Alesana’s current release The Emptiness has perplexed me for a couple weeks.
I think I understand what they’re trying to do but I have a hard time with spoken word narratives by Broadway voiced kids.
I will say that I love the song lyrics and the sound of the new release but again I’m wondering what the hell they were thinking with this whole production thing.
Alesana is band you either love or hate. I love them. I can only tolerate that level of growl at certain times at certain measure and lately I have been knee deep in them as they will be touring through my area this week. I have seen them a couple times before and their sweat covered energy and bloody vocal chord howl always bring out the most amazing energy from the crowd. Considering there are SIX members in Alesana… they are a crowd.
“The Curse of the Virgin Canvas’ scares the crap out of me.. and I think its supposed to. I feel like I’m in the Shining when i hear it. Nearly 5 minutes of floating falsetto and growling screams fluctuating enough to send that shrill of discomfort through its listener. For the faint of heart? No but if you’re appreciative of this type of this music, this is a mental amusement park whipping you from chaos to floating down a river of calm.. weird huh? But the fade out with narrative and strings.. well.. why is it there? The purity of the music is enough to be fantastic, but I think this is a grasp of being more arty? I’m speculating but really I could do without it
“The Artist” is old school Alesana-this is the filthy jeans wearing mosh pit boys dream. How funny the Alesana fan base is. The testosterone reigns as powerfully as the Axe and the emotion is as strong as a Never Shout Never gig.. but with the raw power of a boys angst. I adore hardcore gigs because it the rage of ‘the pit’ always makes me smile. Its nice to witness such fury and passion. Music lovers of my age are passive and applaud, the crowd at these shows breaths the lyrics and thrashes the emotion. Its interesting in a National Geographic sort of way. I hope I never get too old to appreciate it or the buzz it creates.
“A Lunatics Lament” is by far the star of “The Emptiness’
Dennys scream runs in the back ground like a chasing entity just as Shawns high pitched lament sits atop. A beautifully done parfait of sound. If my memory serves me correct I first encountered them in 2008 at Warped Tour. There I was pushed (literally) from the line of meet and greet kids. Again how fun is that! The Magpie did meet them though and that same shove coordinator nearly killed me for taking a photograph of her with them. Made me want to run a video really. But I got the shot so who cares. Funny I wonder what damage a photo would have been. hmmm regardless the tent worker at that Warped (who I think was affiliated with Skelanimals) has hopefully found a new job.
So “The Emptiness” is going to get 4 stars out of 5. I may see them live on Sunday if so I will report on how they pull this off live.
Until then I will keep listening to it and attempt to ‘get it’, but I will love the musical portions regardless.