Album Review

Shadows Chasing Ghosts – Lessons

• 28th Jun 2012

This album represents everything that I hate about the modern UK rock scene. Stale, uninspired, derivative, homogenised, cookie cutter ‘emo/melodic – hardcore’ sung by a London based band with American accents.

There is nothing outstanding about this album, musically it falls somewhere between Alexisonfire’s later material and Hondo Maclean (Welsh ‘emo-hardcore band circa 2005- worth checking out ) without the musicality of the former or the intensity of the latter. In fact this album is so bland that I almost feel bad drawing these comparisons.

The production is generic, zero dynamic, with quantized drums and super pop chorus vocals, coupled with some unintelligible screaming (of course you have that classic coupling of the high scream backed with low ‘death grunts’ – SURPRISE!). Two of the thirteen tracks ‘Now Or Never’ and ‘Interlude’ (great song titles by the way guys ) feature intro’s that fade in. Now come on – fade outs are generally used as an easy way out of finishing a song properly,but fading IN?! WTF?

‘The Lighthouse’ represents a low here for a band already skimming the bottom of the barrel. This pop ballad sounds like it wouldn’t be out of place as the theme tune for one of those sickly E4 American teen drama’s. In fact I can imagine the story line *Cue American Accent* – “Six trust fund brats spend one hot summer in a lighthouse in South California, whilst their parents have facial enhancement surgery”. Why do ‘hardcore’ bands feel the need to put ballads on their albums?

The guys drop the quality level one notch further on the truly horrific ‘Lessons (reprise)’. An acoustic dirge fest, the vocals are clearly sung far too low for the vocalist, whilst something I can only describe as miscellaneous piano plinks and plonks in the background. This reminds me of those acoustic Slipknot tracks, only worse (like you thought that could be possible).

I can’t recommend this album for any reason, don’t buy it, try to avoid listening to it – in fact do everything in your ability to avoid this terrible excuse for an album. The only reason I’m not completely burying this album is that their singer is rather wonderfully named Trey Tremain. Just say it out loud….