Porcelain (Sparta album)

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."

Porcelain
Studio album by Sparta
Released	July 13, 2004
Recorded	October – December 2003 at Sunset Sound Studios in Los Angeles December 2003 – January 2004 at Rosewood Studios in El Paso
Genre	Alternative rock, indie rock, post-hardcore
Length	57:28
Label	Geffen
Producer	Mike Major
Sparta chronology
Wiretap Scars (2002) Porcelain (2004) Live at La Zona Rosa 3/19/2004 (2004)

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	62/100[1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
The Austin Chronicle	[3]
Pitchfork	7.6/10[4]
Punknews.org	[5]
Rolling Stone	[6]
Sputnikmusic	4.0/5.0[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 At the Drive-In, concluding: "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

No.	Title	Length
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

All tracks are written by Sparta.

• According to Jim Ward, "P.O.M.E" stands for 'Paris Of the Middle East', referring to Beirut,^[10] which is Hajjar's birthplace.

Bonus tracks

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

Personnel

Credits adapted from the Porcelain liner notes.^[11]

Sparta Jim Ward – guitar, vocals Paul Hinojos – guitar Matt Miller – bass Tony Hajjar – drums Additional musicians Charlie Bisharat – violin Mario de Leon – violin Joel Derouin – violin Sara Parkins – violin Matt Funes – viola Dan Smith – cello Larry Corbett – cello Suzie Takayama – orchestration, string conductor Jessika Macias – French speaker on "From Now to Never" Artwork Bill Scoville – graphic design, layout Jermaine Rogers – original swan illustration

Production Mike Major – producer Justin Leeah – ProTools engineer Ryan Castle – assistant engineer Andy Wallace – mixing (Soundtrack Studios) Steve Sisco – assistant mixing Mike Zinczenco – assistant mixing Tony Schloss – ProTools engineer Alan Yoshida – mastering (Ocean Way Mastering) Pat Sullivan – editing (Bernie Grundman Mastering)

Charts

Chart performance for Porcelain

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