Released: Jul 9, 2010
Genre: Metalcore, alternative metal, heavy metal
Label: Century Media
Number Of Tracks: 10
In This Moment will always be a great band, and they have brought another solid album to the world.
A Star Crossed WastelandFeatured review by: UG Team, on august 02, 2010 1 of 3 people found this review helpful
Sound: As a die-hard In This Moment fan since I first came across the quintet as their CD Beautiful Tragedy first arrived on shelves in 2006, I instantly have fallen in love with their sound, and praise their melodies graciously. Now this may sound weird, but In This Moment at times can add quite the perfect mix of heavy and light together, and thats what happened in The Dream. The Dream was my favorite album of 2008, simply for their effective melodies and leads that gave the album a powerful response from emotions everywhere.
A month ago when The Gun Show was first played through my speakers, it was a perfect lead into this new album, where they going back to their roots of Screams and chuggin galore? Or was this just to show they can still rock it heavy? The Gun Show showed the band could still bull off their old roots, but it sounded cheesy. Maria can still scream better than a lot of screamo singers, but the melodies I had grown in love with for long were almost dead. Then I got the album.
The second song The Drive gave me all the hope I needed to write this review positively, combining the harmonious vocals with an actual form of chord progressions instead of simple chugg chugg chugg of open pal mutes. The leads came back, and this vibe continued into more songs, leading directly, as I promised, to The Promise. Soft, clean, and a male vocalist?! This adds so much more depth into the song, and the chorus explodes with Maria's screams and the guitars lusciously providing backup. Guitarist Chris Howorth knows hot to play guitar, and he shows it in his graceful leads in quite noticably every song. The Road is the most distinguishable, adding tapping licks, and a delicately drawn out solo to harmony lead, many other songs emphasize unique solos, such as world in flames, the gun show, and A Star-Crossed Wasteland. Jeff Fabb and kyle Konkiel keep the grooves down on the low end, with Fabb on the drums and Konkiel on the bass. Jeff Fabb has quite the skills at drumming, sure it is not anything that will win him an award, but he closes the guitars and the vocals perfectly into songs that have movements and change with his patterns. The mixing is only an improvement, if not better. In This Moment have brought a solid sound to this album. // 8
Lyrics and Singing: Watch In This Moment live and you will notice Guitarist Chris Howorth always mouthing the words to songs, well now he gets his own parts. It seems Maria can loosen up a bit on the stress of taking all the vocals, I mean she is great, and not to mention she won hottest girl in metal of 2009. Her vocals are raw, lets put it that way first. She can scream with quite an edge that looks some guys (even bandmate chris howorth) look foolish. Iron Army is one of these songs where you can feel the power of her screams through the speakers, and boy does it create the goosebumps. Those deeps vocals at the end are killer, I mean listen for yourself (buy the album). Her actual singing voice is just as impressive, gaining quite the range since Beautiful Tragedy. She can sing, and I love the soothing voice she has. Into The Light on the last album was by far one of the prettiest songs I have, and I could not wait to hear those type of vocals again, and luckily they are found. World In Flames, the last track, has quite the pretty vocals by Maria, and even her piano is heard, all in all, her vocals can produce tears. Back to Howorth, he adds depth to her vocals by giving that low tone when he duals with her, or his screams, which are not the best, but give a look of surprise to hear someone besides Brink. He can sing though, and every time I hear his voice I swear I think its Myles Kennedy, which is a compliment. The vocals are the strongpoint of this album. // 9
Impression: Overall, In This Moment have brought another solid album to the world. With new accomplishments achieved over the years, more hype has been brewing for this album, and to be honest, with an exception of The Gun Show, all the hype will be met. The band stepped past their debut track, which has been said to be too hard to get them anywhere, and found more songs with many having the potential to become singles. Maria Brink ands her lucious screaming has more than meets the eye, and I'm sure she does too. A Star-Crossed Wasteland happens to be a wonderland for listeners, and to call it just solid is downright wrong. It is a new begining to two mixed sounds. Adding the melodies and light sounds from The Dream with their official screaming roots of Beautiful Tragedy give this album the potential to take this band farther than before. This is an album to purchase if you are a music player or a listener, or just a fan of bands with good looking girls in them, no matter what, In This Moment will always be a great band, and this album is a must have. // 9
A Star Crossed Wasteland
Reviewed by:
kinslayerSOA, on february 13, 2012 0 of 0 people found this review helpful
Sound: I first encountered In This Moment by accident, finding a link to them on YouTube whilst perusing the website for more songs involving Gus G. When I first found their songs, I expected them to be another pop-metal band, bringing out the stylings of bands like Amaranthe, but without the same success (I am a huge Amaranthe fan).
