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Still Remains: Of Love And Lunacy Melodic Death Metal, Metalcore Roadrunner Records August 10th, 2004
- Personal copy autographed by the band. Originally posted on September 26th, 2009 | |||
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Review
The debut full length album from Still Remains, Of Love And Lunacy, is one of those rare gems, the kind of underrated, not so known album from a band that has plenty of potential. Quickly following up from their second EP, If Love Was Born To Die, the band has come up with a rather astounding full length that stands above the rest of the metalcore acts currently out there. While the band's Christian lyrics throughout the album helped them to gain the popularity they have, as well as shun many potenetial fans away, there's no denying that there is talent in this group, and it shows through nicely on this release. Musically, the album has this melodic death feel to it that many bands in the Metalcore style that really benefits the music on this release, even if much of it sounds rather simple and, sometimes, generic. The inclusion of keyboards in the background to many of the songs really help out, ranging from an electronic sound that seems as though it is running some sort of distortion, or a clean piano sound. Vocally, the album follows a bit of a pattern as far as the vocals are concerned. Much of the music on Of Love And Lunacy goes from shout the verse/ding the chorus. Either way, pretty much all the album is a solid metalcore release with very few filler tracks. The first four tracks on the release are really powerful, catchy songs that will make you an instant fan. After them, however, the songs do start to get repetative thanks to the formula the band is using, but the tracks are still good, with the exception of "Kelsey", which just feels like a filler track. "With What You Have" is an instrumental track composed on piano only, and it sounds like it was recorded a bit too high in comparison to the rest of the album. "Recovery" is where things start to shake up a bit, having a different song structure that sticks out a little more then the previous few tracks, especially around the end. The last two tracks on the album, "Stare And Wonder" and "Blossom, The Witch" are actually more like bonus tracks, as these two were originally available on Dying With A Smile, their debut EP, and really hits hard with how different the music is. Coincidentally, "Recovery" and "I Can Revive Him With My Own Hands" are also re-recordings of songs off the band's second EP If Love Was Born To Die. It's too bad that the band didn't sit down to write more tracks like these, especially "Blossom, The Witch" which actually incorporates gutteral and more structure in the song then half of the album. Of Love And Lunacy is a great debut album for Still Remains, and definitely shows off the potential the group has to stand out amongst the quickly growing cliche sounding acts flooding the metalcore style. While the band beats the living hell out of the concept of using the shout the verse/sing the chorus philosphy, the music really does make up for it sometime. Hopefully, the next release will find the band growing and offer more variances in the music, and expand on various song structures like the one found on "Recovery". But what's important about Of Love And Lunacy is that the music is catchy, solid, and shows some serious promise for this fresh act.
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