Snow Patrol, an alternative rock band from Bangor in Northern Ireland, came together in 1994 as an indie band. After countless tours, line-up changes, many awards and award nominations, T.V appearances, five studio albums (with sales of up to 11 million) and one greatest hits compilation, ‘Up To Now’ (2009), and worldwide success, Snow Patrol’s sixth record was released on the 11th of November this year. ‘Fallen Empires’ marks the band taking their time to write a personal organic album, that fans all over the world have patiently waited for.
‘Fallen Empires’ showcases a completely different side to Snow Patrol’s music; less intensely emotional and more electronic and experimental in the best way possible. ‘I’ll Never Let You Go’ opens with a faint, progressive drum beat that wouldn’t go a loss on a U2 track, reflecting the band’s developmental aspirations, despite already having sold out several dates at the 16,000 capacity O2 Arena in London next February. Their amazing accomplishments so far have unlocked innumerable doors for them in terms of sound, yet they have retained fundamentals of their work such as dynamic light and shade and spectacular harmonies.
What is interesting about Snow Patrol is that they never compromise vocals for instrumentation or vice versa, which many big alternative bands tend to do; each musical element is immaculately composed and produced. ‘Called Out In The Dark’ was released as a single on the 2nd of September this year with several bonus tracks and peaked at number 11 in the UK Singles Chart. Although nothing spectacular, Gary Lightbody’s vocals have always been mild yet remarkable. Unfortunately, the gentle tones of Snow Patrol’s sound can be a little overbearing for an entire album, although ‘The Weight of Love’ is a great blend of tender vocals and thumping drumming, as well as gang vocals that are neither Christmassy or strident.
‘This Isn’t Everything You Are’ shows Snow Patrol sticking too rigidly to their self-created format of hushed verses and powerful, yet un-anthemic or pop based choruses. Its indie gang harmonies show the band’s experimental side and potential for utterly new material such as piano based ‘The Garden Rules’ which illustrates the passion and warmth of Snow Patrol’s music, as well as their beautiful, slow-burning melodies. The input of female vocals also gives a realistic, feet-firmly-on-the-ground feel. Title track ‘Fallen Empires’ is as chirpy as Coldplay’s latest work and as likeably odd as a Mumford and Sons song. Although, the band’s constant battle to shake their dad-rock ridden image leads them to chose style over substance at times.
Average ‘Berlin’ is ridden with overly ordinary and repetitive gang vocals, which are overused a great deal in ‘Fallen Empires’ when in actual fact, fans want to hear the band fundamentally. The soothing, lullaby style of ‘Life-ning’, a somewhat confusing song title, may reflect why some shun Snow Patrol as drab. But Lightbody’s cyclic tunes are comforting to many. ‘New York’ and ‘In The End’ are massive, consoling, yet sweeping songs until ‘New York’ progresses into wondrous string sections on a scale of the likes of Elbow. However, although much of the album is raw, some moments from ‘In The End’ actually appear off-key.
The emotion of Snow Patrol’s older material is what placed their feet firmly on the alternative rock ladder, but the overuse of female vocals, probably due to the success of ‘Set Fire To The Third Bar’ takes from any potential the band themselves have, along with constant vocals. ‘The Symphony’ shows them dabbling in dance beats and power-pop interludes, and is consequently a welcomed addition to ‘Fallen Empires’. It is utterly contrasted to ‘The President’, which is yet another track developing into nothing. Although instrumentals can be a great element of albums, the arrangement and placement of ‘Broken Bottles Form A Star (Prelude)’ does not quite work.
What is interesting about Snow Patrol is that they never compromise vocals for instrumentation or vice versa, which many big alternative bands tend to do; each musical element is immaculately composed and produced. ‘Called Out In The Dark’ was released as a single on the 2nd of September this year with several bonus tracks and peaked at number 11 in the UK Singles Chart. Although nothing spectacular, Gary Lightbody’s vocals have always been mild yet remarkable. Unfortunately, the gentle tones of Snow Patrol’s sound can be a little overbearing for an entire album, although ‘The Weight of Love’ is a great blend of tender vocals and thumping drumming, as well as gang vocals that are neither Christmassy or strident.
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| 'Fallen Empires': Artwork |
Average ‘Berlin’ is ridden with overly ordinary and repetitive gang vocals, which are overused a great deal in ‘Fallen Empires’ when in actual fact, fans want to hear the band fundamentally. The soothing, lullaby style of ‘Life-ning’, a somewhat confusing song title, may reflect why some shun Snow Patrol as drab. But Lightbody’s cyclic tunes are comforting to many. ‘New York’ and ‘In The End’ are massive, consoling, yet sweeping songs until ‘New York’ progresses into wondrous string sections on a scale of the likes of Elbow. However, although much of the album is raw, some moments from ‘In The End’ actually appear off-key.
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| Snow Patrol |
With ballads lacking strong sentiment or real substance and more up-tempo tracks lacking arena-filling features, ‘Fallen Empires’ is disappointing and does not convey the spectacular songwriting skills of frontman Gary Lightbody, or the musical abilities of the rest of the band.
3/5
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