Artist Info:Discography Album length: 16 tracks Street Date: March 25, 2003
This is the second outing for the for the crew of the USS Gloria and this time they have a new record
label, Tooth & Nail, and have picked up a new crew member, Andrew Verdecchio, making this astro rock
band a quartet. This is a much more personal album for brave Saint Saturn than their debut, So Far From Home. With songs
like the angst-filled "Enamel" and angelic ballads like "Estrella," this album is arguably superior to the debut.
The Light of Things Hoped For starts off strong with the only actual lyrically upbeat song on the album. This song, deemed
"The Sun Also Rises," has been on the internet for several months and has made the Saint Saturn fans
beg for more. Up next is "Binary," which slows the pace down from the opener, and is an acoustic
ballad of reflection on failed relationships. Towards the end, it breaks into a full blast of energy
reminding you the musical genius of Reese Roper and the guys. "Enamel," yet another song about Roper's split with
his fiance a couple years ago, where anger is the forefront emotion rather than sadness or healing factors
you would usually hear. In fact some might be shocked by the pseudo-censored
line, "When you hear this song I hope it hurts like ----." This song is pulled off well, but don't
expect to hear it as a single anytime soon. The fourth track on the disc, "Anastasia," plays out a
tale of yearning love for a young woman, with the main focus of this canticle being about Anastasia's beauty
and the narrator's passionate love for her really makes you really think that the pain that was so
present on the first disc has eased some this go around. The next anthem takes the route of Skillet
and presents us with a computer/turntable almost-Linkin-Park-esque piece aptly named, "Titan" (not to be confused
with the Five Iron tune, "Spartan"). Once again, we have another acoustic guitar driven ballad, "Estrella,"
that will surely remind you of the heart-wrenching "Under Bridges" with lines like, "The angels wings will
cover you tonight, Hallelujah! Press your head against the breast of Christ, Hallelujah!" And "Isn't it
just like me to mourn his passing death when he will not suffer anymore." Following up is one of
the 2 songs sung originally on the LP by Dennis Culp. FIF and Saint Saturn fans always enjoy the songs by him and
this should be no exception. "Heart Still Beats" is a track offering lyrics of life after major
changes and living on through trials we may go through. "Babies Breath" starts off with sleigh bells
jingling with Reese's vocals soon following. This would probably be my least favorite track on the album as
it's a soothing tune, but is really the only song that doesn't stand out as being a past caliber
effort. The keyboard-laced punk ditty "I Fell Away" is a personal highlight, as it shows
these guys really know how to make a potentially lame song into a surely memorable one. The second track sung
by Dennis, "Recall," focuses on past mistakes and how the singer is now dealing with them.
At times it almost sounds like a hymn, vocally. The last song featuring vocals is next, "Daylight,"
which starts off slow with dreary lyrics and then the bridge half way through features sounds of
the crew of the "USS Gloria" calling to mission control escalating into a very emotional
prayer to Christ, "Jesus Christ, light of the world, You never did forget me / And when I pray
in darkness, you held me, still held me..."
This is, in my opinion, a much better album than the first brave Saint Saturn LP and hopefully the final
disc will come out sooner than this one did, the period of time between the two CDs was three years.
- Review date: 3/21/03, written by Joshua Encinias
Artist Info: 
