A Skylit Drive – Rise
Review by Trevor Figge
A Skylit Drive is yet another Metalcore/Post-Hardcore band with a falsetto singer whom has been mistaken for being a girl as many times as Kellin Quinn’s voice has. Yet don’t let the falsetto singer allow this band to blend in with the hundreds of others bands with a very similar formula. Rise defines A Skylit Drive as not just another band in the scene with technical guitar and drum parts that complement one another. All the while having unclean (screams) vocals that have only grown since the bands earlier full length Wires and The Concept of Breathing where the unclean vocals were less full and bass-y, and instead resembled treble heavy ‘screeching’.
Rise starts with “Save Me Tragedy” a song that ensures you that A Skylit Drive is not just another band in the scene blindly following the ‘standard structure’. They do not and will not have versus of solely screams and choruses with just clean vocals. Rather they will bring you back to a time when screams where put in place to accent the clean vocals.
“Crash Down” is in my opinion one of the best done songs on this album. Simply because it’s use of ‘samples’, they bring in keys/synthesizer parts that push the song into the final chorus that almost urge you to sing/scream along with them.
“Crazy” kicks in with an extremely heavy opening riff, grabbing your attention. This riff will not be heard again until the heaviest bridge that I’ve heard on this album yet. However the intro transitions into a pop styled verse. Where it quickly yet again changes giving metalcore/post-hardcore fans precisely what they love. Loud-soft-loud guitar/drum parts, allow fans to ‘bounce’ or mosh whichever is their preference.
“Just Stay” is the albums only slow/soft song demonstrating the bands emotional pull along with the singer’s (Jagmin’s) vocal talent. Throughout the song you feel a sense of truth, sincerity, and pain within Jagmin’s voice.
“Pendulum” is another song upon Rise that is inspirational, giving those that are struggling hope as Jagmin sings, “every hour of my life I will give you, every minute of my day. Pull you out of the rock that you are under”. Even though this is an inspirational song, it is still incredibly ‘heavy’ and hits just as hard as every other track upon this album.
“I, Enemy” and “WIDE AWAKE” are much like “Pendulum” in the fact that it is also a very inspirational song letting fans know that there is more to life than just struggling. Both of these songs intertwine clean and unclean vocals accenting one another to convey various emotions; which, I have not heard in the scene for numerous years.
“Shadows” and “Dreaming in Blue” are the last two songs on Rise and end with quite the push. “Shadows” has a chorus that is as infectious as any top 20 pop song and will have you singing right along within one run through. On the other hand “Dreaming in Blue” had me two stepping and running in place (doing ‘the running man’) within seconds of kicking in.
Overall Rise is a release that does not abide by every single rule that the genre has. It is heavy, meanwhile not falling into the metalcore rut which many bands have fallen into recently. Rather, they resemble the golden age of post-hardcore when bands like Silverstien, Senses Fail, and Fall Out Boy (yes, F.O.B. screamed, on “Saturday” and “I Slept With Someone In Fall Out Boy…”) used screams to accent the clean vocal track, rather than using screams for a whole verse. With that in mind, I must say that Rise is packed full of fun and inspirational songs that provide the perfect entry point for anyone new to the metalcore scene.
Overall Score: 3/5
Recommended Tracks: “Crash Down”, “Pendulum”, “I, Enemy”
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