I could not have been more wrong.
Sounding like an Arch Enemy/One Without hybrid, the music comes flying out of the speakers at you from the outset of the album. There are smatterings of more mainstream metal in there, and mainstream music as a whole, but they only add to the diversity of the band. The guitars are quite typical of the genre as a whole - chugging verses, energetic riffs and melodic solos, and are dealt with expertly by Chris Howorth and Blake Bunzel. Drums are also typical, using double-bass to great effect at times, but Jeff Fabb manages to adapt his style to the different musical stylings of the various songs.
A very great band-sound altogether, if not a little over-typical of the genre, but Maria Brink is the separating factor between this band and most others. // 8
Lyrics and Singing: Maria Brink. I had never heard of her before purchasing this album, and I feel my life is better now because of it. Aside from her smoking-hot looks, her voice is just perfect for this melodic-metalcore hybrid. Her screams, although overpowering the rest of the band at times, manage to convey the right emotions at the right time, and her clean vocals are far superior to many vocalists in the genre. Listen to "The Gun Show" followed by "World In Flames" to see where I am coming from. A stunning performance throughout the whole album, from start to finish.
The lyrics are also fantastic. Although not a concept album per se, many of the lyrics point towards a combination of a Wild West setting and an apocalypse. Songs like "The Last Cowboy" and "Blazin" fit this idea perfectly, with the former's spoken-word lyrics being one of my lyrical highlights of the album. Aside from these lyrical themes, the ideas of love come through prominently, most notably on beautiful album-closer "World In Flames", and are delivered to perfection - both emotionally and melodically - by Brink. // 9
Impression: 01. "The Gun Show" - This is how I feel all Metalcore albums should start. A powerful chorus split by strong verses and a use of great tempo changes and chugging guitars. This is the song that In This Moment should be using to open gigs for a very long time.
02. "Just Drive" - An acoustic intro hints to a very different song to the preceding track. However, one yell of "Just Drive" leads to an intro and a verse that seem like a very similar, albeit sped up verse to "The Gun Show". The chorus is the first time on the album we hear Maria's clean vocal side, and it is very impressive - yet it is overpowered a bit by harmonies and screams. A very impressive guitar solo could also have been extended a little.
03. "The Promise" - One of the more accessible songs on the album, this song seems made to be a single. The vocal stylings of Maria and guest vocalist Adrian Patrick work very well together - with Maria's screams showing a lot more emotion than just the anger screams are accustomed to. Sounds mainstream, but at this point in the album it fits very well.
04. "Standing Alone" - The intro this song catches the attention immediately. Incredibly fast drums, nice keyboard work and a simple, yet catchy guitar riff (albeit only for a few seconds). In general, the instrumentation is more obvious in this song than the previous three, with Maria's vocals being addition to the song rather than the focal point - not necessarily a bad thing after three vocal-heavy tracks.
05. "A Star Crossed Wasteland" - The titular track of the album is the first "calmer" track on the album. The guitar-work in the verses remind me of Bullet For My Valentine when they do their ballads, and although to some it is a negative, it is quite welcome on this album as it complements Maria's melodic vocals very well. On the subject of guitars, the tone in the solo is very nice - but the solo itself just seems to be another factor in this song having all the right parts, but together it just doesn't seem to go anywhere.
06. "Blazin'" - The slow-building intro to this song is wonderful into a fantastic, energetic guitar riff. This song seems a return to the style of "The Gun Show", but at a much faster pace. This is one of the songs guitarists will feel compelled to learn over the others on the album, and I can't blame them. Fantastic work by all members of the band on this.
