AB VI Speculation

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anguyen92
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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by anguyen92 »

Ok, so. I'm trying to figure out what would be the best timeline, based on what Mark and Myles are doing in their other bands, for AB to create this album, create it well, and have it out by the Fall quarter like they always do every three years. Would something like this be accurate? This is just pure speculation based on patterns I've seen in the past and has no weight whatsoever.

Now: Everyone is on break, enjoy the summer, etc.
September-October: Mark has his shows with Tremonti and Myles is with Slash doing shows in the states.
Late October - Early November: Maybe both Mark and Myles would want to start writing together to lay out the foundation of what they want for AB VI while Slash is touring with GNR?
Late November - December: Tremonti is rumored to do another Europe run. Don't know what Myles is doing. I want to see him to do another run of solo shows in the states. I want to see him play in Denver so that Greg can finally watch Myles live as a solo act.
Early - mid January: Probably do pre-production?
Late January - February: Tremonti has been announced today that they will be at Shiprocked and I presume they will follow that with a US headlining run. Slash/Myles/Co. is rumored to do a Europe tour. I guess, in the meanwhile, maybe Flip and Brian will start recording their parts.
March: Probably both Mark and Myles is going to record on their end at that point.
April - Mid May: I understand that with how heavy Slash wants to do with his touring, he wants to do Australia/South America and he probably wants to do the Danny Wimmer Presents festivals (Rock on the Range, Carolina Rebellion, etc.) and a couple more headlining US shows. I presume Tremonti wants to do the same and do US festivals as well and their own shows.
Late May: Probably Mark and Myles put the finishing guitar touches of AB VI and call it in terms of recording AB VI.
June: Tremonti and Slash/Myles/Co will probably end up at the European festivals and I guess at that point Elvis is done in terms of producing the album and the album is ready to go to be promoted with the usual promotion stuff.
July-August: Ahhh, July. What a sweet time for bands to do a US summer amphitheater tour. I liked it when AB got a supporting slot back in 2016 opening for Breaking Benjamin and Disturbed. I'm hoping, based on Tremonti supporting in a couple of shows in their Europe tour this summer, that AB gets the call to open for Iron Maiden in the US leg of the Legacy of the Beast tour if there is one next year. Maybe throw in the lead single during these shows to promote the new album? If that doesn't happen, maybe a US headlining leg commemorating 15 years as a band and since ODR came out? One could only dream.
The rest of the summer/early Fall: The usual radio PR stuff, first single is out.
Fall: Album is out, Europe tour follows suit, and the great AB story shall continue on from there.

It seems like this is a good timeline right? This way everyone wins. No one really loses? All the bands play the amount of shows in 2019 that should satisfy their goals in their respective album period?

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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by AB23 »

Hopes:
Stop trying to increase the heavy load with every album. You had an awesome niche that you found with Fortress that still allowed you a shitload of room to experiment. They didn't do very well in TLH, but I guarantee you they're going to say "it's going to be heavy... in your face... most heavy album we've ever written... blah blah blah."

Man, a few more ballads would be pretty nice. I know they always have their 2-3 long epics every album that are good no matter what, but I don't need chug chug in between every song. I thought Fortress was just the perfect mix.
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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by Box Of Frogz »

I want much more of Mark vocally. The band is now blessed with two badass frontmen and two badass lead guitarists. Capitalise - more trading of both vocals and guitar licks. I want some epic ‘Sound Of Silence’ shit but the Alter Bridge version.

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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by Mr. Slash »

Box Of Frogz wrote:I want much more of Mark vocally. The band is now blessed with two badass frontmen and two badass lead guitarists. Capitalise - more trading of both vocals and guitar licks. I want some epic ‘Sound Of Silence’ shit but the Alter Bridge version.
Dunno how I would feel about this. My problem with Tremonti is that he seems to damage his voice too much while being a frontman. Just compare earlier videos (June, beginning of July) of the ADM tour to the more recent ones. He is more screaming than singing by now. More lead singing parts in AB would be an additional burden for his voice. I don't want Mark to end like Axl Rose.

