Never judge a book by its cover
Seasons After is a five piece Rock/Metal and from Wichita, Kansas with a very strong following in the US. Their sound is supposedly nu-metal with old school roots; and they list influences such as Iron Maiden, Tesla, Faith No More and Sevendust. I felt that this is not just the blending of metal with a heavy rock sound, Seasons After are going a bit further out on the genre spectrum and blending radio friendly, stadium rock songs with extreme metal. Unfortunately this is accompanied with a very goth-looking CD cover that may confuse the buyer. The cover is actually my only criticism of the band and it probably would have stopped me from purchasing the CD on a random shopping spree. However, never judge a book by its cover.
The first track 'Some Things Burn' is probably the heaviest track on the album. From the onset it is clear we have a metal band here, however after the galloping guitar and growling vocals intro, we are exposed to another side of Seasons After when the song take a more melodic twist; and although there is a slight Avenged Sevenfold sound detected, I wouldn't put them in the same category. They do, at time, also remind me of SOAD and even Stone Sour to a lesser extend.
Title track, 'Through Tomorrow', starts a lot slower, but soon escalates into a great grooving metal track. The melodic rock is interrupted by sporadic metalcore / deathmetal and reminds us of the band's strong metal influence. The strong blend of the riff laden guitars complimented with the harmonious vocals works for the band.
Things slow down a bit with 'On Your Own', showing the emotional side of the band, albeit still with strong rock influences. The beauty is how Seasons After refuses to be restricted by the metal genre. The rock songs show their raw talent and when it builds up to a metal song, you know its right.
Another highlight is the rock groove of '11-11' being destroyed by the double peddling Tim and the harmonious singing is broken up but some groovy metal growls. There will be an element of hard core metalheads that will not like this blend, but for those of lesser metal faith, this will work.
'Hell Is' starts with a gentle acoustic guitar, but you can feel the anticipation of a heavy song lurking behind. Just when you thought it was safe, it hits you smack bang between the eyes, just like a good old horror movie. Again there is a strong metalcore influence, but with a SOAD twist; stretching the song way beyond the expected restrictions of the initial metalcore sound.
Seasons After had a US Billboard entry for their cover of the classic 'Cry Little Sister' taken from the movie "The Lost Boys"; and they also included an awesome acoustic version of this song on the album, which is a definite highlight.
All and all this is a very versatile and enjoyable rock/metal album.