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As Cities Burn - "Hell Or High Water"
Tooth & Nail Records - April 21st, 2009
 

1. ’84 Sheepdog (3:08)
 (feat. guest vocals by former vocalist T.J. Bonnette)
2. Errand Rum (3:17)
3. Into the Sea (4:32)
4. Made Too Pretty (4:06)
5. Lady Blue (6:20)
6. Petty (3:39)
7. Daughter (3:13)
8. Pirate Blues (4:08)
9. Capo (4:10)
 (feat. guest vocals by Robert Chisolm of Jonezetta
 and Micah Boyce of So Long Forgotten)

Total Playtime: 36:33

Digital Bonus Track:
10. Gates (5:47)

 

 

AS CITIES BURN - "Hell Or High Water" - Biography 2009

Wise men understand that growing older yields maturity and knowledge. Knowledge not just from the words written in a book, but also from worldly interaction and life’s circumstances – for better or worse. When artists’ careers grow old, they constantly yield matured outlooks on life, more knowledgeable than previous works.

Hell or High Water is the documentation from As Cities Burn. Songwriter Cody Bonnette continues to put life’s thought to pen and vocals, while he and guitarist Chris Lott, bassist Colin Kimble and drummer Aaron Lunsford progressively move past their 2005 debut, Son, I Loved You at Your Darkest. After the vocal departure of his brother T.J. in 2006, Bonnette took over singing. The band’s musical direction may have changed, but the density of the lyrics weighed heavier on the band’s sophomore release, 2007’s Come Now, Sleep.

Recorded in Cleveland, TN at First Street Studio over three months, Hell or High Water takes the band in a new direction with more focus on creating an ambient and rooted rock sound. Produced primarily by Bonnette along with the aid of Tyler Orr, Jae Ham, Robert Chisolm and Tyler Schwindt, the album was recorded to sound more similar to the band’s live sound.

The album takes the sound of Come Now Sleep and strips it even barer instrumentally, while breathing a more reflective take on the music scene (“Errand Rum”), love (“Lady Blue”) and an artistically blunt finale that passes the torch to other great acts (“Capover”). “Made too Pretty” bears a spiritual correlation to being made in Christ’s image, “We bear your name and you let us say you are something that you are not...”, ending with the accusation that humans don’t understand why they were created, “We don’t want a god we don’t see ourselves; don’t see we’re in need; I think we became too pretty so much we don’t see it yet.”

The band have removed themselves even further from “flavor of the week” MySpace hits, and have created a brutally honest and musically progressive record that wise listeners will surely be discussing about amongst themselves, leaving the deaf ears to wander the saturated Web.

As Cities Burns hails from Louisiana and includes Cody Bonnette (vocals, guitar), Christopher Lott (guitar), Colin Kimble (bass) and Aaron Lunsford (drums). The band formed in 2002 and have released two projects on Solid State/ Tooth & Nail Records: “Son, I Loved You at Your Darkest” (2005); “Come Now, Sleep” (2007).

 

 

 

 

 

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