"A Hundred Million Suns" Brilliantly Shines

More than one decade ago, the Scottish band known as Snow Patrol, led by the smooth harmonies of Gary Lightbody, was barely a blip on the airwaves. It wasn’t until the release of their album, Final Straw, that their fan base spread across the pond. Zach Braff, director of Garden State and lead actor on NBC’s Scrubs, included Snow Patrol’s heartwarmingly sweet tune “Chocolate” on the follow-up to his directing debut with The Last Kiss. Still riding high on their newfound success, the band released a third album titled Eyes Open that contained the heartbreaking “Chasing Cars,” a song that further catapulted the band’s popularity.

In October 2008, Snow Patrol released A Hundred Million Suns and produced a mind-bending work that pushes through the creative barrier and soars to unearthly levels. The album’s opening track “If There’s a Rocket Tie Me to It” holds you at a distance with its electronically haunting tune, but draws you in with Lightbody’s uneasy vocals that foreshadow a journey into the unknown. A lighthearted song called “Crack the Shutters” is filled with saccharine-sweet piano melodies and a smattering of bells that might give listeners a toothache. But it is well worth it. Another unique song is the melancholy “Set Down Your Glass,” which will provide comfort while breaking your heart all at once.

The album’s peak occurs at 16-minute artistic culmination that begins with a gentle movement of strings and quickly explodes into a fury of drums and trumpets. The next movement segues with a quirky electric heat, and ends with a blissful dance that fades into space. Clearly, Snow Patrol refuses to be pigeonholed into one particular genre. A Hundred Million Suns successfully borrows the best from pop, rock, alternative, classical, and electronic to create one hot album.