07. "The Road" - This is the first song I heard from this album, as browsing YouTube for Gus G made me find In This Moment in the first place. Unlike many guest musicians, Gus G doesn't forcefully make himself the focal point of this song - his solo is very tasteful and doesn't overawe the rest of the song, which is very well put together. This is a fantastic song all round, with a very catchy chorus, and beautiful vocal work again by Maria. The riff/solo after the final chorus is just the icing on the cake.
08. "Iron Army" - The intro of this song is one that will be able to bring mosh pits to In This Moment gigs for a while to come. The chorus is one that my head cannot help but nod along to, but the song as a whole is a complete anomaly in my mind. Every song on this album up to this point I've been able to pinpoint why I like them, but this one I really like but am a little unsure as to why. The final product of this song is greater than the sum of it's parts.
09. "The Last Cowboy" - One final hurrah for Metalcore on this album. A very different style of song, this is one of the better on the album. The spoken-word vocals work very well with the entire concept of the album, and the tempo of speech works very well with the backing instrumentation. The chorus is beautiful, as is quite common on the album as a whole, and the whole song comes together very well. This is a lesson on how to combine spoken word and metal, one that Lou Reed & Metallica needed.
10. "World In Flames" - Words cannot describe how incredible this song is to me. Beautiful, heartfelt lyrics, gorgeous vocals encapsulating the emotion of the song perfectly, and a slow build to a climactic, tasteful guitar solo. A complete shift in style on the album (sounding rather poppy at times), but one that works incredibly well and arguably closes the album at it's highest peak.
Overall, I absolutely adore this album. It is my first experience of In This Moment, and has turned me into one of their biggest fans - their mix of styles is exactly what I look for in a band. To many people, the screaming vocals can be a bit of a turn-off, but that is all personal opinion. If this album were stolen, I would buy it again immediately, before even worrying about who may have stolen it.
If you are a fan of Metalcore, and very heavy songs, the best songs for you would be "The Gun Show", "Just Drive" and "Blazin'". If you prefer a melodic flavour to your metal, the best songs for you are "The Promise", "The Road" and "World In Flames". // 9
A Star Crossed Wasteland
Reviewed by:
unregistered, on august 04, 2010 0 of 0 people found this review helpful
Sound: Ever since Beautiful Tragedy came out, I've been following metalcore band In This Moment. Tragedy was, in my own opinion, a pretty decent metalcore album, adding the variant of a female vocalist (the typical "Oh my God! A CHICK screaming METAL!" reaction). Afterwards, they came out with the sophomore The Dream, which I completely disliked. Now the band returns with A Star-Crossed Wasteland, and I believe the band couldn't have done a better move. The Dream's soft, mellow, almost poppy sound wasn't the In This Moment I liked. And when I heart the first minute to The Gun Show, I knew In This Moment was back. Maria Brink's screaming is the first thing you notice if you listened to The Dream before, and for me, that's the main point of this album. In This Moment goes back to where they started, with their heavy riffs and powerful screaming. Plus, you can hear a lot more lead riffing in this album. For those who liked Beautiful Tragedy, this album's gonna be just great. // 8
Lyrics and Singing: Honestly, I think the lyrics are pretty overall. Not too bad, but no song really stands out lyrically. Actually, The Gun Show's lyrics are a little too simple, but I guess they do the job. I'm actually using this space to talk a little more about Maria's vocal skills. In their last album, Maria's mellow vocals grew kinda monotone, in my opinion. Not too many variants, and the album's general style didn't really allow Maria to exploit her vocal skills, starting with the lack of screaming in the album.
Maria's vocals in this record are just as good as I remembered them to be. The album in general indeed took elements from The Dream, especially the melodies. However, the main part of In This Moment's actual sound refers more to A Beautiful Tragedy, and that means Maria's back on screaming. She does a really good job in her screaming parts, and her clean parts, which appear a little more often as the album progresses, are as good as ever. Maria's back with a "solo" track like The Dream's Into The Light, this one entitled The World In Flames. Maria's clean vocal range is put to test here, and she passes with an A. She's the ideal person to complement In This Moment's particular sound. In addition, in track number two, The Promise, we can hear Maria doing a duet with Otherwise's vocalist, Adrian Patrick. This event makes this song really stand out from the others, as Maria and Adrian's voices blend perfectly together. // 9
Impression: In This Moment have definitely cleand up their names to their old-school fans that missed Maria's screaming and their fast-paced, heavy-riffed metalcore songs. Taking some of the melodies from The Dream and Beautiful Tragedy's aggresiveness, the band raises its hand and speaks up for the newer metalcore talents, and prove that they're here to stay. // 9
i'm noticing how many of these 'official' reviews are using the same trite, recycled descriptive language - it becomes as unoriginal as the crap they're talking about.
