10 YEARS | How To Live As Ghosts | Album Review

Band members sometimes come and go in bands, and for everyone involved, including the fans, that can go in any direction of opinion it needs to. There are times where a band improves with an amount of new members, and there are other bands where the loss of a member could lead to catastrophic results. However, members coming back to the fold also work in the same way. After two of the pivotal members of rock band 10 Years left, those being Brian Vodinh and Matt Wantland, the rest of the band didn't even know if they had a lot left in their creativity boxes to keep on going, initially planning for their previous and probably best album "From Birth To Burial" to be their final record. However, both members are now back in after vocalist Jesse Hasek reconnected with them in 2016, and the work on their eighth full-length studio album "How To Live As Ghosts" commenced. Now that the core writing team of albums such as "The Autumn Effect" and "Division" has been re-established and the entire band helped out a little bit, while also bringing in a highly successful producer in the form of Nick Rasculinecz, 10 Years feel like they're stronger than ever and are ready to reveal to the world an eleven track album that spans over forty minutes in length and a more polished sound. While the 10 Years catalogue has not been pitch perfect ("Minus The Machine" easily comes to mind as a forgettable disc), the band has consistently been able to make a good share of great albums, and "How To Live As Ghosts" is definitely among them although it isn't necessarily a masterpiece or one of the best albums ever released. 

10 Years was yet another band to give the rock world a hint of new material late this summer with the radio promotion and distribution of "Novocaine", the lead off single from this album. While the song is definitely what fans have come to expect with the C# minor riffage and metaphorical lyricism, the song legitimately feels like the band was having a bit of fun in the studio while recording it, and it was a good choice to get this song out into the music stratosphere first. It's definitely a great song in that sense, but it was not until the second single was released entitled "Burnout" that I really got excited for the album. To spoil things very early on, "Burnout" is definitely my favorite song on the entire album. There's so much to love about that opening riff that is also heard in the chorus of the song and the lyrics and vocals are near perfect. The song has one of the best paces that a 10 Years song has ever had, and the way the pre-chorus kicks off the chorus is phenomenal, especially the first time around where Jesse sings the line "Their standing ovation drowns you out", which is probably my favorite line in the song. It's safe to say that "Burnout" is one of the band's best songs and I'm really hoping that it hits radio after "Novocaine" has had its time on the chart. Both of these songs are some of the album's important highlights, and the fact that these two were released first from the album makes sense, but there's still more to digest. 

To be blunt, there is still some of that energy that the two singles presented on a majority of these tracks. The first example is in the album's opening track "The Messenger" which starts the album off on a whim and features more of the kinesis heard on both of the singles, and although it doesn't do it as well it still succeeds in showing the listeners the ropes of what to expect throughout the album. In fact, the first four tracks of this album are all pretty solid with "Catcombs" featuring a catchy chorus and some great guitars that really give it an edge. In addition to that, there are other tracks along the way like "Blood Red Sky" and "Phantoms" that assist in keeping that energy going. "Blood Red Sky" is actually a track from an EP that Brian Vodinh made, but was reworked for this album, but even with that in mind, the song still manages to be a highlight with its progression from a softer clean guitar piece into a rocking second half and none of these elements feel out of place within the song. "Phantoms" follows in a similar vein as "Burnout" in the fact that the beat is very similar, but also features some of the catchiness of that song but toned down a little bit in order for it to be a rock song and ballad hybrid. And, we also have "Lucky You" which appears later on in the album which shares a similar progression from quiet to raucous that "Blood Red Sky" had. 

Overall, there are a few tracks that don't have necessarily the same impact like the title track "Ghosts", even though it does get the album's point across alright, and there are others that feel more like filler like "Vampires" and "Halos", but as an overall piece, there is really a lot to enjoy about "How To Live As Ghosts". I don't think it tops the darker "From Birth To Burial", and this probably is not going to get the same recognition as an album like "The Autumn Effect" or even "Feeding The Wolves" or "Division", but this disc is easily one that mostly succeeds at what it's doing and has its chance to resonate with listeners. If you are a fan of 10 Years or are just getting into them, "How To Live As Ghosts" will definitely be satisfactory to your needs by delivering solid hard rock from a group that needs more of the recognition that welcomed them into the rock family in the first place. There's still some room for improvement as this isn't a perfect album in any way. They could experiment a little bit more moving forward into the future. But, seeing as how the band is confident in the place that they are as a group of people, there's no denying that this album is not a lost cause. If you feel like rock isn't in the best of places right now and not enough fans are giving good rock music a chance, buy this album.

 

RATING: 7/10

What did you think about the record? Was it good? Was it bad? Let me know in the comments below. And of course, these are only my opinions. If your opinions are different, awesome! If they're similar, then that's great, too. So, don't hesitate- comment to me about it down below. Take care.