It's "Steal this album, part 2"It's rare that I hear an album and am blown away by it on the first listening, but that's what happened with 'Scars on Broadway'. Musically, it's brilliant. Take all the most tuneful, melodious, catchy output of 'System of a Down', strip off Serj Tankian's voice, and you are left with Scars on Broadway. I haven't listened to anything else for 2 weeks, and there's not a single duff track on here, it's all excellent.
So why 4 stars? It's the lyrics. Stripped of Serj Tankian's lyrics, we are often left with lyrics which come very much from the 'spoon and moon and june' school of songwriting. On top of the rhyming, which is incessant in every song, the lyrics in several songs seem a bit lacking in meaning.
Then again, if I wanted meangingful, I could read a book.
This album is fantastic, and if you liked SOAD, I don't see how you wouldn't also love this.
Scars On Broadway'Scars on Broadway' is the excellent album from Daron Malakian and John Dolmayan, which they've recorded while SOAD are on hiatus. Although it is a shame to compare this to SOAD, it is almost inevitable that this will occur. This album has some great tracks that show a flavour of SOAD's previous work, but with Daron and Johns own particular influence on things. It almost has the feeling of a SOAD album, but without the politics or quirky vocals that Serj brings to that group. This is in no way a bad thing as this album has an brilliant feel and sound and with a completely fun feel the whole way through. Album opener 'Serious' is a particular favourite of mine and 'Chemicals' has the habit of sticking in my head for hours after hearing it. Since buying this album it has rarely been off my stereo or MP3 and it is great to finally hear some rock music from some musicians that have sadly been missing from the music scene for far too long. If you're a fan of SOAD or just of good music in general, then this is the place for you. Well worth a try.
Musical banquet. Lyrical slopsSubtle, intricate and catchy as bird flu but seriously, who just swallowed a rhyming dictionary...
Buy and ignore the lyrics...
While you suck on my....We all thought it.. Daren had all the best tunes, Serj the voice, but then Serj surprised us with a great album. So, with anticipation we waited for Daren and his hand. And what a delightful set of songs he has made and produced. It is clear now that it is he who possesses the natural song writing skills; Serj's songs seem more forced somehow (it is impossible not to compare the two).
Scars are a great band with a great album. It is almost possible that it could be 5 stars, but to give the full 5 would be saying this is perfect... and there are very few albums of perfection.
The cons: I am unsure of the longevity of these tunes, it is possible that, like mesmerize/hypnotize, they are addictive at first but without the long term appeal of the earlier system albums...... time will tell.
However, any negatives are far outweighed by positives. This is an album with great attitude and feeling. I've read articles stating this is System without politics, or Daren is being irresponsibly apathetic: these opinions are crap. This is clearly not system. It only occasionally sounds like system. I'm sure lyrics such as 'I know it's really hard to see that we are the enemy' are political, some people are obviously unaware of subtlety.
So getting to the point... The Music flows along like a river, there are songs here that could have been written by chilli's (3005) or Alice in Chains (cute machines), bits of songs that sounds like the Doors.. psychobilly guitar, Funky electronic sounds, Metal Guitar, Rock guitar, Folk guitar (surely there must be).. blah blah, whatever. Variation is lacking these days. System almost had it. Malakian definitely possesses it. You could probably compare bits of these songs to a thousand different bands. But that is not the point, because there is something extremely satisfying about the way Daren makes a tune rock like nobody's business.
Anyone suggesting this album is less than 4 stars obviously isn't listening to the music, has a great dislike of Malakian or simply sucks ...... and should probably go and listen to some nice generic hardcore, hair metal, emo or pop band whos tunes sound exactly the same as the last album of their genre. I dare anyone to try and pigeonhole this, and I dare anyone to make a better album.
Just my opinion .. did I mention the drumming... and Enemy, Tune! ... Just hope it lasts..
A very decent effortSo Daron Malakian is the Renaissance Man! He can sing, play guitar, bass, keyboards, melotron, etc. Presumably not all at the same time, so some nice employment for session guys when they go on tour.
Serj moves to new Zealand so Daron goes it alone. Th results are really much better than I had feared. Daron has a more than passable voice, although lacking the sheer power of Serj's. Musically he is highly capable, an excellent technical player and a quality songwriter. Overall a quality effort with some interesting and eccentric lyrical diversions. Personally I think Stoner Hate is the best song on the album.
Overall it's very good but not brilliant. A solid effort full of eclectic whimsy but lacking any really killer tracks.
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