Artist: Scars on Broadway
Album: Scars on Broadway
![Scars On Broadway [Limited Edition Digipak Version]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41-NaVL2FIL._SL500_AA240_.jpg)
Track List:
- Serious
- Funny
- Exploding/Reloading
- Stoner Hate
- Insane
- World Long Gone
- Kill Each Other/Live Forever
- Babylon
- Chemicals
- Enemy
- 3005
- Cute Machines
- Whoring Streets
- They Say
Another product of the System of a Down split has hit the stores. It's a decent effort but ultimately not even close to being as good as System or even Serj's solo effort. It's quite honestly going to take a few good hard listen throughs to really get a taste for it, but you'll be glad you at least took the time. This is by no means a masterpiece and you will at times find yourself wondering what the hell he was thinking with some of these songs. Some of them start off in a really odd way and suddenly break into something that's actually quite enjoyable before going back to the weird between-chorus parts.
The first song on the album, Serious, actually kicks things off with a nice quick pace. At this point I was feeling pretty hopeful for the rest of the album. The song is a very quick pace and definitely reminiscent of System of a Down. The chorus slows down as he bellows, "YOU'RE too seeerrrioouus, you're gonna make me deleriouuus," and things flow quite well into a few rocking out sections. Definitely one of the better songs on the album. The second song, Funny, immediately disappoints. It's a halfway decent song but quite honestly it's boring and is something we've heard many times before. In a word, it's quite generic. You can still feel the influence of System there and the slight harmonies you hear are somewhat reminiscent of the closing songs of Steal This Album. However, the song gets old very fast and you will most likely want to skip it and then it gets to the chorus part. It's not hard rocking nor is it especially stand out, but well...it just sounds nice. Listen to that for a while though and you'll again become bored with it. It doesn't suck and as you listen to the album more you'll probably get to a point of listening to it more, but it's no real show stopper.
Moving along we have Exploding/Reloading. This song unfortunately is equally as forgettable. It's got a fairly cool pace and some of those weird xylophone sounds in the background at random points. It's not a terrible song but rather monotonous and a bit uninspiring. You'll get a bit excited listening at that pace, but that's about it. The singing on this one is a bit meh as well. The next song is Stoner Hate. This song is in a word...interesting. This song will immediately grab you and remind you of Chic 'N' Stu. No denying it. It doesn't really make any sense, as with most of the songs, the lyrics are completely pointless. They definitely hurt without Serj there to reinforce. As odd as this song is, if you're starting to get into the album a bit you will start to really get into it. This song has a frantic pace and it does not let up. There are many a heavy guitar riff to be found in this song. It's also short, so that helps it keep from being boring.
The next song on the album...you can quite honestly skip. The song is called Insane and is a really lame attempt at what could be considered a ballad...for a System of a Down type band. It feels like they're trying to go for a song like Toxicity but ultimately fail. This song is boring for the most part and serves as nothing more than a block between you and World Long Gone. Now this song completely rocks. It's one of the few songs I actually listened to on my first way through the album in it's entirety. This song is drifting a bit into uncharted territory and shifts the album back out of meh and suck for a bit. The parts of the song between where he talks about the stars do trip up the song a bit...they don't really fit the song very well and his singing for these parts is quite frankly not very good. However if you can get past that, this song is absolutely a rock-out-with-your-cock-out kind of song. You will want to bang your head furiously during the chorus and you will most likely hurt yourself doing so. It's okay, you're rocking proper. This is definitely one of the best songs on the album and I cannot help but listen to the entire thing even as I review the album. It's awesome.
The next song after that is Kill Each Other/Live Forever. Meh. Another ballad type song. At this point I really wish that they'd quit trying to throw these stupid songs in...they do much better with the harder/faster songs. It's got a decent chorus and it gets good in a few places, but you'll again find yourself getting bored at what seems to be quite generic. If you like it...great. If you don't for the first parts of the song...don't bother. You can learn to like it later...maybe. Some songs get likable as you listen to the album more and pick up more of the subtleties...but this is most likely not going to be one of those songs. I've had the album for roughly a month and I'm still pretty much in skipping mode when I get here. They tried right? The next song is Babylon. Honestly? I skipped this the first 10 times I listened to the album. The beginning sounds terribly boring and it lasts for a minute or so. If that's all you ever heard you'd pretty much assume you hadn't missed a damn thing. Let the song get to about a minute and a half. Awesome song. Quite refreshing I might add. I'm sad that I passed over this so many times without getting further in and finding this hidden jewel. When will bands learn to cut the shit and just get to the meat of the song quickly? Ah well, it makes the song all the much better having to wait that minute and a half for it to really start, sort of like Jimmy Eat World's "Cheating Gets It Faster." It's not necessarily a speed-metal-head-banging kind of song, but damn it...the song is good. Definitely worth a listen or two if you are interested after that minute and a half mark.
