Album Review: Angels & Airwaves "Love"

Starting with the free release of Love (Part One) in February of last year, then the "Love" movie release, & finally Love (Part Two) in November of this year, it's been a long time coming for Angels & Airwaves' Love project. Now that we have the entire musical work, is it really the most epic creation from AVA yet?

Love (Part One)

1. "Et Ducit Mundum Per Luce": A musical intro is always a good thing (at least from Angels & Airwaves).

2. "The Flight Of Apollo": A decent way to start off the album, nothing more, nothing less. 4/5

3. "Young London": The latter portion of this song saves it. I just... "suit up, boys"... I can't... 4/5

4. "Shove": The highlight of the album thus far. Not just lyrically, but the heart that makes AVA special is there. 4.5/5

5. "Epic Holiday": They really start to hit their stride musically here. Not sure I can completely get behind the lyrics though (read: cheesy). 4.5/5

6. "Hallucinations": I think they were right to release this as the first single because it's really some of their strongest work on the album. 5/5

7. "The Moon-Atomic (...Fragments & Fictions)": Structurally, this song gives me the same kinds of feelings that Angels & Airwaves gave me at times in their first two albums that made me fall in love with them. 5/5

8. "Clever Love": This one is similar for me to the previous track, but has a little bit of "Epic Holiday'"s issue. 4.5/5

9. "Soul Survivor (...2012)": The only thing I don't particularly care for here is the chorus. 4.5/5

10. "Letters To God, Part II": I can't really say anything negative about this song musically, but I'm not too sure how I feel about the lyrics. 4/5

11. "Some Origins Of Fire": My favorite song on the first part of the album. This one does things to me, like anytime when AVA is at their best. 5/5

Love (Part Two)

1. "Saturday Love": Fairly strong way to initiate the second part of Love, but the lyrics continue to be a bit... distracting. 4/5

2. "Surrender": There you are, anthemic goodness! 5/5

3. "Anxiety": This was a great first taste of Love (Part Two) (when it was played in theaters with "Love"). Another highlight. 5/5

4. "My Heroine (It's Not Over)": The latter part of this song is also better (like "Young London"), but as a whole, it's pretty good. 4.5/5

5. "Moon As My Witness": Not sure if it's supposed to be, but this makes a nice interlude. 4/5

6. "Dry Your Eyes": This is a direct replica of "Everything's Magic". C'mon, guys, that was a single! 3.5/5

7. "The Revelator": This (almost) has the same appeal of "The Moon-Atomic"... not really anthemic, but effective all the same. 4.5/5

8. "One Last Thing": One last good anthem! 5/5

9. "Inertia": Another faux interlude... not quite as enjoyable. 3.5/5

10. "Behold A Pale Horse": Decent, but there's nothing too special about this one. 4/5

11. "All That We Are": Considering the company it has as an AVA album closer ("Start The Machine", "Heaven", "Some Origins Of Fire"), this one pales in comparison. The instrumental ending is great though. 4/5

If you consider the Love album as one body of work, the beginning (of Part One) & ending (of Part Two) are the weakest in general, with the middle section being where the stronger material resides. I feel like if a few disposable tracks were done away with & Love was just a single decent-sized album, it would've been better. Instead, we have a pair of albums that, at times, are lyrically (see: Part One) & musically (see: Part Two) half-baked, & I find myself struggling to really connect with them the way that I did with We Don't Need To Whisper & I-Empire. All that said, the albums are enjoyable-enough listens for an Angels & Airwaves fan.

Rating: 4/5 Stars