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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by AB23 »

Also, change your production staff. Let Myles voice flow. I don't need 3 different dubs of Myles' voice for a chorus like in Island of Fools or something.

I want just clean vocals. Mark can back it up. One Day Remains album is a great example of how great Myles' voice can be just naturally. He may never get back to that level again, but we don't need to mask it by overproducing and dubbing the fuck out of it.
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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by AngusWolfe »

Mr. Slash wrote:
Box Of Frogz wrote:I want much more of Mark vocally. The band is now blessed with two badass frontmen and two badass lead guitarists. Capitalise - more trading of both vocals and guitar licks. I want some epic ‘Sound Of Silence’ shit but the Alter Bridge version.
Dunno how I would feel about this. My problem with Tremonti is that he seems to damage his voice too much while being a frontman. Just compare earlier videos (June, beginning of July) of the ADM tour to the more recent ones. He is more screaming than singing by now. More lead singing parts in AB would be an additional burden for his voice. I don't want Mark to end like Axl Rose.
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Post by gbruin »

anguyen92 wrote: Late November - December: Tremonti is rumored to do another Europe run. Don't know what Myles is doing. I want to see him to do another run of solo shows in the states. I want to see him play in Denver so that Greg can finally watch Myles live as a solo act.
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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by Sugar Blade »

1) Keep number of songs 10 or less. Half of TLH songs were fillers, I've never listened to them again since I stopped listening the whole album.
2) Less production: TLH was extremely overproduced, my head is aching when I listen to songs from it. 3-5 layers of Myles'es vocals was unnecessary, Mark's voice for backing vocals is perfect. Wall of sound approach must peacefully die and rest in piece, there needs to be some room to breathe.
3) Some unusual vocal harmonies could be a new thing for the band. Myles and Mark could do miracles in this area, their voices mix gorgeously, almost like Layne Staley and Jerry Cantrell.
4) I want Myles and Mark both work on lyrics this time. Myles vocabulary is getting worn out (especially with his "denies" and all that stuff) and Mark's lazy "oh's" on The Dying Maching were also not very pleasant. Best AB lyrics IMO was on the One Day Remains and these were written in collaboration, so I want exactly that this time.
5) I honestly want a new record to sound as much different from AB as possible. Many people felt this even earlier, but through TLH I started to notice certain formula. I know that Mark likes to tell that "if it's working than don't fix it", but I think that this approach is damaging their creativity.

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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by AngusWolfe »

Sugar Blade wrote: 2) Less production: TLH was extremely overproduced, my head is aching when I listen to songs from it. 3-5 layers of Myles'es vocals was unnecessary, Mark's voice for backing vocals is perfect. Wall of sound approach must peacefully die and rest in piece, there needs to be some room to breathe.
I wouldn't mind it being over produced if it was overproduced well. Certain songs on TLH are actually painful to listen to for me.

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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by anguyen92 »

Sugar Blade wrote:4) I want Myles and Mark both work on lyrics this time. Myles vocabulary is getting worn out (especially with his "denies" and all that stuff) and Mark's lazy "oh's" on The Dying Maching were also not very pleasant. Best AB lyrics IMO was on the One Day Remains and these were written in collaboration, so I want exactly that this time.
Didn't Mark wrote the majority of the lyrics from ODR before Myles joined AB?

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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by The Dissident »

That was my understanding as well

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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by Sugar Blade »

anguyen92 wrote:
Sugar Blade wrote:4) I want Myles and Mark both work on lyrics this time. Myles vocabulary is getting worn out (especially with his "denies" and all that stuff) and Mark's lazy "oh's" on The Dying Maching were also not very pleasant. Best AB lyrics IMO was on the One Day Remains and these were written in collaboration, so I want exactly that this time.
Didn't Mark wrote the majority of the lyrics from ODR before Myles joined AB?
If I remember correctly, Mark wrote all the lyrics before even having vocalist for AB and with Myles on board some stuff was changed. And it worked out great. Since they are complementing each other in music, I would love to see them compliment each other in lyrics.

