the vocals are the only thing that are holding this record back from really breaking through the rest. Falling Short of Silence is a young band, so they still have time to improve. All they need is to work on those vocals, write more music and it’ll just be a matter of time before the vocals click and this band goes places. Also you can tell the production of this album wasn’t done in a multi-million dollar recording studio and apparently the band did it themselves, but it worked very well and I am very impressed as to how good it does sound. If you’re a fan of music that doesn’t sound over produced then you're golden.
With just a little more work, practice, and some polishing, this band shows promise. I’m very interested in how their future music develops. Falling Short of Silence put together a smart and intriguing debut album -- they’ve got my attention, but can they keep it?
New Found Glory; Blink 182; Four Year Strong; The Starting Line
myspace.com/fallingshortofsilence (http://www.myspace.com/fallingshortofsilence)