Ah...Out Of Ashes, the debut album from Dead By Sunrise, the unexpected (to put it slightly) amalgamating of Linkin Park front man Chester Bennington and Orgy offshoot Julien-K. Interviews from last year described the musical vibe as "Chester Bennington's Julien-K," and many speculated that due to the vocalists being the same, we'd basically have another Linkin Park record on our hands. Both camps, for better or worse, were completely off base here, and Dead By Sunrise comes out of the ashes of eight years of Chester's free time when Linkin Park was off cycle. So what do we have here? The best album of all time? A travesty to music? Just a respectable effort? How does it compare to Fort Minor? Let's take a look.
01. Fire---Out of Ashes begins with "Fire," an unquestionably strong opener. I was in love with this song ever since the intro was played in the trailer for that Japanese movie (name eludes me). The guitar work, the drumming, the vocals, everything seems to be clear, loud, and well done. The bridge absolutely owns, with what I'll call the best screaming on the album, and the vocal layering actually plays to the music's advantage in this track. Great example of what these guys can do together.
10/10
02. Crawl Back In---The lead single and the first real taste of the band people who didn't frequent Club Tattoo got. By that token, this is likely the first Dead By Sunrise song Chester played sober, but at any rate, the review. Initially, the vocal style threw me off, because I was one of the people convinced Dead By Sunrise was going to be Linkin Park 2.0. However, once I adapted to the style a bit, the song proved to be pretty solid. The vocals in the verses are strong, and the guitar work is consistent throughout, with a decent solo setting off the bridge. Chorus is also pretty great vocally/lyrically. With that said, the lyrics are what make this track suffer. Two example grate against me specifically. Verse two "It's hard to think of anything that I haven't heard before/I hear these voices in my head/They could be mine, but I'm not sure." I always find repeating the same word within three lines to be sort of...annoying. Wasn't there a better word to use? And the bridge sans the solo is the same stuff that fans have been begging Linkin Park to drop for years. "Sometimes I lie/Sometimes I cry/Sometimes I feel like I want to die." The old lie/cry/die thing has been a staple of fifteen year old poets for years, I was hoping Chester's solo effort would leave it behind. Alas.
8/10
03. Too Late---Was pleasantly surprised by this song. It's a bit soft, but it has a nice flow, and the soft, pleasant vocal work we've come to expect from Chester's ballads. Pretty solid length and all the elements came together pretty well to form a good track. As the first "new" song on the album to these ears, I was pleased and eager for more, but nothing blew me away on this one.
7/10
04. Inside Of Me---Short, in your face track. Full of energy, full of the familiar rasp of Bennington's vocals that will make any Linkin Park fan feel right at home. The intro is a little "Green Day," but the song quickly picks up pace. Guitar work is good, vocals are nice, and the train-horn solo kicked my ass first time around. The song is like a sucker punch in the face after the first three tracks; fast, in your face, and leaving you wonder what the hell just happened. Only takes a hit in my book because of the overdone Linkin Park vibe, right down to the lyrics borrowing a bit too heavily from "Given Up."
9/10
05. Let Down---Trying to put aside my love for and familiarity with the ReactNow acoustic version from 2005 and judging this track on its own merits within the album was tricky, but I gave it an honest try. The intro stood out as kind of drowned out and melted together. The melody was there, but it felt like it had been in the sun too long and turned to liquid, if you catch my drift. The vocal performance was top notch, and the guitar work was pretty solid again. The bridge disappointed me, with the powerful vocals Chester delivered in the ReactNow version (I tried) being replaced by heavily drowned out backup from the rest of the band, who, as far as I'm concerned, were given instruments and not microphones for a reason. Solid, but not as fantastic as I was dreaming for.
8/10
06. Give Me Your Name---I'll make this clear first. I adore songs like this. Dreamy, slow, melodious monsters that you dream about listening to high off your ass. I loved the lyrics, and the vocal delivery was fantastic. I've already stated that I adore Chester's ballad vocals, and it's tracks like this that provide all the justification I ever need. The guitar work is, again, great, but the rest of the band sort of takes a backseat. I can't even remember upon the first listen if this even had percussion. Ah well.
