Top Ten Albums of 2012 - #8
Snow Patrol's Fallen Empires
Editor's Note: This is the 3rd in a quasi-weekly series of reviews marking my favorite ten albums of 2012. The 10th edition is wrapped into the larger year-end post I call "The Ho Media Awards", which will be published just after the new year. Stay tuned!
A Hundred Million Suns seemed to come and go with barely a ripple in the popular music pool. "Take Back the City" was a modest success on the radio at best, and I don't recall hearing another single off of that album. Although it gave us the gem "Lifeboats" and the three part masterpiece "The Lightning Strike," it seemed that their 15 minutes had passed. So when it came to the new album, Fallen Empires, I wasn't exactly beside myself with anticipation.
FE doesn't push any new boundaries for the band, but I think it refines the sound of the last album a little more. It's a little safer that way maybe, which would be my one over-arching criticism here. This set stays in the mid-tempo, moody college rock territory from start to finish. When that's what you're looking for, this is great. But if you want something with a little variety, this probably isn't the album for the moment.
With that said, I dig the sonic theme of this album. "I'll Never Let Go" is by far their most propulsive opener and one of their best tracks ever overall. The single "This Isn't Everything You Are" plies the art of the triumphant climax fantastically. "The Symphony" fades and returns again with the repeated pair of lines "If this is all you ever ask for/This is all you'll get" - another ringing statement for adolescents finding grown-up ambitions (though they would be wise to spin Doves' "Ambition" to catch the flip side of that line of reasoning).
Album Highlights: I'll Never Let Go, Fallen Empires, The Symphony
A Hundred Million Suns seemed to come and go with barely a ripple in the popular music pool. "Take Back the City" was a modest success on the radio at best, and I don't recall hearing another single off of that album. Although it gave us the gem "Lifeboats" and the three part masterpiece "The Lightning Strike," it seemed that their 15 minutes had passed. So when it came to the new album, Fallen Empires, I wasn't exactly beside myself with anticipation.
FE doesn't push any new boundaries for the band, but I think it refines the sound of the last album a little more. It's a little safer that way maybe, which would be my one over-arching criticism here. This set stays in the mid-tempo, moody college rock territory from start to finish. When that's what you're looking for, this is great. But if you want something with a little variety, this probably isn't the album for the moment.
With that said, I dig the sonic theme of this album. "I'll Never Let Go" is by far their most propulsive opener and one of their best tracks ever overall. The single "This Isn't Everything You Are" plies the art of the triumphant climax fantastically. "The Symphony" fades and returns again with the repeated pair of lines "If this is all you ever ask for/This is all you'll get" - another ringing statement for adolescents finding grown-up ambitions (though they would be wise to spin Doves' "Ambition" to catch the flip side of that line of reasoning).
Album Highlights: I'll Never Let Go, Fallen Empires, The Symphony
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