Red Bull Records
Aaron Bruno - Vocals
Christopher Thorn - Guitar
Kenny Carkeet - Guitar
David Amezcua - Bass, Vocals
Hayden Scott - Percussion
Produced by Aaron Bruno
For my second Album Review, I chose AWOLNATION's debut album "Megalithic Symphony". I honestly don't think there could be a more fitting title for this work of art. I was a little bit reluctant to cover this because I'm not that big a fan of the song Sail, or I wasn't at first. All of these songs are angsty, edgy and just beautiful. I'm glad I gave it a listen.
Megalithic Symphony
This song is just a one minute, well, fifty-eight second introduction song that drags you into the album with a bit of programming and synth as well as saying the name of the band.
Some Sort of Creature
This song also serves as a small introduction by telling the listener about a creature Aaron Brunosaw being carried by a Gypsy and her daughter. It's just a creepy filler story, and actually adds to the over all tone of the album. It then feeds into the next song.
Soul Wars
This is probably my favorite song on the album. It's upbeat, catchy and even among the group of highly enjoyable songs, this song sticks out to me. It has a hardcore background, mixed with mild programming, catchy anthem-type lyrics and an amazing chorus.
People
While Soul Wars is my favorite song, this song is the best song on the album in terms of overall sound and enjoyability. It has the best chorus on the album, it has a lighter, synth feel to it, it's a song that everyone can enjoy and Aaron Bruno thanks the listener at the beginning. How can you not like that?
Jump On My Shoulders
The beginning of this song sounds like something Cage the Elephant would make, but it adds a nice rolling sound to it that leads into some nice bridges and the chorus has a hit-making build. If this was released as a single, it would do incredibly well in my opinion. People just love songs like this. The song actually reminds me a little bit of the song Rise by Flobots.
Burn It Down
This song has a sound that seems to be inspired by Little Richard mixed with like Rage Against the Machine, if that makes sense. That's the vibe I got. It's one of those songs that are great to dance to due to its upbeat tempo and rapid-fire chorus breaks. I love the bass on this song, too. There are a couple more songs like this on the album, but believe it or not these are my least favorite types of songs by this particular group. I find the songs that they don't repeat a bunch of things on are their best because the songs seem to be crafted more skillfully.
Guilty Filthy Soul
This is another song that kind of feels like it's a Cage the Elephant song, and kind of mixes a classic rock, funk, hip-hop and gospel sound. Weird, huh? It's a good song, but it's sub-par for the expectations the first three actual songs on the album created.
Kill Your Heroes
This song continues the same sort of sound of Guilty Filthy Soul, but is a bit catchier. It's another sub-par song, but adds to the feel of the album well.
My Nightmare's Dream
This is an intermission song that acts as a stop to the gospel and funk sounding songs and fades into Sail.
Sail
I think this is more than likely the first song everyone hears by AWOLNATION. It's an excellent song and serves as one of those anthem songs that just has a cool, dark sound to it. Almost like darkcore, but not quite. It also took me forever to realize that every line ends with "Blame it on my A.D.D., baby". Apparently, I'm slow. It's not my favorite song on the album, but it's an incredible addition to the album and just adds to the momentum it builds up while you're listening to it.
Wake Up
This song starts off with a nice drum build up/synthesizer combo and works into a funky, powerful song that kind of has an extremely powerful chorus. I'm a sucker for an excellent chorus, which is why I still love Foo Fighters as much as I do. The rest of a song can suck, but if it has a good enough chorus, I'll eat it up. Overall a good song with kind of the same type sound as Sail.
Not Your Fault
This song has a softer indie feel to it at the beginning and just turns into this blend of darkcore, indie and techno-pop that, again, catches you in the chorus. Overall a good song, but far from one of the best.
All I Need
Starting out on piano, this sounds like another one of those gospel anthem songs from the middle of the album. It basically is. It's a nice calm down at the end of the album and fades into the final song.
Knights of Shame
This is another repetitive dance-anthem song like Burn It Down, mixed with some slight hip-hop sounds. The sound of the song stays consistent for the first three minutes or so, then moves into a sound almost like MGMT with an trance sound until they move back to the first sound and have people start rapping for some reason in the dead middle of the song. The rapping is good, but it was just odd because none of the other songs have rapping in them. The bass of the first sound fades into an acoustic guitar playing over the same basic tempo of the sound from before. Overall, the song fades in and out of different sounds, which is a compliment to Aaron Bruno for his seamless transitions in the final song. It's a suiting end to an awesome album.
Grade
9/10
I was really impressed and surprised when I heard the album because I initially expected all the songs to sound remotely like Sail, but it was a truly mind-blowing album, and I expect great things out of this band in the future.
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