Customer Reviews

Gathering of the Faithful

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

 

 

a truly great cd. the band is back with a super effort here.the songs go together and make u wanna sing along. some great rockers on here. id say get this cd and it makes u better person.

I'm a huge fan of Shark Island and was looking forward to this album, but have to admit that I was utterly disappointed by the end product. The songs are not the problem, it's the production and arrangement. Many of the songs on this album were written years ago and most of the original demos are floating around on the 'net. The demos are outstanding! Songs like "Go West" and "Down to the Ground", in their original form, are hard rocking anthems and compare favorably to "Paris Calling" and "Shake for Me". Unfortunately, they seem really stripped of their power by the cheap production on GotF. "Life Goes On" and "Looking for the Sun" also pale in comparison to their original versions - who produced this mess? Also, inexplicably, some of Shark Island's best demos were not remade. Songs like "Fire", "Tell Me Why", "Every Little Lie", and "When She Cries" were left off. IMHO, these songs are some of Shark Island's best. I really wish I could recommend this album because brisk sales might encourage the group to release another studio album, but I can't.

I just wanted to do a review of this cd to hopefully warn other potential buyers who may have been hoping for more of the same from what Shark Island previously delivered with Law of the Order. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail but there is only one song which I beleive holds up against that exceptional cd which is the song Go West. I got Law of the Order due to reading so many good reviews written about it and I wasn't disappointed. Most of the songs were good and I really liked Richard Blacks vocals. The songs here don't have the same catchy hooks, the production has no guts whatsoever, and Blacks vocals sound like he's either shot his voice out over the years in between or like he's not trying. Perhaps the songs aren't as good because they didn't have the help that they had with most of them on Law of the Order. I don't know, but this was a huge disappointment and I certainly gave it plenty of plays to see if it would grow on me. It didn't.

In brief, this cd's nowhere near the quality/coolness of the original album. I realize as people grow/mature, styles change. However, the band should've stuck with the formula that brought them some success the first time around.

I tried to like this cd, but couldn't bear to listen to it more than 3 times before it got filed away with the rest of my collection.

Zeppelin never put out a great follow up to II,Savatage had a hard time trying to match Hall of the Mountain King,my point being that some bands just put out a debut that will never be matched.This second outing from Shark Island is solid from first track to last.It at times sounds like Law of The Order but with a slightly more blues feel.It rocks hard also and I think the first reviewer should give it another spin.