Since October - Life, Scars, Apologies

Artist: Since October
Album: Life, Scars, Apologies
Release Date: 6/8/10
Label: Tooth & Nail Records

The genre of arena rock seems to be growing and growing nowadays, with many big artists like Skillet and Thousand Foot Krutch, but there's a new band to the scene. Since October certainly surprised me with their new album Life, Scars, Apologies, the follow up to their mediocre debut This Is My Heart. Honestly after hearing their debut, I gave up on hope for them, but that spark was quickly renewed with their sophomore album. A better crafted bunch of arena rock songs mixed with a few ballads as well along the way make for a solid follow up.

One of the best parts of Life, Scars, Apologies are easily some of the songwriting. Songs like the title track tell a story of redemption, while "Believe" questions "what do I believe in?" The ballad "Sober Love" takes on more of an alternative sound, which along with ""The Way You Move" are both meant to be love songs. Not forgetting the arena rock sound mentioned above, "The Show" is a perfect example, which makes for a perfect fight song. "Life of Mine" is heavily reminiscent of Thousand Foot Krutch and in fact could have been pulled off by TFK themselves. Something that seems very out of place on the album is the closer, "Don't Follow." Surprisingly, it's an acoustic/folk ballad, with a diverse sound, including, yes, harmonica. It offers up a different side of Since October that isn't too easy to take in, but still manages to close Life, Scars, Apologies nicely.

Rating: 7/10 The newest from Since October, aptly titled Life, Scars, Apologies, certainly revived my hope in the band. They are one of the up and coming rock bands out there, shown with a solid album. While not completely perfect, if they can fully polish up their sound from this sophomore release, I'm sure that they can make it far.

Tracklisting:

1. The Way You Move
2. Life, Scars, Apologies
3. Believe
4. Sober Love
5. Life of Mine
6. Other Side of Me
7. The Show
8. Mend All The Pieces
9. Crying Shame
10. My Only
11. Made Up My Mind
12. Don't Follow

(Buy Here)