Customer Reviews

Snow Capped Romance

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Alaskan born and bred 36 Crazyfists have a sort of bipolar sound led by the nearly incomparable vocals of lead singer, Brock Lindow. His manic-depressive range and tone in his ever-passionate vox span from brutalizing, rapid-fire hard-core screaming to beautifully elongated, raspy melodic crooning. His vocal stylings and sound are utterly mesmerizing, falling in a parallel dimension between System of a Down's Serj Tankian and From First to Last's Sonny Moore.

Brock's vox are complimented brilliantly when coupled with Steve Holt's eerie, hard-hitting, and at times, surrealistic guitar runs and effects. The cohesiveness and compatibility of Brock's vocals and Holt's guitar are reminiscent of Cold's Scooter Ward vocals and guitarists, Kelly Hayes and Terry Balsamo in Cold's catalogue, including 13 Ways to Bleed on Stage, (Self-titled), and Year of the Spider. Simply put: they're the perfect blend.

Track-by-track breakdown:

"At the End of August" -
This is the blistering first single off the disc. It's an up-tempo, mosh pit-instigating, fist-clencher, led by fierce Brock nuts-to-acid vox. He quickly transitions smoothly into a melodic hook and chorus, armed with passionate lyricism, backed with staccato riffage, and interjected with an ambient breakdown.

"The Heart and the Shape" -
This track has a punk feel to it. Quick-tempoed and quirky rhythms are carefully laced with Holt's brief high-pitched guitar shards.

"Bloodwork" -
A highly atmospheric, murky soundscape triggers this soaring track, held together with an intricate rhythm and quick disjointed guitar. Brock's vox are truly showcased as his range is shown in holding notes in the chorus. This track runs into a punk-sweetened hardcore offering.

"Kenai" -
Brutalizing, rapid-fire, nuts-in-acid vocals again merge with staccato guitar, and move into a highly melodic hook which is sure to please.

"Skin and Atmosphere" -
An epic track interwoven with memorable lyrics and personified in gripping vocals. Totes a build-up/break-down pace. Brock's soaring vox shine once again in the anthemic, sing-a-long chorus. Holt offers up eerie guitar effects during the punky verses, driven home by thumping drumming.

"Song for the Fisherman" -
Short spoken word track with introspective lyrics and a simple, repeating guitar part that is surprisingly catchy.

"With Nothing Underneath" -
Boasts Brock's best vocals on the disc, coupled with the perfect accompanying guitar. Brock holds notes so long and beautifully with the guitar breaking down behind him that it'll send chills down your spine. Most beautifully sounding lyrics from, "With weary hands and driven nails...the taste of the clean." Epic track.

"Destroy the Map" -
Which will be the released as a single 5.2.05, enlists the services of vocalist Raithon Clay. The vocal chemistry and interplay between Clay and Brock is unreal. This very punky track will be big if given the proper airplay it deserves because it appeals to hard-core, emo, screamo, and punk fans alike.

"Installing the Catheter" -
Quick-tempoed, punkish track, dressed with staccato guitars, fierce multi-faceted drumming, and a majestically eerie breakdown with spoken word guest female vox, provides a great contrast for Brock's screaming to transform seamlessly into passionate singing.

"Cure Eclipse" -
Brock's trademark spastically mad verse vocals run smoothly into melodic crooning. Once again, catchy staccato riffage.

"Waterhaul" -
This caboose track owns a haunting, water-laden intro until the deep bassline kicks in, and then the drumming and vocals lead into a chanting chorus.

With more uplifting, positive lyricism, teamed with a more punk sound and quirkier Brock vox, Snow Capped Romance is a more manic album than the depressing 2002's Bitterness the Star. While brilliant in its own powerful, captivating and atmospheric right, Bitterness dwells on bad relationships while Romance focuses on getting past such. These two albums play antithesis to one another, and BOTH are well worth your ear.

Grab Bitterness when you're at war with the world, but grab Romance when you want to grab the world by the short'n'curlies and make the most of it.

