Review of YOU LOSE by Indie Vision Music

Dear Josh,

I apologize for the lateness of this review. Paraphrasing a line from A Few Good Men: "Since I don't have a good excuse, I won't bother coming up with a bad one." In my defense, however, it has been rather hard to get this one out. I've been suffering general writer's block since October, and this CD in particular has been really hard to review. Yeah, it's been quite tricky figuring out what to say about Sonset Down, a group of men who play a less abrasive brand of hardcore filled with the Spirit and sweet tea. But, having begun the review in earnest by now, I dispense with the apologies.

At their core, Sonset Down are a Southern rock band. Yeah, sure; there is a good deal of hardcore barking (or perhaps yelping) on You Lose. Breakdowns abound, it is true. But they ground themselves in plain, old-fashioned rock music, sometimes even throwing in choruses with catchy — for the genre — vocal hooks, as on "Medicine and Gold." This is a good thing for Sonset Down; the aforementioned chorus is one of the most memorable spots on the CD. Memorability is sometimes a problem for the band. We can be positive how these guys tune their guitars; the first eight songs are all in C minor. At times, this is a problem Sonset Down can't quite overcome. Songs like "Sleeping With Wolves," despite excellent lyrics, tend to blend into the pack.

But in general, the band's technicality makes up for its lack of diversity. Breakdowns rarely get boring, with pinch harmonics, dissonances and intricate lead parts interwoven. This puts them ahead of many of the other hardcore bands out there. In addition to this, the title track incorporates a driving two-step part, and a bridge on "Running From Serpents" slows to a crawl as Dan Webb almost starts a discussion with the listener. Parts like these keep listeners interested and allow songs to stand out. And the two instrumental tracks, in addition to breaking up what could have otherwise become monotony, are, to put it simply, very good. Have you ever heard a Southern rock band play post-rock? If not, "Casualties" is definitely worth a listen.

Sonset Down are also better lyrically than most of their peers. Lines like "God, keep our hearts from retreating…it's Your heart we're fighting for" and "When will the weak become the strong ones? Fear takes us to our knees…God, forgive us; we are the weak ones…" show that the Floridian collective lacks only exposure to be a Spirit-filled force in the independent hardcore scene today.

The problem, Josh, is that after all this, there's really not much left to say. Sonset Down are very solid, very impressive and very fun. But I can't really tell you that such-and-such a song was really cool, or that there were a lot of parts that captivate me even now. Some songs slide by almost entirely. Too much of the material sounds a little too similar. But reading through the lyric booklet is little short of inspiring, and the music is driving and makes me want to dance. And while this is probably bad in the sense that I'm a pitiful dancer, from a listener's standpoint, it's just one more point in Sonset Down's favor. You Lose is quite solid. Hopefully the next one will be even better.

Yours most sincerely,
The Headless Horseman

Rating: Somewhere between 6 and 8 out of 10.

Standout tracks: Medicine and Gold, Casualties, You Lose
RIYL: Maylene and the Sons of Disaster, He is Legend's Suck Out The Poison

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Review of "YOU LOSE" by Christianxtreme.com!
Current mood: content

Sonset Down is undeniably one of the heaviest bands to come out of the south in quite some time. They bring their brand of southern fused metal to listeners everywhere with their latest release "You Lose". On "You Lose" Sonset Down captures the hooks of bands like Pantera and combines it with the power and agression of groups like Of The Son and Norma Jean. This my friends is one lethal combination that has been found to leave severe neck sprains in 9 out of 10 listeners. Absolute agression, clockwork precision and sheer brutality are just some of the adjectives I can come up with to describe this disc. Standout songs are "The Art Of Combat" and the title track "You Lose" which both showcase this bands musical and songwriting abilities. Dan Webb's vocals are absolutely brutal as well as tenacious and it sounds as if he puts everything he has into delivering them with full force and passion. Lyrically Sonset Down brings their message to the listener from the perspective of someone living in the old west,and to me this works great considering the music style that these guys bring to the table. The messages in the songs are great, an example of this is "The enemy will not take us out, our God is too strong" from the song "The Art Of Combat". Overall Sonset Down combines their brutal style with their theme and comes up with a sound and a message that must be heard.

-CHRISTIAN X STREME MUSIC

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Review of "You Lose" by HM Magazine!!
Current mood: cheerful

Continuing in the same vein as the now defunct Georgia bands Fight Paris and Dead Reckless, the Southern boys in Sonset Down get wild with dirty rock interrupted by metalcore breakdowns. Blame it on high humidity, plaid shirts, or an addiction to sweet tea, but the collaboration creates a new edge to the often stagnant metal scene and proves to be nastily infectious, and if you've ever found roaring vocals difficult to decipher, wait until you hear one with an accent.

Ratings:

DV

3 out of 5

Writer

3 out of 5

-HM MAGAZINE
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Review of You Lose by Christianrockersonline.com. Check it out!!

Sonset Down has only been around since early 2004 but in that short time the band has undergone several member changes to reaching their current lineup of, Dan Webb (vocals), Matt Stanland (vocals, guitar), Bert Connell (guitar, vocals), Jordan Hoffman (bass, vocals), and Matt Smith(drums).

The band list their musical influences as classic bands like Lynryd Skynrd and Pantera to modern bands, Everytime I Die, Maylene, and The Sons of Disaster.

The band hails from Valdosta Georgia and labels their music as Southern Metal/Hard Rock.

Lynryd Skynrd is one of my favorite bands and when I heard them mentioned in the information that came along with the band's CD I was really looking forward to hearing that aspect of their music. Unfortunately I really didn't hear anything like a southern rock sound.

That being said I could definitely hear the band's hard driving Pantera influenced sound. On You Lose you'll hear the band's hard driving metal beats type songs filled with wailing guitars and ear shaking drum beats.

The vocals are driven and hard hitting verging on the top of the metal scale and at times almost going into a hardcore screamo mode.

The band's faith and passion really comes through in the lyrics of the songs, all of which were written by the band. The songs deal with the spiritual battle going on in this world, living a backslidden faith life, and the need for salvation.

For the most part the 11-tracks of music that are found on You Lose are all out fast paced metal tracks. You'll also find two instrumental tracks on this release, "Casualties," and "Providence."

"Casualties," is probably the mellowest cut on the CD. It acts almost as a cleansing song letting you catch your breath and prepare for what's ahead.

The other instrumental track "Providence," it does a nice job of varying the tempo from slow to fast then back to slow adding in appropriate guitar parts that really makes the song work.

If you like your music fast and looking for something to put either in your home stereo or your car's CD player and blast away then Sonset Down's release You Lose is the one to get