The Sun God Shines Above The Fray on This Day

History

Hello and welcome to Rock D3C0D3D where today we are going to take a look at latest effort by the Colorado-native band The Fray entitled Helios.

Forming in the yester-year of 2002 the band was formed by reformed Teen Titans villain/part-time singer 'Slade,' guitarist Joe King, and Ben Wysocki. They would find a fair amount of success in their native state, though it was not until the release of How to Save a Life that the band catapulted to superstar with it's hit singles "Over My Head (Cable Car)" and "How to Save a Life." The band itself then followed that up with their self-titled release in 2009 solidifying they were staying in the spotlight with the lead single "You Found Me (though in this reviewers open "Never Say Never" was the much better song)." After only two years since their last effort, the hit-or-miss Scars and Stories, can The Fray bring back that alternative pop-infused spark? Let's find out

The Review

 Singles:

 Love Don't Die:

So, remember The Fray right? The guys who mostly sing very downtrodden songs about love lost, missed, or still had? Yea, this song is nothing like that and is probably hands down my favorite pop song in the past 2 years. It seriously has everything from the chanting choir, to the big booming drums, and that guitar/bass line is just amazing on the ears. I wish more pop music took a page from these guys about diversity as the song starts very calm and jazzy but turns into this hugely epic/intense romp about the eternalness of love. 100% BUY.
 

The Rest of the Album...

Honestly the album itself is very well put together and escalates through a multitude of genres. One minute it's your normal romp through alternative rock, the next is a jazzy adrenaline pumper, then to funkiest pop songs imaginable. Seriously this album is quite good from a musical standpoint, sadly from a lyrical standpoint it starts to waiver.

Now Isaac Slade has never been one for deep philosophical lyrics juxtapositioning a common man's existence in a tyrannical 'live-fast-die-quick" world, but that's not always a bad thing. In pop music it is good to be general even in one's specifics and it's here that 'Slade' has it nearly perfect. Take a good listen to the songs "Break Your Plans," "Hurricane," "Shadow and a Dancer," and "Hold My Hand." All of these songs are amazing at causing an emotional resonance in the listener but upon further inspection it is not due to the words that are being said as they are the ideas being presented and the music filling in the story-scape for the listener. This is by no means a terrible thing but after eleven songs and countless singles before-hand, one starts to wonder why 'Slade' seems to be so afraid to put himself in the story.

 There is a lot praise that can be put on this album as I was not expecting much after their last effort which resonated a very underwhelming 'meh.' In the end though The Fray deserves to be commended for the amount of risks placed on Helios as the mixture of real instrumentation and electronic is phenomenal which is in a huge part by producers 'Stuart Price' and OneRepublic's lead man 'Ryan Tedder.' I say if you are a fan of their older stuff a majority of this album, "Love Don't Die," "Closer To Me," "Our Last Days," and "Break Your Plans" will be a few for sure listen picks though I cannot stress enough this whole album is quite good. While it may not push-the-envelope on what pop music can do it does stretch the door pretty open for a promising future for this once behemoth of a band.

DECODED: 8.5 out of 10

As always please like, share, and comment below!

All the music covered above is available on iTunes, Amazon, and Spotify for your listening pleasure.

BUY IT: Love Don't Die, Keep On Wanting, Our Last Days, Break Your Plans, Shadow and a Dancer

 

HEAR IT:  Hold My Hand, Give It Away, Hurricane, Same as You

TRASH IT:  Wherever This Goes

 

*As with all things, the opinions expressed our purely that of the author and should be taken as such. ** All images, music, and information used are for entertainment/review purposes. No copyright infringement intended.