Customer Reviews

Out of Nothing

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

There's a natural tendency to take something unfamiliar and compare it to something familiar. That's what's happening here as Amazon reviewers are comparing Embrace to Coldplay. Perhaps it's unfair to Embrace to liken them to Coldplay because as a band, I'd think Embrace wants to stand on their own merits. However, if you're being so closely measured against the hottest rock and roll band in the world today, is that really a bad thing?

The truth is that on Out of Nothing, Embrace does sound like Coldplay. That doesn't change the fact that this album is an outstanding work. Embrace wrote these accessible, infectious songs themselves, and they perform them with first-rate musicianship and compelling vocal performance.

These guys haven't hit the radio in the States, but when payola runs radio, you're better off looking elsewhere on your own for new artists. The truth is that Embrace is better than most anybody who's new on today's radio. I discovered Out of Nothing on the internet several months ago, purchased the album, and it has been a constant spin in my CD player ever since. Every track on this disk is memorable. Songs move gracefully from the contemplative to the soaring to the driving and powerful. At all times the album is captivating. In my opinion, on Out of Nothing, Embrace measures up to Coldplay in every respect. If you're a fan of grandstand arena rock in the vein of Coldplay and U2, then trust me, you will enjoy this album. It's great!

No missing ingredients here--Lyrics, melody, theme, musicianship, style, and substance all in abundance. They've held onto each of these elements through 7 years and 4 albums now. Better than Radiohead, (their alt prog rock style slowly grew stale) and Coldplay (radio overkill on the second album, which was a bit light on substance). Coldplay gave "Gravity" to Embrace as the new single, and it's a better song than anything Coldplay recorded except "Yellow." Sort of like Bowie giving "All the Young Dudes" to Mott the Hoople--dude, what were you thinking? At home and in the car, Embrace is played 10:1 over Radiohead, Pulp, & Blur, 7:1 over their buddy Chris Martin's band, and 6:1 over the last 3 Oasis & Suede albums. Competes 1:1 with the first 2 Oasis albums when they came out in 1994/1995 & the Stone Roses debut in 1989. High praise, indeed. Embrace have a pragmatic worldview: great song after great song run the gamut between the perfect and failed romance, but they trend positive throughout. And the melodies just keep soaking you in perpetual warmth. I don't do fan clubs, but the devoted fans in the U.K. who kept the faith going when the band's label went under deserve a lot of credit. This is a band that should never die.

If you like Coldplay, then let me introduce you to the band whom you could argue, Coldplay owe everything to. Embrace have truly been a very fine and very unrated band here in the US for several years. If you buy X&Y and this CD, I know which one you'll end up playing for longer. I ended up buying this on import the moment it came out last year and I'm still playing it. Great to see it get a release here. I want to hear "Gravity" on daytime radio.

Great "comeback" album. buy it and help the, reach all the ears that will appreciate such fine songwriting.

From the opening anthemic Ashes until the climactic epic Out of Nothing, this is a fantastic ride by an underrated and underappreciated band.

Personal favorites include Glorious Day, Spell it Out and especially Someday.

I have been into this band since 1998 and unfortunately it does not appear that they will ever break in the states. Unfortunate that we have to listen to monontonic drones like John Mayer here.

They have had good albums before but the songs were more up and then down. They brought in crackpot producer Youth (the same man brought us The Verve-Urban Hymns and the excellent Howie Day debut release) and really amped up. The result is a very full and layered sound complete with string arrangements in many songs.

Had a chance to meet them and have drinks with the band while in Denver and you will never meet a more humble group of guys.

If you like Coldplay, The Verve, and early Oasis buy with no worries - it will not disappoint.

The band played live at some music festival on cable tv. They sung "A Glorious Day" and I was surprised I've never heard of them. Such a melodic song with great emotional vibe too it. To my surprise, this was just a single great song on an album packed with a few of them. That makes for a great album! While it is true that they do sound like Coldplay/Oasis fused, the music is just more melodic than Coldplay and the lead singer's voice is much better sounding than Oasis' (who I never really took to). I think the album that really compares in quality is the Keane "Hopes and Fears." That's saying a LOT!

