One Hundred Million Suns Doesn't Shine Brightly
Snow Patrol’s standard formula is worn out for their fifth release
Snow Patrol
One Hundred Million Suns
Released on Oct 28, 2008
I’ve got to agree with all the critics that classify Snow Patrol as the “Irish Coldplay.” When you’ve got sappy ballads like “Open Your Eyes” that can bring 10,000 fans to their knees in a superdome venue, the comparisons are bound to be made.However, as much as I hate Chris Martin’s ego, I’ve got to give Coldplay the upper hand in this duel. Coldplay at least gave the impression of going out of their comfort zone with Viva la Vida. With Snow Patrol’s fifth release, One Hundred Million Suns, though, the band is definitely sticking to the same strategy they’ve always had—a combination of sweeping guitar soundscapes and lyrics that make a 15-year-old girl cry. So, what’s the problem with this plan? It’s getting a tad bit old.
Take the first song, “If There’s a Rocket, Tie Me To It.” It starts out promising, with an almost celestial sound, but singer Gary Lightbody immediately bursts into lyrics worthy of accompanying a Jonas Brothers Tiger Beat locker poster: “I found a hair the length of yours on my sleeve/I wound it round and round my finger so tight/It turned to purple and a pulse formed inside.” And guess what? The beat of his finger matches the beat of his long-lost lady’s. Pause for “awws” and eye-wiping. Unfortunately, the melody isn’t special enough to redeem this track. As far as capturing their listeners’ attention with a knockout opener, they’ve failed to do so.
The third track shows promise for the rest of the album, though. While “Take Back the City” isn’t anything wildly inventive, it at least has some decent lyrics, and you can just tell that this song will be an encore at those arena shows of theirs. No wonder it’s the first single off the disc. While the guitars do become a little predictable, the overall sound is still a vast improvement from the first track.
Given that I’m a sucker for any song that features a piano, I gravitated towards “The Planets Bend Between Us.” If you’re looking for a calming, inoffensive piano track, you’ll find it here. Sadly enough, this song also showcases the biggest weakness of this album—in nearly every song, the band seems to be trying to reach a climax with the music, but back down just before they’re about to make the song great. I’m not sure what it is, but their largely underdeveloped songs leave listeners with a rather stunted record.
The boys make a valiant effort to remedy this problem with the final track, “The Lightning Strike.” It’s a 16-minutes opus full of almost everything a Snow Patrol listener could want—strings, horns, guitars, piano, and swoon-worthy vocals, all mixed together in an orgy of experimental sounds. It’s arguably the best track of the album, simply because it sounds like they just pressed “record,” and gave themselves free reign in the studio.
While the album isn’t painful to listen to, it certainly leaves something to be desired. At least until the final track, that is. Don’t wait through the whole album to get to “The Lightening Strike”— skip through the other ten songs. I won’t tell.
High Point
“The Lightning Strike.” Experimentation and epic song lengths really work in their favor.
Low Point
“Crack the Shutters.” Having a forgettable first track is a shame, but having a dreadful second track is quite abusive to listeners.
Posted by Alyssa Vincent on Nov 01, 2008 @ 9:00 pm