Customer Reviews

Stavesacre

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A lot of people don't like this CD because it's softer than their other ones. While I don't have "Speakeasy" (yet) I do have "Friction" and I like this one ten times more than "Friction" (even tho I'd still give that one a high score too). Mark's voice is amazing and he makes the band. His lyrics are awesome too... deep and thought provoking. While I do admit musically this CD is a little more simplistic than "Friction" (not much, though), it works for the songs. "Blind Hope", "World To Wait" and "Yes" are lump-in-the-throat worthy. The only track on here that isn't as good as the rest is "Night Town"... not their best. Other than that, it's a solid, powerful hard rock album. It may not be "hardcore" or "metal" or whatever, and it may be different sounding then their other stuff, but maybe they WANTED it that way, artistically. I'm sure they don't care whether or not we like their "new sound", it's what they wanted to do.

This self-titled offering on Nitro continues the band's transition from the Tool-esque sound of "Absolutes" to the more accessible melodic (if not quite pop) sound of "Speakeasy". There's melody and emotion, and the guitars absolutely roar! Standouts include Blind Hope, which absolutely rocks, the confessional Why Good People Suffer, the quiet Yes and the exhilirating World to Wait. This is easily Stavesacre's best record!

All Stavesacre does is put out one great album after another. This is a great CD and there are no weak tracks. Heavy and melodic, with excellent lyrical content.

I was looking forward to this album based on what, I guess, were almost unrealistic expectations. I was hoping that they would take what was so great about Speakeasy and mesh that with the intensity & raw emotion that was their earlier works, thereby creating a masterpiece that could stand up to, and possibly dominate, the greatest of bands in the world. Speakeasy is easily one of the greatest albums out there in any genre of music, so when I first listened to (stavz'a'ker), I was a bit let down and dissapointed due to expectations. After putting it down for a while, I listenned to it again without the overbearing expectations and came to realize that it is, on its own, a great musical compilation. True- Nighttown, Island, & Sad Parade were on both Collective and the split-EP that they released with Denison Marrs, but the rest of the album is top notch, just not on par with their earlier works.
Witch Trial starts off the album with it's most powerful rocker. Blind Hope, Alice's Wishlist, Place Where I can breathe, and World to Wait are all great for listening anytime if you're not in the mood to get your rage on and have catchy tunes. Yes is the slow-down ballad of the track, but is nowhere NEAR as powerful musically or lyrically as Gold and Silver or Freefall (from hand to hand) off of Speakeasy. Why Good People Suffer teeters dangerously close to being a bad punk song without completely going the punk route, and If Not Now falls in line with the musical feel of Sad Parade as a pop-ish rocker. All in all, it's a good album, as long as you're not expecting it to improve on their earlier works.

I persist in not being enthralled with this album. Not too say I won't listen to it, its just so conventional. Its "new rock". Lots of preprocessed guitar and the like. The first song reminds me of "A Perfect Circle" (although thats really a good thing). The rest is also very derivative of just about every mainstream rock act out there. There are a few good tracks, but the album is generally unsatisfying. I feel like Stavesacre has used its "coming out" album not to distinguish itself from the pack, but to join it. Very disappointing.

This is the first Stavesacre album to showcase guitarists Neil Samoy and Ryan Dennee. Though Ryan played and wrote on "Speakeasy," some portion of that material stemmed from the Jeff Bellew days. Jeff also played on "Speakeasy," and that album sounded a lot like the band's prior two releases. With Jeff entirely out of the fold, it's not surprising that "Stavesacre" sounds a lot different. The band recorded this in less than two weeks, giving the album a bare-bones vibe that contrasts sharply with the detailed work Bryan Carlstrom brought to the first three discs. Once you get beyond the sound changes, though, you find Stavesacre still churning out great, emotional rock. Oddly enough, I find the album's best songs are the ones stacked at the end -- the blasting "Why Good People Suffer," the sensitive "Yes," and the utterly heart-wrenching "World to Wait," which includes a great Mark Salomon line: "All you've built and done/is just a fraction of the you we love." I also dig "Blind Hope" and "A Place Where I Can Breathe." The band is very tight and deserves a bigger audience. Here's hoping Nitro will put some marketing muscle behind them.

