Listening party thread (Walk the Sky edition)

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anguyen92
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Re: Listening party thread (Walk the Sky edition)

Post by anguyen92 »

I can’t do a song by song review or else I’ll take the whole day to type on mobile. From I recall my favorites were Native Song, Forever Falling, Clear Horizon. Definitely need a relisten on regular headphones. House speakers isn’t the greatest way to listen to an album.

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Re: Listening party thread (Walk the Sky edition)

Post by DarkKnight12 »

Aah okay. We’ll wait until you get your computer then ^^

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Re: Listening party thread (Walk the Sky edition)

Post by One Drew Remains »

Sounds exciting, guys. One month out, so excited.
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Re: Listening party thread (Walk the Sky edition)

Post by Mr. Slash »

One Drew Remains wrote:Sounds exciting, guys. One month out, so excited.
Perfect timing for becoming the official soundtrack of the Brexit. Obviously only if the majority of the new songs is as defeatist as Take the Crown and Pay No Mind.

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Re: Listening party thread (Walk the Sky edition)

Post by Ryan »

It was Forever Falling snowman!! Mark sings lead on that one and that was one of, if not my favorite song. Thought it was going to be a ballad, then BAM! here come the heavy guitars!!!!
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Re: Listening party thread (Walk the Sky edition)

Post by GazEd »

Funny stuff.

Some people say that TRem leaves all his best songs aside for his solo records, and then the best song on an AB album also has Trem on leads.

For some strange reason I still have not had a chance to listen to his latest album. With the previous three being among my al-time-faves.
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Re: Listening party thread (Walk the Sky edition)

Post by Ryan »

snowman wrote:Ok all, I just got back from the Listening Party a little while ago. I'll do my best to recap the night, but there was a lot happening and it's already starting to become a blur! They also didn't have anything to take notes on like it sounds they've done in the past. So I'm going totally off memory. But, hopefully others will provide their recap since we'll all remember different parts of the night. So, let's get started!

I showed up at the venue about an hour before the show. Funny story real quick, after I parked my car, I was walking down the street to the venue and saw Mark on the other side. I was going to try to cross and go say hi, but wasn't able to. I did see him stop and say hi to another fan and let him take a picture. I talked to that guy later and he said Mark was totally cool about it. It's always great to hear nice stories about how down to earth and friendly the guys are!

First up was the Meet & Greet. That was pretty standard, but there were a lot of people! I stopped by the merch table first, and they have some really good looking stuff this time around. AND, they now have Alter Bridge socks! :lol Yep, I bought both pairs!

Ok, now for WALK THE SKY! I'll try to go song by song, but it started to kind of blur together after a while. Plus, they were playing it super loud, so it was a little hard to really make out the details. But, I'll do my best!

One Life
This was a really cool intro song. It was slow and dark, kind of like the first part of Slip to The Void, but very unique from anything AB's done before. I remember thinking this was a cool way to start off the album. And it was a great lead in to...

Wouldn't You Rather
We've all heard this one. I will say that this translated really well live! You could tell they were having a lot of fun playing this one.

In The Deep
Another one they've already released. I actually didn't listen to this one before since it came out so close to the party. But, I liked it! They played this one live and it was really good. Since I wasn't super familiar with it, I couldn't really tell how well it translated live.

Godspeed
I was really looking forward to this one from hearing about it in some of the interviews they've done. And it definitely is different from anything they've done, but in a good way. This has some more keyboard lines running through it, which made this song unique. I think they are even more pronounced than Pay No Mind. But they really added to the song I thought. I remember getting chills at the beginning and ending of the song. This is the first song that's a little laid back on the album, but still has a heavy edge to it from what I can remember.

Native Son
This one was one of the highlights of the night! I absolutely loved this song! There are a couple songs on the album that are super heavy, and this is one of them. I remember when the heavy intro riff hit, there were a lot of smiles and cheers from the crowd! I can't remember a ton from this one other that I really, really liked it.

Take The Crown
Yeah, we all know this one by now.

Indoctrination
This had a cool drum intro that was a little different than anything they've done. It wasn't anything crazy, but it fit the song really well. After the drums, the guitar comes in with a slower riff that was really melodic, but heavy. Even though the riff wasn't super complex, I liked it a lot and that'll be one that will stick in your head. The radio DJ they had introducing each song said he was talking to Todd Phillips (Scott's brother), and Todd said this one really stuck in his head. This was another one I really liked.

