In an age where rock music has become so processed and formulaic that Nickelback can release as homogenous a pair of singles as \u201cHow You Remind Me\u201d and \u201cSomeday\u201d to mass fanfare, it\u2019s rare that a band emerges with a sound and energy that holds listeners\u2019 attention for a full 60 minutes. Luckily, The Sammus Theory is such a group, and their second studio album See (It) Through<\/i> is a breath of fresh air.<\/p>\n
Beginning with the opener \u201cCounterfeit,\u201d it is apparent that The Sammus Theory are a cut above the legions of mediocre sound-alike bands currently besieging the airwaves. The song is carried by a tight, chugging rhythm section, with some tasteful guitar work. Sammus proves to be an incredibly versatile frontman, delivering a vocal performance that ranges from angry, growling screams to a melodic chorus. The mix and production are especially striking; it\u2019s a treat to hear a rock disc that has such a loud, crunchy sound going for it.<\/p>\n
After an energetic, captivating opener, The Sammus Theory continue to fire on all cylinders for a full hour. \u201cSomething Special\u201d has all the earmarks of a great rock song: a hard-hitting tune that is at once angry and aggressive in its riffing and lyrics but manages to explore a radio-friendly sound in the choruses. \u201c56 Blank\u201d opens with a contorted riff straight out of Dream Theater, then fades into quiet verses. It\u2019s nice to hear a dual-guitar band mixed so well for a change, with minimalist, 10-note phrases atop the rhythm playing in spots. <\/p>\n
An eerie cover of Gary Numan\u2019s \u201cPure\u201d is perhaps the most forgettable moment on See (It) Through<\/i>. It lacks the melody of earlier songs and tries to affect an attitude of sorts with its screaming chorus of \u2018Hey \/ Bitch \/ This is what you are!\u2019 The whole song feels rather out of place on an album of otherwise solid original material. <\/p>\n
Thankfully, the title track is a return to form. A clean, melodic rocker with an intricate climax featuring some spacey, atmospheric guitar lines. \u201cInside Out\u201d is another winner, a loud hard rock number with some great vocals. The guitar during the quieter sections is at times reminiscent of The Edge but with a warm, organic tone better suited to rock and roll. \u201cPlease Bleed\u201d is another high-energy track, powered by blistering drums, chunky bass playing and soaring vocals. <\/p>\n
A trio of solid tunes — \u201cInject,\u201d \u201cHearsay,\u201d and \u201cWeak\u201d — follow, but around this point things begin to sound a bit similar. While most of the songs on See (It) Through<\/i> kick ass, these ones are merely average. Things end on a high note, however, as the band throws a curveball and delivers a somber instrumental, \u201cBlack Out,\u201d which makes for a nice change of pace. The closer, \u201cParasite,\u201d follows suit; a quiet, downbeat tune with some haunting keys in the mix, The Sammus Theory tone down the energy and aggression, winding the album down in an artful fashion. <\/p>\n
A pummeling dose of hard rock with a healthy appreciation for melody and vocal hooks, See (It) Through<\/i> is a refreshing listen, sure to\u00a0 satisfy any rock aficionados burnt out on the current state of radio. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":29013,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[8056],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-40523","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-sammus-theory","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40523"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=40523"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=40523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}