HOME   |   ABOUT COREZINE   |   STAFF

Alesana – The Emptiness

01.21.10 Reviews | by: Steve

Band: Alesana
Album: The Emptiness
Year: 2010
Label: Fearless Records
Myspace

Best Song: The Murderer
Score: 8/10
.

First off let me just give you a tip about listening to this album—Listen to it in order!  If you skip around or put in on random you will miss one of the beauties of this album, which is the story The Emptiness tells.  Most Alesana fans already know this but I am just giving you a heads up.

Alesana is a six-piece screamo/post-hardcore band out of Raleigh, North Carolina.  This is their third full-length release, and I have to say that this is their best album yet.  The lyrics of the album are the driving factor behind the entire album.  Because the album is like a musical audio book, each song leads masterfully into the next track.  The vocals on the album are spectacular going back and forth between some great clean vocals to some high-pitched screams and lower growls.  Dennis and Shawn do an excellent job of interlacing the mixture of clean vocals, screams, and growls.

Now that we covered the vocals, I can tell you about the phenomenal musicianship displayed on this album.  Because the lyrics effectively drive the album, Alesana avoided just throwing breakdowns here and there, as most bands do.  While there may not be as many breakdowns as most fans want, I have to say that the guitar work is fantastic.

The best song on the album is “The Murderer.” Dennis and Shawn do an excellent job of varying the tempo by effectively using the clean vocals and growls with a heavy breakdown towards the end the track. This song clearly displays Alesana’s song writing skills, and it is one of the hardest songs on The Emptiness.

From start to finish, this is an excellent album partly due to the musical genius of Alesana and due to the story that the listener is captured into.  Each track transitions smoothly into the next, and by the time you are done with The Emptiness the listener will feel like they have just stopped watching chilling thriller.

TRACKLIST:

  1. Curse Of The Virgin Canvas
  2. The Artist
  3. A Lunatic’s Lament
  4. The Murderer
  5. Hymn For The Shameless
  6. The Thespian
  7. Heavy Hangs The Albatross
  8. The Lover
  9. In Her Tomb By The Sounding Sea
  10. To Be Scared By An Owl
  11. Annabel