The Bitter End / Forever Falling / Clear Horizon
By this point in the show, I was having a hard time keeping all these details in my head and keeping track of which song was which. That's not to say these songs sound similar, though. They were all unique and I thought they were all good. There was one song though, that was absolutely incredible! I think it was the song Mark sings on, but I could be wrong on that. It started off with an acoustic intro which had you thinking it might be a little more laid back...and then BOOM! You're hit with this SUPER HEAVY riff that is really fast and shreddy! This was another one like Native Son where there were lots and lots of smiles around! I seem to remember the song gives you a little breather in the middle and then takes you right back into the insane riffage. This one might have been the highlight of the night. I just can't remember which one it was! :facepalm

Pay No Mind
Again, we all know this one. But this keeps growing on me and I'm liking it more and more. This one also translated really well live. I think I actually like it more now that I've heard it live.

Walking The Sky
This was a really good title track. I can't remember much about it other than really liking it and thinking it was a worthy title track.

Tear Us Apart
This one I would say is the more upbeat sounding song, despite the negative sounding name. I wouldn't say it was like Open Your Eyes or Rise Today, but it was still a strong song.

Dying Light
Dying Light is the longest song on the album (5:47) and is what I'd say is this album's "epic" song. While it wasn't quite as "epic" as Blackbird, CoA, Fortress, TSoF or TLH, it was still a great song and a fantastic album closer that I was really impressed by. Probably my favorite part of this one was the guitar solo that ends the song. That might be the best solo on the whole album. I'm excited to listen to this one again on a sound system that's not trying to rip my head off so I can actually hear the full detail! :lol

Other Random "Walk The Sky" Thoughts
Sorry I can't be more descriptive. It was just a long night to this point and there was so much to take in. But, here are some more random thoughts I had:
-I remember one of the solos sounded like Mark or Myles was doing some finger tapping, and I'm really hoping that's the case since they haven't done that before. I talked to another guy and he thought the same thing.
-Some of the songs they have already released, while good, aren't the best on the album. There are plenty of other songs that I think people are going to love.
-From what I could tell, the production values didn't sound that bad. But, again, this was on a massive sound system and not someone's car stereo. But, I did think the guitar tones sounded really good!
-From a few of the people I talked to, everyone seemed to really enjoy this album. It's going to take quite a few more listens to really wrap my head around this album. But, my overall impression is that this is a fantastic album. It's great to see Alter Bridge is experimenting with new ideas while still keeping it very much Alter Bridge.

I'm not one to really compare or rank albums since that is really so subjective and differs from one person to the next. Rather, I try to judge each album by its own merits. I think this is a strong addition to the Alter Bridge catalog. Is every song a 10? No, but that's really rare to get an album where every song is mind-blowing. But, I didn't really feel like there were any obvious "fillers", which is great for a 14 song album. There were things I liked on every song, and it fit together as an entire album well. But, that could just be my recency bias kicking in, so I'll need to get a few more listens until I really know how I feel about this.

Live Show
Someone posted the live show set list earlier in this thread, so I won't post it again.

The show was one of the best shows I've been to (this was my 4th AB show, so not a huge sample size). The guys all sounded great and seemed to be having a lot of fun being back on stage together in front of the fans. There were a few new things that stood out to me, though.

First, Mark is wearing in-ear monitors now. I'm curious to hear why he's finally started using them and if it will do anything to improve the show.

Second, they do have a keyboard set up on Mark's cabs for the keyboard parts. I think it was Mark's guitar tech that plays those parts. I couldn't totally hear it live, but it'll be interesting to see how it sounds on other songs.

Third, Myles was about to play a Fender Telecaster during Take the Crown (at least I think that's what the song was). For some reason the Tele wasn't working, so he had to switch back to his trusty PRS. I know he said he actually wrote a lot of stuff for this album on a Telecaster, so that's probably why he wanted to bring that in. Hopefully it's working on future shows.

Fourth, Mark was back to using a truly clean tone on Blackbird from what I could tell. He didn't have his Fender Twins, so he was probably using the clean channel on his Mesa's. But, it still sounded good. It was nice to hear Blackbird the way it should be played again.

So, that's about all I can think to say. It was a really fun night overall. I met some great people there, including a couple from Utah that actually lives pretty close to me. We all even went to the same high school (different years though)! It was kinda crazy to run into someone that lives just in the next town over to you in Utah all the way in Orlando. But, it was fun to hang out with them. It was really great to see all the support for the band!

Here's to Walk The Sky and many more Alter Bridge albums to come! :peace
Myles was going to use the telecaster for Pay No Mind.

Yes!!! Mark’s cleans we’re back last night!! So happy about that! Alex and I both noticed and made a comment to each other.

