On Monday, March 25, 2006, Phoenix AZ, Alternative Metal/Heavy Alternative group Signs of Betrayal released their second studio album titled Wide Eyed Coma. They never promoted any singles for their album, but they did release their debut album in 2005 titled The Reformation.
Their first three tracks are probably the most straightforward musically as they feature the least amount of Proggy elements. The opening track, “My Song To You”, is an excellent Post-Grunge/Alternative Metal/Heavy Alternative opener that features a soaring chorus from Dave Williams, plus riffs that will make you headbang. The second track, “To Remember”, is another great Post-Grunge/Alternative Metal/Heavy Alternative track that features great musicianship with powerful lyrics. The third track, “In This Skin”, is an amazing Post-Grunge/Heavy Alternative ballad-esque track that could have been an excellent radio hit, features very sentimental and melancholic lyrics, especially the line “All these things done to me, they never will fade like a cold dark winter's day”. The next four tracks are my favorite songs on the album. The fourth track, “Memory”, is a bone-chilling proggy Alternative Metal track featuring powerful screams and melodic vocals from Williams, extremely tight instrumentation from, an ominous atmosphere and dark lyrics that seem super brutally honest about society in general, especially “Reach for the stars is what you have been told since infancy, You never bothered to question what for and why you dream”. The fifth track, “Torn Down”, is an excellent Proggy Post-Grunge-adjacent Alternative Metal/Heavy Alternative track that reminds me of the greatest aspects of Atomship, with the tight instrumentation and the haunting vocals and lyrics.
The sixth track, “Blink”, is another Proggy Post-Grunge-adjacent Alternative Metal/Heavy Alternative track akin to Atomship and Sinch that features powerful and angsty lyrics. The seventh track, “Leave This Behind”, is probably the proggiest song as it sounds like it would fit exactly on their next album in 2007 Distoria. The eighth track, “BFE”, is an aggressive nu-metal-adjacent alternative Metal track that sounds like it could be on an early Godsmack album but with more screaming. The ninth track, “Addiction”, is a great track that reminds me of Atomship’s most known song, Pencil Fight, as they both start with a similar moody intro as well as having a similar sounding music direction (especially the drumming). The tenth track reminds me Sinch’s self-titled album musically and atmospherically as it has a very moody sound, but instead lyrically it leans toward soldiers leaving their families to fight in the war, as pointed by the lyrics “Sent away to protect, freedoms in jeopardy, with all of the loved ones watching silently”. The closing track is an acoustic and more beautiful version of the track “In This Skin”. The emotional rawness and the acoustic instruments really stand out in this song.
Overview: This album is a 10/10 or 5/5, due to a combination of Sign’s of Betrayals incredibly tight riffs and chugs from their guitarists, super versatile vocals from Dave Williams (ranging from beautiful melodies to powerful screams), their excellent drumming from Colby Cordova and lastly their powerfully dark and melancholic lyrics.
Track List:
My Song To You - 3:58
To Remember - 3:44
In This Skin - 4:42
Memory - 3:30
Torn Down - 3:54
Blink - 3:19
Leave This Behind - 3:32
BFE - 3:13
Addiction - 3:15
Watching Silently - 4:11
Beneath The Skin - 4:30
Total Length: 41:50
Favorite Tracks: “My Song To You”, “Memory”, “Torn Down”, “Blink”, “Leave This Behind”, “Watching Silently”, and “Beneath The Skin”
Least Favorite Tracks: None
Recommended For: Fans of Post-Grunge-adjacent Alternative Metal/Heavy Alternative groups, especially Atomship, Sinch, Hurt, and Onesidezero. Or more standard Post-Grunge groups like Revis, and Cold.
Comments