Chevelle - Vena Sera
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CD Details
Artist: ChevelleEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2007-04-03
Music Label: Epic
Soundtracks:
- Antisaint
- Brainiac
- Saferwaters
- Well Enough Alone
- Straight Jacket Fashion
- The Fad
- Humanoid
- Paint The Seconds
- Midnight to Midnight
- I Get It
- Saturdays
Music reviews of Vena Sera
Music Review: My Least Favorite Chevelle Album - Yet Still Incredible
Rating: 4 Stars
First of all, if you're a long time Chevelle fan you'll probably be a little disappointed at first. When I first listened to this CD, I was listening through it to find a few songs that I'd be addicted to for months. Unfortunately, I didn't really find any except for maybe Saferwaters. I stopped listening to it for about a month, then I gave it another try which eventually led me to truly appreciating it. However, it's still my least favorite Chevelle album. I almost don't know what to say about it. I mean, it's good, but nothing really stands out to me except for a few tracks which I'll get to. I will say though that I might be being a little harsh because this album is MUCH better than most of the trash played on the radio lately.
"Many of the tracks on this album were based off of material from unreleased songs the band had previously recorded." -Wikipeda
When I first read that, I was very disappointed. I felt as if all of the mediocre songs that didn't make it to other albums and got thrown onto this one. But I will admit that this CD grows on you.
Antisaint (7/10) - It's an okay opener for the CD. However, it's nothing groundbreaking and it's nothing I'll go out of my way to play.
Braniac (7/10) - Once again, it's alright but it really isn't anything special to me. It's a good rock song, but nothing really grabs me.
Saferwaters (10/10) - Now this is a good track. You can actually feel the emotion in this one which is what I originally expected from Chevelle when I first got this album. It's the best song on the normal edition of this CD and maybe even the best overall. THIS is why I like Chevelle.
Well Enough Alone (8/10) - This is also a pretty good track. The buildup to the chorus (and life before... makes no sense) sounds VERY good but the chorus is a very big letdown for me. I could never get into the chorus of this song. Overall, it's a good song though.
Straight Jacket Fashion (8/10) - It's a so-so song when compared to Chevelle's other works. It's still very good but it really doesn't stand out of the ordinary for me. There's just nothing about it that really catches me.
The Fad (8/10) - I like Pete's voice in this one. The chorus has a very raw vocal feel to it and it's best played very loud. =)
Humanoid (8/10) - This is also one of the better songs on the album. It's very hard rocking all of the way through. When I first heard this, I really liked it but it still didn't really compare to Chevelle's previous stuff.
Paint the Seconds (8/10) - I like it a lot but it just doesn't have that addicting quality to it that makes me want to listen to it again. It does feel a tad more emotional than some others but it still doesn't do much for me for whatever reason.
Midnight to Midnight (9/10) - This song is pretty good. The vocals and the guitar in it work together very well and it's pretty catchy.
I Get It (9/10) - Also a very good song. The chorus is very good and the bridges are also good. I hear it really gets the crowd going when played live.
Saturdays (8/10) - I like the message behind it. "We all belong in the Saturdays of our youth." The vocals are very nice in it and it's a pretty good song.
Bonus Songs:
Sleep Walking Elite (10/10) - This is a very good song. Too bad it's a bonus song and it's not on the normal edition. For some reason when he sings "at least they'll call us men again" I'm always reminded of Maynard Keenan's vocals from Tool. I'm not too sure why either. I've never been the one to say that Chevelle sounds like Tool because when you look at it realistically, Chevelle and Tool are very different. Then again, I will say that the soft vocals followed by explosions of hard rock and hard vocals does resemble Tool a little bit (but you won't find that style in Vena Sera, that's for sure). Anyway, it really is a shame this didn't make it to the normal edition. Now this is a song that I'll listen to multiple times and I won't be bothered. I can't say the same for any of the others that got a rating below a 10.
Delivery (10/10) - This song is VERY GOOD. This is also a bonus song. It's a cover of a song called "Basketcase" by an Irish band called Compulsion (they broke up a while ago). I have listened to this song many times over and over because it's so catchy and awesome.
