Customer Reviews

Astronomy

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''astronomy'' is not typical bleach fare. with the death of jared and milam's brother in the war with iraq, this cd has much more of an emotional undertone than most. in fact, ''tired heart'' was written for captain josh byers for the remainder of his stay in iraq. The song was written one month before his untimely death on July 23, 2003. The first four songs are upbeat, typical bleach. ''plan to pull through'' has an amazing chorus of ''you win some, you lose some, and you have got to be strong - you win some, you lose some, and you have got to move on''...this isn't static, or even again, for the first time, but a new facet to the bleach we've come to love. definately give this one a try, it'll grow on you ;)

First off this album is an incredible testimony of the life of the band members, namely Milam and Jared and the tragedy that their family has suffered. Notwithstanding the recent events, the band's sound has continued to mature and remains on the cutting edge of Christian music. Some might think that the music might not be the quality of previous Bleach albums due to recent events, but that is not the case at all. The band members have stood side by side, bearing one another's burdens and continuing to strive for excellence in their music, continuing to share their incredible Gospel message. Their music is a true testimony of the life of the Hero that it was written and performed in commemoration of.
As the brother of one of Josh Byers' best friends from college and life, these guys seem like brothers to me, making the music all the sweeter. With the unfortunate death of Captain Joshua T. Byers, a dear friend of the family, my heart goes out to the family of the Byers. Josh would not have had it any other way than his brothers to continue on performing and sharing the Joy message, continuing to be strong through all trials. Josh typically signed most of his letters with Phil 4:13, so should we continue to be strong.

For those of you expecting another "Again, For the First Time", you will be disappointed. While the first track, "Get Up" may sound reminiscent of their previous album, you can tell that something has changed in the sound of the band, and by the time you get to "December" and "Plan to Pull Through", it becomes evident that this record is nothing like "Again...". In addition to producing this album differently (it was recorded on analog tape, not digitally, using mostly amps as opposed to live inject) the songwriting is much more mellow and mature. It's the same old Bleach with the same sort of tunes, but they're delivered with much more emotion this time around (although not necessarily loudly). Whereas there were no ballads on "Again...", "Astronomy" pumps out three or four. Overall, each song is much more stripped down than on their previous album. While "Astronomy" is much better than "Again..." in many respects, I think that "Again..." was more consistant, and flowed much better than "Astronomy". "Astronomy" has its irritating points (such as "Nineteen") but also has very moving points ("Tired Heart"). On the whole, "Astronomy" is a good album that any rock fan will come to love. While it's not an album where every song will blow you away, it's an album where you can put it on and sing along with almost every song and like it enough to say "I'm glad I bought this record".
For those of you who have never heard any Bleach before, I would suggest getting "Again..." first if you like all out hard rock; however, if you are more inclined to acoustic rock, piano ballads, and a few rollicking rock songs, get "Astronomy" first. Or better yet, get both at the same time!

So I had the chance to stumble on this cd a few years ago while browsing the horrid selection at Walmart at two in the morning. I forked over the twenty dollars and brought the cd home and put it up for a spin. I was so disappointed! I put the little orange cd away in my case with the taste of regret and the missing twenty dollars out of my wallet. A few weeks later, I took the cd out again and decided to give it another chance, only because I had purchased it and it looked so brand new and shiny in it's jewel case. Still the same. This cd sucked! I wanted my money back! And then a month later, for the final time, I decided to give the cd one last chance and I fell in love. This is the best cd in my entire collection, out of thousands of thousands songs I have in iTunes, the songs on Astronomy are first class. This has to be the most underrated band in the entire world. Songs like Jaded and Patience could make it to any movie soundtrack, it's a shame that this type of music takes so long to grow on you. These songs are about the uncertainty of the future and the glimmer of hope appearing over the horizon. The mood is somber and yet uplifting. Like a runner running the final stretch of the race. The relentless spirit of never giving up and trusting your beliefs and faith to pull you through. Even though this is a christian band, you wouldn't be able to tell just from listening to this cd, so it's okay if you have different beliefs, the theme here is acceptance and not running away from your problems. Sooooo amazing.

And as a side note,

Bleach are completely unknown, you can't find their shows or songs on youtube for the most part and their myspace has just 15,000 hits. They are broken up now, and I would venture to say that it was due to their small fan base. What a shame, I would give my right arm to see this band put out another cd.


Check out Farewell Old Friends, another amazing cd by Bleach. The earlier stuff is good, but in my humble opinion I don't think Bleach truly refined their potential until Astronomy. The early stuff is great, but not perfect.

Astronomy - Perfect
Farewell Old Friends - Perfect
Audio/Visual - this is a compilation of all of Bleach's tunes, it's worth picking up just for a few new songs that are pretty amazing in themselves, don't care much for the early stuff though.
Also check out the singer's side project myspace . com / royalempiremusic some great songs have come out of that as well - God's Vast Ocean and Big Valley.

Have you ever felt tired of your present situation? Are you suffering through a trying time? Do you feel lost, alone, or rejected?
Buy this album.

People who are a fan of Bleach are calling this album not as impressive and not as hard. Well the Byers brothers who are the bassist and drummer-lost their biggest fan and hero that all the members of Bleach love-Josh Byers. Josh died in Iraq fighting for his country and his borthers Milam and Jared dedicated ASTRONOMY to his life and his lovingness to God, his family, and his work for the army, The songs may have been sappy but you have to realzize what the band has gone through and how excellent their music is. Next time you listen to "tired heart" and think negatively think about Captain Josh Byers and how he was fighting for America-not only for himself but for everyone.

the bass player in our band went kcc with sam so i was lucky enough to get this cd signed by the band members, good cd, december is my favorite though, but there past cds are just as good.