Author: SPARTA

Brand: Umgd/Hollywood

Format: Enhanced

Release Date: 24-10-2006

Details: Product Description Three albums. Three record labels. Three minor reinventions and just as many artistic progressions. Sparta are one of the punk community's most consistent and widely respected bands for good reasons. Three's, their first album with former Engine Down/Denali guitarist Keeley Davis onboard, is perhaps their most accomplished and least anxious record yet. Most of the wrinkles from front man Jim Ward's strained tenor have been smoothed, particularly on "Erase It Again," where he genuinely channels Bono's knack for making small stories sound huge. Ward's vocal improvement is dramatic, no question, but without Davis, it's hard to imagine Sparta songs sounding so expansive as "Unstitch Your Mouth." Behind Ward's expanding register, Sparta finally seem intent on realizing their destiny as an arena-filling, life-changing band. Once these players' relationships evolve further, their future's as wide as their sound's become. -Alternative Press 2006 Amazon.ca Sparta combines the quirky elements of indie rock--unusual start-stop riffs and guitar skwonks--with anthemic choruses and surprisingly uplifting melodies, emerging with an uplifting and intelligent form of arena rock. The band also gets its prog on with the moody "Unstitch Your Mouth," a track that calls to mind The Wall-era Pink Floyd as much as it recalls anything heard in VFW halls and blaring from dorm rooms today, and "Atlas," which could easily be an outtake from Radiohead's OK Computer. That's not to say that Sparta's sound doesn't have a sense of originality. Much of Threes--the sonic maelstrom "Untreatable Disease," the epic "The Most Vicious Crime," and the made-for-the-stage, U2-esque "Weather the Storm"--proves that this is a band to watch, one that other acts will look to in the future for inspiration. Threes isn't a classic album--there are some moments that need trimming on some of the record's latter tracks and the quartet could stand to mask its influences more often--but the 12-song collection does demonstrate that Sparta are in the rock & roll game for the long haul. --Jedd Beaudoin

UPC: 720616261328

EAN: 0720616261328

Languages: English

Binding: Audio CD

Item Condition: New