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In 2005, a band out of Louisiana named As Cities Burn released its Solid State Records debut with “Son, I Loved You At Your Darkest,” an effort that quickly gained a wide array of fans as well as more than 20,000 people added to their Myspace page. Sadly, when the band announced their breakup last year following the departure of former frontman T.J. Bonnette, hundreds of fans flooded ASB’s email asking them to remain together. Instead of getting a replacement, rhythm guitarist Cody Bonnette (T.J.’s brother) stepped to the mic as the band’s new frontman, resulting in the sophomore effort “Come Now Sleep.”
This new album is rather absent of T.J.’s trademark passionate screams, but still holds an original overall feel in musical content and lyrics. Another factor with the latest As Cities Burn album is that a few of the songs take a little longer to get through, whereas the mellow album opener “Contact” is nearly seven minutes in length, while the closer “Timothy” clocks in at nearly thirteen minutes in length. Musically, “Come Now Sleep” is a bit more experimental and minus the melodic hardcore sound that was found on the band’s previous album. Regardless, fans of As Cities Burn will still find plenty to enjoy here as Cody’s vocals make up for any screaming that was left behind when T.J. bowed out of the band.
Early on is a pair of fun-filled upbeat rock tracks with “Empire” and the following track “The Hoard.” The latter is spoken from a personal perspective as Cody sings “Grace make your way to the well to those who deserve it/After all they’ve earned it but vain, it’s in vain/cause they don’t need it. The song speaks in metaphorical terms describing those who take their newfound faith in God for granted and fails to do anything to make their relationship with Him grow. Another highlight is the emotional “Clouds,” which contains a two and a half minute intro with phrases from different people giving their own version of who they think God is, followed by a message about God written from a skeptic’s point of view.
Spirituality continues on throughout “Come Now Sleep,” even though it is not as blatant as with “Son, I Loved You At Your Darkest.” However, the song “Our World is Grey” conveys a modern version of the temptation in the Garden of Eden with the context boasting “…and she’s putting cuts on her legs to bleed out the devil/Surely you will not die, eat and you shall be like God/What have we done?” “Come Now Sleep” may not be the album As Cities Burn fans were hoping for, but the band has remained steadfast in bringing forth plush melodies and harmonies, the only difference being pure singing vocals this time around. Anyone willing to break away from the confines of typical hardcore should find an easy place in their CD collection for the latest project from As Cities Burn.
| Production | 8 | | Lyrics | 7 | | Message | 7 | | Overall Quality
8 |
Release Date: August 14, 2007
Label: Solid State Records
Track Listing
1. Contact
2. Empire
3. The Hoard
4. This is it, This is it
5. Clouds
6. New Sun
7. Tides
8. Wrong Body
9. Our World is Grey
10. Timothy
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