I was a bit further back in the crowd near the soundboard and the keys were very noticeable in the mix. It was pretty cool to hear them live.
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Re: Listening party thread (Walk the Sky edition)

Post by anguyen92 »

Dang it Ryan. We should have met up. My feet was too sore at the end of it and after like 15 minutes after the show I went back to the hotel room.

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Re: Listening party thread (Walk the Sky edition)

Post by SamarthJoshi »

Thanks guys for the details!

Can anyone remember an “Epic Myles Kennedy High Note” which is not Nasal sounding or Twang, whatever you want to call it?

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Re: Listening party thread (Walk the Sky edition)

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Ryan wrote:It was Forever Falling snowman!! Mark sings lead on that one and that was one of, if not my favorite song. Thought it was going to be a ballad, then BAM! here come the heavy guitars!!!!
I read this too quick and thought you were saying that one of the songs' names was "Forever Falling Snowman". Thought it might be the follow-up to Waters Rising.

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Re: Listening party thread (Walk the Sky edition)

Post by RevenantGB »

Mark bringing his clean tone back has pleased me more than I want to admit
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Re: Listening party thread (Walk the Sky edition)

Post by Ryan »

VigilantSteve wrote:
Ryan wrote:It was Forever Falling snowman!! Mark sings lead on that one and that was one of, if not my favorite song. Thought it was going to be a ballad, then BAM! here come the heavy guitars!!!!
I read this too quick and thought you were saying that one of the songs' names was "Forever Falling Snowman". Thought it might be the follow-up to Waters Rising.
Hahaha!!
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Re: Listening party thread (Walk the Sky edition)

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anguyen92 wrote:Dang it Ryan. We should have met up. My feet was too sore at the end of it and after like 15 minutes after the show I went back to the hotel room.
We hit the bar afterwards. As we usually do. We’ll meet up at an LA show!
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Re: Listening party thread (Walk the Sky edition)

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SamarthJoshi wrote:Thanks guys for the details!

Can anyone remember an “Epic Myles Kennedy High Note” which is not Nasal sounding or Twang, whatever you want to call it?
I don’t recall any. It’s not the best setting to listen for stuff like that though. Especially as you’re trying to remember everything.
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Re: Listening party thread (Walk the Sky edition)

Post by abw1987 »

anguyen92 wrote:One Life was not an instrumental. Myles was singing in it and they used it as the intro taped track before going into Wouldn’t You Rather. I would say more but I’m not good at typing a lot on mobile. Just an overall fantastic night. Was 3rd row from the front. Bought two shirts. One album cover tour shirt and one shirt that I feel like if I didn’t buy it then, I’m going to regret it. I’ll post that one when I get home unless already posted. Lots of different shirts to buy and all looked cool.

The band sounded as great as they can be and I think the set is a great way to show that they are back and ready to go. My feet is way too sore though after standing for about 9 hours.
You were there??? Lmao... missed opportunity of a lifetime to meet one of our veteran members!

On my flight home now. Wish I brought my laptop to type up my notes but I'll have to do that later tonight.
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Re: Listening party thread (Walk the Sky edition)

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Ryan wrote:
anguyen92 wrote:Dang it Ryan. We should have met up. My feet was too sore at the end of it and after like 15 minutes after the show I went back to the hotel room.
We hit the bar afterwards. As we usually do. We’ll meet up at an LA show!
Which bar were you guys at? I was outside the lodge at around 10:15.

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Re: Listening party thread (Walk the Sky edition)

Post by DeadCell »

Sounds like everyone had a great time!

I’m cautiously holding back my anticipation for this album. I always get super hyped about every new AB release, but I didn’t really care for The Last Hero that much. It had some great songs on it, but the album as a whole just didn’t meet my expectations of what an AB album should be.

Judging by the 4 tracks released so far... I only like 2 of them (Wouldn’t You Rather and Pay No Mind). The other two are pretty meh, but may grow on me after some time... although that’s difficult when I don’t really have the desire to listen to them.

Hoping that the rest of the album blows my mind, but again, I’m holding back my anticipation for the full album release.

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Re: Listening party thread (Walk the Sky edition)

Post by Blackbirddd »

Guys I know that everyone has a life and blah blah but I need reviews

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Re: Listening party thread (Walk the Sky edition)

Post by gbruin »

Great stuff, snowman! Thanks!! Hoping to hear some other reviews here soon, too!
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Re: Listening party thread (Walk the Sky edition)

Post by Ubik »

Native Son and Forever Falling sound like early favourites, a Myles one and a Mark one. Perfectly balanced. Thanos approved.
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