The debut of this New Jersey indie-rock outfit pummels you with great song after great song.
I was delighted to hear something from the indie-rock genre that made me feel invigorated. Usually, it’s mid-tempo songs about feeling bad for oneself. Yet, Aeon Station changes the script a bit; that’s not to say that there aren’t those emotional songs, but this band is playing fast, and hard on a majority of the songs. Some of the best examples of this ferocious sound are tracks like Air, Fade, and Better Love, which could fit perfectly in a coming-of-age film where the main character is running to reach his destination at the climax of the film. These moments make you jump out of your seat and pump yourself up. These are some great tracks to motivate anyone trying to get something done.
The problem with the previously mentioned tracks is that when the album goes to the softer sounding tracks, it makes them feel smaller in comparison. Not to say tracks like Leaves or Empty Rooms are wrong. They just feel like placeholders for something that could have been better. While some of the slower moments don’t reach the same heights as Better Love or Fade, when those quieter moments grow into something more significant, it’s something to admire. On Queens, it starts very downtrodden but grows into an absolute barn-burner and makes me want to mosh in my room.
Observatory is a pretty solid record with some minor blemishes, but the tracks that do hit are highly worth the effort of sitting through some not-so-great tracks. Honestly, I could hear plenty of these songs on modern rock radio if anyone gets sick of Imagine Dragon.
Rating: 7/10
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