Artist: Alesana Album: The Emptiness

Year: 2010
Duration: 50:0-1

Alesana's The Emptiness: An Album Worth Listening, Analyzing, and Criticizing

Music has been a part of humanity since the beginning of time. It is a universal language that connects us all. Music has different genres, styles, and themes, which altogether forms a vast and diverse world of melodies. In this blog, we will talk about one of the renowned albums of the music artist Alesana, The Emptiness. Alesana is a post-hardcore band that was formed back in 2004 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Their music has a unique style that features a blend between pop punk, screamo, and metalcore, all brought together in one cohesive sound.
The Emptiness is Alesana's third studio album that was released in 2010. The album is composed of 13 tracks that are all based on Edgar Allan Poe's book, The Annabel Lee. The album is a concept album that tells a horror-romance story that is brought to life through Alesana's music. The album's genre is post-hardcore, which involves a mix of clean and harsh vocals, breakdowns, and heavy instrumentals.
The best songs of the album are The Thespian, To Be Scared by an Owl, and The Murderer. These three tracks stood out the most to me because of their catchy chorus, relatable lyrics, and captivating instrumentals. The Thespian is the album's lead single and features a memorable guitar riff that is backed up by the singer's impressive vocals. To Be Scared by an Owl is a track that takes a slower pace, which allows the listener to soak in the emotions and the story behind the song. The Murderer is one of the album's heaviest tracks and features a perfect blend of heavy instrumentals and screaming vocals.
One of the most innovative parts of the album is how they incorporated an orchestra into their music. The orchestra provides a haunting melody that adds a layer of complexity to the instrumentals, which, in turn, highlights the general theme of the album. The album also features interludes that are narrated by the band members, which helps to progress the story of The Annabel Lee and bring it to life.
As much as I enjoyed listening to The Emptiness, there were some critical points that I need to address. The album's overall sound felt too polished and overproduced, which filtered out the rawness and authenticity that post-hardcore music is known for. The clean vocals often felt overused and repetitive, which can be a letdown for listeners who prefer harsh or screaming vocals. Additionally, the album's storyline was not consistently executed, and there were moments where it felt like it was forced or rushed.
Alesana's The Emptiness is an album that is worth listening to, analyzing, and criticizing. It is a concept album that tells a horror-romance story through post-hardcore music, which makes it unique and captivating. The album's best tracks are The Thespian, To Be Scared by an Owl, and The Murderer, which showcase Alesana's talent and creativity. The innovative parts of the album, such as the orchestra and the interludes, added an extra layer of complexity to the overall sound. However, the album's overproduction and repetitive clean vocals, along with its inconsistent execution of the storyline, detracted from the authenticity that fans of post-hardcore music are looking for.