I agree that the review was pretty fanboy-ish and one-sided. But I can also understand that it can be difficult to speak objectively about something you really like. So, basically, few people will gain anything from this review.
Yeah, agree with the previous comments. It's a shame too, because this album is pretty cool. I'm stoked about the mix they have here. In my opinion, the best songs are "just drive,""standing alone," "iron army," and the bonus song "remember." the song structures have the feel from the dream with a more aggressive vocal style reminiscent of beautiful tragedy. This album is actually a lot closer to a follow up to beautiful tragedy than the dream was.
Also...for a fanboy, I would think reading some liner notes occasionally might help. Gus G does the solo in "the road."
Yeah, I don't listen to this band, but once again I have to agree with my fellow commenters that this review is awful. Way to give no insight on the album while overhyping it. I find it hard to believe that somewhere within that wall of "this amazing band that is just perfectly terrific at being great" there is an album review. UG is slowly dying, and things like this are why.
Because mindless sheep attach themselves to whatever the current trend is. This terrible band falls into the "OMG THEY HAZ A GIRL SCREAMING METAL NO WAI" category.
Fanboys are typically younger kids. It's totally age-biased to disregard a review because someone is younger, but that's usually the case. I could give a lot of reasons why, but I'm not going to. You guys are typically close-minded and cynical, so you're not really any better. The thing I will say is that these featured reviews are useful in that they are a good way of putting a certain band on your radar. That's not to say that Ultimate Guitar is trying to shove certain types of music down your throats - they're not. But it is a nice way to see the albums coming out and get a feel for whether or not you would like to check the band out or, better yet, expand your musical horizons. I can understand why people listen to the same old stuff - I know I do. It's been years since I've been able to keep up with all the music that comes out; I've long since given up on being a purist or elitist collector and I often come back to the same old stuff too. But these reviews are an excellent, interesting, and accessible way to sift through what one may or may not like. Additionally, the hate that is spewed and the foundering, sheeplike defenses that devotees submit in the comments are often hilarious.
I'm surprised the UG team let this slide. The article has some good sections in it, but it's also littered with biased statements that can't really be argued.
Fanboys are typically younger kids. It's totally age-biased to disregard a review because someone is younger, but that's usually the case. I could give a lot of reasons why, but I'm not going to. You guys are typically close-minded and cynical, so you're not really any better. The thing I will say is that these featured reviews are useful in that they are a good way of putting a certain band on your radar. That's not to say that Ultimate Guitar is trying to shove certain types of music down your throats - they're not. But it is a nice way to see the albums coming out and get a feel for whether or not you would like to check the band out or, better yet, expand your musical horizons. I can understand why people listen to the same old stuff - I know I do. It's been years since I've been able to keep up with all the music that comes out; I've long since given up on being a purist or elitist collector and I often come back to the same old stuff too. But these reviews are an excellent, interesting, and accessible way to sift through what one may or may not like. Additionally, the hate that is spewed and the foundering, sheeplike defenses that devotees submit in the comments are often hilarious.
Dude, my dads 63 and hes been a fanboy of the Stones since he was 19. Its a general term and doesn't have to apply to one specific group.
Fanboys are typically younger kids. It's totally age-biased to disregard a review because someone is younger, but that's usually the case. I could give a lot of reasons why, but I'm not going to. You guys are typically close-minded and cynical, so you're not really any better. The thing I will say is that these featured reviews are useful in that they are a good way of putting a certain band on your radar. That's not to say that Ultimate Guitar is trying to shove certain types of music down your throats - they're not. But it is a nice way to see the albums coming out and get a feel for whether or not you would like to check the band out or, better yet, expand your musical horizons. I can understand why people listen to the same old stuff - I know I do. It's been years since I've been able to keep up with all the music that comes out; I've long since given up on being a purist or elitist collector and I often come back to the same old stuff too. But these reviews are an excellent, interesting, and accessible way to sift through what one may or may not like. Additionally, the hate that is spewed and the foundering, sheeplike defenses that devotees submit in the comments are often hilarious.
