Customer Reviews

Mean Everything To Nothing

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Ok, for starters, for anybody who loves Manchester Orchestra's first album I'm Like a Virgin Losing a Child, this album might initally come as a shock because it has an entirely different tone and production. It has a much heavier edge to it and the sound has more of a polish to it. These aren't bad qualities by any means, but the sound is noticeably different.

That being said, the same qualities that made the previous album impossible to stop listening to all the way through, over and over, are all here again. This has to be the freshest band I've heard in what seems like a decade. The songwriting is superior to anything that's been offered up in ages. Andy Hull's voice, and the palbable unity of the way this band plays together creates songs that can bring you to tears in one instance while at the same time hitting you squarely in the solar plexus with riffs that tighten your flesh and invite the adrenaline to course through your veins.

The most noticeable quality is the beauty contained within every finely crafted song. In a world that grows increasingly more vacant daily, these guys have once again produced nothing short of musical integrity. Cheers Manchester Orchestra! Absolute brilliance!

Either you like how they sound or not so I suggest you try the samples before you decided to buy.

You probably heard of them from their radio hit "I've Got Friends" but you'll be amazed to see how great their other songs are as well.

It's definitely worth at least one listen through once or twice and you'll find plenty of songs which will make your favorites list.

The fact that this is a rock band and not an orchestra, and is from Atlanta, GA and not Manchester, UK, does not influence my feelings on the music. Let's not forget the Bay City Rollers were not from Michigan, they were Scottish. Hmmm.

In "Mean Everything To Nothing", Manchester Orchestra evokes the thrill of "alternative" revealing its secrets (and rendering its moniker useless) to the mainstream ca 1991-1993, as though seminal Smashing Pumpkins and Nirvana records from those days were implanted in their DNA.

Silversun Pickups, while playing in the same ballpark as Manchester Orchestra, has probably done a better job thus far at starting to carve its own identity out of this template. Manchester Orchestra, despite leader Andy Hull's burgeoning gift for melodic hookiness, still lurks under the long shadows of their genre/influences...

With a little emo-screamo here ("Shake It Out", "The River"), maybe a little Jane's Addiction there ("I've Got Friends"), a thick slab of Black Sabbath here ("Pride", and they should send Tommy Iommi a check), Nirvana there ("In My Teeth"), Bright Eyes flare-ups here and there, Manchester Orchestra still might have a ways to go to implant themselves in someone else's DNA, but they're sure making a joyfully tortured noise as they try to crack the code. A particularly fabulous part, for me, was the outro of "Everything to Nothing", an unexpected circus waltz trailing out of the body of the song as though viewing it from above, in a dream.

3-1/2 stars.

Being almost 50 I'm not the intended audience I'd venture to guess, but I was intriqued by the name of this group I was unfamiliar with. I think since they were called Manchester Orchestra I conjured up visions of an Oasis type straight ahead rock band with, perhaps, a more diverse sound. Except for the diversity what I got couldn't be further from the what I imagined.

Based on what I have distilled from several listening sessions there is no Oasis in MO's sound, but plenty of other 90's influences with Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins being two of the most obvious. Obviously if you were to pick good 90's music those two bands were some of the better ones.

This album grows on you. It's angry aplenty with lots of grinding guitar to underscroe that, but like Nirvana it has moments of quite introspection sometimes side by side in the same song. It is programmed well to where it seems the first 10 songs are to be taken in a single sitting if possible, with the last two being, to my way of thinking, like bonus tracks that really don't add much yet they certainly don't take away anything. The loud dynamic swings and heavy guitar work well with the urgency of the vocals to draw the listener in. I think this band could really develop to be more impressive overtime and this is a very respectable showing which leaves the listener invested in hoping just that.

A little rougher and less melodic than I was expecting, but in a good way. This album is my introduction to Manchester Orchestra, and I was kind of anticipating more of the shoegazer pop that's "The Thing" in indie rock these days, but instead found something slightly crunchy with melodic undertones and a lead vocalist vaguely reminiscent of Kurt Cobain. I like it!

I must admit upfront that I had not heard their first CD before getting this one and I feel that puts me and my review at a disadvantage since I can't say whether or not they have grown as a band. I was hoping to like this a lot more than I did but in the end, I found it simply enjoyable and not memorable. I'm giving it 3 stars because I let it play several times over before being moved to turn it off and play something else and that alone says the disc is probably going to grow on me quite a bit.

SOmetimes you have to live with a new CD for more than a few weeks before you fully absorb it. I want to get their first CD now too so I would say they have at least succeeded in piquing my interest. My favorite song was "the river". It's the one song that seemed to be actually going somewhere musically instead of just treading Indie water. Lyrically, these guys are not exactly poets and that drags down the songs a bit. The songs would have stayed with me more if they were actually saying something.

Knowing absolutely nothing about this band gave me the clarity of mind to review the CD with zero preconceived notions.

The musicianship shown is fairly good, but the group lacks a good vocal and at times the singing sounds like a cut-rate version of Cobain on a bad day. The songs themselves all seem to have the same formula: start soft, build and end in a head-banging frenzy. Lather, rinse, repeat.

I don't think this is a group bound for stardom, but all grunge-lovers can put this in rotation and numb-out to yet another mind storm of hard rock messiness.

The manchester orchestra is a nice ecclectic blend of current Indy and mid 90s alternative. The lead singer has a nice range, with a bit of a appealing grind to his voice. At times his voice is a little overly whiny, but mostly it's a enjoyable.

There's a great energy to this album. The sound is very upbeat and full of life. The dynamic is strong, a great mix of slower and faster songs. It's a very well mixed album with a nice flow. None of the songs feel like they were shoved in as an after thought.

The Manchester Orchestra has a really great sound. There's a nice blend of rock influences here that makes this an album that most will easily enjoy.

I have never heard their first record, but i was curious to hear them. I got a promo of the cd and i cannot stop listening to it. This is a ROCK record. In the classic sense of an actual ROCK record. It is like Brand Nes's last record in spots, another band i never heard till "the Devil and God". It has its Nirvana influences, Brand New, Allman Brothers, and im sure countless others. Its passionate, but not overly so. Its not even close to Emo and i know most of the kids that like them, that is probably their prefered music. Buy this. Its your makeout rock album of the summer.

After listening to Manchester Orchestra's first two singles, it's almost impossible not to buy their album. Songs like "I've Got Friends" are just classic with their pure sense of anger & rage in parts of their songs. They take screaming and make it some sort of loud artform, and yet for everything they get right in those songs, they switch of their sound making it a diversified album. Make no mistake about it, this Orchestra has a lot of rock guitars.

Highlights Include:
I've Got Friends
In My Teeth
I Can Feel A Hot One
My Friend Marcus

But it's not all scream and rock here, songs like "I Can Feel A Hot One" shows the band can do a softer ballad-type tune if need be, or they can do quasi-blues if the song calls for it; and it all works surprisingly well. Often bands are held back by their strengths because they can't do much else, and that is certainly not the case here. But still, Manchester Orchestra isn't for everybody. The vocal style and music to fit their style certainly isn't mainstream by any means, and feels like the grandchild of a grunge and punk hybrid mixed in with a little metal. The album also strikes a very dark tone here, and listening to any of the songs too many times could result a hatred toward it. No. This album is an occasional listen that packs its best punch in small doses.

Overall, certainly not for everyone, but if you can take the album, you'll find a wonderful album that is emotionally-packed and played off perfectly. It's certainly worth trying, and if you take nothing else out of it, take "I've Got Friends." Because with friends like these, who need enemies when these friends provide you with often unparalleled anger.