SAINT ASONIA | Flawed Design | Album Review

Saint Asonia have had a lengthy break in between albums. Formed in 2015 as a supergroup with Three Days Graces' former vocalist Adam Gontier on vocals and Staind's Mike Mushok on guitars, the band has left fans waiting for over four years for a follow up to their self-titled debut. After a few lineup changes which basically makes this band a combination of Gontier and Mushok's previous projects, the band is finally ready to reveal their second studio album, titled "Flawed Design" into the world. Even with the fact that the album was a long time coming, it was obviously being built up for just as long. The band even held quite a few contests on Facebook to have the fans involved in some way, which can obviously reveal that Saint Asonia put effort into the new material. "Flawed Design" is an album revolving around personal struggles in the songwriting, which is not far off from what any of the members of the band have done before. However, like most bands, this album is meant to be looked at in a different light than their self-titled debut. There are a ton of bands out there trying to make projects that bring in new elements to their sound that not many people would expect from them and it's a good move on any band's part, including Saint Asonia. Adam Gontier even proclaimed that this music was the best that he had written since 2005, the year that production began on his previous band Three Days Grace's iconic album, "One X". Taking all of that into account, that's a big statement, and it can only provide high hopes for the material to actually live up to that.

As the album kicks off, we are given a set of four diverse tracks. One of these is "The Hunted", the song that was chosen to be the front runner of the single release cycle for this album. This is one of many tracks that had additional help, this song featuring a guest vocal spot from Sully Erna of Godsmack. In terms of rock music tailor made for radio airplay, you can't really go wrong with this track. There is a consistent flow and buildup to the track that makes it desirable. Adam Gontier's vocals are solid enough, and Sully's section is decent as well though I would have liked to see him have more of a presence on this song other than just handling a chorus while having Gontier handle the rest. Separating that out of the picture, and the odd bridge, "The Hunted" is perfectly serviceable and it's music that will attract fans of both of the bands Adam and Sully have fronted. "Beast" was the second single and it continues the idea of solid hard rock, only this time the guest spot comes in the form of songwriting from Keith Wallen of Breaking Benjamin. Even though, admittedly, this song has simple writing at best and at some points in the song you can predict what words will come next, it still works as something you would want to listen to. Both of the prereleased songs from this album are consistent in tone and that is where the appeal in these songs comes from for rock fans and people who enjoyed the self-titled release from this band.

The rest of the album varies in style from tracks that share characteristics of the two singles like album opener "Blind" and tracks that opt to turn the focus to softer territory such as "The Fallen", "This August Day", and "Another Fight". The best foot forward is in the tracks that feature guests, whether that be in songwriting or in vocals. After the opening track "Blind" sets things up well with a captivating and heavy fixture, you are led to the track "Sirens" which features Sharon Den Andel of Within Temptation to counteract with Adam Gontier's vocals. This is the highlight of the entire album. "Sirens" is a blend of both bands, and Sharon is more prominent on this song that Sully Erna was on "The Hunted". Each vocalist gets a chance to shine and the musicianship is spot on. "Ghost" is a similar situation, as it was a writing collaboration with Dustin Bates of Starset/Downplay, and it's another stellar track on this album that pushes the band's sound further into new territory. Aside from all of the collaborative work on these tracks, the band proves that they can write good music on their own. Proof of that is in tracks like "This August Day", "Another Fight", and the album closer titled "Martyrs". Each of these tracks work in an excellent hook especially when it comes to the choruses of each track, and "Martyrs" is a good example of a passionate ballad that Gontier sells well in his vocal peformance.

"Flawed Design" does live up to its title because there are flaws present on this album. Some tracks inevitably are going to be looked at as less memorable than others. Whereas tracks such as "Sirens" and "Another Fight" represent the strong side, tracks such as the title cut and "Justify" are considerably weaker. The title track does fall victim to bad high-pitched solo syndrome all while being unremarkable. "Justify" is a generically written song with the simplest rhyming possible, even though it has good guitar riffs. The cut "The Fallen" is fine, but the repetition of the line "where are you where are you" in the pre-chorus gets old quickly. Not to mention, Brian Sperber's production does not stack up as well as Johnny K's on the debut. However, pushing all of those complaints aside, the band has delivered a relatively palatable sophomore project that does attempt to branch out in select spots. Adam Gontier's claims of this material being the best since the mid 2000's isn't exactly accurate since there are a couple of bumps in the road, but as a whole this is Gontier and the rest of the band putting in their A game and I feel like it paid off in a good way. Overall, "Flawed Design" is the long awaited sophomore project that fans of the debut have been looking for. It's a little flawed in its design, but that doesn't matter too much as these saints have delivered a satisfactory slice of hard rock. 

RATING: 7/10 

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