Customer Reviews

False Cathedrals

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As a lot of heavy bands mature, they get softer. It's not selling out, it's not losing an edge, it's progression. The songs are not as heavy as before. They are prettier, more melodic, and more produced. This is one of the best produced CD's I've ever heard. The songwriting and composition has improved tenfold. They have grown up as a band. There are a lot more background, layered vocals than on the previous releases.

There isn't anything that is over-produced or cheesy, but it is definitely produced. I'd compare this to what the Deftones have done - they're not as heavy as they used to be, but they've progressed and the new CD is absolutely GREAT. This is the type of CD you can pop in your CD player and listen to 15 times in a row and not get sick of it. It's amazing

My god. This album is amazing.

All i can say is this, elliott are not, in my opinion, a punk band, a hard core band, an emo band. They are a band playing music that might just fit into the music collection of anyone who enjoys moving, melodic, tidal, unashamedly well-produced, hi-fidelity music comprising guitars, drums, strings and soaring vocals.

That said, they would easily be a band that are not someone's "cup of tea". I really urge all to at least check them out.

Beautiful vocals over moving, energetic, yet thoughtful instrumentation.

My first experience hearing them was their album "U.S. Songs" playing in a record store in Tokyo. It struck me as "Jeff Buckley's heavier music only more moving".

I may be a sap, but, at times, elliott's music makes me teary.

Listen. Close your eyes and take it in.

This is my favorite CD of all time. I can not do this album and the beauty that it is justice with any grouping of words, yet this review will probably be very long since I could talk about this album forever...

Elliott created the perfect album with False Cathedrals, I really believe it. Production is top notch. The art work is beautiful. And the music contained inside is the most moving collection of songs I have ever heard. Every song is covered in beauty, layered and played to perfection. The band took their "old" sound (a spacey mix of rock and punk; spacey enough to send you into that kind of trance beautiful music puts you in, but not to spacey to leave you floating in layers of guitars bored to death) and turned up the spaceyness (not a word). But not in a bad way.

Spacey in a way that just makes you close your eyes and feel like you're floating, feel like everything is ok and everything is beautiful. Chris has got one of the most beautiful voices I have ever heard, I swear he has the voice of an angel. His voice, suttle guitars and perfectly utilized piano and effects leave you in the air, but the drumming and second guitar are what keep you from floating away into bordom. The drum work on this album is some of the best I've ever heard, it really keeps the songs grounded and flowing, and is essential to the beauty of this album. While one guitar delicatly plays riffs and notes that are beautiful and dreamy, the other keeps everything together and keeps things from getting lost.

The begining of the album is more dreamy and beautiful than the second half, tracks 1-5 contain more piano and overall are slower and not as heavy as other songs. Track 6, Lipstick Stigmata, brings in more of a heavier and back to earth kind of feeling. There are a few soft tunes thrown in, but nothing as beautiful and layered as the begining tracks. The later songs are more bare in a way; the band sheds some of the piano and effects and harpens back to their old sound a little.

While 1-5 are some of the most beautiful and dreamy tracks the band has ever written, the last 4 tracks are I think the most interesting and creative songs the band has ever written. Superstitions In Travel is a half acoustic song that starts out with a very raw and bare sound, only to transform into a fully realized semi-rocker. Carving Oswego isn't very different, a standard Elliott song, but there is just something about it that stands out and makes it different. It's probably my favorite track on the album. Lie Close starts out with some great drumming, and is the heaviest and most rocking track on the album. The last minute of the song is totally amazing. And the final track Speed of Film sums up the entire album in a way, it's a perfect mix of the two sides of the album, a perfect blend of the dreamy and the rock.

False Cathedrals is probably the most beautiful piece of music I've heard so far in my life. No matter how I feel or what has happened, I can listen to this album and escape. False Cathedrals and Elliott are a piece of me, and have had an impact on my life. This album means something to me, and is a truly great acomplishment. It may not touch you like it has me, but regardless, False Cathedrals is beautiful and amazing album that you will more than likely enjoy.

Elliott has come back with one of the strongest rock albums that I have heard in a long time. They pick up where U.S. Songs left off, only this time with a more "mature" sound. They've added samples and synthesizers, which make their already dreamy timbre, come across as angelic. Chris Higdon's vocals have taken an even smoother quality since their past releases. He reaches the higher notes with ease and never sounds genuinely concerned lamenting such lines as "we calm ourselves with sex and games, it's over let's get it right." Or "We are the matched and numbered ones who live in this constant disrepair." The songs on this album strongly remind me of the last Gloria Record EP, "A Lull in Traffic" with an even more epic feel and an even more sincere tone to the lyrics and vocals.

I havn't been able to stop listening to Elliot's "False Cathedrals" since it's release, it's an album I accidently stumbled upon, and I am so happy i did. It is without a doubt one of the most beautiful and epic record I've ever heard. I didn't think the deliverance of an album this brilliant was humanly possible.

Everything from the music, the vocals, and the lyrics draw me in over and over again. This is the record I turn to when I want to feel inspired, nostalgic, calm, overtaken, and hopeful.

I urge everyone and their mothers to go out and buy this record, if you can't buy it, pirate it..It changed the way I look at music. Not life, mind you, just music..Which is what it's all about.

Elliott's False Cathedrals probably did more to show me what independent rock has to offer than any other album. Although I have long since overplayed it, I have yet to find an album that makes a more phenomenal impression upon me at first listen, and False Cathedrals is still the overall best album I have ever heard.

