Album: Shatter Me

Artist: Lindsey Stirling

Genre: Dubstep, Classical Crossover, EDM

Release Date: April 29, 2014

Our Rating: A+

In 2010, a young violinist by the name of Lindsey Stirling quite literally danced her way onto the stage during America’s Got Talent’s fifth season. Sadly, however, she was voted off the show after her quarter final performance failed to impress the judges. Despite their criticism, Lindsey Stirling managed to garner a massive amount of success on YouTube, where her music videos continue to captivate hundreds of thousands of people daily. Her original song “Crystallize” was ranked the 8th most watched video in 2012 and number one on the chart of Classical Digital Songs in 2013.

“Shatter Me”

Starting off with the sound of slow grinding gears and the lonely chiming of a music box, the album’s title song “Shatter Me” goes on to explode into a great big frenzy of violin, dubstep, and for the first time: vocals. “Shatter Me” marks Lindsey Stirling’s first use of original vocals on an album, gloriously belted out by Hard Rock vocalist Lizzy Hale of the band Halestorm. Lindsey Stirling herself has spoken about this song specifically in various interviews, stating that the song references a time in her life when she had an eating disorder.

“Heist”

Bring out the ski mask and nightvision goggles for this fast paced, dubsteppy tune! This song has a chase/action feel to it, and seeing how it’s named “Heist”, it’s possible that this song could’ve been inspired by any number of high-octane crime movies. The pitch continually rises higher and higher throughout the song as fluid melodies blend into patterns of strategic staccato until it finally peaks and levels out during the song’s crescendo.

“Roundtable Rival”

“Roundtable Rival” starts off with a light, airy violin tune played in a more fluid style, and more similar in nature to the style used when playing a fiddle. Then it takes a turn for the confrontational, pitch dropping as the melody is taken over by electric guitar and percussion. The deep resounding drums are what give this song a sort of “Medieval Times” vibe, drawing a parallel to the concept of the “drums of war”. However this section only lasts for a mere 30 seconds or less, and then Lindsey Stirling once again owns the melody with her violin.

Shatter Me, which is now $9.99 on iTunes and $8.99 on Amazon Digital, is an absolutely amazing album, 10/10 would listen to again and again and again!

Track List:

1. Beyond the Veil [4:15]

2. Mirror Haus [3:56]

3. V-Pop [3:46]

4. Shatter Me (feat. Lzzy Hale) [4:41]

5. Heist [3:27]

6. Roundtable Rival [3:24]

7. Night Vision [3:41]

8. Take Flight [4:25]

9. Ascendance [4:27]

10. We Are Giants (feat. Dia Frampton) [3:44]

11. Swag [3:11]

12. Master of Tides [4:22]