Brighter Than a Thousand Suns - Survival Machines (2011)

This review marks the first album / band in this blog that has a woman has the proper lead singer. From husband and wife duo, Angelika and Randy Roswell, better known as Brighter Than a Thousand Suns comes Survival Machines, their debut and only full-length album released to date. This album comes before their departure from post-hardcore rock to pursue an 80's synth rock sound, which is showcased in their later material.

It's quite a shame that Brighter Than a Thousand Suns is not that well-known, because they have some great songs which are 100% worth listening to. With this album, that's definitely the case. However, there are some things that I don't get. Survival Machines contains 11 songs, which take just over half an hour to listen to, so it won't take a great amount of time away from you to listen to it. It also has some of the longest song names I've ever seen, like "A Creature Bred On Hunger Made Food For Hungry Gods". Yes, that's actually the name of the song. One of the things I don't get is the copious amounts of screaming featured in nearly all the tracks, besides the instrumentals and "The Riot Of Our Blood And Breath", the latter offering a calmer ending to the album. I fail to see how that's healthy for anyone's throat, really. You gotta take a break from it at some point. One of the greatest takeaways are the meanest backing tracks I've ever heard that are featured in this album, with the meanest being the backing track in "Crossing The Divide". The instrumental tracks, "Long Live Impermanence" and "The Search For Second Earth", offer a break from all the screaming showcased in the other songs, especially the latter as that is the more toned down one out of the two.

In the end, Survival Machines offers heavy-hitting, power-driven songs that get you energized. I would have liked to have heard less screaming, as too much of it can take away from the quality of an album. Overall, it was a head-banging extravaganza, but could have been better.

Favourite Tracks: "Crossing The Divide", "Long Live Impermanence", "The Search For Second Earth", "The Riot Of Our Blood And Breath"

Rating: 7 / 10