I had high hopes for this self-titled album, but honestly, I'm disappointed. I'll begin by telling you what you will and what you won't get.

What you won't get: A completely new album. Three of the eleven songs appear on other albums. That amounts to an disc with only 70% new material.

What you will get: A softer, less edgy sound. This is the result of changes within the band and its production team.
It has also been noted by others that the change was an intentional move to highlight Stavesacre's move into the mainstream.

While the writing and vocal work by Mark Salomon remains strong, the subtle loss of sonic force is disappointing. Compare this album's version of Nighttown to the one on Collective and the difference will be immediately obvious. The crisp, piercing assult has been replaced with more bouncy vocals and timid production.

The question you must ask is whether you mind or not. For new fans unfamiliar with the band's previous work, it probably won't make a bit of difference. But if you've come to rely on Stavesacre for original, groundbreaking rock, you'll probably be disappointed.

This is a solid effort by one of the best bands in rock today. As it stands, however, there isn't much here to distinquish them from the hundreds of other acts clamoring for a slot on the charts. One can only hope that their next move into the mainstream will be accompanied by the confidence and aggression they've shown on previous albums.

Three out of five stars.

With their first two albums Friction and Absolutes, Stavesacre proved they could write powerful, aggressive songs. With their third album, Speakeasy, they showed that they have a handle on more balladic and radio-friendly material as well. But something went a bit wacky with this fourth album. A few things, actually.

First, as others have noted, the production quality isn't quite as good as it was on prior albums, most notably in the rhythm guitar tracks. Something's going on in the 1K-3K range that I can't quite put my finger on. I'm not sure if it was a mic placement issue or an EQ issue, but a comparison between the EP and the full-length album versions of "Witch Trial" will bear this out. The mix on the EP version of Witch Trial has much more "bite" to it than the album version.

Second, a few of the vocal patterns on this album seem a bit awkward, and at times some of the lyrics come off as a bit cliche, as "Alice Wishlist" and "If Not Now" illustrate. Finally, although there are a few strong tracks on the album (e.g., Witch Trial, A Place Where I Can Breathe, and Why Good People Suffer), the album as a whole doesn't gel well like the prior three did. Granted, an album should have dynamics- one generally doesn't want to put all the heavy, fast songs together and all the softer, slower songs together, but this one's a bit awkward. It's almost as if they found a niche with their first two albums, then struck out into new territory on the third album, and on this album were trying to fuse the two approaches.

The good news, however, is that after spending a bit more time together with the new lineup, Stavesacre has really done a fine job of putting together these different approaches. The Bull Takes Fighter EP is excellent, and I'm very impressed with the other new songs they've put up on their myspace.com site. I can't wait to hear the full-length.

I'm a huge Stavesacre fan and I think that they are one of the most talented bands be it christian or secular, but while I was please with this album, I was also disappointed a bit. It's an awesome album with some really awesome songs like Island and Yes, but it's seems to have lost the edginess and stronger lyrics of their previous albums. Mark's vocals are still awesome and the music is great, but not to the caliber of Speakeasy which is my favorite Stavesacre album. I still recommend it, but any of their previous efforts are much better.

... This is a great album!! When I first popped it into my CD player, I was like, "Wow, this sounds great!" but the more I listen to it the more I like, correction, love it! Track 2, "Blind Hope" is one of my favorite songs on there. The mellowness of the album is conceled in its raw power which is strongly backed by the incredible voice of Mark Solomon and the incredible talent of Sam West on the drums. The songs are engaging and have incredible lyrics that speak straight to the heart. These are the songs that get me through the hard times. All thier previous albums are excellent and this one follows in suit by maintaining the heart and the quality that Stavesacre has put into thier music...