The Chorus Music Club Society • Page 309

Loooove this album. Tracks like Anesthetist have some incredible lyrics.

"Illness is not an indulgence which you should pay for, nor is it a crime for which you should be punished, for this conviction I would endanger my health"

 

Great review. I need to check this album. That album cover is amazing!

 

Customary plug of my insta because I have this on vinyl

 

Awesome reviews! You Are My Sunshine is one of my favorites. Copeland's entire catalog is incredible.

I loved A Fire So Big the Heavens Can See It but was really hesitant to check out Flight cause of the new vocalist but your review has changed by mind. Nice job!

 

I didn’t even realize it was a different vocalist, so they sound pretty similar!

 

Yeah it was the iTunes version, I saw the remix edition but didn’t listen to it. I probably will at some point as some of these songs just beg remixing

Honestly I think you’d like it a lot

 

Great variant of my favorite Enter Shikari record!

 

So did "Dear Future Historians" give you chills or what?! What an intense track! Also how good is the bridge to "The One True Colour"? "Slipshod" is just a bonus track, and not the actual closer. We pretty much have the same favorite tracks too.

 

It sure as hell did, I loved that song. And one true as well. Both are huge standouts on the album for me.

 

Yeah The One True Colour and Dear Future Historians are my fav two tracks from that album too.

 

Conditions
Fluorescent Youth
2010



The second album that I received from @Bad Frequencies for this bonus session was Conditions' album Fluorescent Youth from 2010. I had heard of this band before and had seen them discussed in this thread by the likes of @Bad Frequencies and @anonimito so I had a good idea what to expect heading into this album.

A bit of background on Conditions - they are a five piece band from Richmond, Virginia. They are comprised of Brandon Roundtree (lead vocals), Alex Howard (guitar, vocals), Corey Thomas (bass), Ryan Tinsley (drums), and Jason Marshall (guitar, vocals). Fluorescent Youth is the band's first full-length album following three self-released EPs (in 2007, 2008, and 2009). I see that they followed up this album with full-length albums in 2013 and 2014 (Full Of War and Missing Hours, respectively). I believe @Bad Frequencies has reviewed Full Of War. After my experience with this album, I can definitely say that I will check out their later material! As a side note - they have not released any new music since 2014's Missing Hours (which appears to be an album primarily of cover songs and acoustic tracks) and they played their "farewell" show and broke up in 2014. I put farewell in quotes because they have played a handful of shows together since then and in April of this year they announced on their Facebook page that they were in a studio for the weekend. So there may be new Conditions on the way!

The album starts out with one of my favorite tracks on it, The End Of Progression. This is a really solid opening number and I can immediately tell why @Bad Frequencies is a fan. The vocals are well done - I can see the comparison that some people have made to Cove Reber (ex-Saosin). The song is extremely catchy and it's definitely guitar driven. Better Life follows and it's another catchy track with solid vocals. It's an emotional and heartfelt song. I can already tell at this point that I'm a fan of the album. There's really nothing not to like here. Wikipedia gives their genre as punk rock, post hardcore, and pop punk. I'd say that they're probably more of an alternative rock band with some punk and post hardcore influences. I really wouldn't consider them to be punk rock or pop punk. Anyway, the album moves on to Natural Competition which is another highlight for me. It's another really catchy song with guitars that drive the track. The fourth track, When It Won't Save You, is a bit more of the same. It hasn't really stood out to me much yet, but it's not a bad song at all.

The following song, Make Them Remember, is probably my favorite on the album. It has a huge chorus and it's lyrics, while simple, are also a bit thought provoking:

How will you make
Them remember your name
When everyone here
Seems exactly the same

Leaving a lasting impression is something that I (and I'm sure most people) have thought about at some point and it's absolutely a song that I'd recommend to someone who likes catchy, alternative rock music.

Keeping Pace With Planes had a bit of a heavier intro to it, but not much else stood out there to me. The next song is titled ...Made Ghosts and it employed an effective use of keys, which helped separate itself from the other tracks to this point. This song had another catchy hook. These guys really do know how to write catchy hooks. Up to this point with only four songs remaining, I was thoroughly enjoying the album, but I could see how some may find the songs blending together a bit. Stylistically, they've all been in the same general spectrum and all of the tracks have been roughly the same length as well - roughly three and a half minutes long. This is not a major complaint - just more of an observation really.

And all that changes with the following track Comfort Far Away. It's a touch over five minutes long and it's a ballad. While it's not one of my favorite songs on the album, I did appreciate the change of pace. The vocals on this track remind me a bit of Jared Leto's vocals in Thirty Seconds To Mars. Miss America is next and it's more or less a return to the style of the first seven tracks of the album. It's another catchy song, but it's not one of my favorites on the album. The Color 21 is a brief instrumental interlude that is less than a minute long and leads into the album's closing track, Illuminati. Illuminati is the album's second longest track at nearly five minutes and it's a great closing track. It's a catchy and emotional song and it ends the album on a high note. One minor complaint with this track is that the final minute or so of the song is silence which seems a bit unnecessary, but I suppose that's neither here nor there.

All in all, this was a fine recommendation from @Bad Frequencies and I hope I did this album justice in my write-up!

I'd recommend this album to fans of alternative rock with strong vocals, catchy hooks, and driving guitars. I could see fans of bands such as Anberlin and Saosin eating this up.

Here are some of my standout tracks: The End Of Progression, Natural Competition, Make Them Remember, Illuminati

 

Excellent review. I look forward to seeing if @ugman_2000 shares your favorites as I gave this to him as well.

And this all started with @anonimito giving me their album because notes of my rec of Starset reminded them of conditions lol

 

I have like two hours spare, anyone wanna give me an album to listen to?

 

Hawthorne Heights- Bad Frequencies


Or the conditions album he just reviewed

 

I've heard Bad Frequencies so I'll check out Conditions!

 

Great review mate, I’ve been enjoying this album thanks to @Bad Frequencies too. My review should be up sometime this weekend. The Saosin and Anberlin comparisons are so accurate.

 

Thanks! Wikipedia actually mentioned Saosin and Anberlin, so I can't take full credit (although I do agree with them!).

Ivoryline was also mentioned, which is a blast from the past. I can see the similarities there too. I didn't mention them in my write-up because I'm not sure how many people are that familiar with them.

 

This is super Saosin. I dig this a lot.

 

@anonimito is going to love all this Conditions praise

 

This feels like the album Saosin should have released after ISOSG

 

Haha that’s fair, I’ve never heard of them.

 

I gave @Nate_Johnson Deaf Havana this week and they released a new song last night. At first I thought I wasn't keen as it's so different. Was adamant I wasn't a fan.

And then I drove to work with it on repeat this morning. I seriously love the singer, I find this lyrics to be that one band's that really connect with me every time, it's like we go through the same things at the same time. They've gone back to a more poppy route and brought back the female gospel choir they worked with on their third album and it's fantastic.

Cause I’m a sinner now

 

I’ve been meaning to check this out, I’d probably say I’m a casual fan of theirs. Absolutely love Fools and Worthless Liars and then I’ve enjoyed songs here and their since but no whole album. They’re definitely a band I love live more than on record though. I’m looking forward to their set at 2000 Trees, last time they headlined they killed it.

 

I loved their last album, it was in my top five of last year, but this is a fantastic new direction.

They aren't playing this year are they? they played last year and did a fan voted set (plus a joke cover of Oasis). They are playing Reading though.