The Script - Freedom Child

[Hook]

The Script just announced in their Google+ Chat that their new album is called No Sound Without Silence. They also confirmed that the lead single will be "Superheroes."



Release Dates
UK: September 15
US: September 30

Tracklist
1.No Good In Goodbye
2. Superheroes
3. Man On A Wire
4. It's Not Right For You
5. The Energy Never Dies
6. Flares
7. Army Of Angels
8. Never Seen Anything Quite Like You
9. Paint The Town Green
10. Without Those Songs
11. Hail Rain Or Sunshine
12. Howl At The Moon (iTunes Pre-Order Only)

[Daniel Collins]

Looking forward to this. I love all of their albums. I hope I would love this as well.

[Hook]

At about 26:19 they start playing the snippets.

[Kurt]

Great title and artwork - far better than last era. Looking forward to this!

[maine]

I just saw these guys live a few weeks ago. WHY DIDN'T THEY PERFORM NEW MATERIAL!? :(

[Daniel Collins]

[Hook]

WOWHD has the album listed for preorder along with a tracklist! I just hope there's a Deluxe Version with more than 11 songs.

No Good In Goodbye
Superheroes
Man On A Wire
It's Not Right For You
The Energy Never Dies
Flares
Army Of Angels
Never Seen Anything Quite Like You
Paint The Town Green
Without Those Songs
Hail Rain Or Sunshine

[Gravity.]

I really like "Superheroes." It's much better than "Hall of Fame" and it reminds me of The Script of their first album, which is still my favorite. Other than "Six Degrees of Separation," most of their last album didn't have much staying power fo rme.

[Kurt]

The band just posted the tracklist via an iPad screenshot (...really?); a twelfth track, "Howl At The Moon," will be iTunes-exclusive for pre-orders only.

[Hook]

I hate iTunes only tracks. I was hoping for some sort of signed pre-order instead.

[Hook]

The pre-order is up on iTunes UK and includes an instant download of the track "It's Not Right For You."

The US pre-order is up as well and gives you "Superheroes," which is also now available to download individually!

[Kurt]

I don't know if we knew this already, but I just came across it on Rosie Danvers's site - she and violinist Donald Grant did strings on "Hail, Rain or Sunshine," which featured as the opening track to the film Mrs. Brown's Boys. You can hear a good amount of it here.

[Hook]

The album comes out in some places next Friday, so we should get to hear it in full by then. They're also playing iTunes Festival on Monday the 15th! Too bad the North American release isn't until the 30th.

I'm loving the clips of The Energy Never Dies, Paint The Town Green (which I heard in full live), Army of Angels, and Flares.

[circadian]

It sounds better than #3 based on those previews. Loving Superheroes right now.

[Hook]

"Hail Rain or Sunshine" is now available as a pre-release track. It's #12 on US iTunes and #14 on UK iTunes. Not sure why since "Superheroes" was never even that high here. Maybe from album pre-orders? I like it.

[Deleted]

Debuts at number 1 on the UK albums chart, becoming their third chart-topper out of 4 efforts.

[circadian]

Finally got to listen to the whole album, and my God. I am really disappointed with this one. I love the Script. They're one of my favorite bands ever. I love their optimism and the whole 'persevering through adversity' context that revolves their music.

I had high hopes for this album after Danny talked about the meaning of the title and their intention to make this their best album yet, but it seems like they took one step forward and two steps back with this record. The songs feel way too preachy (they've always been preachy but charming) and something's lacking. I feel they decided to go for a stadium-ready album, instead of an album where they could experiment with and tweak their sound a little. 'Paint the Town Green' is the only song I consider interesting and exciting. 'Superheroes' is obviously really good, and is well within their first single standards. Other than that, I only consider 'Flares' as good, 'No Good in Goodbye' average, and the rest of the album below average.

I'll give it another try tomorrow, but as of right now I'm not liking this album as much as I expected.

[maine]

So I checked out "Flares" since it was co-written and produced by Ryan Tedder, and it's alright. The lyrics are nice, but the song doesn't go anywhere. I was hoping it would pick up (which it should have), but it didn't... I haven't liked the promo singles all that much (excluding "Superheroes" obviously). I'll probably just listen to the samples when this album comes out on Tuesday in the US since I haven't heard good things about this album.

[maine]

Never mind, you can preview the whole album right now.

Yikes. This album is bad. "Superheroes" is far and out the best song on this record. "No Good In Goodbye" is bad. "Never Seen Anything 'Quite Like You'" is a joke, the lyrics are so bad, they're laughable. "Paint the Town Green" and "Hail Rain or Sunshine" try to be jams, but they were awkwardly made (Scottish sounding) where it just doesn't sound good. "Flares", "Without Those Songs", and "Howl at the Moon" are boring. "The Energy Never Dies" (BEP album remake?) and "It's Not Right For You" are nothing special. I thought "Man on a Wire" and "Army of Angels" were decent though, and the only two I'd care to see as singles. Very disappointed in this record.

[Illusions]

Listened to the album last week and it's miles better than #3. Still not as good as their first two albums, but at least I can listen to this one.