9/10
07. My Suffering---I'll be honest. This song is really two different creatures depending on whether you're listening to it with headphones on, or you're in a packed stadium. The original version Chester played at Club Tattoo would annoy the hell out of me if it made the cut for the album, but by the same token, listening to this live is probably about as heavy and hard hitting as listening to the previous track will be. Since I'm reviewing the album however, I'll discuss my opinions on the version in front of me. My Suffering is another short track like "Inside Of Me," meant to deliver another punch in the face after two ballads. Unfortunately, length works against this song, and it just feels like there should be MORE. The vocals are good, the lyrics are nice, the guitar work is, as always, good, but it just feels like it stops halfway through. Other negatives include the underwater call back style of the verses, and the fact that screaming in the chorus is mixed so low that it sounds like raspy whispering. The lack of a lyrical bridge ticks me off, too, and this, unfortunately, is an issue that's present with a good eighty percent of the album.
6/10
08. Condemned---Past the halfway point now, I can see how a lot of these songs just wouldn't fit in Linkin Park. A good majority would only be fit for solo efforts like this, simply because of the general lack of cohesiveness. Compared to two tracks ago, "Condemned," made me think I had accidentally started listening to the new Alice In Chains album. Chester's vocals are very intentionally grunge, and I must say, he can pull it off. With that said, the mixing is terrible, and the lyrics are unremarkable compared to what we've soon so far. Not much to say here except I really didn't like this one too much.
5/10
09. Into You---I love this song. Absolutely love. I could tell as soon as the opening guitar played that this was different from the rest of the album, and not like "Condemned," before it. The way the verses progress is unique, the vocals are clean and clear, the lyrics are good and I can relate to them (a first for this album, so far). Really, really great stuff here. Not much to say except I love it.
10/10
10. The End Of The World---I think it's a rule in rock and roll that if you're going to be a serious musician, at some point in your career, you need to make a song called "The End Of The World." With that said, I really enjoy Chester's "real world," lyrics here, and the vocal progression from soft, dark verses to eventually, angry, grungy verses was a good call in my book. It gets points for being a unique track, but overall, it didn't blow me away much, either.
7/10
11. Walking In Circles---I really take to enlightened lyrics. I'm naturally a "holier than thou," person, as bad a habit as it is, so I can relate to these "everyone is a sheep," lyrics. The music plays very well to the lyrics, which are delivered well. The chorus is a strong point and not a detriment as it's been in some past tracks, and I really enjoyed this one. Big complaint is that for it's length, it should really have a lyrical bridge. Linkin Park must spoil me with this, but a guitar solo or quiet interlude between choruses just doesn't do it for me, and having over half of the lyrical content of a song being the chorus repeating over and over again grates on me.
9/10
12. In The Darkness---I love the intro here. The electronica mixed with actual vocals to form the opening effect was very attention grabbing, and this song was almost an instant stand out due to that fact alone. I loved the instrumentation throughout, and the vocals by Chester were great. The lyrics were a bit uncomfortable sometimes, however, and this isn't a song I'll jam to with a bunch of friends in the same room. The chorus was a bit garbled, as well, and repeated too many times for my liking. Lyrical bridge. Come on. Please? Throw me a bone?
8/10
13. The Morning After---Again, I tried to block out the three other versions of this song we heard and judge it by its own merits as an album closer. (I know it's a bonus track, but...I digress). Almost from the start, the guitar and drums seemed to be mixed too loudly. It was almost like there was no intro and the song started from the twenty second mark or something. The vocals were mixed kind of low, and unfortunately (I tried, again) it appears to be the EXACT SAME vocal take as the Julien-K remix. Everything right down to the solo is the same, with the only difference being the removal of repeated vocals and the drum interlude before the second verse. In essence, what we have is a shorter, bare bones version of the Julien-K remix. Good song, but average take. Again, no damned bridge.
6/10
Dead By Sunrise: Out Of Ashes---There you have it. Chester Bennington's solo album, a collection of songs that's been in the making since 2002, has finally been released here, a collection of personal thoughts, efforts of the man's free time, and things that just wouldn't fit in a Linkin Park album. Julien-K and Chester Bennington have chemistry. Dead By Sunrise and their producer on Out of Ashes however, do not. This is a live band. All of the songs we've heard prior to this release have seen their best versions live. The Morning After, Let Down, these songs we've come to love, live in front of a crowd. The band works well together, but the timing, pacing, and content suffered a little for whatever reason. What we're left with is a solid, but lacking effort from a fledgling band, but experienced musicians. People expecting Linkin Park will be disappointed. People expecting the best album of the year will be disappointed. I'll go as far as to say this is an album best appreciated by fans of Chester Bennington. Overall, I'm pleased, but feel it could have done more. I wasn't instantly blown away as I was with all three Linkin Park albums, but I appreciate Chester Bennington, and I enjoy his work.
Overall 8/10
Fort Minor wins the solo race.