In Debt to the Earth (10/10) - This song is also incredible. I can't believe they left this incredible song off of the album. You can really feel the emotion in it. This is what I was expecting from Chevelle when I first got Vena Sera. You can grab this song off of iTunes. I really do think it's a shame that they left all of these awesome songs off of the normal album of Vena Sera.
The songs that I rated 10/10 are the songs that I can listen to multiple times without ever feeling bored of them.
Anyway, this album does rock, but I think they forgot a few key things that made them very unique - and it's very hard to describe these key things. I went back through some of their other albums to try to figure it out. Here are a few differences that I've noticed about Vena Sera that made it my least favorite ---
- Vena Sera does not have much of a metal feel to it - vocally or instrumentally.
The thing that made Chevelle feel so different was Pete's soft nice vocals combined with very hard deep screams. Remember "Grab Thy Hand" off of Wonder What's Next? That was some hardcore vocal stuff. The guitar and bass were so rich, deep, raw, and well, metal. In Vena Sera, that doesn't exist. It seems almost TOO studio overproduced and Pete's vocals do not have any hard feel to them. I think the biggest strain on Pete's voice was during "The Fad" in Vena Sera. They just aren't as dynamic. They are very light throughout the whole album. I don't even consider Vena Sera metal at all. A good example of Pete using both light and hard vocals in one song would be "Still Running" off of This Type of Thinking Could Do Us In. Chevelle is a master at combining softness and hardness at the same time. The softness to screams doesn't really exist in Vena Sera. A very early example of softness to screams would be Chevelle's "Long" in Point #1.
- There isn't as much "emotion" in this album.
No, not in the "emo" genre type sense. Check out the song called "Point #1" off of their first album called Point #1. That song is just beautiful and it really attaches itself to you. I've had that song for years and I've never gotten sick of it. And of course there's "Send the Pain Below" from Wonder What's Next. "Panic Prone" from This Type of Thinking Could Do Us In is another great example. Throughout Chevelle's discography there are very emotional and "beautiful" songs like this but you won't see it in Vena Sera at all.
- You can tell that Vena Sera is Chevelle but at the same time your mind is thinking, "Is this really Chevelle?" It seems very over studio produced and geared toward making it to the radio.
This is why there have been so many harsh reviews here on Amazon. It's a good album, but at the same time, it's such a letdown for the longtime Chevelle fans. It's still good music, but whenever I listen to it, I still feel like Chevelle could have done so much better. They seem to rock on and on in this album but they forget the ingredients that made them truly amazing. There is no softness combined with very hard rock. Nothing really dynamic about it. It's very static. Oh and of course, it's no longer metal.
So, if you want to get this album, remember these things --
1. It needs to grow on you. You probably won't like most of it at first.
2. You should definitely get the Best Buy Exclusive version of this so you can get the "Delivery" and "Sleep Walking Elite" songs. I also really recommend buying "In Debt to the Earth" off of iTunes (it's in the Vena Sera album on there). All 3 of those songs are incredible.
3. Remember, even if you feel let down about this album, remember that it's better than most of the junk played on the radio nowadays. It definitely doesn't have that awesome whisper to scream emotion that the older albums had, but it beats the Nickelback trash and etc. tenfold. Pete's vocals are very unique and amazing and this album really does deserve your money.
The bottom line is this - it's good music, but if you really want to hear Chevelle, buy their older albums instead of this one.
Description of Vena Sera
Exclusive Australian pressing of the Alternative band's 2007 album features five bonus tracks, all of them the most popular tracks taken from their previous studio albums: 'The Red', 'Send The Pain Below', 'Closure', 'Vitamin R (Leading Us Along)' and 'The Clincher'. Vera Sera is Chevelle's catchiest, heaviest, most dynamic and expressive album to date. Filled with an array of sonic styles and tempos, colored by personal, most passionate lyrics, the songs are both a declaration of contempt for the mainstream and a celebration of a counterculture driven by crashing beats and blasting power chords. Red.Alternative Rock CDs
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