What changes are they speaking about?

The sixth long player from the Scottish rockers Snow Patrol took quite a while to keep us waiting. The band’s previous effort was released as far back as in 2008, and enough time has passed to make the audience earn for new material. Celebrating their fifteenth anniversary with a collection called Up To Now, the ensemble concluded another chapter in their history. That was a period of breaking through to the top of fame, and then came a very hard time. Snow Patrol now have to prove their status and fight bitterly to keep their niche amongst the best. To boost stir around their name and new release, the British resorted to a method both banal and effective. The musicians stated that the upcoming record would feature some changes in the outfit’s musical style. Experienced music fans easily discover in such announcements slight and sometimes sheer lies. Why would Snow Patrol need to change anything in the music that brought them to stardom?

Ideal balance and classic sounding of Fallen Empires

The new album is called Fallen Empires and consists of fourteen tracks lasting together almost a good hour. Mature listeners are likely to hear in the so called innovated sound something very similar to what played in the 2003 effort, Final Straw. The two opening tracks, I’ll Never Let Go, and Called Out In The Dark are overloaded with synthesizers and humping basses. Welcome to the early nineties, to the U2 world where Snow Patrol has always been frequent visitors. Add here The Weight Of Love, constructed out of the same elements, and you will get songs which might not be the most colorful, but definitely are the style establishers on the entire record. As a matter of fact, the mood is established by other songs, Such as, for example, This Isn’t Everything You Are, a true hit with a very warm and cozy atmosphere, or, on the contrary, spacious, epic New York, and In The End, future big times of áóäóùèå Snow Patrol live sets. Feeling the right time, the band drops the speed, turns the volume down and changes fooling around for sentimentality. Without ballads Those Distant Ballads, and The Garden Rules, Fallen would lose its perfect balance.

This is exactly what Snow Patrol had to do

Basically, right were those who did not expect any remarkable shifts in Snow Patrol creative approach. Innovations are a risky matter because there is always a danger of scaring off those who like your old stuff. The British musicians are definitely not going to let down their long time supporters, but likely to gather a lot of new ones. The record appears to be exactly what a rock ensemble with serious ambitions, impressive background and respectable experience ought to make. In particular, Snow Patrol music is still based upon the same appealing components, while texts have turned more thoughtful. The grown up musicians offered on Fallen Empires somewhat more manifold material and cleverer lyrics, which looks like the most consistent signs of professional evolvement. These could be just what Snow Patrol previous records might have lacked as they tired desperately to follow the traces left by Final Straw and never reached the same success. The present CD demonstrates that the band intends to grow as well as preserve the recognizable trademark sound.

Alex Bartholomew
18.11.2011