Porcelain (Sparta album)

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Porcelain
The white cover features a swan in the middle. Both the band's name and album title appear above and below the swan respectively.
Studio album by
Sparta
ReleasedJuly 13, 2004
RecordedOctober – December 2003 at Sunset Sound Studios in Los Angeles
December 2003 – January 2004 at Rosewood Studios in El Paso
GenreAlternative rock, indie rock, post-hardcore
Length57:28
LabelGeffen
ProducerMike Major
Sparta chronology
Wiretap Scars
(2002) 		Porcelain
(2004) 		Live at La Zona Rosa 3/19/2004
(2004)

Porcelain is the second studio album by American post-hardcore band Sparta. It was released on July 13, 2004 by Geffen Records and peaked at number 60 on the Billboard 200. The first single released from the album was "Breaking the Broken."

Critical reception[edit]

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic62/100[1]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
The Austin Chronicle[3]
Pitchfork7.6/10[4]
Punknews.org[5]
Rolling Stone[6]
Sputnikmusic4.0/5.0[7]
Tiny Mix Tapes[8]

Porcelain garnered a positive reception from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 62, based on 19 reviews.[1]

Johnny Loftus of AllMusic praised the album for maintaining Sparta's "caustic intellectualism" without compromising their musical integrity through "label-side meddling" or adhering to "a cliquey music-fan nation", highlighting "From Now to Never" for crystalizing the band's musicianship: "At nearly nine minutes, it renders each facet of Porcelain in perfect miniature, and emphasizes Sparta's stance as a group working faithfully within the system, but also staunchly and refreshingly outside of it."[2] Pitchfork contributor Brian Howe noted how the band's sound became "grandiose and questing, with scintillating, spacious atmospheres" throughout the record, praising the "complex and inventive" arrangements found on "While Oceana Sleeps" and "Lines in Sand", concluding that: "Porcelain is food for sheer bodily exaltation. It's an imperative and ornate exhortation to lay open your nerves and unabashedly, unapologetically feel."[4] Rolling Stone contributor Jenny Eliscu commended the band's "tight and powerful" musicianship on "While Oceana Sleeps" and "Hiss the Villain" but felt it was "rote emo-core, all predictable quiet-loud shifts and overwrought vocal melodies" that didn't elevate them above ATDI, concluding that: "Mostly, though, it's just kind of boring."[6] Darcie Stevens of The Austin Chronicle criticized the album for lacking the "ragged edges and complicated time changes" from Sparta's predecessor and instead contained lackluster artistry and "Dashboard Confessional lyrics."[3] A writer for Spin was critical of the band not evolving their Wiretap Scars sound to just "lazily tread" through a modern rock manual that elicits "sticker-on-the-case singles ("Breaking the Broken")" and ventures into "power-ballad turf ("Lines in Sand", "From Now to Never")".[9]

Track listing[edit]

All tracks are written by Sparta

No.TitleLength
1."Guns of Memorial Park"3:49
2."Hiss the Villain"3:27
3."While Oceana Sleeps"4:24
4."La Cerca"3:43
5."Breaking the Broken"3:47
6."Lines in Sand"6:02
7."End Moraine"4:26
8."Death in the Family"3:37
9."Syncope"1:19
10."Tensioning"5:59
11."Travel by Bloodline"3:06
12."P.O.M.E." (drum solo by Tony Hajjar)0:47
13."From Now to Never"8:39
14."Splinters"4:23
Note
  • According to an interview with Jim Ward, "P.O.M.E" stands for 'Paris Of the Middle East', referring to Beirut[10] - which is Hajjar's birthplace.

Bonus tracks[edit]

  • "Farewell Ruins" (Japan/UK/iTunes bonus track) – 3:17
  • "Bombs & Us" (Japan bonus track) – 3:33

Personnel[edit]

Credits adapted from the Porcelain liner notes.[11]

Charts[edit]

Chart performance for Porcelain
Chart (2004) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[12] 56
US Billboard 200[13] 60

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Porcelain by Sparta". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on July 25, 2020. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
  2. ^ a b Loftus, Johnny. "Porcelain - Sparta". AllMusic. Archived from the original on March 26, 2024. Retrieved August 8, 2011.
  3. ^ a b Stevens, Darcie (August 6, 2004). "Sparta: Porcelain Album Review". The Austin Chronicle. Archived from the original on February 12, 2022. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
  4. ^ a b Howe, Brian (August 4, 2004). "Sparta: Porcelain". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on April 12, 2019. Retrieved January 14, 2012.
  5. ^ Anthony J.C. (July 13, 2004). "Sparta - Porcelain". Punknews.org. Archived from the original on February 7, 2024. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
  6. ^ a b Eliscu, Jenny (July 12, 2004). "Sparta: Porcelain". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on December 14, 2006. Retrieved August 22, 2007.
  7. ^ Damrod (April 13, 2005). "Sparta - Porcelain (album review 3)". Sputnikmusic. Archived from the original on March 26, 2024. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
  8. ^ Wolfman. "Sparta - Porcelain". Tiny Mix Tapes. Archived from the original on February 12, 2022. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
  9. ^ SPIN Staff (July 20, 2004). "Sparta, 'Porcelain' (Geffen)". Spin. Archived from the original on February 8, 2020. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
  10. ^ Gross, Gabe (November 15, 2006). "Sparta - 11.15.2006 - Interview". AbsolutePunk. Archived from the original on July 16, 2012. Retrieved April 6, 2008.
  11. ^ Porcelain (booklet). Sparta. Geffen. 2004. B000281802.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  12. ^ Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 262.
  13. ^ "Sparta Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
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