Concept albums…they either work spectacularly well or backfire in the worst way. When bands get them right they really can sound effective and interesting. At times Alesana manage to get ‘The Emptiness’ bang on. There are elements of songs that sound fucking huge – there’s a riff in the middle of ‘The Thespian’ which sounds massive. But I just can’t get over some of the screaming and shouting, which just doesn’t sit well with the melodic singing. Yeah I know, I’m always moaning on about how bored I am of the genre and so this record always had a bit of a challenge in terms of winning me over. But, and I have to be honest, some of this record is really, really good. I just think the screaming ruins it.
Let’s rewind a little. The band have been going for six years now and this is their third album. To keep things fresh the band have based the record on an Edgar Allen Poe poem. I haven’t seen it, but apparently the full release of the CD comes with a 13-page short story based on the concept surrounding the album and the lyrics, with extra artwork. Impressive stuff and lots of other bands could learn a lesson from that. Anyway, the album kicks off with a spoken word intro which is a little spooky and the proclaimation that “the emptiness will haunt you”. It sets the tone for an interesting and intriguing record, especially lyrically.
As I’ve mentioned, some of the riffs are massive. I think that’s partly down to the production, which is clean and crisp throughout, but I’ve been impressed with the energy and the power the band have managed to capture throughout the album. Ditto the ‘clean’ vocals, which also sound brilliant. The vocal melodies work perfectly and there are some really catchy choruses. The first four or five songs flow really well and the likes of ‘The Murderer’ mix screaming and singing pretty well. My only complaint, and unfortunately it’s a major one, is that the screaming is screeched in such a way it sounds more death metal than ’emo’ – it just doesn’t quite sit well with the sound the band have pretty much nailed on ‘The Emptiness’. To add to that, it’s totally overused. The clean, melodic vocals take centre stage because they’re done brilliantly well – background screaming and screeching just takes attention away and, for me, ruins it. Perectly good songs descend into growls; it’s pointless, been heard a million times before and detracts from what is actually an intriguing listen.
Too many bands sound like Alesana, so full credit for at least trying to be different with the concept. It’s just a shame the weird and overused screaming ruins a perfectly good attempt at a worn out genre of music. Fans of this stuff will lap ‘The Emptiness’ up and I’d urge people who like to check out new bands to give this a whirl. I just think it’s not quite as good as it could, and maybe should, be.