I-Empire

I've always believed that a really, really good album requires a little extra listening time before you truly begin to discover its value.

There's no sense in liking the songs right away, only to forget them shortly afterwards — the album must grow on you.

Angels & Airwaves' second album, 'I-Empire', hits you with a solid wall of sound. The key is to break through this wall with repeated listening after which you can turn around and take a look at it. Only then will you discover that the wall is in fact not all that solid, but is instead made up of individual melodies that together form a bright, colourful display of sound.

If this sounds overly poetic to you and you just want to know "Does it rock?" then yes, it does rock. But 'I-Empire', with its 'Star Wars'-like cover, is also a musical journey that strongly reminds one of The Mission and U2.

At times playful, at times soaring, but continuously serious, 'I-Empire' is an album that you won't be able to just listen to and then discard. This is driving-through-the-night-from-Joburg-to-Cape-Town-after-having-had-to-say-goodbye-to-your-sweetheart, melancholy-mixed-with-light kind of stuff.

Personal favourites include the opening slammer 'Call to Arms', the soaring U2-styled 'Love Like Rockets', the playful 'Everything's Magic' and rocker 'Secret Crowds'.

In fact, the only negative aspect of 'I-Empire' is that it smells like more of the same. But when more of the same is this good, you won't mind one bit.