Released three years after their first full-length album, Finch’s Say Hello to Sunshine establishes a harsher sound for the band. While their first album, What it is to Burn, was generally considered a pop-rock album, Say Hello to Sunshine experiments with a heavier, fierce sound.
Say Hello to Sunshine introduces more screams while still using the clean vocals present in What it is to Burn. This use of contrasting vocals also seems to accentuate contrasting moods in the songs; while some parts of the songs seem to be calm and almost uplifting, the mood quickly breaks into anger—the thrashing screams demonstrating this. This formula is fairly consistent in a majority of the songs, making this album sound quite cohesive.
Many songs on this album seem to be highly influenced by Linkin Park, System of a Down, Korn and especially Incubus. The vocals are more developed, including new growling techniques (reminiscent of Korn) and harsher screaming. While in the previous album the screaming denoted pain, this new album deals with anger and frustration.
Although most songs on Say Hello to Sunshine demonstrate Finch's new style, a few moments retain the feeling found in What it is to Burn. Songs like "A Piece of Mind" and "Reduced to Teeth" preserve enough of the calm and reflective feeling found in What it is to Burn, to remind the listener that this is still Finch. Overall, the music on Say Hello to Sunshine is a refreshing change from Finch's old style, and will surprise old fans with a new type of music.
(I didn't particularly enjoy the album, but this is a positive review for the assignment.)
Maybe that cover art makes up for what is lacking inside.
ReplyDeleteNice review, you obviously did your research and it shows. You also did a very good job at remaining objective (at least until the end). Very well-written, good job.
ReplyDeleteI thought this was very fair and honest for not enjoying the album.
ReplyDeleteI like how you relate their new album to who inspired it such as Linkin Park and Incubus. Although I am not familiar with Finch, this made me interested into buying their album. I cant really tell if you like the new style of the album or dislike it. Your opinion seemed very neutral.
ReplyDeleteI'm in the same boat, What it is to Burn was the fucking jam in highschool, and then that weird music video for that one song on this CD came out and I knew it was time to move on lol.
ReplyDeleteEven if you hadn't added the subnote at the end I still would have figured that you weren't particularly fond of the album. You did a lot of compare and contrast which was nice. You continuously mentioned "the songs on the album" but never really went into much detail about them. Which is fine. You stuck with your theme (the style of the album, compare/contrast) but I still think it would have been nice to give an example of a song that really demonstrated what you were talking about.
ReplyDeleteI was never familiar with the whole album, but I am very familiar with the song "What It Is to Burn." I never heard much about Finch after that and had assumed that they dropped of the face of the Earth. I liked that you not only described their sound but also made comparisons of their music to the music of other musical groups.
ReplyDelete@ Dan: I totally agree! =)
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