A Sunset for Snow Patrol?

  "A Hundred Million Suns" is, as far as I can tell, Snow Patrol's fifth release. Most people are familiar just with the stuff since 2004's "Final Straw." I enjoyed "Final Straw" as well as "Eyes Open," their release from 2006. So, I was quite excited for this album, and have been listening to it since I bought it a couple weeks ago. Now, I bought it and listened to it knowing that I'd be writing this blog post. Did that change my listening experience? I don't know. My opinion of it, however, is that though it has a few really great songs, the number of merely mediocre songs made the album somewhat of a disappointment. 

  So, here's the basic Snow Patrol song structure: a soft simple intro followed by repeated vocal and lead guitar riffs, as layers are added with every verse and chorus, the song builds to a climax and then quickly ends. Think "Open Your Eyes" or "Run." I happen to like this pattern. It's easy to follow and Snow Patrol usually has some pretty good rock-out moments at the climaxes. Most of the songs on "A Hundred Million Suns" follow this same pattern with maybe a little more production than on past albums. 

  The album opens with one of its best tracks, "If There's a Rocket Tie Me To It." With its catchy riffs, great chorus, and another climactic rock-out moment, this song is as good as any Snow Patrol song out there. The unique vocals in the chorus are definitely something to pay attention to. "Crack the Shutters" comes next. It has everything necessary musically to be another good song, but the lyrics make me want to barf. They're too, I don't know, "cute." Track 3 (I could write another entire blog entry on the importance of track 3 on an album), "Take Back the City," is a very good song, but not a great song. The same goes for "Lifeboats," number 4. "The Golden Floor" is interesting at first, with its different rhythm, but it soon gets boring. "Please Just Take These Photos From My Hands," track 6, is my second favorite on the album (after track one). As another upbeat song, I like it for most of the same reasons I mentioned for the first song. "Set Down Your Glass" (7) and "The Planets Bend Between Us" (8) are both ballads. I really like track 8, while I found track 7 to be kinda boring. Track 9, "Engines," is just another okay song that doesn't seem to go anywhere. "Disaster Button" is another good upbeat song and even has a cool guitar solo, but I can't recommend it without some editing for content at about 0:30. The last track is a sixteen minute song in three "movements" called "The Lightning Strike." The idea is a cool one, but only if by the end of the first movement you're left wanting more. This song just doesn't quite pull it off. Almost, but not quite. 

So, don't take my negative comments to mean that I regret buying this album. It's a good album, but not a great album. I worry that singles from this album won't be as successful as those from earlier albums and will cause Snow Patrol to be forgotten. I'd recommend that you faithful readers (I'm still pretty sure you don't exist) spend half as much as I did on the CD and buy only some tracks off iTunes, or wherever you legally download music from.