Track Listing

1. When Did This Storm Begin
2. Money For That
3. I Owe You A Love Song
4. Ghost Town
5. It Became A Lie On You
6. Ricochet!
7. Season Of Love
8. Poison
9. Blown Away
10. Turned To Real Life
11. Frozen Oceans

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5894 in Music
• Released on: 2008-11-04
• Number of discs: 1

Album Description
"Season of Poison" is the highly anticipated sophomore album from Shiny Toy Guns. The album is the follow up to their critically acclaimed Grammy nominated debut record We Are Pilots which was released in 2006. The band spent the better half of 2 years on and off the road progressing their dance/rock and electronic roots. Once again producing the album by themselves, founding members Chad Petree (vocals, guitar) and Jeremy Dawson (synthesizer, bass) used 2008 technology to marry dynamic late-70's style synthesizer programming with face-erasing stoner rock; gently spreading this over layer upon layer of ethnic and tribal rhythms. Not to mention their keen pop sense in lyrics and arrangement have collided with the legendary mixing abilities of super-engineer Andy Wallace to create a completely new color in the future-forward musical spectrum. The first single off of Season Of Poison is "Ricochet", a heavy rhythmic guitar laden song already being heard on radio stations across the nation.

Season of Poison marks an evolution for the band not only sonically but in the band dynamics as well. Sisely Treasure from the band Cooler Kids replaced departed vocalist Carah Faye Charnow who left the group this past summer to pursue other interests. Dawson explains, "We moved forward with our initial choice for co-lead singer of the band in 2002, longtime friend Sisely Treasure. At that time she was still locked into her Dreamworks Records deal with her former project Cooler Kids and we were not able to professionally move forward with her. So we have returned to the exact original idea and lineup that Shiny Toy Guns was meant to be." With a new singer who is also now a writing partner to Petree and Dawson, Treasure brings in whole new complimentary perspective to the band. The result is a hard rocking, groove shaking album that will appeal to die hard Shiny Toy Guns fans and new ones alike.

The mercurial foursome (which also includes Mikey Martin on drums), has been described as everything from 'glam-goth-new wave-chic' to 'electronic mash-up with a dance floor destroyer,' thanks to their riveting breakthrough single "Le Disko" which topped the charts in 2006. The playful dance-anthem permeated radio and clubs, was featured in advertisements for Motorola and Apple and was a single of the week on iTunes' playlist. The band also was a "MTVU Freshman Five Artists for Fall 2006" as well as a MTV and MTV2 Discover and Download artist. They appeared on several television shows such as The Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Kimmel Live. The positive attention and legendary live shows led to an incredible accolade for the band, a Grammy nomination for Best Dance Album this past year.

Customer Reviews

Great album - Even better to come
I am a somewhat recent convert to STG, getting into it just before Season of Poison was released. I admit that "We Are Pilots" is probably the better album, but I think Season of Poison is a great album as well. There are a couple songs I don't care for, like "Poison" and "Ricochet!," but the album has far more hits than misses.

Poison just doesn't meld well with the rest of the album, as it is makes it feel "all over the place" and a bit, well... to put it mildly, boring. Ricochet is a little too jarring in my opinion, as it takes the bold female vocals a little too far, making it a little unpleasant. Le Disko from WWP was a perfect example of using hard or edgy female vocals to great effect, creating a very addictive and fun song.

Now, the thing that originally got me into STG was the fact that they had a female vocalist. I have a "thing" for female vocalists; I just enjoy listening to them more so than male vocalist, as I find them more relaxing. As for STG's female vocalist, I know a lot of people are angry that Carah left, but she did just that; she left on her own accord. Apparently she wanted to create her own band, so she is doing just that.

The new female vocalist is now Sisely Treasure, who is a bit of a departure from Carah's vocals, but adds a very unique element to STG which I think will ultimately be very beneficial. In fact, I REALLY like Sisely's voice, it is very soothing as shown in "Turned to Real Life" and "Frozen Oceans." I was just not as big on the screaming in "Ricochet!," but I think she did well with the harsher vocals in "Ghost Town," another good song on the album.

I am very excited about what is to come though, as their newest release, a cover of Peter Schilling's "Major Tom (Coming Home)," is simply one of the coolest songs I have ever heard. I first heard it on the Lincoln MKZ commercial, and was delighted to find it was no other than STG who covered it. (It's available for free download on STG's or Lincoln's website... GET IT NOW!) Sisely's voice is perfect, the synth is perfect; the song is just the bomb. If this song is any indication of the route they are taking, I can't wait.

When Identity Trumps Expectation...
I really enjoy when a band who has hit it big with one overinflated song, in this case Le Disko, gives the middle finger to the world and puts out an album that ignores what's expected.

Shiny Toy Guns has turned their fanbase upside down with Season of Poison. For those who didn't know it while snapping their fingers to the catchy tunes on We Are Pilots, this has always been Chad Petree's band. Ex-member Carah Faye Charnow is no doubt an enormous talent, but she was window-dressing on Chad Petree's and Jeremy Dawson's masterpiece, and hardly integral to the genius of it.

Season of Poison expands on the tones hinted at on Pilots by songs like "Chemistry of a Car Crash" and "You Are The One". Petree's vocals are a beautiful mix of nostalgia and heartache. The electronic blips and beeps from Pilots have graduated to clever guitar progressions that are easy to write off as noise at first. I expect those fans who were drawn to the more Pop-like elements of We Are Pilots will be the first to peel away when presented with the challenge of the brutal guitar riffs on "Ricochet". At least they can take solace in the dismal cover of "Turn To Real Life", a song I consider the weakest and most out of place track on the album.

The new vocalist, Sisley Treasure, holds her own throughout the set. She is obviously less talented than Carah Faye, yet her voice suits the tone of Season of Poison in a way that Carah Faye's wouldn't. Sisley's shaky moments on "Ghost Town" and "Turn To Real Life" are instantly forgiven upon hearing her brilliant, epic performance on the closer, "Frozen Oceans", a fist-in-the-air heartbreaker that will no doubt close a future "best of" tracklist.

No review of Season of Poison would be complete without mentioning the drama of the centerpiece track, "Poison"- an 8-minute gem that might hint at the direction in which Shiny Toy Guns is moving on future albums. The music is dark, dramatic, and urgent, with Petree's vocals sounding more a late 70's Pre-New Wave than the the expected 80's revival Shiny Toy Guns has become known for.

The challenge of Season of Poison is to let go of the innocence of We Are Pilots. With this bold progression, Shiny Toy Guns has reinforced one of the oldest music dilemmas: you either embrace change or you live in the past, destined to be trapped by the music genre of your youth. Personally, I can't wait to hear what Shiny Toy Guns does next.

great album!
This new album from Shiny Toy Guns is excellent! First listen was ok, then went into wow-shivers up my spine on some tunes, now its just great and enjoyable! Would highly recommend!