36 Crazyfists' aural onslaught will beat you over the head and steal your Eskimo pie, but will always pick you up afterwards and serenade you back to recovery.

A unique sound. A gripping release. A memorable and passionate offering.

With this being their 2nd release, their followup to the wicked "Bitterness the Star", expectations were high, on my part at least. Fromt the first listen, I knew that not much had changed, and what did was for the better. This album is if not more solid than just more strongly written than their first release. The singer (I think his name is Brock) has really gained a great confidence in his vocal abilities and it really shows through in alot of his harmonies and extremely powerful choruses. His signature vocalistic stylings (That weird tremolo thing) and amazing screams havent gone away, but blend together with his awesome SINGING voice to create a great vocal performance.

As for the rest of the band, the songs they've created have seem to evolved from the first album, still frantic at times, but a lot heavier at others and even very soft in some. The way the vocals and music sway back and forth and blend together is a quality that really set this band apart. And coming from a guitarist, the guitarist in that band is simply amazing. He creates the illusion of much more going on with the specific chords and guitar techniques that give the impression there are more guitars than one. Simply amazing.

Plainly put, if you are a fan of Deftones, Glassjaw, Lostprophets, Blindside or any other really good metal/screamo acts, pick this album up with their debut, because it is a must have. One of the best albums of 2004, hands down. I can't wait to see where this band goes from here...

This cd is not bad at all, but has some errors that stand out.
1.THE END OF AUGUST-5/5, solid song with amazing lyrics and solid chorus.
2.THE HEART AND THE SHAPE-4.5/5, lyrics are lacking on this track.
3.BLOODWORK-5/5, the best song on the cd, amazing vocals
4.KENAI-4/5, descent song, but still lyrics are lacking
5.SKIN AND ATOMSPHERE-4.5/5, this song builds into a good track with edgy chorus.
6.SONG FOR THE FISHERMAN-0/5, one word "filler"
7.WITH NOTHING UNDERNEATH-4/5, good song structure with average lyrics.
8.DESTROY THE MAP-5/5, 2nd favorite song, probably the best vocals that brock sings on the album.
9.INSTALLING THE CATHETER-3.5/5, lyrics just don't really fit the song.
10.CURE ECLIPSE-4.5/5, solid structure, good balance
11.WATERHAUL-4/5, not a bad way to end up an above average album
Overall I think if you are a fan of Killswitch Engage, 40 below summer, or Hard Rock in general pick up this cd. Hope my review is helpful to someone, peace.

AMAZING. i absolutely love this album. it's equally heavy/harsh and melodic. it is the perfect mix of speed and and catchiness. i've had this album for awhile. i've always loved it from first spin. but just today i re-listened to it again and got even more of an appreciation for it. the guitar riffs are great. the bass does a good job of keeping it together and the drumming is phenominal. however, it is the vocals that makes this album awesome. there are intense screams that quickly change to clean vocals. but even the clean singing has a strange twinge to it. it is impossible to describe the vocals with words.

it's hard to pick favorite tracks for this one but i will anyways (however i love every song on here): "At the End of August", "Bloodwork", "Kenai", "Song for the Fisherman" (which is the best filler track on any album i one. the lyrics touch me), "Destroy the Map", "Installing the Catheter", and last but definitely not least "Waterhaul".

i HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend this album to anyone who listens to metal or hardcore. it will not disappoint!

36 Crazy Fists made an album that should be remembered for years to come. The album just has so much emotion. The singer is the most unique element in the band. His heartfelt way of singing these great lyrics. He has truly created a masterpiece. But he has a great backing band as well, Very powerful. Great guitar riffs. 36 however is a band that takes some getting used to. I heard "Bitterness the Star" when it came out, and did'nt like it all that much. About 2 yrs later I went to a show that 36 opened. They played the new material from Snow Capped Romance and I was very impressed. Musically they were my favorite band that night. They opened for Killswitch, 18V, and Autumn to Ashes, so they were per say the most "chilled" of the bands that night. But i really dug their style. So I got the new album and it did'nt get stedy rotation in the cd player for a few months. But a few problems and lots of personal drama later, I really connected to the cd and was able to relate my own life so well to the album. the 1st song that I really liked was #5 then #3, then 1 and 2 then 8 and so on until eventually I know the whole album note for note word for word. So in other words if you like great well thought out music from a talented band this is the cd for you. Weither you like melodic emotional heavy riffs or elbo eye breakdowns. This has it all

