Review Summary: Great progression of songs, well organized. Features many instruments. Not a bad song on this cd.
Signs and Wonders, the debut full length (and only full length) from Consider the Thief is a must listen. It is comparable to Thrice's Vheissu, and select songs on the Alchemy Index. I can't find a song that I don't love on this album.
With that being said, my least favorite songs on this album are the first and last. It feels like the album should have ended with "the Lost Son" (like it was originally intended to) but they added "Jonette" as a final track. "Jonette" is a great song, but I feel like it made the ending of this album less powerful.
My favorite song of the album is "miracles of sand"/"via dolorosa". These songs were originally written as one very long song, but they decided to split it into two different tracks. It has a very eerie feel to it to start out, and then Dryw's vocals come in, and make it even more eerie. His falsetto singing is perfect in this song, and the lyrics are very unique and interesting. Then all of the sudden the heavy guitars come in, and this song becomes very powerful. In the outro there are backing vocals that makes for a very "epic" time.
Then it smoothly transitions into the "via dolorosa" portion of the song, beginning with a very light piano part, and building to something so indescribably great. It gives me goosebumps. Another great track on this album is "Son of Hell". Any fan of Dustin Kensrue's folk solo project will surely love this. It begins with baritone acoustic guitar, and a slide guitar solo. Then Dryw comes in singing, and only makes the song even better. His lyrics in this song are (I believe) about a point in your life when you lose hope, and you need help from someone (in his case God).
This album also incorporates a lot of electronic samples and keyboards that are comparable to some Thrice moments. The intro to "Joshua" has a really cool sample with a great keyboard part that reminds me of hospital scenes in movies for some reason. "No More Samaritans" has a great mix of keys and clean guitars, and great lyrics.
Another one of my favorites is "Go Back", it is very relaxing, but in a way you wouldn't think of. Dryw's falsetto vocals on this song are also incredible. There is also some great slide guitar in this song. This song features my favorite lyrics on this album, regarding wishing to go back to the past (that's my interpretation at least). If you haven't listened to this album, it is VERY different from their previous EP. I highly, highly, recommend you check it out.
