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As soon as I put in the new, and first, Midgar album
‘Lead Your Children to the Sky’ I am
instantly hit by the uncanny resemblance the lead
singer Andy Wilson-Taylor has with Charlie from
Fightstar and also how they sound quite similar.
Despite this, I can’t help but prefer an original
sounding singer; I am impressed by the hard hitting
opening track ‘Colour Us’. This sets
the tone for the majority of the rest of the album.
Following this rock opening number a beautiful classical
piano instrumental intrudes. These are scattered
throughout the album. This makes ‘Lead your
children to the sky’ unique and unlike a lot
of other bands around at the moment. It is a clear
nod to their classical influence. Sometimes when
a band does this it feels as though they are trying
too hard to look musically knowledgeable and can
come across as a bit pretentious but this is not
the case with Midgar.
A lot of the songs on this album are quite dark.
The music has a weird mix between dark and light.
A song like ‘Karmic Retribution’ opens
with ominous atmospheric piano and leads into
similar guitar but as the vocals start the piano
changes to something more light sounding to accompany
the vocals that are cut up with bursts of menacing
guitar. Then it switches back to the darker sound.
I’m not complaining, I like it. ‘Karmic
Retribution’ is one of my favourite songs
on the album.
The title track ‘Lead Your Children to
the Sky’ makes a departure from their rock
sound and flirts with harder, rougher vocals courtesy
of Steve Sitkowski. Although I do enjoy this track
when I first heard it in context of the album
it confused me and seemed quite out of place.
Ranging from rock to classical piano instrumentals
and then to a screamo-esque guest singer you cannot
fault Midgar on being experimental. A band that
dabbles in different sounds and techniques is
good thing but the appearance of this mid album
just threw me a little bit. Despite my initial
confusion the teaming of Steve Sitkowski’s
harsh vocals with hard guitar riffs and heavy
drums makes this a track worth listening to.
Although I did enjoy this album from start to
finish and admire them for showing their classical
influence and experimenting with different vocals
I feel that they could be too easily compared
to Fightstar. Although they rupture originality
on places in others, like the vocals, they just
don’t. Regardless of this I would recommend
Midgarr a listen, especially if you are a Fightstar
fan.
3/5
Review by Nicci Peet |
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Related Links |
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| Review
Score Code |
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- Top Cheese
- Brilliant
- Pretty damn good
- Ok I guess
-
What Was That? |
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