Florence + The Machine - Ceremonials

Hailing from London, England indie-rock group Florence + The Machine is back with their highly anticipated sophomore album, Ceremonials. The follow up to 2009's Lungs finds Florence Welch and her group building off the success of their last album and continuing to bring their own unique blend of indie rock to the masses.

The album starts off strongly with "Only If For A Night" a moody, piano laced ballad that serves as a great starting point for Florence to express her vocal talents that run rampant throughout all parts of the song to a great degree. The album's first single and my favorite track off the album "Shake It Out" finds the group reaching a height of greatness that we first saw glimpses of on their last album, with richly melodic undertones that bubble up until the song reaches its climax and features Florence's amazing vocals ripping through the song at a pretty good clip and is a great representation of the overall sound of the album as well. "What The Water Gave Me" is a somber, dark tune that starts off slowly before quietly building up intensity and Florence's voice once again adding a great deal of emotional resonance to a solid track inside and out. "Breaking Down" starts off with a bombastic drum beat before settling into a piano laced groove that sets the stage for the entire song to follow with Florence's rapturous vocals setting the atmosphere for the entire track. "Lover To Lover" features many of the same piano grooves found on the preceding track, albeit at a more controlled and different angle that matches the tempo of the song to an precise degree.

We ease into the disc's second half and find "Seven Devils" a chilling, thematic tune that features ominous piano melodies interspersed on top of Florence's vocal presence that add a great deal of emotional intensity that you can feel at the same time that Florence is singing. "Heartlines" builds upon the bombastic, drum laden melodies that were found on the album's first half and presents it in a more longform presentation coupled with Florence's amazing vocal prowess adding to a fantastic and well rounded track. We head into the disc's closing tracks with "All This And Heaven Too" a melodic, vocal driven track that sees Florence using her vocal ability to push the melodies along and work together in harmony to create a resonating and memorable track. The disc's finale "Leave My Body" is a dark, mysterious tune that is much more toned down in musical appearance than the majority of other tracks, but serves as a great closer to a diverse and well rounded effort. When Florence + The Machine first burst onto the scene early last year, she immediately captivated audiences with her rapturous voice and added a great indie rock sensibility to match that is markedly different from 99% of the indie rock bands out there.

Overall, a great follow up from Florence + The Machine, who proves that their debut effort was no fluke and aims to continue their musical odyssey in exploring the outermost realms of the indie rock genre and presenting to us some of the most diverse sounds that are unlike anything we've ever heard before.

                                                                                                                     Album Score: 4/5

Track Listing:

1. Only If For A Night
2. Shake It Out
3. What the Water Gave Me
4. Never Let Me Go
5. Breaking Down
6. Lover to Lover
7. No Light, No Light
8. Seven Devils
9. Headlines
10. Spectrum
11. All This and Heaven Too
12. Leave My Body