Tuesday, May 8, 2012

As Cities Burn album tweaks new indie sound

By on April 24, 2009

Hell or High Water
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Hell or High Water

It’s amazing what a little adversity can do.

Three years after nearly breaking up, Louisiana-based indie rock band As Cities Burn has released perhaps its finest album, “Hell or High Water.”

Tuesday’s album release, not to mention 2007′s “Come Now Sleep,” wouldn’t have been possible had it not been for an outcry of fan support following former front man T.J. Bonnette’s exit from the group.

After Bonnette left As Cites Burn, the group contemplated breaking up. But the fans wouldn’t have it.

“HELL OR HIGH WATER”

Verdict: The Louisiana-based quartet has explored some new avenues while crafting a worthy successor to 2007′s “Come Now Sleep.”
Grade: A-

Now, three years later, the group is still doing what it does best, but only after regrouping and retooling.

With Bonnette at the helm, the group’s first album, “Son, I Loved You At Your Darkest,” was an all-out assault in screamo rock that saw them signed by Tooth & Nail Records.

But following Bonnette’s exit, As Cities Burn moved away from its screamo roots and embraced an indie sound in “Come Now Sleep.” Bonnette’s brother, Cody, took over vocal duties, and it was a complete departure from the guttural screaming of the original vocalist.

And “Hell or High Water” continues in that same vein, but with some noticeable tweaks.

As Cities Burn sticks with the indie rock sound that made “Come Now Sleep” a hit, but the quartet also briefly dabbles in the realms of Southern rock and English pub rock.

In a couple of songs, “Hell or High Water” also has the band experiment with sparse music, relying heavily on Cody Bonnette’s vocals.

The group kicks off “Hell or High Water” with a rousing opener in “’84 Sheepdog.” Completely forgetting its newfound sound, As Cities Burn’s “’84 Sheepdog” is an uptempo opener that features guest screaming from T.J. Bonnette, letting fans reminisce on the group’s early screamo days.

The next song, “Errand Rum,” heads in a couple different directions. Beginning with a catchy, meandering guitar riff, the song quickly leads into what resembles a drunken pub chant with blaring horns. From there it’s all-out jubilation.

But in songs such as “Into The Sea” and “Pirate Blues,” As Cities Burn rarely departs from the sounds that made “Come Now Sleep” so popular with its fans, and those two songs are sure to be hits with the As Cities Burn faithful.

But the quartet wanders into new ventures once again when it briefly experiments with some Southern rock in the opening riffs of “Petty,” which features an addictive chorus with Bonnette claiming, “If all the world’s a stage, then it’s not mine.”

However, the one weak spot on “Hell or High Water” is “Capo.” Although As Cities Burn does some cool things, blending catchy bass and guitar riffs with some interesting percussive elements, it looks like the band was running out of material lyrically. Two minutes of repeating “I’ve got nothing to say to you, I’ve got nothing to say,” proves that the group did, indeed, have nothing to say.

But As Cities Burn made amends for the weak track by closing with a fan favorite. “Gates” is a song the band has closed shows with routinely for some time, but the track had never been recorded in a studio before.

The album closes with this song, which has fast become something of an anthem for As Cities Burn fans, with vocalist Cody Bonnette exclaiming, “We will wear compassion. We will wear it. And the gates of Hell, they won’t stand against it.”

There have been rumors that this could be the final album for As Cities Burn. If it is, it is a fitting finale. But don’t count on it.

After all, the band has proven already that it has a legion of fans willing to bring it back from the dead.