I had heard only the quieter moments of the album when I bought it, so I was under the impression that it would be `soft but beautiful' from beginning to end. Although I was wrong (it is not a quiet album but is still beautiful), the surprise was more than welcome - and surprises there are plenty of here. No matter what you're in the middle of the first time you hear "Calm Americans," the moment the song changes, without warning, from an emotional rock anthem to an eerie drum beat marathon, your attention comes front and center immediately. The cult favorite "Drive Onto Me" is hard to listen to without closing your eyes and yearning melancholically for days long passed or for friends long gone. "Blessed By Your Own Ghost" is the perfect title for a song that seems to haunt you every time you listen to it.

Perhaps most notable of all, though, is the second half of the cd. An album typically begins to lose its consistency toward the end, or at least that's what I've learned from my own experience. Such is not the case, however, with this album, as the last five songs here are arguably even better than the first seven. Rather than starting out with a bang only to let up after a while (not necessarily in terms of sound but rather of focus), False Cathedrals seems only to gain steam with each track. It only makes sense, then, that "Speed of Film," the very last song on the cd, is easily one of the album's most appealing, accessible, and all-around strongest selections.

Of course, the musicmanship cannot be forgotten, either. The chemistry between the rhythm section of Jonathan Mobley and Kevin Ratterman creates an energy that gives each song its own distinctive personality ("Calm Americans" and "Carving Oswego" are among the best examples). Ratterman, in particular, is one of the most remarkable drummers you will ever hear, not because of the things he does to get your attention, but because of the subtleties he adds to each song that makes them all infinitely more intricate. Although you never know what singer Chris Higdon is saying (without looking up the lyrics, that is), you can tell that he is singing it with sincerity and passion. It is his unique voice that gives the whole album a deeply personal feel, as if you and Higdon are sitting calmly and talking over coffee while the guitars and drums rage on. One could say that Chris Higdon has one of the most endearing voices in rock, though most people have never heard it.

The melodies on False Cathedrals always sound familiar, but they are so beautiful that you cannot imagine them coming from anywhere else. This truly is a five star album: it is a masterpiece, and the only negative thing I can say about it is that I overplayed it far too quickly!

Melody, melody, melody. This album is beautiful. From the second I heard voices I knew I would like this album. Elliott is definitely one of those bands that you know should be huge, but just won't. Calm Americans, Blessed By Your Own Ghost, Drive Onto Me, Dying Midwestern, etc...Each song has such great substance and hits you in a different way. Word of advice, when your driving at night on a road trip, pop this cd in and crank it up!

Even though Elliott is now broken up you can hear live and alternate renditions of a handful of these songs on their new release Photorecording. This is definitely something you don't want to pass up, b/c Elliott in a live setting is absolutely amazing. By far and away the best band of this genre. Buy this CD!

This is truly one of the best albums I've bought recently. It's difficult to describe what this CD is like. It begins with the short instrumental "Voices", which has an almost religous quality to it and leads into "Calm Americans", the second song, beautifully. "Calm Americans" is a brutally honest song about what it truly means to be an American and how we truly are. It's tied together by gritty guitars and a really cool, catchy piano line. It then moves on to the slower, calmer "Blessed by Your Own Ghost". "Drive On To Me", the fourth song, is a catchy tune that's almost reminiscent of pop/rock acts like The Beatles, yet it is still purely and uniquely elliott. Another highlight is "Lipstick Stigmata". There's something about this song that I really like, but I'm not quite sure what it is exactly. "Shallow Like Your Breath" has got to be one of my favorite 'slow songs' ever. It begins like a really cool, calming slow song, then ends in a burst of emotion that leaves you with an immense sense of catharsis. The CD conludes just as well as it began with "Speed of Film".

This CD was really great all-around. The band sounded tight and coherent throughout; there are moments in which everything comes together perfectly that still make me tingle. I thought that the vocals were great, as well. Chris Higdin has a unique voice, but it's a voice that I really like; his versatility can be seen in the verses of "Lie Close". Drums and Bass were great throughout. Finally, you may notice the phrase "a different kind of emo" in my title. By that, I meant that the entire CD connects with you emotionally, but on an entirely different level than the typical emo music does. This CD is truly magnificent.

I've never heard of elliot before a review I read recently. This albim is so incredible! Don't let them fool you, even though they are on Revelation records, this isn't Farside or Shelter, this is a beautiful arangment of textured guitars, short story lyrics and the occasional drum machine. I don't know what to tell you really...It's just a great record...Record of the year!!!!!!!! You saw it here first!

I first listened through the whole cd for the first time this morning. I brought out my Aiwa Cross Trainer for a run and thought I'd slip in Elliott's False Cathedrals CD. I started running and I started listening too. The music moved me, literally, and I found myself running to the beat of the drums. Usually after 4 miles I'm pretty beat, but thats because I don't have something to push me like great music. I didn't stop until I had finished the whole CD. When I was done I looked at a map and discovered I had just run 6 miles, which is pretty good for me. Anyways, what I was trying to say is that the music is very powerful and emotional. False Cathedrals is a CD where every song is worth listening to. "Calm Americans" and "Drive On To Me" are standout songs on an exceptional album. The sound is great and the whole production is very professional. It's a wonder this band is assigned to an indie label. This band could be huge and I could see several big hits in this album. The songs are a little long, but complicated enough to make them work. The CD isn't perfect, so I give it a four