AB23 wrote:Extremely disappointed to say that it's my least favorite album of theirs. I went in with the expectation that the singles were going to be the worst songs on the album, but I'll be quite honest, a lot of them felt interchangeable. I think it's missing one or two epics. Every song feels generic, and almost radio-friendly on some. Very few memorable parts.
The worst part were my biggest fears coming in: Myles voice. On TLH, they overdubbed it and produced the F out of it to where Myles sounded like he was talking simultaneously with a robot. Here you have one of the best voices in the industry, and you don't let his attribute shine? Are you not confident in his voice anymore? Even worse, is he not confident in his voice anymore?
The Bitter End, Dying Light, and Tear Us Apart were the 3 best on the album, but none of those 3 are not as high on the list at TLH or TSOF from the last album. Nor are any of them higher than Achilles, Lover, Waters Rising, Calm the Fire, and Fortress on the one previous. Maybe this album is missing those two lengthy songs from being great? Maybe those two epic, long songs bring the rest of the catalogue up in quality? I don't know.
Here is my honest opinion: They rushed it. My least favorite albums are ABIII, this one, and TLH. All three of those albums were rushed lyrically and melodically. I remember them taking a very long time with Fortress and I remember them doing it with Blackbird. Not this one. This one almost feels like they were (1) trying to make as much money as possible with this album by having as many singles as possible with as many short songs as possible, or (2) desperate to get SOMETHING done this year because they didn't have time or wanted to keep the 3-year tradition alive. That's what it feels like. Just a ton of songs I wouldn't be surprised to hear on the radio.
Unfortunately, I've slowly been coming to the realization that this band is moving in a different direction than I like. They're gaining new fans and leaving old ones, essentially. That's fine. I wish them the best of luck. But it's sad that my favorite band in my entire life has stopped
making music I truly enjoy more than any other competition. Now, I can't say that I think they do. It's not a bad thing, I mean, music is subjective. It's just depressing for me.
I reckon i will land somewhere similar based on what ive heard. The songs all sound like radio edits almost like all the things that make AB great are basically stripped for radio. The recent acoustic session they did with Kerrang will be better than this album, will love to eat crow on that . When i heard Native Son for the first time i was waiting for the rest of the song, it sounds unfinished like half the songs ive heard so far. Also agree nothing will touch TSOF or imo Cradle