ARTIST: Jamie’s Elsewhere
ALBUM TITLE: They Said A Storm Was Coming
RECORD LABEL: Victory Records
RELEASED: February 16

Once upon a time, there was this band called Jamie’s Elsewhere, and they released a couple of EPs and got signed to Victory Records. They released a full length called Guidebook for Sinners Turned Saints, and a couple of months later, four of the six band members left the band.

The remaining two members, keyboard player Mike Spearman and guitarist Matt Scarpelli kept the name and regrouped. Now I haven’t heard their early efforts, but if they didn’t sound like They Said a Storm was Coming, I probably wouldn’t be too interested.

Maybe it’s because the album sounds like the logical next step from Underoath’s They’re Only Chasing Safety (had that band stayed in that album’s trajectory), but I have a soft spot for their brand of post hardcore. Jamie’s Elsewhere has a heavy, contemporary screamo sound with heavy emphasis on synths and dancy beats without the clichéd autotuned vocals which seem to be all the rage as of late, laced with some of the heavier undertones of metalcore.

About halfway through, the album’s heaviness hits a bit of a lull in favor of “The Prodigal,” a synth-laden song whose backbone wouldn’t sound out of place on a Depeche Mode, but this diversion doesn’t last long; it’s more of an interlude between the album’s first and second acts. That’s a shame, because it came completely out of left field, and the atmospheric, warm tones was a very nice contrast to the rest of the album.

“The Prodigal” could also be viewed as a temporary point where the band starts to lose track of exactly where they’re going; follow-up “Visions in Sleep” features a southern rock-tinged breakdown towards the end, another slight misstep in the album’s steady momentum. These are the only two moments on the album where the band’s identity really comes into question, though, and the album quickly rebounds after that.

The songs of They Said a Storm was Coming are said to be conceptually linked through a tale about a nineteenth century mapmaker written by vocalist Aaron Pauley, but the lyrics are way too vague to really be taken at such a value. Compared to strong concept albums like Mastodon’s Crack the Skye, it really doesn’t hold a candle thematically. Even still, the album is a decent little post hardcore album that does enough right to make up for its slight stumbles.

RATING: 7.5/10