Occasionally, a member of the staff at Scene Point Blank will write a piece on an artist of which I'm not entirely familiar. As a result, I will have to do some investigating in order to make sure all facts are straight. Every once in a while this leads to my becoming a fan of the group. It's been a while since this has happened, but after posting reviews of City of Ships two previous EP's last year, I became captivated with what they were doing. After releasing two promising EP's in 2008 - Live Free or Don't and the Tour EP - City of Ships finally offer their full-length debut. Look What God Did to Us makes good on what those EP's hinted was to come, and does so in a brilliantly and well-executed manner.
City of Ships have pieced together a well-constructed full-length in Look What God Did to Us. The ten songs that comprise the album perfectly mesh the band's varying influences of hardcore, indie, screamo, post-rock, and metal into a truly unique listening experience. Beginning with the opening track, "Wraiths in Flight," it is evident that City of Ships is something special. The song boasts brilliant interweaving guitars, but also infuses the song with heavier riffing courtesy of Eric Jernigan, who also handles the vocal duties. The rhythm section is spot on as well, with dynamic drumming and the crisp basstones of Andrew Jernigan. Perhaps what makes the song complete is the carefully laid out juxtaposition of heavier and softer moments, never too overbearing in either direction, just complimenting each other perfectly. This is accented by the use of coarse yells, soaring harmonies, and even dashes of spoken wording.
Throughout the album the band demonstrates their craft in a well-orchestrated manner. "Spring Tiger" continues this meshing of beautiful post-rock and the gnarled stylings of hardcore and metal. There are the low rumbling guitar grooves and beautifully composed guitar melodies side by side. Mixed throughout the album are variations of this general style. "Grand Contour" is a prime example, which falls someplace between the worlds of Planes Mistaken for Stars and contemporary Thrice.
"Silver Anniversary" scales back the pace; the down-tempo nature of the song showcases a different side of the band. The dependency on the guitars takes a back seat to the drums and vocals of Eric Jernigan. Though the band allows the guitars to once again become a dominant force towards the end of the song. "Grandfather Paradox" is another slower moving number; this one is actually just an interlude but showcases again the different styles of the band.
Closing venture "The Star in the East" is another brilliant concoction of post-hardcore, screamo, and post-metal. I hear a lot of 90's post-hardcore in the rock guitar riffings that are mixed within the song. It's a great closing piece for a spectacular album.
With Look What God Did to Us City of Ships have unleashed a spectacular, cohesive album that definitely ranks amongst the years best. In addition, this is a recording that can appeal to a wide range of fans, which makes it fairly unique. I definitely look forward to where the band goes from here.
