At The Skylines – To Build An Empire (EP)
Review by Kristy Siciliano
At The Skylines, a band coming from Hunting Beach, California, has just released their first acoustic EP entitled “To Build An Empire”. For those of you who do not know who At The Skylines is, they are a band on the heavier side, with gut wrenching screams and melodic melodies. So with that being said, “To Build An Empire” is a huge change of pace for them, in terms of musicality, tonality and style difference.
To Build An Empire is a total of four songs that were on their full-length album, The Secrets To Life, which was an incredible album in general. They chose the songs “Turbulence”, “143 Princess”, “Don’t Go” and “The Amazing Atom” to present acoustically. If you think these songs were genius before this, wait until you actually hear it. Chris Shelley (lead vocals) voice is absolutely beautiful and flows so perfectly with the style they chose.
One of their most popular songs, “The Amazing Atom”, which in the non-acoustic version includes vocalist Kellin Quinn from Sleeping With Sirens, is one of the best songs on To Build An Empire. Although, the acoustic version does not include Quinn, it is still just as eloquent. The energy that is flowing throughout the song is overwhelming. Along with the vivacious guitar they intertwine it with some bongos and what sounds like some other type of percussion instruments, just the emotion in this song sends shivers down my spine.
“Turbulence”, which opens up To Build An Empire, is a great way to start the EP. The feeling is unique and it has an intriguing style. The rhythmic patterns and time patterns are what make this song different from the rest. Shelley’s voice has a unique style to it and he can hit various notes and ranges from a low pitch to a high pitch. Thus, making the song very dynamic, catchy and fun to listen too.
All in all, if you you’re looking for new acoustic music, I highly recommend checking out this EP. It’s vastly different compared to other acoustic music, it is very upbeat and exciting, and to the point where you wish they made this EP longer than it actually is. At The Skylines is about to head to Europe for the Never Say Die Tour and then when they come back they are heading on tour with Blessthefall. So I suggest you all go check them out if they come to a town near you. They probably wont play any acoustic music live, but if you ask them to play an acoustic set after the show they may be down for that!
Overall Rating: 5/5
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