(there's a side projects subforum but I feel like this will get more attention here, if you feel like you have to move it there anyway I understand) Goddamn what an underrated project. IMO I don't think Chester was any better vocally than he was on this album, maybe the instrumentation could have been beefed up some but as far as Chester goes I think he was at the top of his game here.
Yeah his vocals were on point throughout this whole album. I like a lot of the songs on here at least, just for his singing
Walking In Circles is by far the best song on the album. The rest of the album falls short in comparison to LP albums, Fort Minor, and Grey Daze. But it's still a solid effort. However, I would only rank it above The Hunting Party and that's it.
I think it suffers a bit from being a bit too similar (and vague) to some of Linkin Park's lyrics, that it isn't as strong as a solo project as Fort Minor was, but agree, underrated as hell. Let Down, Into You, Give Me Your Name, Too Late, Walking In Circles and In The Darkness are all great. It's some of his best work vocally too.
Yes I love this album. It accompanies the rest of my LP albums as in my favourites. Chester gets a personal feel across compared to an LP record.
I used to own a copy of Out of Ashes. I liked it, but not as much as I would a LP album. I had "Too Late" on repeat.
I agree that ita not as good as a normal Linkin Park album. It's a solid listen but it never stuck with me like LP albums.
If anything, unlike some side projects, you were able to distinguish DBS as its own entity instead of saying "Chester's other band".
I'll agree with that but I'll also say that that's not always a good thing. I think that a negative for DBS as it came out a bit stale. Until his passing I would never find myself going back to listen to it and there only standout track is really Walking in Circles. However, in my opinion, a good example of this is Grey Daze. Those albums are phenomenal and are distinguishable as its own entity while doing it right.
It's a shame looking back knowing that Dead By Sunrise could've been so much bigger than they were. The fact that they had so little promotion from Warner really dragged them down as well as how overly polished Out Of Ashes was. Just compare the original acoustic version of Let Down to the album version. The original version had a very strong Grey Daze vibe to it whereas the album version sounded like your typical overproduced radio rock track. Not saying I dislike the album version, but it's disappointing knowing that it could've been so much better. Even the acoustic version they put on iTunes just doesn't hold a candle to the original performance from 2005 for the Hurricane Katrina relief effort on CMT when Chester was just coming off of his divorce and you could really feel the pain in his voice. As for the rest of the album, it definitely has some of Chester's best vocal performances and really showcases his range in a way he never showed in Linkin Park at that point in his career, but again, the music is too polished and sounds unnaturally perfect at times. The album is very much a roller-coaster between decent yet forgettable radio rock (Crawl Back In, Inside Of Me, My Suffering, Condemned) and genuinely amazing rock ballads (Fire, Too Late, Walking In Circles, In The Darkness) which, sadly, also received little to no recognition even though they're excellent songs. Crawl Back In was probably not the best choice for a lead single, as many people dismissed it as a generic passer-by rock song, whereas a song like Fire would've captured people's attention more. I just wish Out Of Ashes had more of a Grey Daze vibe like the original version of Let Down or a more Depeche Mode vibe like the remix version of The Morning After. The album version of The Morning After also could've been a major hit if they promoted it more instead of merely leaving it as a B-side. All that said, Dead By Sunrise were fucking awesome live, especially Chester. These performances are absolute perfection:
Morning After (julien K remix) Let Down (live performance before DBS) In The Darkness Are some of my favorite all-time songs. DBS i felt was better as a live band. The studio was too synthy/electronic. It clearly had a Julien K influence, but if they went the hard rock route i think the studio versions of the songs would have been better.