Customer Reviews

Let Oceans Lie

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

 

 

I stumbled upon AHAF awhile back and I was intrigued by their sound. After glancing upon who each band member had posted as thier main influences, I was excited to see how their debut album Volatile would sound. They had such bands as Between the Buried and Me and Hopesfall on there, so I was looking for some good stuff. But what I found was a terrible mess of sounds. There was definite potential and a atmospheric quality that's so rare to find nowadays, but the album lacked structure and the songwriting just wasn't up to par. A couple of neat sounding tracks here and there just didn't do it for me and I was sourly disappointed with the album.

Then a few months ago I'm on Victory Records website and I see that on the upcoming releases section they had a new AHAF album posted, Let Oceans Lie. The album art looked pretty cool and I was familiar with the band so I went to their myspace but found no updates or anything. But a little bit later I see they changed their layout and posted the title track to their album. And I was wholly impressed.

Their sound had matured and became more disctintive. The vocalist had toned his voice down from the high pitched noise it was before and it's become more gritty and flows with the music MUCH better. The clean vocals also improved, sounding less forced. I listened to the song over and over and didn't get tired of it. It seemed as though they really honed their sound.

Now, that was just one song, maybe this was a one-hit CD. I wasn't sure. But after listening to this album I have to say, it's one of the best albums I've heard in a long time. Every track has it's own life and Let Oceans Lie surprisingly was not the best track on the album.

If you listened to Volatile you know this band had potential. This is the fruition of the potential and you should definitely give it a listen if you're a fan of any kind of metal.

Well this album just isn't as fun as Volatile. What most may view as a maturer album I consider it to be a little predictable. It just sounds a little too much like everything else out there nowadays. I can't seem to get on the same page as the others that think their 1st album is just messy and not well put together. Its unique and an awesome debut. This album is missing those key moments you remember and look forward to listening to again and again. There are some pretty cool riffs and the guitarist's clean vox are great but as a whole, I just don't see much here I haven't heard a thousand bands already do. As for the screaming, I'm disappointed. Just not that good. Its pretty flat and monotone. No real emotion there. Its just kinda hokey, for lack of a better term. The lyrics seem a bit obvious this time around too. They're pretty centered around being on the road and missing your home and friends. Yawn. I do still like these guys though and to be fair, they're still a lot more interesting that most in their genre. I like that they headed in a different direction but I can't help but feel they've lost some originality. Hopefully they'll recapture it in time for their next album. Bottom line is if you loved their 1st CD, you may only just like this one. If you only liked their 1st album, chances are you'll love this one. I just don't see how many could love both of them.

I really did not like Volatile at all. In fact I think I got rid of the songs I had from that album. Just another cheap metalcore scene crowning the arena. Unneeded. Unwanted. But for some reason I gave this album a chance. Bordom probably, and I was really surprised! Like everyone else says, they have improved ten-fold. Now they are something worth buying. Give 'em a shot.