The Sun Explodes Emergence
Wed 21st March 2012
If ever there were a case of overegging the pudding, this album is it.
From the opening orchestral swathes of strings, epic is the word to describe what you think the album is going to sound like. It's all very Muse, thinking BIG and adding track on track of backing vocals to make this sound LARGE.
Quite what happens after is a mystery to me, I spent more time exclaiming 'What?!' out loud than enjoying this. From the cringeworthy vocals (think all of your AOR nightmares come to life) the constant shifting of speed and tone and a production job that sounds like they recorded it in some horrific wipe-clean future, this is just too much.
The band seem to crash on and on, one moment they want to be stadium-filling, anthemic metal, the next a high-speed euro metal warble-o-thon. The vocals soar from Americanised indetikit cliches to painful high pitched notes that fit neither the bands general sound or my hearing range, dogs may well get a whole load out of this. On the Americanisms, can rock/metal/whatever vocalists PLEASE stop trying to sound like they are from New York or wherever, be proud of your own accent, if you are passionate enough, your accent does not matter.
This is metal if Simon Cowell ever got bored of plugging his synthetic pop wares and started filling 02 Academies with 'heavy stuff' instead.
Avoid, if not for my sake, then your ears, your speakers, your neighbours, your dog for that matter.
Also features the god-awful Cher-like stylings of auto-tuned vocals in parts, which says enough about this band by its existence alone.
-
-
mike - Add your comments here!
-
[07:16 on 21/03/12]
-
-
-
Mazz - Cool..this sounds as though it's like 'The Wizards of Delight'.
-
[09:49 on 21/03/12]
-
-
-
Jack -
So you didn't like it then
-
[10:06 on 21/03/12]
-
-
-
Hopkins - nice video
-
[11:24 on 21/03/12]
-
-
-
mike
-
Hopkins says:
God that's even harder to sit through than this album was, seriously it went in the bin following the review, horrible. -
[20:57 on 21/03/12]
-
-
-
mike
-
Jack says:So you didn't like it then
If you can make it through a song without getting annoyed, you can have a pint. -
[20:58 on 21/03/12]
-
-
-
Pete - I like the cover.
-
[21:42 on 21/03/12]
-
-
-
mike
- That's the only good bit.
-
[21:47 on 21/03/12]
-
-
-
adam flatlands -
This is the most emotionless drivel i've heard in a long time... Poor man's Attack Attack about 4 minutes in to the video - mishy mashy cack of the highest order!
I don't like this. -
[23:02 on 21/03/12]
-
-
-
mike
-
adam flatlands says:This is the most emotionless drivel i've heard in a long time... Poor man's Attack Attack about 4 minutes in to the video - mishy mashy cack of the highest order!
I don't like this.
Truth. -
[23:08 on 21/03/12]
-
-
-
dave_deadspace - Hi Mike, I'm the singer of TSE, thanks for taking the time to review our album.The production is VERY clean/sterile (we recorded it in a bedroom!) , but i can assure you that i'm not putting on any accent! unfortunately for your ears its all me i'm afraid, i'm very very cumbrian! We can only hope to improve, we're refining our technique and sound all the time, and i'd like to think we are a much 'livelier' live act than the record which does tend to compartmentalise our sound a bit. you may not be interested but we will be working on album 2 pretty soon, and if you would be willing could we send you a copy? which will either affirm your opinion on us or maybe try change your mind.
-
[18:17 on 24/03/12]
-
-
-
Tino Insana - Very gracious.
-
[17:19 on 26/03/12]
-
-
-
tallysmissus -
This was a hugely unprofessional review. You don,t like The Sun Explodes, your opinion and one to which you are entitled, but to dismiss hours and hours of hard work in such a trite way is disrespectful to say the least. Comparing them to Muse just because both vocalists can hit high notes is lazy and unecessary. The high notes aren,t painful as you suggest, it,s called vocal range. If you take it upon yourself to review an album, at least do it in an insightful and professional manner.
Thank you. -
[17:38 on 26/03/12]
-
-
-
Hopkins
-
-
[19:11 on 26/03/12]
-
-
-
Mazz
-
I find the bad reviews that some of my 'projects' get to be much more fun to read. Then again most the stuff I create is very average..5 out of 10 kind of stuff.
-
[20:25 on 26/03/12]
-
-
-
mike
-
dave_deadspace says:Hi Mike, I'm the singer of TSE, thanks for taking the time to review our album.The production is VERY clean/sterile (we recorded it in a bedroom!) , but i can assure you that i'm not putting on any accent! unfortunately for your ears its all me i'm afraid, i'm very very cumbrian! We can only hope to improve, we're refining our technique and sound all the time, and i'd like to think we are a much 'livelier' live act than the record which does tend to compartmentalise our sound a bit. you may not be interested but we will be working on album 2 pretty soon, and if you would be willing could we send you a copy? which will either affirm your opinion on us or maybe try change your mind.