Dude, my dads 63 and hes been a fanboy of the Stones since he was 19. Its a general term and doesn't have to apply to one specific group.
+1. There are MANY artists that have been around a LONG time with fans just as old as they are that have the same level of "fanboy"ishness as any modern mall band. I was at a Bruce Springsteen concert last Fall (an artist that I am admittedly a devoted fanboy of) and met DOZENS of men in their 50's that were total fanboys.
As a die-hard In This Moment... stopped reading there.
Same here. I am not opposed to fans of a band writing reviews. But that bias cannot be apparent in the review, and the reviewer must do his/her best to make sure that bias doesn't exist in the writing. Same goes for someone who HATES a band that he/she is reviewing. The writer in this instance abandons that notion on the first sentence.
Oh! I forgot to say. I agree with a lot of people here, in which that they should not let die hard fans write reviews because they are going to like the material regardless. I think they should get people a FAN of the genre of music the band is playing in. I think there you can get a better critic.
I may be the only one with the balls to say it but the Gun Show DOES NOT represent the album AT ALL. If anything, it was the only REAL BAD track. On the other hand, I did enjoy the rest of the album. My 3 fav songs were Just Drive, The Promise and The Road. The male backup vocals in this album add a certain new dynamic and I did enjoy some fresh new solos but alas, another brickwalled album. Where's the FUCKING BASS?!
I put this album below The Dream in terms of mixing value. Their last album had a better mix, all of which you were able to hear every dynamic clearly. Lemme cut this shit, wanna see an objective review, go here:
Hmm... I don't listen to this band, but that Gus G. solo was pretty great; Better than anything he did on Ozzy's new album. Oh, the singer is ****in' hot too, but overall, their music is not really my thing.
As a die-hard In This Moment... stopped reading there.
Same here. I am not opposed to fans of a band writing reviews. But that bias cannot be apparent in the review, and the reviewer must do his/her best to make sure that bias doesn't exist in the writing. Same goes for someone who HATES a band that he/she is reviewing. The writer in this instance abandons that notion on the first sentence.
I mean..she is hot.. Well she has massive breasts..but man the music is boring.
I'm not trying to be negative (and its true, the review was pathetic), but I just can't hear anything in this band that is interesting, or new, or refreshing.
I may be the only one with the balls to say it but the Gun Show DOES NOT represent the album AT ALL. If anything, it was the only REAL BAD track.
Someone made some sense here! Maria looks quite hot in the video, but the song itself sucks. The rest of the album is quite like Beautiful Tragedy, which I personally enjoyed a lot.
Fanboys are typically younger kids. It's totally age-biased to disregard a review because someone is younger, but that's usually the case. I could give a lot of reasons why, but I'm not going to. You guys are typically close-minded and cynical, so you're not really any better. The thing I will say is that these featured reviews are useful in that they are a good way of putting a certain band on your radar. That's not to say that Ultimate Guitar is trying to shove certain types of music down your throats - they're not. But it is a nice way to see the albums coming out and get a feel for whether or not you would like to check the band out or, better yet, expand your musical horizons. I can understand why people listen to the same old stuff - I know I do. It's been years since I've been able to keep up with all the music that comes out; I've long since given up on being a purist or elitist collector and I often come back to the same old stuff too. But these reviews are an excellent, interesting, and accessible way to sift through what one may or may not like. Additionally, the hate that is spewed and the foundering, sheeplike defenses that devotees submit in the comments are often hilarious.
Dude, my dads 63 and hes been a fanboy of the Stones since he was 19. Its a general term and doesn't have to apply to one specific group.
+1. There are MANY artists that have been around a LONG time with fans just as old as they are that have the same level of "fanboy"ishness as any modern mall band. I was at a Bruce Springsteen concert last Fall (an artist that I am admittedly a devoted fanboy of) and met DOZENS of men in their 50's that were total fanboys.
FanBOY. Do you not see where the origin of the term came from? A fan is different from a fanboy. A fanboy is obsessed and has an irrational and evangelical advocacy of a certain something. And is characterized as a boy.
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