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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by gbruin »

Sugar Blade wrote:Best AB lyrics IMO was on the One Day Remains and these were written in collaboration
Sugar Blade wrote: If I remember correctly, Mark wrote all the lyrics before even having vocalist for AB and with Myles on board some stuff was changed. And it worked out great. Since they are complementing each other in music, I would love to see them compliment each other in lyrics.
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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by Arctic »

As long as they kind of have a 'bounce back' album, I'll be happy. I didn't dislike The Last Hero, there are a few songs I really love, but as far as overall quality is concerned, it was definitely a couple of steps down from the previous four.

They seem to have a cycle, though, at least in my opinion. ODR was a great album, then they came out with an absolute masterpiece in Blackbird. I think ABIII was a great one, then Fortress is another masterpiece that rivals Blackbird, then TLH was another 'great,' album, maybe not exactly on the level of ODR or ABIII, but still, not a bad album by any means. So judging from this pattern, they are due for another masterpiece this time around.
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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by facelessman07 »

As others have said, I'd love to see Myles singing slower in a lower register ala MF4 and ODR. At times, it's pretty painful to listen to some of the newer AB material. For example, on Last of Our Kind when he sings "There's something creeping just beyond the door", he's trying too hard to propel one and two syllable words, hence it comes across as forced with no sense of emotion.

Keep the heavy guitars and shredding but throw in some darker, moodier songs reminiscent of Broken Wings and Solace.

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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by MuffinMcFluffin »

Totally 100% agree. There are some songs that just lose themselves in the shuffle because everything just sounds "samey." I'm looking at you, Poison In Your Veins.

Definitely would love to hear verses slow down a little bit more, take away some instrumentation, and have Myles work that lower register for sure. Not only does it help create dynamics within a song, but he still sounds really good there! Maybe his voice has thinned out some, but that doesn't mean you should eliminate it immediately.

EDIT: To clarify, I don't think there should be a thing changed about PIYV. It wouldn't do the intent of the song justice. That's just a plenty obvious example of where the band has gotten to with regard to regularly-produced items. I mean it was one of their singles, for crying out loud. They thought it was at least something worth representing the band enough that they deemed it so. Other songs had definitely followed suit in a similar manner. That's the point I was trying to make.

By the way, I fully expect a track with an orchestral background now lol.

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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by One Drew Remains »

I want some good songs I can sing to at shows.
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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by anguyen92 »

You know. After watching the Royal Albert Hall, I'm thinking that DVD release represents either a swan song for AB or a rejuvenation going into AB VI, but given the schedules of both Mark and Myles, in the first half of 2019, I think I would prefer it if AB decides to not release it during the Fall like they usually do and do an early release in 2020. I want the best possible album they can make and they can have that feeling knowing that they gave it all they got with this album and this is an album they can be proud of like Blackbird and Fortress. I don't think with their schedules, they can get there and it would be best if they take their time with it.

Also, 2019 will mark 15 years since they became a band. Why not do something special in late 2019 like do a tour on both sides of the Atlantic celebrating 15 years of AB and do a set along the veins of the Royal Albert Hall setlist, but incorporate more rarities like Fallout or Wayward One or Down to My Last, for examples. That way, you can close that chapter of AB and move onto AB VI with a more fresher palette to work with.

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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by Andy92 »

I’d be completely fine with a spring 2020 release if they spent more time in the studio on this one. I know they didn’t spend much more time in the studio for Fortress compared to The Last Hero, so time doesn’t always mean the quality is better or worse. But I remember seeing in the Making of Blackbird segment just how much time they really spent pouring over lyrics and even simple ideas for songs like Watch Over You. I’d love for them to have a lot of studio time to just jam out and write together instead of writing so much by emailing recorded clips back and forth.
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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by One Drew Remains »

Absolutely. That's the definition of a band. I personally would love to hear Brian write parts. I'd bet we'd have some Faith No More sounding AB tracks.
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