Monday, August 29, 2016

CD REVIEW: ALIEN ARCHITECT by Another Lost Year




ALIEN ARCHITECT by Another Lost Year
(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

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