The Satellite Years

Hopesfall | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 15, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Trustkill Records
• ASIN: B00006JTH0
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (63 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #160,262 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Shoutweb, October 2002

This album is incredible from start to finish...

Product Description

A fan of the Hopesfall sound would notice their ubiquitous mixture of dissonance and melody – interlocking complicated changes in mood as well as key. Think somewhere between Thursday, Cave In and Poison The Well mixed with influences in contemporary rock. Vocalist Jay Forrest combines deep throated growls within layers of sweet sounding vocals to bring new depths to the music of "The Satellite Years". The intricate guitar work is matched by no other band in the genre. Hopesfall set themselves above the "hardcore" crowd with their unique sound and energetic live show – which lead audiences through a range of emotions. "The Satellite Years" will prove to be a breakthrough record for Hopesfall – transcending most releases this year. Produced by Matt Talbott of Hum fame and mixed by Keith Cleversley (Hum, Spiritualized, The Flaming Lips), Hopesfall and "The Satellite Years" have raised the bar in hardcore to a new level for all bands to follow. Even the intricate and inspiring album art work of "The Satellite Years" will turn heads.

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best CD I've Bought In Years, May 14, 2003

By 

mitch nickelson (WV) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Satellite Years (Audio CD)

One word: Wow. Hopesfall does a nice job blending screaming with singing while playing some of the most solid rock you will ever hear.

1. Andromeda: This instrumental piece is a good start to a great album. Slight amount of distortion accompanying some powerfull drums. The melody to this will grip you untill you beg it to let go. 8/10

2. Waitress: Heavy track. Other than the line "but the peices are burnt shells that frame regret on every wall," all vocals are screams. Guitars are solid all throughout this song. 8/10

3. Dead In Magazines: This song perfects the beautiful blend of hardcore and melodic vocals that makes Hopesfall such a great band. Listen to this track and you will find yourself unable to get the phrase "someone called your shot" out of your head. 10/10

4. Dana Walker: Great buildup at the start of the song. In fact, the transitions are the most noteworthy part of the song, as the song switches from heavy to melodic rock without the listener even noticing. 9/10

5. Decoys Like Curves: With the exception of some backing screams near the end, this song is mostly sung. If the scream vocals aren't your thing, then start here. This song is absolutely beatiful. 10/10

6. A Man Exits: For some reason, this song just doesn't click as well to me as the rest of the tracks. Not bad, but if I was playing this cd for a freind, this wouldn't be the track I'd start it with. 5/10

7. Redshift: Another beautiful instrumental track. It's more here as a nice break between all the heavy music. Although it's short, you'll like it because it's the most mellow song on the cd. 7/10

8. Only The Clouds: This track reminds you about the amazing guitar parts that are currently playing in your ears. Vocals aren't bad, but whoever plays the guitars on this album deserves enough high fives from me until my hand bleed. 6/10

9. Escape Pod For Intangibles: "I left the horizon, Curled up and frozen still, The tilting of the hour glass, With all this time to kill." You'd think hearing that over and over would get old, but the progressive style of this song makes you think about how brilliant the songwriting actually is. 9/10

10. The Bending: It's hard to pick a "best" song on this album, so I'll just pick this as my favorite. Another beautiful blend of heavy and soft vocals, but it's the transitions from what seems to be chaos at times to absolutely beautiful riffs from the guitars that stand out the most to me. 10/10

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Emotional, Melodic, and Atmospheric, February 14, 2006

By 

Jarrod D. Lawrence (Avon, IN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Satellite Years (Audio CD)

The musicianship really shines on this album. From everything to the intricate instrumentation, to the perfected use of the hard/soft contrast, to the raging vocals leading into a soft and melodic outro, this album really sets the mood for just about every mood there is. Before this album, I would have never called an album "atmospheric," but that seems to be the best word to describe it. I could go on and on about it, but there are plenty of preceding reviews which have covered it. The main point of my review is this: ever since I heard this album I have been in search of other albums which are similar to "The Satellite Years" in creating "atmospheric" moods, basically other albums similar in musicianship, emotion, and melody. I have searched a long time for albums which I can rate worthy to be compared to "The Satellite Years" and for all of the other fans out there who are looking for themselves, I am going to share what are, in my opinion, the other 7 essential albums to own if you are a die hard fan of this album.
And here they are:

1. Hopesfall - No Wings To Speak Of: But of course this would be first. This EP is a must for any fan of "The Satellite Years" and Hopesfall. Listen to "The End Of An Era" to see why.

