Poets Of The Fall's Temple Of Thought (2012)

First of all, a huge THANK YOU for the almost 75000 views that this blog page has got till today. It has been an amazing journey since 2010, looking at fresh releases and also taking trips down the memory lane, revisiting some old blockbuster albums. Appreciate it a lot!

This review has been much delayed, but in a way, I'm happy. I wouldn't have written the same stuff about Temple Of Thought had I done this, say, a month back. This is an album that grows on you, and keeps on growing even when you think that it couldn't any more. These bunch of people have a knack of creating stellar material. It's so amazing that it becomes criminal to say against their music. Poets Of The Fall are true musicians, true geniuses because I'm damn sure that the purity of sound that they bring out can only be accomplished by ones with equal purity in their hearts.

They love their own music, care for it like parents and the end result is nothing but immense love from their fans, for them and their songs.

Album Art

It is said that Temple Of Thought is the completion of the trilogy of Signs Of Life(2005) and Carnival Of Rust(2007). Vocalist Marko Saaresto said in an interview that Signs Of Life depicted birth and growth, Carnival Of Rust was about the loss of illusions, and seeing life how it really is.Temple Of Thought is a natural progression and is about achieving complete consciousness and realisation, the creation of a complete human being.

Marko-A singer par excellence

He also said that the other ongoing trilogy of Revolution Roulette(2008) & Twilight Theater(2010) awaits completion.

About the songs on Temple Of Thought, he says: "They should be heard, really heard, so they can be felt and once you feel them, if you close your eyes, you can see them..."

Let's start putting some thought into this -

TEMPLE OF THOUGHT ------------   **********      [10/10]

Running Out Of Time starts off this album with a bang.Guitars, drums and Marko! A slightly unsynchronised beat in the beginning funnily makes a lot of sense, looking at the song title.The solo brings out pure adrenaline and gives you the feeling that you're actually running out of time! Ends abruptly, as if you've finally run out. Genius.

The title track is next. The most popular track from this album among fans, as an online poll suggests. Temple Of Thought is classic Poets Of The Fall. Brilliant instruments and vocals. This song is about letting the one you love know that she's at the heart of all your thoughts, the Goddess of your Temple Of Thought, in a way. The tremolo solo is awe-inspiring, hits just the right notes that you're feeling within.

Cradled In Love, their first single is next. A wonderful acoustic song flawlessy complemented by Marko's Falsetto. It is said one should play to one's strength and flaunt what you're good at. Marko does just that , and this song, especially the chorus, is a display of his prowess over the Falsetto style of singing.  

Jack up the tempo with Kamikaze Love, a through and through Poets Of The Fall track, bringing back memories of Lift from their debut, Signs Of Life and Diamonds For Tears from Revolution Roulette. This one is my favourite on the album - so energetic, so much fun to listen to.

The high point of The Lie Eternal is its chorus. This is rock - pumping beats, powerful singing and dominant guitars. This song is about falling for a person who never loved you in the first place, and after many charades,  this deception seems like an eternal lie.

Skin tones it down to a slower beat, but a much classier tune. This song is the one that has it all.You may not notice it for a long time, but it has it all. Falsetto, high pitched singing and Reverb-ed drums. The bridge on this song requires special mention - it touches your heart in places it has never been touched before.

A skillful guitar intro to The Distance. Falsetto yet again in the chorus, so beautiful. In fact, I have no more words to describe this gem. It is better felt when you listen to it!

Again, the chorus of Show Me This Life stands out as the high point of this track. Another face-melting solo and an upbeat tempo launch the last chorus of the song. 

Calm your nerves with Morning Tide. Close your eyes and you can almost feel the waves, the coast and the white gulls flying above. Lovely lyrics, gripping chorus all ask the girl of your dreams if she would go with you across the seas, if you asked her to come along. The nuance that this song captures is truly heart-warming, makes you believe in all the good things of life. My other favourite on Temple Of Thought after Kamikaze Love.

The Ballad Of Jeremiah Peacekeeper brings us to one step away from the album's close. As far as I understand, this song centres around God. It tells us to love God, because He needs it, to stay invincible, forever in our hearts. The song says that god is omnipresent, and can do things you can't imagine, but He still needs your love. 

The visual you get when you close your eyes and let the wings of this song brush your hair, is of an old Englishman, sitting on a chair on a quay, smoking his pipe, with a far away look in his wrinkled but wise eyes. He is probably in the twilight of his life, and is peacefully waiting for Death under the grisly,dark clouds.

The Happy Song is the last track on this album.This song doesn't belong to this album at all. It was originally created for the Soundtrack of the newest Alan Wake Game - American Nightmare.But Marko said that this song needed to be the last one on Temple Of Thought, because if you want to feel ready to listen to the album again, this song breaks the shackles that have been placed on your hands by the entrancing songs, one after the other. Overdriven guitars and what I suspect are whammy bar effects dominate this song.

No surprises that I rate this album a Perfect 10 , and highly recommend it to audiophiles, newbies even. How they repeatedly present us with such material is what humbles me, and is what makes me admire them even more.

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NEWS:
* KoRn had announced that they would be coming to India on tour. It has now been confirmed that they will play at Gurgaon, Mumbai and Bengaluru. No doubt I'll be there.Looking forward to seeing Jon Davis rule the mic, Munky assert dominance over the guitar, Fieldy play the bass like a boss, and Ray drum the hell out of his drums!

L to R - Ray Luzier, James 'Munky' Shaffer, Jonathan Davis, Reginald 'Fieldy' Arvizu

*Yes, LIVING THINGS, by Linkin Park is out! It is their 5th consecutive debut at #1 on the Billboard. More on this, on my next post - a review of LIVING THINGS!

* ¡Uno!, ¡Dos!, and ¡Tré!  - the set of three albums by Green Day will be released in September 2012, November 2012 and January 2012.Each album features one member of the band-  ¡Uno!  will have Billie Joe Armstrong, ¡Dos! will have Mike Dirnt and yes, ¡Tré! will have Tré Cool on the cover!

Billie had previously said that these albums will not be the Punk Rock operas which made American Idiot and 21st Century Breakdown such huge hits, but will be a mixture of PowerPop, Garage Rock and Dance.
Mike revealed that majority of the content would focus on sex.
The first single , 'Oh Love' , will be released on July 16.

Here's the artwork-

Next: A review of LIVING THINGS by the immortals, Linkin Park.