Snow Patrol – Fallen Empires | Highlight Magazine

Fallen Empires – Snow Patrol
Album Review by Patrick Quiring

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the titles of songs “Run,” “Chasing Cars,” and “Just Say Yes?” If you answered with Snow Patrol, then you are right on the money. With a recent release of their album “Fallen Empires” they are back on the radar. “Fallen Empires” is certainly a departure from their normal sound. Fear not for Snow Patrol hasn’t totally forsaken their core musical values.

Now Snow Patrol isn’t new to the music game. They’ve surprisingly been around since 1994 just under different names. They first started out in 1994 while the lead singer and guitarist, Gary Lightbody, bassist, Mark McClell, and drummer Michael Morrison, were still attending college in Scotland as the band Shurg. Then they became Polar Bear (hence Snow Patrol’s first album Songs for Polar Bears), and finally solidifying as Snow Patrol in 1997. In the next three years the band would face many things like losing their drummer Michael and then having Jonny Quin come in to replace him. They also released two critically acclaimed but not commercially successful albums. Then finally the group put out Final Straw in 2003, which gave them the kind of mainstream attention that they needed.

Out of Final Straw came one of their major successes, “Run”, which shot them right up the charts and made them household names all throughout the world. They also decided to add another guitarist, Nathan Connolly, to the group. Before moving on to their next album, Eyes Open, they unfortunately lost another original member, bassist Mark McClelland, but Paul Wilson stepped up to the plate and became the new bassist. Then they decided to make longtime touring keyboardist, Tom Simpson, a permanent member. These were the growing years of Snow Patrol, but they were certainly needed.

After all these member changes they could really focus on their work and produced a number one selling album, Eyes Open. Eyes Open went on to number one in many countries, but unfortunately it only made it to number 27 on the U.S. charts. Luckily, the album had one of their biggest selling songs, “Chasing Cars”, which pushed this on to monumental success. After Eyes Open came A Hundred Million Suns, which had the slow gloomy hit single “Set Fire to the Third.” The next album they made, Up to Now, was more of greatest hits than anything else. Besides their hit singles it had B-sides and original songs on it. Of those original songs was “Just Say Yes”, which displayed more of a trance/ techno side to Snow Patrol then has been seen before. This song could be seen as a precursor to what their next album would be sounding like, which Lightbody described as the ”next phase” for Snow Patrol

All they’ve done has truly led up to their recent release, Fallen Empires. Throughout the album you can hear a touch of just about everything they’ve done in their career with a little bit of a new twist. There will still be songs that make your heart ache and make you miss the one you love. Other songs will have you feeling empowered, bobbing your head and you will keep on singing the melodies for days on end. This is the Snow Patrol that you know and love except for this time there are musical elements that make them who they are accompanied by layers of synthesizers.

This album in comparison to previous work is pretty dancey. It’s no electronica kind of album but it will definitely get your feet tapping a little bit more then usual. For instance on the first track you will be greeted by rapid synth-bass and will be probably be wondering if this is even Snow Patrol since it’s so different from the usual. Fear not though for the next song, “Called Out In the Dark”, will sound a little bit more like their previous work. “Called Out in the Dark” won’t let up and might just have you up on feet in no time. It’s also their first single, which they have a video for and has been playing almost everywhere

After this the rest of the album is pretty balanced with fast songs and slow ones. Some of my favorites of the album would be “In the End”. The build up at the begiinnng is simply really powerful. Another track I really liked would be “Berlin”, which is actually an instrumental piece but surprisingly catchy and peaceful. After that song there is “Lifening”, which is actually a word that lead singer Lightbody made up. He says that the meaning behind it is “to have lightning and light thrust into your life or to simply let them into your life”. This would be a great way to describe a lot of the album since the themes of a lot of songs seem to be about living life to the fullest and taking chances.

Snow Patrol brought in some help with this album from one particular artist, Lissie, a folk pop artist from the U.S. You’ll be pleasantly surprised when you hear her on the opening track “I’ll Never Let Go”. She also appears on other songs “The Garden Rules” “Those Distant Bells” “West of Here” and Fallen Empires. She does amazingly well and adds that little something extra that this album needed.

The direction of this new album might deter some fans away but if you give it enough time it will certainly grow on you. After the first listen I had no idea it was Snow Patrol but after a while I could really tell the things that made them were still there. Hidden behind electronic grooves people will still be able to tell that it’s the same old Snow Patrol. It’s just Snow Patrol version 2.0.

Over all I would say this is a pretty good album. It’s not amazing or in my top five. It’s better then ordinary and a good step in the right direction if they wanted to keep on pursuing this electronic patch. It also helps out that the synthesizers go incredibly well with their already mellow sound. Although it left me at first wanting the sounds of their previous work the album grew on me overtime until it was something that I couldn’t help but hum the melodies.

Folks who love mellow pop music that has electronic influence will certainly fall in love with this album and people who have heard of Snow Patrol before will certainly want to take a second listen after their first go through. It might leave die-hards disappointed but I bet if they give it enough listens they will certainly be able to find the things that made them fall in love with Snow Patrol all through out the album. For being quite a piece of music and taking a risk by jumping off the musical cliff into electronica waters I give Snow Patrol’s Fallen Empire a 7.5/10.

Top three Songs to listen to: “Called Out In the Dark” “Berlin,” and “In the End.” If you plan on listening to it make sure you put on some big headphones and get ready to melt into Snow Patrol bliss.