At The Skylines is a six-piece post-hardcore band from Huntington Beach, California that is signed to Roadrunner Records. To Build An Empire is the band’s third release and second EP. It’s a four-track acoustic EP which may come as a surprise to some, but there have been a few other post-hardcore bands (ex: Sleeping With Sirens) to do something similar in recent months.
The only entirely new song on To Build An Empire is “Don’t Go”. The remaining three tracks were on the album that At The Skylines released earlier this year (The Secrets To Life) and have just been re-written to fit as an acoustic. Sadly, “Don’t Go” isn’t as strong as the other three tracks until it nears the midway point of the song, and by then, it’s already too late. Another track that could use some touching up is “143 Princess”. There are a few instances where it sounds extremely messy. In particular, about a minute into the track it sounds like everything is just jumbled together for a few seconds.
“Turbulence” and “The Amazing Atom”, on the other hand, are very strong tracks from start to finish (both the full band versions as well as these acoustic). Personally, “Turbulence” is my favourite track on the EP because it is extremely catchy vocally and instrumentally.
As previously mentioned, the majority of the EP is comprised of songs that fans have already heard before and it has its fair share of flaws, but To Build An Empire is not a bad release. If you’re a fan of the clean vocals on previous releases, I strongly recommend listening to To Build An Empire because you’re bound to enjoy it.
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