[Green Baron]

1/5 review from Sputnikmusic:

What was it about Breakeven, The First Time, or The Man Who Can't Be Moved that made them such outstanding songs? What was it about The Script’s earlier work that made them more than a guilty pleasure but a genuinely interesting group? These were two questions that played off in my mind back and forth relentlessly as I forced myself to trudge through No Sound Without Silence’s tracks this week. As every song reverberated through my mind with empty beats and forgettable melodies I was more focused on finding an answer to my questions than actually listening to what it was I was meaning to review. Had any of these questions even mattered? Were they even worth pondering for a group that had two good albums at best? It was at some point through my endless seas of drafts and listening to Superheroes for the umpteenth time in a row that I had realized everything that I was asking had such simple answers.



You see, the problem with No Sound Without Silence isn’t just it’s bland production, backwards presentations and constant, forgettable writing and music. Which are all fatal annoyances mind you, but the biggest problem with No Sound Without Silence is how openly comfortable The Script are with their clear cut mediocrity. They’re not only missing the point of what made their self titled and in certain aspects Science/Faith good albums. They’re also under some misguided delusion that their new style is actually appealing to those who haven’t heard them as a group before. That these water downed mindless blends of simplistic guitar strings droning in and out of their respectively dull synth leads are actually appealing to new fans. But I digress, simply put there is nothing good about No Sound Without Silence. In the long run even #3 had some worth to it. While it suffered the same drawbacks of No Sound, there were at least moments where the group looked like they cared. Though here, there doesn’t seem to be a single genuine moment of sincerity or charm as every track passes one ear and out the other like some kind of sick, perverted elevator music.



The occurring issues of No Sound Without Silence start in the instant that the first guitar kicks in. Once again The Script have toned down their groovy bubble pop rock sound for a slower, more alternative sound that doesn’t suit the group’s up-beat and charismatic frontman in anyway. With the new wave of uninspired rock and pop blends comes even worse lyrics. Taking inspirations out of a “How-to write” handbook come some of the worst cookie cutter lyrics that the band has put out to date yet. So bad that it’s insulting to their previous talents. Rather it be the by the numbers heartbreak anthem of “you broke up with me but I’m A-OK” in No Good In Goodbye or Without Those Songs. Or to the downright insulting lyrics from tracks like Never Seen Anything Quite Like You. Seriously, how did you go from Breakeven to this:



Well I've seen you in jeans with no make-up on

And I've stood there in awe as your date for the prom

I'm blessed as a man to have seen you in white

But I've never seen anything quite like you tonight





The album doesn’t sound any better either. All the guitars, pianos, and synths bleed into each other to create incredibly vapid progressions throughout the album’s entire running time. Tracks like Hail, Rain, or Sunshine and Paint The Town Green try their hardest to jam oddly out of place scottish-esque chanting and skip beat guitars into the mix, but without any power on the vocal side they only end up being forced. Meanwhile the rest of the tracks continue with the same guitar intro, synth verse, piano break, guitar/synth crescendo and then a slow fade out structure. It get’s to the point where the lines blur between each track and you just end up hearing Hall of Fame thirteen times. Just with less Will.I.Am. And considering how terrible The Script’s fourth effort turned out to be, maybe Will.I.Am would’ve been an improvement to the album. If you for some odd reason were considering to pick up a copy of this album just let that closing thought sink in for a minute.

[Hook]

Sept 26, 2014 19:51:16 GMT -5 maine said:

"Paint the Town Green" and "Hail Rain or Sunshine" try to be jams, but they were awkwardly made (Scottish sounding) where it just doesn't sound good.

It's Irish. They're from Ireland.

I like the album. Does it match their debut album, no. But I try to remember that for many bands, it's hard or impossible for future releases to compare to the first album. It's just how it is. I doubt they'll ever have a song as fantastic as "The Man Who Can't Be Moved" again but that's fine with me.

I love Superheroes, It's Not Right For You, Flares, Army Of Angels, Paint The Town Green. Really, the only song I truly dislike is Without Those Songs. I actually hate that song. lol I will also admit that the prom lyric in Never Seen Anything Quite Like You is cringe-worthy. But I like the album as a whole.

[maine]

They just announced a tour..... with Labrinth.....?

[SHOOTER]

#8 with 24k per HITS.

In comparison:

The Script peaked at #64 (320k to date).

Science & Faith debuted at #3 with 49k.

#3 debuted at #13 with 24k (168k to date).

[bigbluenote]

This album is just plain awful.

I can't get enough of their debut and the previous two were great as well.
But this new one is....I tried my best to like it. But the lyrics are beyond awful on almost all of the songs. The melodies aren't anything special. There's no interesting beats/production.

Man, I just want them to regroup and give me an epic album ASAP.

[George]

"Superheroes" has been stuck in my head!

[Future Captain]

I thought I'm going to buy it, but boy, the whole album is below average. The ony track I really enjoy is only Superheroes, the rest is meh or average. Then again, after that godawful #3, I'm just glad that they actually get a little bit better.

[George]

New album is out:



1. No Man Is An Island
2. Rain
3. Arms Open
4. Rock The World
5. Mad Love
6. Deliverance
7. Divided States Of America
8. Wonders
9. Love Not Lovers
10. Eden
11. Make Up
12. Written In The Scars
13. Awakening
14. Freedom Child

Singles:

[George]

They're starting work on their next album:

[George]

Greatest hits is out now. Includes their new single “I Want It All”: