Customer Reviews

Fire In The City Of Automatons

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

 

 

No Knife, in a word, rock. The band's previous two efforts, "Drunk on the Moon" and "Hit Man Dreams" were both excellent collections, putting this San Diego band head and shoulders above the rest of the emo-core pack, and are revered in that scene. "Fire in the City of Automatons" slows down the pace a bit; most of the songs lean closer to NK's slower previous cuts as "Bad Landing," "Ephedrine" and the title track from "Hit Man Dreams" (with the exceptions of "Academy Flight Song" and "Short Term Memory") but the mid-to-slow-tempo songs are a sight to behold. Songs such as "Minus One," "Secret Handshake" and the moody "Angel Bomb" are some of the most beautiful songs that easily defy the soundalike "emo" category and are in a class all their own. My advice to you, the self-respecting music fan: buy this album immediately and if you haven't already, pick up this band's earlier records as well. I promise you will not be disappointed.

"Fire in the City of Automatons" is by far one of the top discs in my collection. It's music is hard to describe and No Knife is as well. Taking a step forward from their previous releases into an almost unknown realm and unleashing a mass of harmonies and accidentals at the same time turning the songs into mini masterpieces. From "Spy"'s sullen off-beat tempos to "Short Term Memory"'s hard rocking, overall this album is worthy of many collections around the world. I recommend this to anyone who thinks emo [is bad] or anyone who loves rock and punk but is fed up with the pop scene. I thank No Knife for writing this album and all who were involved in the inspiration and recording.

i've recently been introduced to this band and am already a devoted fan. no knife creates wonderful music that is both beautiful and agressive all at once. indie, emo, call them what you want but no knife is in a category by itself. although my fav is HIT MAN DREAMS, Fire in the City of Automatons is also a brilliant album my fav song is Mission Control. if you love rock music this is definately a rock album that you need. i put no knife right up there with radiohead and the pixies as one of my favorite bands.

i saw them awhile back with brandtson in cleveland and i was very impressed. very strong cd, my favorite is 'mission control'.

I just got their new cd...and its fantastic...for some odd reason they give me the Jimmy Eat World vibe..does anyone agree?

Well, for all those whohaven't heard of this band, it's about time you do. The music is labelled 'emo' personally it remindsme of a mixture between Jawbreaker, At The Drive-In and Sunny Day Real Estate. Very impressive musically and lyrically very poetic. A must have, considering that this album is better then the previousones.

This album is an amazing album that touches every base. A must have for any music collection. The new drummer Chris Prescott really adds life to the music and the combined vocals of Mitch and Ryan really compliment eachother on this album.

I'm sorely disappointed in this new CD. On "Drunk on the Moon," there was a certain freshness...with a little room for improvement. On "Hit Man Dreams," that improvement was made with the addition of the new guitarist/2nd songwriter, Ryan Ferguson. With the loss of drummer Ike Zarimba, the beats on this one are simply not hard enough. The beats leave much to be desired. The vocal stylings were also changed somewhat....with the harmonies being somewhat low, giving it an unpleasing sound. Some songs, namely, "Academy Flight Song," "Charming," and "Minus One," are all great songs, but misrepresent the feel of this album. Again, I'm a little disappointed in the direction the band has gone in terms of sound. If you wanna try something new and you've never heard of em, start here. If you've heard em before, I might warn you..it's DIFFERENT than it was...a BIG departure from the traditional No Knife sound!! Listen at your own risk!!

No Knife is an amazing rock band from San Diego whose unique style and unparalleled song writing abilities put many of today's alternative rock bands to shame. No Knife has crafted a distinct sound of their own combining alt.rock, punk and emo and this album showcases all of those styles quite nicely. If you consider yourself a decent guitar player, I challenge you to put "Fire in the City" in your cd player and try, just try to play along. This CD starts off with a bang with the amazingly catchy "Academy Flight Song", and the album takes you through many moods from the smooth melodic sounds of "The Spy" to the punk adreneline rush of "Short Term Memory". While this probably isn't their strongest overall album, it does feature some of the band's best songs. In fact, No Knife opens almost all their live shows with "Academy Flight Song" and closes with "Mission Control". If you like this album then you'll love Riot for Romance (the follow-up album). Someone please tell me, why isn't this band on a major label yet???!!!