Review Summary: Search The City’s early career has not proved to be easy, nor should it be. As long as they keep working towards their goals, there should be no stopping this band.
Being labeled a Christian Rock band does not bring you swarms and swarms of fans to your Myspace or show. This would explain why there was not much of a media push for Detroit’s very own Search The City. Search The City has not been handed a silver platter despite having great musicianship. Before their Tooth & Nail full-length, “A Fire So Big the Heavens Can See It,” Search The City independently released an EP entitled, “Ghosts.” Josh Frost (Vocals) has stated that he would describe Search The City’s sound as, “progressive rock or something like that.” When working on their debut album, they had experience behind them with James Paul Wisner. Wisner has also produced Dashboard Confessional, Underoath, and The Academy Is. Does this band have any potential or are they just another new band on the scene that will be left in the dust? It all starts out with an Organ during the intro of “
Son of a Gun”.
Josh Frost is the lead vocalist of Search The city and he has a nice singing voice that really gels with the band’s sound. When other members of the band make appearances as backing vocalists, they are in great spots for backing vocals. Josh’s delivery is what makes every song sound special. Josh also likes to vary the way he delivers his voice to fit with what the song asks for, but to also change up the songs a bit, so they all do not sound alike. The best delivery I have heard in a while on modern rock albums is found on the song, “
Ambulance Chaser”. The vocalist actually sings on “
Talk is Cheap and I’ve Got Expensive”. One negative aspect of Josh is that his range is not that wide. It should not be too much of a problem with the sound Search The City is going for, though.
Jim Czech and Alex Sheldon handle the guitar duties. By the middle of the album, the intros start sounding slightly the same. The opener, “
Son of the Gun,” has a nice melodic guitar intro. A decent intro starts the great song, “
Ambulance Chaser”. A Post-hardcore sounding intro kicks off “
Talk is Cheap and I've Got Expensive Taste”. At the start of “
In this Scene You’re Just an Extra,” Jim and Alex changes it up a bit. The guitar riff in “Son of a Gun” shortly shifts to a distorted guitar riff. There is a nice guitar riff on “Ambulance Chaser” while Jim and Alex also use some distorted guitar when needed. The second guitar part near the end of “Son of a Gun” shows potential. The guitar is right beside the vocals in the order of importance on “
The Rescue”. A great guitar outro greets your ears on "Talk is Cheap and I've Got Expensive Taste".
Adam McMillion is the drummer of Search The City. He never uses double bass, but really does not need to. Adam does prefer to use the snare drum though. Adam’s drumming is the foundation on each of the songs, and usually nothing more. The drums do start of and play a big role on the song “
Detroit Was Built On Secrets”. Brandon Ellis’ bass can actually be heard on the song "
The Streetlight Diaries". The band also incorporates piano and synthesizers in their songs. They can be found on “
To The Moon For All I Care” and “Detroit Was Built On Secrets”.
And the album ends on a high note with the song “
Clocks and Timepieces”. Search The City’s early career has not proved to be easy, nor should it be. As long as they keep working towards their goals, there should be no stopping this band. They write catchy lyrics, especially catchy choruses, while also keeping the vocals rarely layered, only once on the track “
Bigger Scars make Better Stories”. The vocals are the strongest part of this band, but the guitars and drums are still good at what they are doing. This band is in no way reinventing the wheel, but they do make for a good, fun filled listen.
3/5
