Kiros: Lay Your Weapons Down

Review by David Feltman

The idea sounds like something you’d expect from Coheed and Cambria or some other sufficiently proggy rock band: A concept album divided into three movements, each with its own specific motif that still ties into an overarching story. It sure as shit isn’t the sort of ambitious project you typically find coming from a pop band, but Kiros isn’t your typical pop-punk band. As their fancy name implies (it’s Greek for “a moment of divine time”), these guys presumably read books, big thick books like the kind they make you read in school.

I’ve always had a soft spot for concept albums, so Lay Your Weapons Down has an advantage right out of the gate. The album is divided into: “The Revolt,” “The Trenches,” and “The Surrender,” and recounts the psychological journey from inner turmoil to peace and acceptance – in a nutshell. This all comes along with some definite religious overtones, but said overtones are ambiguous enough to not feel intrusive.

On the whole, the album plays like Coheed and Cambria lite. There’s no excessive noodling or experimental orchestrations (both things I normally love) on this album. Everything is short and clean with each song easily strong enough to stand on its own outside of the overall framework of the concept album. The fact that this album started life as a 30-track behemoth makes the strength of these 10 slim tracks all the more impressive.

In all honesty, I’ve never been a big pop rock fan, and even less so generally religious pop rock. And with the exception of a couple of songs that swing for the fences like “Broken State” and “Unshaken,” most of the songs here fall too close to the likes of All-American Rejects, et al. for my tastes. But the cleverness of the concept and the cohesion of the composition was enough to make me enjoy this album in spite of myself. There are moments with excesses of vanilla and/or saccharine, but overall Lay Your Weapons Down presents a surprisingly pleasant experience.