Thanks for replying Dave, I am happy to take a listen to anything anyone sends in and as you can see we are honest about what we think. I'd be glad to listen to album number two, in fact I'd welcome it. -
[20:25 on 26/03/12]
-
-
-
mike
-
tallysmissus says:This was a hugely unprofessional review. You don,t like The Sun Explodes, your opinion and one to which you are entitled, but to dismiss hours and hours of hard work in such a trite way is disrespectful to say the least. Comparing them to Muse just because both vocalists can hit high notes is lazy and unecessary. The high notes aren,t painful as you suggest, it,s called vocal range. If you take it upon yourself to review an album, at least do it in an insightful and professional manner.
Thank you.
Apologies if my reviewing style isn't up to your standards, however submitting something for review anywhere leaves it open to interpretation, good or bad, so I'd say that's fair. I know this review is rather brutal, but as you say, it is just my opinion.
We welcome your submitted reviews too, so if you don't agree, have your say. I'm also happy to pass on the release to another reviewer for a second opinion, as we have done before, I can't say fairer than that. -
[20:41 on 26/03/12]
-
-
-
Tino Insana
- Haha, Hopkins!
-
[22:56 on 26/03/12]
-
-
-
Jack
- The bad review we got from a French blog site just talked about the shirts we we're wearing in our press photo and said we want to be the Black Keys due to their recent mainstream success, even though at least 3 of the songs on the album were written in 2006, but it made me giggle
-
[08:24 on 27/03/12]
-
-
-
Mazz
-
Jack says:The bad review we got from a French blog site just talked about the shirts we we're wearing in our press photo and said we want to be the Black Keys due to their recent mainstream success, even though at least 3 of the songs on the album were written in 2006, but it made me giggle
Go shirtless for the next shoot. Also include a RAP song. -
[09:08 on 27/03/12]
-
-
-
dave_deadspace
- Thanks Mike, we're just grateful for the attention, it's always hard to read negative comments on something that you worked so hard on, but honesty is appreciated, too many reviewers are willing to sugar-coat reviews in favour of EVERY band regardless of the quality of their work. Polarising opinion is what making music is all about so thanks for the review containing yours, we will send album 2 when it's finished in the new year and maybe we can build on emergence and present something a little more focused. Thanks again dude. Dave.
-
[10:13 on 27/03/12]
-
-
-
Podge -
Is there someone called Tally in the band?
Reading this thread throws up other negative reviews so it's not just Mike is it.
Props to the band for taking the rough with the smooth -
[11:51 on 27/03/12]
-
-
-
dave_deadspace
- No Tally in TSE I'm afraid, It's nice to have people 'sticking up' for us, but we can look after ourselves, the only way to change peoples opinions on the music. is with the work, not by having a go at them for voicing a valid opinion. so to my knowledge (which is limited) it's none of our missus'
-
[12:30 on 27/03/12]
-
-
-
Gareth -
I had a listen to the myspace tracks and the whole shred and synths thing doesn't work for me in general so it was an uphill struggle. It's not as bad as Attack Attack by any means. I actually quite liked the vocals, they had a slight 80's vibe to them but they were mixed way too high. On low volume on my speakers the instruments were all kind of murmuring away in the background under the vocals, which always bugs me when I listen to music.
As for constructive criticism, it's hard to make suggestions to improve a bands sound as it's always a matter of personal taste. I don't like this genre so I couldn't give you anything useful other than if you enjoy it, carry on doing it.
And to the person complaing about unprofessional reviews, fine. Aim it at someone who purports to review stuff professionally instead of in their spare time. -
[20:25 on 27/03/12]
-
-
-
Eggy -
just seen the retweet for this review, awesome stuff!
I think it's fair to say most ninehertz fans won't be fans of the band. -
[08:02 on 21/09/12]
-
Forums - Reviews and Articles - The Sun Explodes - Emergence
Recent Reviews
-
ninehertz Podcast 272 -
20 Years in 20 Albums -
ninehertz Podcast 271 -
ninehertz Podcast 270 -
ninehertz Podcast 269 -
ninehertz Podcast 268 -
ninehertz Podcast 267 -
ninehertz Podcast 266 -
ninehertz Podcast 265 -
ninehertz Podcast 264 - Kurokuma interview -
ninehertz Podcast 263 -
ninehertz Podcast 262 -
ninehertz Podcast 261 -
ninehertz Podcast 260 -
ninehertz Podcast 259 -
ninehertz Podcast 258