Posted on: July 6, 2007 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Ligion – External Affairs / 2007 Maple Jam / 11 Tracks / http://www.ligion.net / http://www.maplejamrecords.com /

The vocal style that starts off “On The Way” does not mesh completely with the more dance-y rock of Ligion. This is because there seems to be a more emotional and natural sound to the vocals, while the instrumental arrangement on this track seems to be more sequenced than anything. Ligion get their stuff together to the degree that the chorus to the track is as catchy as they come, but the band’s opening weakness is fairly major. “Lost My Car” is the next track, and it starts off with a punk meets rock approach that opens up into an energetic type of emo rock.

This effort is much more stable and straight-forward by Ligion, and unities the catchiness of “On The Way” with a more cohesive approach to the arrangements of the instrumental and vocal segments of the band. “Lost My Car” also has a catchy chorus, and thus operates as what I would have to presume would be Ligion’s first single on “External Affairs”. The band has fixed the problems that plagued them on the onset, and as such, “Get Over Me” starts off in a much more solid position. “Reach” is perhaps the strongest track yet for Ligion, as the impressive guitar solo that leads out the track is the perfect counterpoint to the slower stylings of “Pins and Needles”. It is “Pins and Needles” that represents the next single-worthy track by Ligion, and it would work perfectly as the disc’s second single. This would actually make sense, as the trend for releasing singles seems to go in a faster/slower dichotomy. “External Affairs” has Ligion go all over the map of influences and styles, tempos and approaches to rock music.

This might be the one weakness to Ligion, as the band goes through too many different sounds on this album. What I was wondering at the end of “External Affairs” is what the true Ligion sounds like. Is it the very emotional and brooding style of “Weak” or the more straightforward radio-rock of “Lost My Car”? If the band could coalesce around one or two styles for their next album, the effort would be that much stronger. I have a feeling that Ligion will be the next big thing in rock, and will only be bigger if they fix their sound along that line. Give this disc a go and see how Ligion changes over the next few years.

Top Tracks: Lost My Car, On My Way

Rating: 5.5/10

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