Album Review :
Since October - Life, Scars, Apologies
By Joshua Clark in Reviews | Comments closed
Band: Since October
Title: Life, Scars, Apologies
Label: Tooth and Nail
Release Date: June 8th 2010
Reviewed By: Joshua
Track listing:
- The Way You Move
- Life, Scars, Apologies
- Believe
- Sober Love
- Life of Mine
- Other Side of Me
- The Show
- Mend All the Pieces
- Crying Shame
- My Only
- Made Up My Mind
- Don’t Follow
May 27, 2008: Since October made their debut on Tooth & Nail Records with their crunchy guitar riffs, raspy vocals, and quiet verses which led into booming choruses. This happened to be a typical format and sound that we have heard from countless other mainstream and Christian rock bands. But overall the album had quite a few good tracks, and was an average release. I enjoyed quite a few different songs on the album and was looking forward to see what else this band could do. I was hoping they could come more into their own and not just doing what we have heard dozens of times before.
Well, with the launch of Life, Scars, Apologies, at first glance one could say not much has really changed on Since October’s follow-up album. Which, in a way, this is true, the format from the first album is still there. Making this album chock full of arena radio-rock and a handful of ballads. But the positive to this is Since October makes a fairly fun and enjoyable listen to this sound we have heard before.
We start off with lead single “The Way You Move” which shows you how much of this album is going to look. Strong, emotion filled vocals, with a fun, catchy radio-rock sound. This continues on with the next two tracks with this both having great guitar riffs and some heartfelt vocals. That is something worth mentioning about these 3 songs and the next 9 to follow. Since October has some pretty solid lyrical writing, that is both heartfelt and honest. Which makes it great to get into with solid lyrics and the very emotional vocals of Ben Graham, with the heavy music backdrop.
“Sober Love” slows down the rock sound a bit with a solid rock ballad. This track has some great honest lyrics and a catchy chorus. The next track “Life of Mine” is just as appealing and keeps a similar sound. “The Other Side of Me” has a typical rock format with the quiet verses and then picking up for the chorus, like numerous songs on this album display.
Now “The Show” picks up the pace for a fast, heavy rock track, this song being selected for an official song theme of WrestleMania. Which you just need to listen to the track for a few seconds to see why it would be selected and you will notice why it is so fitting. But this is a noticeable change in pace from the other songs on the album and why not perfect it mixes things up a bit.
The next 2 tracks, while pretty enjoyable, don’t change too much from previous tracks heard early on the album so there isn’t much else to say about these. “Mending All The Pieces” keeps the slow verses and the guitars kick in for the chorus, while “Crying Shame” is decent rock track.
“My Only” is another slower track on the album,with some solid lyrical writing that could either be taken as relationship love song or a love song to God.This is a very emotion filled ballad and a pretty enjoyable track on the record. The next track “Made Up My Mind” is another rocking track reminding you of something in the vein of Decyfer Down. It’s a pretty solid track though.
The last song “Don’t Follow” I feel isn’t one of the better ballads on the album and is kind of a weak ending. It’s not awful but the previous track seemed like it would have been a better representation of the band and a better way to end. This song just comes off kind of boring since it has similar acoustic guitar sound throughout and the harmonica really doesn’t work too well for these guys. Making it a rather lack-luster track to end an otherwise solid album.
Overall: This will remind you of any other rock band you have heard before. Which doesn’t make it a bad thing it just makes the whole album really familiar. Overall I really like the vocalist and the emotion he puts into the lyrics and the solid music backdrop. But even though all the songs are pretty solid, they all for the most part have the same formula. So you have either rock tracks or ballads which with a little variety could have strengthened the album. But if you like bands like Red, Decyfer Down, Disciple, or Thousand Foot Krutch you may find something you enjoy here.