The Last Hero - AB Nation Discussion

[Dolo]

I kinda wish people would take about a month to really listen to this album before trying to rank it amongst all of their others. I'm still trying to get down all the song titles, and most people are already writing full blown essays with citations lol.

Well, some probably did. Maybe not month, but 2 weeks. But still.

[DonHarry]

Some people take others' criticism of music personally. I would never let someone else's aversion stop me from enjoying things I like.

[Jaded Rescue]

Yeesh, well, after that all I can say is...Hey Mike (Jaded Rescue)! Where you at my man?

Here I am! See below:

The third time I've listened through it in one sitting, and the third time it's given me a headache. I almost couldn't wait for it to be over - not in the sense that it's bad, it's just that there are so few opportunities for your ears and brain to rest.

[...]

I don't think I'll ever muster the strength to listen to TLH in its entirety again. [...] And I'm really sorry about it. I WANTED to like this.

TL;DR: Didn't like TLH at all.

Hope I didn't butcher those quotes too bad, but that pretty much sums it all up for me. I had the same experience right around the same time of hitting Poison... my ears just gave up. You Will Be Remembered had one of the most beautiful and delicate verse vocal melodies I've ever heard from Myles... and then the noisy-ass production ruins it.

Aside from the production, I have a ton of other issues with the way they wrote the album. Like I've said before, when I read Elvis saying, "It has a little bit of everything from their past albums," I got worried it was just going to sound like a more proggy, roided-out version of everything else they've done, and to me that's kind of what we got.

The sad thing is that the production took an album that was just "meh" to me (which is already sad to say coming from a band I love so much) and made me really hate it. I will say there's something about My Champion that I do like - maybe it's that it's upbeat and positive which is a rarity for the guys now, or maybe it's just that it reminds me of Journey. But again, the production really takes it down a notch.

I think the only songs I'll really go back to are My Champion and Crows on a Wire (for which Lotha hit the nail on the head, the production is scaled back on Crows a bit). I thought about adding a couple of the heavier numbers to my workout playlist, but my ears already get exhausted enough when I'm working out to Cauterize and Dust, and this collection of songs is somehow noisier to me.

So sorry for the rant, and again I hate to sound so negative, but the album is just so sonically flat to me that it hurts to listen to, and then fact that a lot of it feels recycled to me in terms of composition doesn't help.

Also, one last note: The entire reason I got into this band was because they wrote amazing, beautiful melodies, even when in a heavy context, and that goes doubly so for guitar solos. I can't remember a single Mark solo off this album off the top of my head. I can't sing/hum them to myself like Jack Black, and that was always my favorite thing about ODR/Blackbird solos. Just sucks to lose that side of it because of Mark turning into a note-happy shredder, which is the opposite of why I fell in love with his soloing in the first place.

P.S. It's all your fault for keeping me here to write this negative post, guys.

[AHart96]

^^Don't feel bad for ranting bud! You're respectful about it, that's all that matters! You're entitled to whatever opinion you want, nobody should call you out for it

[Dolo]

Wow, I barely hear any of what you hear (aside from the Still Remains comparison to Last Of Our Kind). Funny how there are no two sets of the same ears. I'm sorry you don't have mine

I'm a guitar player, I don't know if that's what makes the difference, but it may be helping me hear those guitar-oriented details.

[DonHarry]

P.S. It's all your fault for keeping me here to write this negative post, guys.

Even though you were gonna stay away from the AB section

[Jaded Rescue]

P.S. It's all your fault for keeping me here to write this negative post, guys.

Even though you were gonna stay away from the AB section

Hey now, I was trying to just browse in the shadows, and then Ryan called for my opinion!

[slasherbridge]

I just wrote half of an excellent review and now I have to leave. MAAAAN.

But quickly:

This Side of Fate
Cradle to the Grave
The Other Side
Islands of Fools

are all incredible. The title track minus its chorus is also life.

These are also my highlights.
Except the chorus of the title track is also good.

I'm going to listen a lot more times and review it in like a week.

[Arctic]

Full credit to you for the quote man lol, I haven't had time to fully read all the reviews.

I think, though, that this album is one that will grow on people. I'm the biggest AB fan I know, and even I was kind of put off at first, but with each listen I discovered something else I love about it, I still am. There are so many layers and so much intricate guitar work. I may even give it a better grade as I continue to listen.

[Lotha]

*high-fives Jaded*

I knew we'd end up being buddies when it comes to TLH, lol.

[Jaded Rescue]

*high-fives Jaded*

I knew we'd end up being buddies when it comes to TLH, lol.

<--- That's not us drinking in celebration of having similar opinions. It's us drinking in disappointment.

[Lotha]

Right on!

[Andy92]

I kinda wish people would take about a month to really listen to this album before trying to rank it amongst all of their others. I'm still trying to get down all the song titles, and most people are already writing full blown essays with citations lol.

Well, some probably did. Maybe not month, but 2 weeks. But still.

Well now I'm imagining people having these reviews saved in Microsoft Word just waiting to hit the paste button at midnight so they could let everyone know how much they hate this album!

[AHart96]

As I've said a million times already, I don't hate the album It's good, just not great. And that is disappointing to me, because Alter Bridge IS great

[Ubik]

The bridge of Cradle to the Grave reminds me of Neil Young.

[Lotha]

I kinda wish people would take about a month to really listen to this album before trying to rank it amongst all of their others. I'm still trying to get down all the song titles, and most people are already writing full blown essays with citations lol.

Well, some probably did. Maybe not month, but 2 weeks. But still.

Well now I'm imagining people having these reviews saved in Microsoft Word just waiting to hit the paste button at midnight so they could let everyone know how much they hate this album!

Lol, I wish I didn't "waste" the entire morning writing the review instead of working haha would be nice to have it ready.

[nagpo]

The live facebook concert is tonight, right?

[anguyen92]

The live facebook concert is tonight, right?

Here you go. From the tour thread.

Just to make sure no one forgets. Live Stream of their Dallas show is today. Starts at 10:50 PM EST. This is a real stream. Not one of those spammy fake ones. The source is from Live Nation outlets themselves. This will be AB's first headlining show proshot coverage since their Live in Wembley DVD.

The links.

Announcement Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfvQvFX ... LiveNation

Actual Stream Video: https://youtu.be/aKZ5cmXu3ZE

[itaughttremonti]

It's funny they tried so hard to distance themselves from the "Creed formula" that they have now delved into their own ABIII onward formula.


Unfortunately, I admit that this album (along with the last couple) have mostly bored me.

[Lotha]

I don't understand comparisons with ABIII. I see no similarities.