‘Stranger’ is the début album from the Connecticut based melodic hardcore band that is Ambitions. The bands sound is similar to other such bands as Comeback Kid and Rise Against; this is not a bad début album from the band but certainly one that lacks passion at times. The music of Ambitions possesses an incredibly clean sound, the band bounces through this record with many a fine vocal melody and super guitar work also. The music of Ambitions is hugely catchy, the band has a fine ability for penning an infectious punk rock anthem and always here the bands song writing ability is shown to be exceptional.
The album opens to the pleasant instrumental sound of first track ‘The Habit of Despair Is Worse Than Despair Itself’; atmosphere builds well here and the sound really is very well put across by the band with this one. After this minute long introduction to the album you’re then launched into the true heart of the music as the band soars through the hugely melodic ‘The Illusion’. The vocals are well sung out, sometimes twisting and changing into a hearty hardcore shout; the music of Ambitions is hugely upbeat and positive, there’s a great bite about the bands sound and a terrific energy which the band seems to possess at all times.
The music is very well put across by Ambitions here, the tracks are strongly structured and both instrumentally and vocally also the sound created here is always really rather impressive; there’s certainly a lack of passion in the vocal sound at times however and this I feel is the main failing of the music of Ambitions. When the band escalates into hardcore shouts there’s no problem here whatsoever, with the melodically sung out vocal lines however the bands lead vocalist Jay Aust has a tendency to sound a little bored. If a band sounds bored producing the music that it is; this has a knock on effect and you therefore end up getting a bit bored too. With this album Ambitions definitely do sound a little tired as a band at points, not always, certainly sometimes however and this therefore stops the album from ever being particularly excellent.
‘Calamity’ is one track from this album that I absolutely love; the chorus is finely shouted out and every element of the instrumental sound always sounds excellent here. The drum work is fantastic, the guitar riffs crushing, and not in any single area is the music in the slightest bit disappointing to listen to. ‘Losing Control’ is another terrific track from this album which features some fantastic gang vocals, it’s a true punk rock anthem and one which I always greatly enjoy listening to. The track is less than two minutes long, it’s a powerful piece of music however and always here the music of Ambitions is passionately performed and energetically executed.
This is no melodic hardcore classic, too many of the tracks lack passion and the album therefore has a horrible tendency to stagnate. There are some really excellent moments here, there are also some fairly average ones however; at best Ambitions is a band which sounds to be one of the greatest in its genre, at worst however Ambitions sounds like a second rate Rise Against here. If you like the music of Rise Against then you should also like Ambitions; the band has a similar style of sound and if that’s what you’re looking for in a band then you should really enjoy this ‘Stranger’ album. There’s a definite lack of passion in the vocal performance here; with some of the tracks there isn’t, a lot of the time there is however and this album is therefore not quite as excellent as it perhaps could and should have been.
This is a fair attempt for a first album and if you’re interested in the genre of melodic hardcore then I’d certainly recommend giving ‘Ambitions’ a listen. Don’t expect to be too overly impressed with what you find here, there are definitely a good few excellent tracks contained within this ‘Stranger’ album however and some of the tracks shall surely be of great appeal. Exactly 31 minutes of music are present here, thirteen tracks make up these 31 minutes and if you’re after artists that possess a similar sound to that of Rise Against then Ambitions is one such band that you can look to for this.
Label: Bridge Nine Records
Release Date: November 6th 2007
Rating:
UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.