The next song is...another exercise in patience...throughout the song. Chemicals is half good and half absolutely terrible. The chorus is amazing; unfortunately you have to listen to the really stupid parts of the song dispersed throughout. This song starts off absolutely ridiculously in this pseudo-robotic voice talking about eating chemicals and shit...then it kicks your ass from out of left field. Again, the song is an exercise in patience. The chorus is worth it but you will find yourself groaning at the parts in between. It's almost embarrassing. The next couple songs are kind of just a sloping down of the album. Enemy has an interesting porno-guitar working in it at the beginning and then a somewhat forgettable rest of the song. He's not exactly the best singer in the world and it's song like this that again help point that out. He can hold a tune, sure, but sometimes his voice can be a bit unpleasant. This again really doesn't fit in with the better songs that are hard fast songs. It tries to be yet ANOTHER ballad song and should be met with yawns and your skip button.
So after this we have 4 more songs before we get to the one last great song on this album. First off is Universe. It's a bit different. This is where he uses his voice to do all the weird things that he does with his voice. He works much better this way than he does trying to sing all out like Serj. He doesn't have the lungs but he DOES have a unique voice and he uses it here. That, I think, is the biggest focus of the song. The chorus, of course, goes into the ballady type yawn-fest to an extent, but then they start to amp it up some and he can go back to the cool singing again. It's worth a listen. Don't skip it immediately...you might find yourself kind sorta liking it. Hell no, you won't love it, but you can at least feel like you're not just skipping half the album to get to that last song. The next song is called 3005. It starts off in quite a boring way. Intro reminds me of "Black Hole Sun" a bit. It's pretty much all downhill from there. It's different to be sure...but different does not always mean good. This song is a completely different style from everything else...I don't really see why this song even exists. I guess it's not completely horrible, but really, who cares about this song? You might listen to it for a minute or two, but you will get bored and you will skip it before you get to the end because it's boring. Sadly you'll skip before the end and it's only a 3 minute song.
Next up we have Cute Machines. I'll be honest, I haven't listened to these last few songs very much because I wanted to get to they say. But I digress, let's take a look at this. It starts off sounding like a song from some sort of action movie...you'll hear what I mean. Belongs in a trailer almost. It's interesting if nothing else. I don't know what the hell they were trying to do with the "echo" at the beginning but that sounds stupid. This song is basically the same thing repeated over and over again and you will find yourself banging your head into a wall; both because it kind of rocks and because you really wish you had just skipped it to listen to something better. If you like weird...out there kind of shit (let's all play whatever random shit comes to mind for the "solo" guys, it'll be AWESOME!) then you'll probably get a kick from this. He tries to scream here and there and I honestly laughed out loud the first time I heard it. He just sounds ridiculous trying to do it...leave it to Serj pal. You don't have the voice. The last of the songs before They Say is Whoring Streets. This is what...like the 100th slow song? Sure feels like it by now. Honestly? I don't think I've listened to the entire thing yet and there's good reason...because the next song is about 1,000 times better in every single way. This song, to be frank, is a snore fest. It actually sounds like a song you'd gently want to send the album off with. Maybe it would have worked better as the last song? Who knows, because it's too late now. Skip it.
The last but most definitely not the least is They Say. This song is completely awesome. The regular guitar parts are so ridiculously simple but god damn does the other guitarist rock the hell out. He goes absolutely nuts doing...I don't even know what...he just kicks untold amounts of ass. This is the song I turn my radio up as loud as is reasonably permitted wherever I am. If I'm in the car, it means I'm rolling up the windows so I don't get pulled over. If I'm in my apartment...well...I hope my neighbors aren't trying to sleep. That's unimportant. This song rocks in every conceivable way. This song is what made me want this album in the first place. This is the song I bought for Rock Band and have probably Gold starred like 50 times by now. The singing is spot on, the guitar work is amazing, and the pacing of this song is great. Even the lyrics seem to get a boost for this. Where is this sort of style and refinement on the rest of the album? If the whole album were like this, I'm pretty sure I'd be doing back flips all over my apartment. You will listen to this song until you are so sick of it that you can't even say the word "They" anymore. Enjoy it. This is the best song on this album, hands down. Unfortunately that probably means you'll hear it on the radio about 47 times an hour...oh well.
So in closing...this album is...interesting. It's not exactly a wonderful album but it doesn't completely suck like I'd initially concluded. The best bet here is to give it a few run throughs. If you listen to some of the songs for a little longer and you do it a few times, you'll really start to appreciate them. Some albums are awesome the moment you stick them into your CD player (Serj, System of a Down's albums), but this is the kind of album that you inevitably acquire a taste for. It's by no means as good as Serj's or System of a Down's albums, but it definitely deserves a good listening. It'd be kind of cool to see where they could take this if they could swing more towards songs like Serious, World Long Gone, and They Say. We'll see what happens with them in the future, though I hope more that we see System of a Down get back together.
Rating:
C+
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