Customer Reviews

Where Myth Fades to Legend

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

 

 

Amazing album! By far one of the most creative and interesting albums I've heard in a long time. Alesana raised the bar on this album, evolving with even more catchy hooks and story-filled lyrics that really grab you and don't let go! From beginning to end, the band seamlessly blends genres to present a unique sound that is above and beyond any of the other bands currently occupying the same scene. Their undeniable musical skill and talent for song writing really shows in every single track. This album is high quality hard rock music that I can't stop listening to

Alesana's first album is great but this one is much better. The songs are much more catchy and the vocals are awesome! Don't listen to the bad reviews, if you liked alesana last album you'll love this one. Not much else I can say so take a listen to it for yourself!

This album is getting very negative comments, especially compared to other Alesana albums. I don't understand why? This album is amazing! Personally, I love the band and this album. There are only 2 songs on this album I don't really care for but as a whole it is wonderful with many stand-out tracks. I recomend it for any fan of the band and hardcore/pot-hardcore. It has melodic vocals with harsh screams and beautiful and crashing guitar riffs. It is beautiful album. I recommend all of this bands albums: Try This with Your Eyes Closed, Frail Wings of Vanity and Wax, Where Myth Fades to Legend, The Emptiness, and their newest (and somewhat softer)album, A Place Where the Sun Is Silent. Ignore the hate, this album and this band are epic!

I'm from Raleigh (where these guys hail) and picked up on this band a few years back. I really like their first album. At the time I was into Chiodos' first album and Alesana's freshman release was in a similar vein, so I really enjoyed the album. But this one (shaking head). I've listened through the album twice now and maybe I should give it another spin but it just is not grabbing me. The first one was innovative to a degree and grabbed me but this is just mundane and does nothing for me. Except, I do like the first 20 seconds of the first song. I will say this - the only good it's gonna do me is it just helps fill up my 360's play-list for when I'm randomly playing music while gaming. There's nothing special here and nothing much memorable...it almost reminds me of the direction He Is Legend took, or Dead Poetic, but not to that degree...cause they really went to crap.

Alesana's introduction to the world with On Frail Wings of Vanity and Wax pegged them for a Chiodos/Receiving End of Sirens hybrid: hard, heavy hardcore/metal/rock, inspired by the science and/or mythology of antiquity. A love it or hate it singing style. In the best bits, interesting musical progression and concept. Exemplifying this from Alesana's debut is the opening track "Ambrosia," with its stop-start rhythms and gear-shifting vocal tacts. Unfortunately, with their sophomore release, this band proves that they possess precious few other tricks in their Bag of Holding.

The vocals alternate between three modes: a shy, nasal, warbling whimper; gutteral howling; and valiant attempts to sing far too far out of one's singing range. Incredibly, this fact is simultaneously a selling point (interesting musical texture), and a reason to want to throw the stereo out the window (ears bleeding from tuneless, high-pitched singing)---which is nothing unusual for casual listeners of this genre, but Alesana (and also Chiodos, in particular) take it to a previously unheard-of level.

The lead guitarwork is busy, self-conscious; overuse of harmonization and pedal tones lends a cheesy 8-bit vibe to some of the otherwise technically proficient passages. It's the rhythm section where the interesting bits of Alesana are buried: what sounds like war drums back up thick guitars that chug and stop in unique patterns---but this is mostly buried in monotony. Discerning listeners will lament the lack of variety, but still hate the grating "As You Wish," a horrid attempt at a ballad. What sounds like a castrated Peter Pan sings call-and-response.

High hopes that Alesana could create a record, and a sound, in the vein of "Ambrosia"'s uniquely dynamic bombast have been dashed. "Goodbye, Goodnight, For Good" and "A Most Profound Quiet" are probably the most listenable tunes, but much more than two songs and the brain refuses to process again what it's already heard before.