I've been a fan of British rock since the early '90s Britpop movement began, fizzled, and re-emerged with huge bands like The Verve, Radiohead and Coldplay. Embrace have managed to borrow elements from the best of these to create an album that I can honestly say is totally and repeatedly listenable all the way through.

If anything, the songs are -too- catchy; each tune has a distinctive riff or addictive hook that would make it a radio-worthy single on just about any other similar band's record. Yet Out of Nothing is an album full of singles, and choosing the best of them is more or less an excercise in futility.

Embrace know their strengths. They write great moody pop songs with smart, meaningful lyrics, layers of guitars, and soaring sing-a-long choruses. But there's something more there; the majestic power psychedelica of The Verve in "Near Life" and "Out Of Nothing", the Coldplay-written moodiness of "Gravity", a hint of bluesy alt-folk in the Travislike "Wish 'em All Away", and over everything, the specter of Radiohead's big guitar riffs and unsettling beeps and trills.

Embrace are big in the UK, and it bothers me that they haven't seemed to break in across the pond in the US. If they continue to make records like Out of Nothing, they will have a chance.

Go buy it. 4.5 stars.

If you like Coldplay or Keane, you will love this band. I have really enjoyed it and have shared it with many of my friends and family.

Recently I saw Embrace (until then I had never heard of them) open for Snow Patrol. They ALMOST stole the show. They were FANTASTIC live....all about the music. They extended the jams, and the harmonies were tight yest still very raw.

This disc will really please any listener. While may Brit Pop bands of today have that whole striped down, shoegazer thing going, Embrace looked at production as a chance to really bring in a full and lush sound.

Every song stands well on its own. Out of Nothign is beautiful, and makes you wonder why these boys aren't where Coldplay or Oasis are.

They know their strentghs and weaknesses and push the envekope just far enough to stay right on track. This is their 4th disc, but I think it is the 1st, in their international climb to fame.

Uplifting and catchy pop songs that are very nicely put together with a fairly good and refreshing variation in instruments (moreso than their counter-parts, Coldplay) such as Harmonica, Piano Solo's and Slide-Guitar, aswell as some fairly simple, though effective guitar solo's.

The entire Album has a strict "No Rubbish" feel to it, each song is fairly mammoth in size and their's never a dull moment.


However, my biggest complaint is the singer...he never goes outside his range, or tries anything different or exciting. An example of a similar, though heavier, band that doesn't do this is Muse, he attempts to make his voice sound like a guitar solo in "Muscle Museum" and uses falsetto to add originality to their sound. However Embrace tend to sound very much like Oasis, going for the standard rock band sound.

Its funny though, appartently the lead singer of Embrace is best mates with Chris Martin of Coldplay, and even accepted a song Chris wrote (Gravity), yet hasn't taken a hint from their success to perhaps add some originality to his voice...

Nonetheless, a very nice album from a tight band who have a very warm sound. Very much recommended for fans of Coldplay, Doves, Badly Drawn Boy (they even used the EXACT same chords as "Pissing In The Wind" for "Looking As You Are", C/Am/G/F over and over again...) and even perhaps South.

In many ways Britpop started to fade in 1997 after five years in the center. Pop music and Robbie Williams soon took on the spotlight. Some other types of bands started around then: they were Coldplay, Travis and Embrace. They were a little like Britpop. They were a little like folk music. They were a little like U2 in their scope. Embrace definitely invented the genre of the English Ballad. But their records were never released in America and Coldplay got all the accolades. But now Chris Martin throws them a bone. He writes a song for Embrace called "Gravity." This album is all about the English Ballad. This is music you want to sing along to. Now there are newer bands like Keane and Damien Rice throwing their hats in the ring. Embrace will always be the original. It's not music for everyone, but they are really good at what they do.