2. Taken - Between Two Unseens: Although only a five song EP, their last recording, this album is among the closest you can get to "The Satellite Years" without actually being it. This should be the first album you get if you're looking for something like "The Satellite Years." Listen to "Eternity Was On Our Lips"

3. Naiad - Hardcore Emotion: This is a Japanese hardcore band who recorded this album and I believe either disbanded or their vocalist left. However, the title of this album says it all. Although much heavier than "The Satellite Years" this also five track EP uses a lot of melodic and mood-setting instrumentation. This album is emotionally and melodically chaotic. Listen to "Hopeful Progress"

4. Embraced - An Orchestrated Failure: Although still present, screaming vocals are not fluent as on "The Satellite Years," but the music and instrumentation from start to finish are very comparable and this album is about as melodic and emotional as it gets. The entire album flows together perfectly. The singing on this album kind of reminds me of Poison The Well. Listen to "Cease To Dream."

5. Stars Are Falling - How Many Eyes Have Opened: Again, another album which utilizes a well timed contrast between soft and hard. Going from grueling breakdowns layered with screams to suddenly cutting down to a melodic and soft guitar, which slowly, albeit dramatically leads into an emotional breakdown. Very good album. Flows from one song to another. Listen to "The Morning Brought The End." I would also recommend this group to early fans of Norma Jean/Luti-Kriss due to similarities in vocals. They also have an split out with a band Skylines which I would also recommend.

6. Poison The Well - You Come Before You: Well, yeah, a lot of people already relate these two bands anyway so there it is. This is the album I would actually choose though. A great atmospheric song is "Apathy Is A Cold Body" The beginning of this song makes me feel like I'm floating under the ocean.

7. In Reverent Fear - Written In The A.M.: I wasn't going to add this one, but I decided to anyway. This album is a bit more disorderly than others. But this band is great and also uses a good contrast between hard/soft parts in their songs. Listen to "Madison", the way the guitar has an eerie melodic echo to it, backed by the vocalists soothing voice, similar to Thursday, but not irritating like Thursday, leading into some hard screaming, and then listen to "The Beggars"

Hope this helps out anyone wishing to find more great music such as this album.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hopesfall's prime album, November 16, 2004

By 

Andre 3000 (Lower Slower Delaware) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Satellite Years (Audio CD)

When I listened to this album the first few times, I didn't really understand it. All I understood was that the drummer was good and I wasn't that into the whole screaming-most-of-the-time thing. If I hadn't let my friend Nate borrow the album, I wouldn't be writing this review. He made me listen to it again, then I listened to it with the lyrics and that made all the difference.

Andromeda (4/5)- Excellent intro instrumental that immediately says, "Listen to the rest of this album."
Waitress (5/5)- Boom! You're there. They started out with this song at the show I saw. If you've heard the song then it's needless for me to say I was freaking out.
Dead in Magazines (4/5)- Really cool song with good timing switch-ups and a nice acoustic finish.
Dana Walker (5/5)- One of the best songs on the album which they tore up live. It's kind of obvious that Dana is a girl that broke up with whoever wrote the song (I'm guessing Jay Forrest).
Decoys like Curves (4/5)- Kind of a weird song but there's awesome guitar-work that the drummer plays off-time to.
A Man Exits (4/5)- Good lyrics, great instrumental spot near the end with one of the few phenomenal drum parts on this album.
Redshift (4/5)- Beautiful, chill spot on the CD.
Only the Clouds (5/5)- Back onboard with a kickass intro leading to a great two-guitar part right before they "wither away" into a pretty ending.
Escape Pod for Intangibles (5/5)- For some reason, no matter if they're a fan of hardcore or not, even the people who hate the rest of this album love this song. Sure, it's the same lyrics and basically the same guitar part throughout the whole song, but who cares? When I didn't like this CD that much I could still admit that this was a great song. Maybe it's the fact that they got the producer of this album (the guy from Hum) to do the main vocal part while Jay took care of the backups. Who knows?
Bending (4/5)- Awesome ending song with a really cool, drawn out finish. Lots of changes throughout this song didn't keep them from releasing it as a single.

Satellite Years will always be known as Hopesfall's landmark album that showed just how much potential they had. It will also be known as the last album before said potential was squandered for money. Do yourself a favor, if you're about to buy your first Hopesfall album, buy this one or No Wings to Speak of but don't you dare buy their latest album, "A-Types." Unless you absolutely can't stand screaming and you're geared more towards the punk-sounding vocals. In that case, do what you want.