Ive heard about this band for a while, not really thinking much of them. But then one day on music choice they were on and i was hooked. They put together the perfect balance of hardcore and mealodic. This cd is awsome, and is worth it, this is one amazing underground band

This cd was well worth the 12 bucks from bestbuy, i live in a state that not many people know of CONNECTICUT, this band is from alaska and brock lindows vocals are unique and very original the songs are good hard and catchy, the vocals are tremendously effective and making me scream/sing along. Me being a lead singer in a band [Meta][4]http://www.meta4band.tk. This band/singer is one i look up to as an idol/inspiration.

I've been lucky enough to hear this album already. It's literally the best album I've ever listened to, it's been playing just about constantly lately. 36 Crazyfists are similar to Killswitch Engage, Chimaira, or Atreyu. However, they seem to have much more melodic lyrics--in 36 Crazyfists, rather than toneless screaming constantly (not that that's bad) Brock uses his singing AND screaming voice to his advantage. Hearing him alternating between singing deeply emotional portions of the songs and then flying into hard and powerful screaming is almost a religious experience.

-Track-by-track review-

At the End of August:
5/5
Very nice song. It's available for download from the 36 Crazyfists website if you want a sample.

The Heart and the Shape:
6/5
One of my personal favorites. Hard and heavy, with awesome drumwork and lyrics. Also available for download at the 36 Crazyfists website.

Bloodwork:

6/5
Another great song! Can't describe it, it's just extremely well crafted.

Kenai:
5/5
Great song, one of my least favorites on the album though... compared to the rest it's not so great. Still, it gets a 5/5.

Skin and Atmosphere:
6/5
F**king beautiful song. My favorite on the album.
"Think I'll rename my heart the calendar, 'cause it always seems to know when to end... to end..."

Song for the Fisherman:
5/5
A softer song, no screaming in this one. Pretty short, about a minute and a half long. It's kind of like an interlude of peace and quiet--sad, but not hard. If it were 5 minutes long I might skip it once in a while, but the short length keeps it from getting boring or old.

With Nothing Underneath:
5/5
Beatiful... screams at you perfectly. Goes from quiet to loud seamlessly and perfectly.

Destroy the Map:
5/5
For some reason this song sounds almost happy to me. It's very good. Perfectly put together.

Installing the Catheter:
4/5
Another great song, one of my least favorites though. It's good, just not incredibly fantastic like all the other songs. It's not like I skip it when it comes on, I just get more into the rest.

Cure Eclipse:
4/5
Again, good song, but pales in comparison to the others on the album.

Waterhaul:
5/5
36 Crazyfists leave us with this brooding yet loud and heavy piece. A great end to the album (if something so f**kin awesome can even have a "great end").

BUY THIS ALBUM! 36 Crazyfists are in my opinion the best metal band out there. Actually no, they're the best band out there. My only complaint about this album is that it is only 38 minutes long. Not nearly long enough for me.

This is one of the best metal cds to come out in this century. I think a lot of people term them as screamo, but I think of them as a great band making heavy music in a new and exciting way. Everything about this cd is breathtaking. The vocals, the riffs, drumming, and bass, everything. And the production is excellent too. It all sounds so crisp coming out of my stereo. If you are open to many kinds of heavy music, then you should not miss these guys. "At the End of August" is worth the price of admission by itself.

I will tell you this is a good album, however don't expect the rawness of the debut CD. The fella's went a little more melodic on the majority of this record, which isn't always a bad thing. I really feel this CD lacks the energy of the first one, but it's not bad by any means. Definitly worth the money