"To call Bryan Scary "great" is an understatement. This band has stormed onto the scene in the past 18 months or so and they have mesmerized the enlightened part of the music lover's community. This album captures more of the magic that the debut had, and brings an amazing assortment of different sounds and styles of music that seem to evoke comparisons ranging as wide as: Ozzy Osborne, ELO, The Who, The Beatles, Queen, and David Bowie. Simply put, if you can find a more intelligent, more complicated and better album this year, it will be a huge surprise. Any music critic that has reviewed this album has put it in their Top-3 list for the year, and you will too!
My favorite tracks (if I can do that, because this is a rare full album that feels like a rock opera from start to finish, or a soundtrack to a Tim Burton or Guillermo Del Toro film) are "Mama Waits", "The Curious Disappearance Of The Sky-Ship Thunder-Man", "Son of Stab", "Imitation of the Sky" and "Heaven on a Bird""
Masterpiece
leroydreams | 04/21/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The Flight of the Knife is like everything you've heard before, and nothing you've heard before. Bryan Scary and the Shredding Tears bring muscianship and showmanship back to rock music. Their latest recording is an amazing flight that you will want to take again and again. It's a cd that gets better with each listen. This is by far the best CD I've heard this year, maybe even this decade. Bravo!"
A lush avant pop-musical
Mahood | New Berlin, Wisconsin United States | 04/10/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The entire album has been released; this even more impressive than the debut, which was an amazing record to say the least.
It shows much more continuity within the album, whereas Bryan Scary's debut seemed to be more of a compilation of great songs. While all the songs by themselves have their own distinctive qualities, they all have hard-hitting energy and immense theatricality that unifies them stylistically. Not to mention the technicality put forth in it: there are layers and layers of sound, unique chord structures, regularly syncopated beats, intricate vocal melodies and harmonies, memorable crescendos, and numerous other things. So amongst the almost-overwhelming haven of the vaudevillian onslaught of musical poetry, the listner is captivated at all times.
LIKE the debut, however, the lyrics are based on a specific location, and that's everything that has to do with the sky. That and they're utterly wacky and absurd -they reflect the music well... including little people flying on top of purple Champagn corks, a floating woman, an insane bird, um, I'm sure you "get it". If the lyrics were ever adapted to visual form, I'm sure they'd be Warner Bros. cartoons. Also... I wonder when I listen sometimes if Bryan Scary is a Thomas Pynchon reader, with all the sky-ships, sky-captains, rockets, light, etc.... Maybe The Shredding Tears know The Chums of Chance personally? Hehe.
All in all, the album is an excellent album with tons of character and originality. THIS is how you make fun, memorable music. BSST are in the process of putting their names on the map, they just need to make sure that the names are real visible places (dumb allusion to Against the Day)!"
Frenetic, Odd, but Sometimes Breathtakingly Beautiful
Michale Collet | 04/09/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I'm not sure if I'm the right person to critique this, since I prefer the more straightforward powerpop a la Beatles, XTC and ELO, which nonetheless heavily influence this performer. As a result, I'm tending to gravitate towards the more conventional elements of this album, and somewhat overlooking some of the more bizzarre parts. And, as with Scary's debut album, the songwriting is superb where it isn't overwhelmed by theatrics. Without exaggeration, Scary is one of the finest songwriters of his generation. I only wish it was just a tad more conventional."