Hundred Year Storm – Hello From The Children of Planet Earth

Hundred Year Storm – Hello From The Children of Planet Earth / 2006 Floodgate / 12 Tracks / http://www.hundredyearstorm.com / http://www.floodgaterecords.com / Reviewed 16 August 2006

Hundred Year Storm comes forth on their “Hello From The Children of Planet Earth” with a rock style that takes emo into consideration pretty seriously. The type of emo that the band likes to play is of the type that was famous in the nineties, not the sort of watered down pablum that is currently infecting the airwaves of today. What results on tracks like “00:01” is something that is thoughtful while still rocking, hitting the power chords after the guitarist wowed listeners with eir nuance and restraint. The style employed by the band is solid throughout the disc, so that songs like “Yesterday We Had It All” work hand in hand with “00:01” and others. Hundred Year Storm can go a few years newer than their nineties emo influence to grab strings of later Blink 182 and earlier All-American Rejects; the band knows all the great acts to sample from in the creation of their own special and exciting style.

The fact that Hundred Year Storm plays such a cohesive style throughout all of “Hello” does not mean that they only are tuned into that one style. For example, “Walking Away From What You Deserve” is a track that starts in a way that is unnaturally fast for this album, before moving into a very pensive and thoughtful brand of emotive rock that furthers the genre by deftly maneuvering the distortion on the guitars into something tangible.

Track after track follow on “Hello” that could conceivably make it big on any radio or video station that Hundred Year Storm placed them on; the synth opening of “August On Fire” is made more proper for larger audiences by a set of vocals that closely approximate classics like Billy Corgan. Hundred Year Storm really gives it to their listeners when they created this album; the disc tops the hour mark. The compositions may not be the most dense that individuals have ever heard, but the interplay between the atmosphere, the band, and the vocalist allow for a great amount of replay. The slower tempo of this disc should make listeners think; Hundred Year Storm put forth some very salient tracks to listeners that have matters to think about, and do it in a way that is not too painfully obvious. Hundred Year Storm is an act that will break it big here sooner rather than later; I have a feeling that they will be this year’s Switchfoot, if not bigger.

Top Tracks: August On Fire, All This Time

Rating: 6.8/10

[JMcQ]