(Emp Label Group)
Charlotte, North Carolina's Another Lost Year are back with their sophomore release, 'Alien Architect'. Having impressed me with their 2012 debut, 'Better Days', I was curious to hear what the band would be the second time around. So how does it hold up to their debut? Rather good, actually! There are a few mainstream bands who manage to still hold my attention and Another Lost Year is at the very top of that list. The new album is a welcome return to great, catchy and infectious melodies, hooks and riffs. While I still need to give this album more time to fully digest, my early favorites are "Bastard Sons (featuring Jose Urquiza from 3 Years Hollow), "Trigger Finger", "Run The Tank Out" and the lead off single, "Wolves". For a sophomore release this is a very strong and solid effort. I could easily see just about every song on this disk making it to radio airplay. They are all very radio-friendly. And normally, too much radio-friendliness and catchiness would turn me away. But not here. In addition to the powerful hooks, these songs have a deep groove that grabs me and keeps me listening. So I can't fault the music, at all. The lyrics are very good as well. However, it seems that each song is lyrically written with a few very nice and meaningful lines. Then, those nice lines are repeated over and over. Nothing wrong with a bit of repetition, and some of the best songs ever written are very repetitive. However, I would have loved to see the band expand a bit more on the intriguing ideas they began to present in each song. I get the feeling they are very capable of it, and could have given the songs a bit more depth than they already have. If they keep making records like this, Another Lost Year is going to be around for a long, long time! This is a very tight, talented band.- Highly Recommended
Tony @ The Dedicated Rocker Society
Great Review! Thank You!
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