Band: SONS
Title: Keep Quiet
Label: SloSpeak
Release: February 14th
Reviewer: BrodyB
- Masters of Flattery
- Believe in Something
- Keep Quiet
- Retribution
- Caution
- Sea of Glass
- Doubt
- Under the Son
- Ghosts
- Son on the Run
- The Devil and I
- Is this a Dry Season or Agnosticism?
Good things come to those who wait. In November of 2010 the band Sons of God launched a Kickstarter project in order to help fund what has become their new release, “Keep Quiet”. After the band reached their goal of $7,000 to fund the album the band seemed to fall of the face of the earth besides occasional updates to their backers via Kickstarter. In June of 2011, the band announced they would be operating under the new moniker or SONS. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the band announced in January of 2012 they had signed with SloSpeak records and would release their fan funded full length, “Keep Quiet” on February 14th.
Now, I gave you all this back story and told you all about the wait many have (not so) patiently endured for a year and a half simply because I want to let you know one thing. The album was worth the wait. Now there is a fine line between being a fan boy and a genuine good review. So just to clear up any sort of misunderstanding: I was not a huge fan of SONS first effort, “The Genesis Prologue”. With that being said, I simply can not get enough of “Keep Quiet”.
From the opening driving note of Masters of Flattery, I knew SONS had won me over and created a record that not only begs to be blasted at full volume, but frankly deserves to be. With a powerful, anthemic chorus that will be stuck in your head for days, Aaron Newberry’s vocals absolutely soar in Masters of Flattery, soaked with conviction as he pleads, “Wait, I have made a mistake! Take me back for heaven’s sake!”. The next song, Believe in Something is quite the contrast to the punching riffs of the opener. Instead, Newberry resorts to an almost Copeland esque croon for the majority of the song while the instrumentation remains solemn and plays more of a supporting role until the song reaches its’ climax with about a minute left.
While many people may be expecting Newberry’s vocals to steal the show on this album that is not the case. In songs like Son on the Run the southern tinged lap steal guitars are what infatuate me and capture my attention. Son on the Run also features a (and I don’t use this word lightly) epic solo towards the end. The Devil and I features impressive percussion throughout the entirety of the nearly acoustic song.
As I mentioned before, the record absolutely NEEDS to be played at a loud volume and songs like Keep Quiet and Ghosts are two main songs I’ll choose to emphasize this point with. Keep Quiet features incredible piano during the chorus that quite frankly makes my jaw drop. The thing is, the piano is tucked under so many other intricate layers of the music that it is hard to hear unless your stereo is being blasted. Now for Ghosts. I’ll get this out of the way and say that this song is without a doubt one of the best songs I have ever heard. It begins slow and morose as Newberry lulls out hauntingly beautiful vocals proclaiming, “You could be forgetting how to breathe, or I could be sucking the life out of you.” all the while a beautiful string section accentuates the vocals and slowly picked out notes of the guitar. About halfway through the nearly six minute epic the tempo picks us, lead by the bass section of the strings, as so many layers of stunning music combine to create such a complexly fascinating sound scape. Needless to say, all these layers must be heard in full for the true excellence of the song to be experienced.
Is this a Dry Season or Agnosticism is a perfect closer for a perfect album. Starting off with a slow bass groove and sleigh bells and quickly building up into heavy riffing as all members of the band are firing on all cylinders, each holding their own on the musical spectrum. Just as quickly as it fades away, the slow groove returns, but this time with eerie keyboards as Newberry states, “We worship God on Sundays, using the weekdays for the fall. The Church’s budget overflows while poverty persists. How can the heart of Jesus and the prideful coexist?”. The summit of the song will leave you breathless as it is larger than life and something I can not begin to explain the impact it will bring.
SONS is a band that will take you by storm. Those who have been waiting for this album to release will not be disappointed while those who have yet to discover this fantastic Indie rock band will soon forget they have ever heard of the likes of genre contemporaries like Manchester Orchestra. As far as I am concerned, SONS have redefined the genre of indie rock for me and have created a new standard for any other band to try to top.