Holy Roman EmpireThis five piece is based out of Chicago, IL and play indie rock with loads of pop sensibilities and some punk undercurrents here and there. And It is absolutely remarkable how many ties this band has, over 190 fucking hardcore/punk bands. The band actually hasn't been together all that long and prior to releasing this they have released an EP titled "Lost In Landscapes" and a 2006 demo.
In all, there are 12-tracks of solid indie rock fronted by a soothing female voice. And I don't usually I don't get down with sung vocals, let alone female vocals. However, Emily Schambra (you may know her from her contributions to Rise Against's "Sufferer And Witness"). The music relies more on catchy pop hooks than anything. The greatest strength of the band is the guitars, which do a good job of layering. I mean there are some darker atmospheric moments now and again. The biggest drawback from the album is the first half of the album absolutely crushes the second half. It seems that the last half of the album lacks the focus and cohesion that the first half provided. Don't get me wrong, the back half isn't bad but it just pales in comparison to the opening tracks.
The lyrics are very well written and even though the content revolves mostly around the whole boy/girl thing I was still able to semi-get down them with.
I have nothing but good things to say about the recording that was done at Atlas Studios. This thing sounds as if they had a big recording budget (while I'm sure it was sufficient, it certainly wasn't as big as a major label). The guitars sound absolutely fantastic and the recording only strengthens the bands strong point of layering. The bass tone is gorgeous and has plenty of room in the mix. The drums are very warm sounding and were mixed wonderfully with the bass. The vocals have some effects and here that were worked in nicely and they have great placement.
Very streamlined layout that is printed on matte stock paper. The layout is very clean and eloquent and uses a nice range of earthly tones. The front cover looks like the front of a book or something with a sweet illustration of a fruit tree thats trunk serves as a sand clock. The inside of the booklet was very well designed and presents the lyrics in an easy to read format. The green borders used on the front cover encase the lyrics in the booklet. The background is the same off-set white color used on the front cover.
Rating: 3/5
Songs Worthy of Replay: An Alliance of Thieves and The Ace
Synopsis: This usually isn't my bread and butter, I tend to shy away from these types of releases. I mean I listen to some Get Up Kids and Sunny Day Real Estate but I'm not really too big into indie rock. But this isn't too bad and I got myself tapping my feet here and there. One of the big problems though with this album is it starts to lose its momentum after the first handful of tracks. Afterwards it seems to be a lot of filler. I would be interested to see how this band matures down the road. Check out some tracks @ http://www.myspace.com/holyromanempire If you like what you hear, buy it.