Starset - Transmissions

(CD Album Review)

*****

A guiding light in the night sky!

Starset are a band that have an image like no other, which mixes space age with Sci-Fi. Started by Dustin Bates best know for singing with the band Downplay. Starset's debut album 'Transmissions' that has been making waives on the Rock scene opens with an intro that is like a NASA broadcast 'First Light', before it opens with the brilliant anthem Esq... 'Down with the Fallen' which sounds like someone has mixed up 30 Seconds to Mars with Black veil Brides in a blender adding a hint of some of the bands from the 2000's Victory records era. The song is a real sing-a-long track and by the second listen you are singing it and you realise that this is a band that is just going to be so big.

Their sound shows elements of Linkin Park on the second track 'Halo' which also has the Jared Leto vibe to it as well and is one of my favourite songs on the album. I think I would love to see Starset on a bill with Linkin Park and 30 Seconds to Mars in the UK it would really work, and be a ticket I would be running out to get. Dustin's vocals are just so strong the whole way through the album and show that a new star is born. Starset really go to places that his former band Downplay could not quite reach, showing that he has really evolved over the years. 'Carnivore' the second single off 'Transmissions' verges on Nu-Metal and American Rock and really hits you like the new work of Smash into Pieces, another band that has been making American Rock cool again.

The keyboards on this track are really stand out and the song almost verges on mainstream Pop in place... but then brought back into anthem Esq. Rock very quickly. This a real MTV track and I cannot wait to see what they do with it live, when I get to see them at the London, Koko this week. The song ends with light piano and space sounds leading the album in nicely to the next track. Harmonized / Vocoder futuristic sounding vocals start off the next track 'Telescope' which is an epic song about traveling in space. The song makes you actually think you are their with them "Boldly going, where no man has gone before". This song is really well put together and really brings a slightly different vibe to the album and in places reminds me of some of the slower Zeromancer songs. The song ends like it is part of a film score, and thinking about it this album would work very well as one... it has that really epic vibe to it.

In a way I do feel the Orgy vibe people have been talking about, also the sound a little of some of Jay Gordon's Kill-O-Watt, it's the whole space age futuristic feel of the album that makes you think this. This is something the band dabbled with on their albums as well, but I think Starset sound more like the project that Ryan Shuck (Julien-K, Dead by Sunrise, Ex-Orgy) and Amir Derakh (Julien-K, Dead by Sunrise, Ex-Orgy) did with Chester Bennington (Linkin Park) called Dead by Sunrise. The whole album has the more Alternative Rock vibe of their album 'Out of the Ashes'. You can hear this on the brilliant 'It has Begun' and 'Antigravity' which sounds almost like it could be lifted off that record if they up the tempo a little. First single 'My Demons' almost has a more Emo vibe mixed again with their American Rock sound and a touch of maybe even Nickleback or the work of Ben Moody (Ex-Evanescence). This is one of the best songs on the album and you can see why they released this first, you could see if this was played on the right radio stations... it would be a global No.1 hit.

The piano intro of 'Dark Me' is really haunting and when the vocoder vocals come in, it because really emotional. It most definitely sounds like the work Scooter Ward (Cold) with his band Killer and the Star. This is a band I could not stop listing to about five years ago, so it's nice to see Starset exploring something similar on this track. 'Let it Die' is a hidden gem that hides near the end of the album and then pop's out to play. I love the lyrical content on this song and it is really catchy so is one of my personal favourites and like 'The Future is Now' shows they don't falter near the end of the album like some bands do. Every song on this record is equally good and of high quality content, which makes you want to listen to the whole thing. The epic ending of this song is just simply beautiful and I can't stop listening to it. Just get to the end and hear the last piece, that has 80's / 90's sounding keyboards it's just incredible.

Last two tracks 'Point of no Return' and 'Rise and Fall' seem like they are telling you the end of a story or a film, that is set by the rest of the album. When they are finished you just wonder if their will be a comeback... will their be a sequel. 'Point of no Return' has a great drum beat to that is back up by Dustin's vocals that seem to be stronger than they have been before. He puts really passion into this track. 'Rise and Fall' is one of the heaviest tracks on the album, but in Starset fashion also has catchy melodies and soft vocals in places and ends it all nicely. In a World with so many albums coming out you have to be more choosey but I strongly recommend you purchase this one, because if you're into Emo / Alternative Rock or American Rock you just can't be wrong by getting this one. I would also go and see them live before they are so huge they are playing massive arena's. The Starset is born and I personally want to go to space with them!!!.

Review by Dan Devour