I feel as though it's necessary to posit that I was, at one point, a great disparager of emo/screamo music. Excuse me, I misspoke. What I meant was, I was a great disparager of stepping outside the bounds of only the most "kvlt" music imaginable. I don't feel that way anymore. Truth be told, I never even listened to emo music before I had made my judgement. I would like to put forth this review as my personal apology to everyone who fell victim to my so-called elitism, that which blinded me and impaired my reasoning.

On to Alesana, this was not my first foray into the emo sub-genre, so I hold no special nostalgia towards them. No, it just so happens that I consider them to be among the upper echelon, so to speak, of their contemporaries. Where Myth Fades to Legend is, in my opinion, their peak thus far into their career. Alesana's pièce de résistance is their penchant for contrast. Said contrast is achieved both musically and vocally. Adroit interplay with growls, not unlike those found in metalcore, and sensitive cleans yield something quite interesting. Beautiful, even. The guitar playing is perfidious, as well, balancing diffidence with aggressiveness magistrally. The musicianship is perfectly competent. Nothing more, nothing less. I hope that that doesn't come off as an obloquy, because it's anything but. On the contrary, although Alesana are no virtuosi, I was impressed with their tightness as a unit. Everything comes together quite nicely, and I can't ask for too much more than that.

Concerning songwriting, it's generally well done, but the monotony of almost every song following the aforementioned formula of growl/clean vocal coaction can lead to a humdrumness, understated though it may be. That's my most prevalent point of criticism, that Alesana seems content enough where they are, perhaps to the point of not possessing the wherewithal to envisage straying outside the proverbial box a little bit.

To be honest, it feels odd for me to take lyrics into consideration, seeing as how my main area of expertise involves music with vocals that are, for the most part, empirically indecipherable. I don't suppose Alesana's lyrics are meant to be dissected, so I regard them with beguilement moreso than anything else. "All Night Dance Parties in the Underground Palace" was one track in particular that I greeted with amusement. A song about making pretend that a woman is your princess, presumably much to her glee, is something that is so many worlds away from my own ethos that I can't help but be fascinated by such an alien concept. "As You Wish", a duet with the lead singer's sister, exudes masculinity in the most roundabout way imaginable. It's hard to sound like a tough guy threatening to "draw your sword against Hell" in the name of sororal soundness, but I'm guessing that's not the point, so I'll leave my interpretation entirely outside the realm of extantness.

Flaws notwithstanding, I enjoy the hell out of this album, and I'm confident enough in its quality to recommend it to anyone who enjoys music. And, before anyone says anything, I am making no such claim that Alesana is an "exception, not the rule" of emo. Not so, as I enjoy the sub-genre beyond them. In fact, Alesana is second only to -are you ready for this?- My Chemical Romance. (Or is it Sunny Day Real Estate? (I can't decide (heh... (Sunn O)))... (sorry, I'm done now (grammatical "puns" get awkward fast)))))). Take me at my word, folks, if I can be made into a fan of emo, anyone can.

In general,its a good album but in some songs i dont now it seems like the group lacks confidence.there are 2-3 songs which are awesome but 5-6 songs are not that good.A mediocre album.i expect more of them in the future.

This is a perfect demonstration of the pitfalls of genre, exhibiting nearly every grating, earbleeding tendency possible. There's plenty of supurb records in this genre, but this isn't one of them.

music in this 2nd album is fairly generic and cookie-cutter, but at the same time mildly entertaining. anyway the band was grow and sound turn a bit harder.

Contrary to popular belief, screamo vocals are incredibly hard to pull off effectively. Want proof? Try searching your own voice. If you can find it in you to actually scream, chances are it'll be a sound somewhere in between generic cookie monster metal growling and what-the-f#@k-was-that!? Now, setting aside the fact that this band is pretty much all about style over substance, the vocals are completely and totally wretched. I mean, I'm talking some of the worst you've ever heard. Take a listen to the samples and tell me what you think.

I've recently been getting back into the genre after leaving it behind post high-school, but bands like alesana (and a day to remember, just to name drop) assure me that I probably didn't miss much while I was gone.