Customer Ratings & Reviews

If you haven't heard Band of Horses' first release "Everything All The Time", then stop reading this and go buy that album immediately, then come back and buy this one. This band found their beautiful, unique sound on their first album, and it only gets better here. Cease to Begin picks up where the first album left off, and it opens with a bang on the very first track "Is There a Ghost". From this track alone, you know the album is going to be top-notch. There is a perfect mixture of upbeat heavier material and slower ballads with beautifully haunting harmonized vocals [see "St. Augustine on 1st album, "Marry Song" and "Window Blues" on this album]. The most notable track is "Island on the Coast" which opens with a furious display of guitar speed-picking and does not let up. The only con to this album is its length, which is 10 songs, one of which is an instrumental clocking in at :58 and serving as a sort of brief interlude to the second half of the album. Cease to Begin definitely leaves you wanting more, as did the first album, but a short album with no filler is most certainly preferrable to one with several more mediocre tracks. This album is 100% solid material and you will not be disappointed.

Cease To Begin is only a step below Everything All the Time (the best album of 2006-2007). "Is There a Ghost" is a stadium rock song, with a slow build up, much like that of "The Funeral" (from Everything All the Time); "Is There a Ghost" is definitely going to catch some ears, but it's nothing special and probably a weak point on the album. "Ode to LRC" is poppy track that is disguised as folk, where lead singer Ben Bridwell gets away with shouting "the world is such a wonderful place(!)". But it works, because of the conviction in Bridwell's voice and that young-Neil Young drawl he uses. "No One's Gonna Love You" is a beautiful track where you can't help but sing along with Bridwell when he sings "When things start splitting at the seams...". Which leads into "Detlef Schrempf" (yes, the basketball player from the Seattle SuperSonics) which picks up where "No One's Gonna Love You" left off; a beauty of an acoustic track. "The General Specific" is an upbeat country track and my personal favorite track "Islands on the Coast" which is catchy as..........

Even if my step brother wasn't the bass player I would have to say Band Of Horses are WONDERFUL.....this album is just as great as the last, but........when the last track plays I want more. The mix of beats is just right....this is an album you play from begining to end with out ever hitting next... Great Job once more....

Band of horses escapes the dreaded sophomore curse with there second release "cease to begin".every song on the cd is a real keeper.the music is soothing and the vocals are top notch.think of this release as a cross between "the beach boys" and "the shins".i highly recommend this cd to all alt-indie music lovers. A++++ cd.

This album is just as, if not more beautifully composed as 'Everything...' I discovered this band on Pandora and have been hooked since. I am usually a r&b or hip hop listener-but this....is a breath of FRESH air. I love it.

This is a fairly new band's second album which is not suffering the usual sophmore slump. The band recently moved to the other side of the country which may have helped them to avoid that fate.