Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

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LosingPatience
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Re: Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

Post by LosingPatience »

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

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Ubik
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Re: Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

Post by Ubik »

ToNsOFuN88 wrote:Ok, so here is my assessment of multiple listens. I'm just going to come right out the gate and say that, overall, this album is the Fortress equivalent for the people that didn't want alot of metal/heavier songs. Tons of melody, and overall great songwriting in a mostly hardrock fashion. That is not to say they don't have some heavy tracks. We already got a taste from the singles of some heavy headbanging riffs. The pre-verse riff for Native Son is no exception. Plenty of things to head bang to. Having said that, the overall "heavy" of the album brings me back to the days of Blackbird and ABIII (maybe even a few moments of ODR). Very melody driven. Here is my track by track review of the unreleased songs.
Nice review! The bolded has my hopes high. I'm hoping the elder gods give me a break and get it delivered tomorrow, still only heard Wouldn't You Rather and Take the Crown so I'm going into this headfirst and screaming.

Sucks to hear that you don't like it as much AB23, I hope you get into it more with time.
For all of the hope that it brings...

ToNsOFuN88
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Re: Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

Post by ToNsOFuN88 »

LosingPatience wrote:
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
I mean I love this album. More than TLH. TSOF is still better than any song on WTS. It's just one of the best songs they have ever made in my opinion.

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fix
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Re: Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

Post by fix »

Not sure if this needs to be in the other topic, but anyways.
SedyBenoitPeace wrote:
Look at the interviews for example Mark and Myles talk only about how they recorded the various pieces while they were on tour, I mean did Brian and/or Scott did something? Of course they did but they're just in the shadows, you can notice also on the youtube video for the record, you see only Myles and Mark talking and then in some snippets Brian recording some bass lines.
Wasn't this always the case? Myles and Mark piece together songs and during pre-production the whole band completes the song. This is also what happened this time although prepro was done a bit quicker because they brought a 'whole' song.

I do think the way they made this album is why there are less 'epics' than Fortress or TLH. Dying Light is the only song that was 'created' in the studio and apparently (haven't heard the album yet, so only going by the comments/interviews) it's the only one with an 'epic feel'. The longer songs generally are my favourite too, but I think the singles are pretty cool so we'll see.

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One Drew Remains
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Re: Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

Post by One Drew Remains »

C'mon, Mr Postman!
Altered:
9/17/11, 5/02/14, 10/16/14, 10/08/16, 1/28/17, 5/13/17, 12/08/17, 10/14/19, 8/17/23

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UninvitedZero
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Re: Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

Post by UninvitedZero »

My pre-order has been stuck in a facility in Augusta (four hours south) since Monday... USPS tracker told me it'd be here by 8pm yesterday. No dice. Now it's not even giving me an ETA... Today better be the day! :bored

Still very anxious to hear all of this album. Critics have been fawning all over it, but a couple diehards on here are slamming it to the ground as the worst thing the band has released... :crazy

I have grown quite fond of all five singles at this point... So maybe I'm just a little sucker fanboy.
Trying my best to not listen to 30 second previews or dig around the bowels of the web for a little leak... :slam
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fix
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Re: Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

Post by fix »

UninvitedZero wrote:or dig around the bowels of the web for a little leak... :slam
That would be in vein because - for some reason - it hasn't leaked yet! Which has to be a record! :D Not sure what (and if) they did differently this time, but that's great! :)

merces
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Re: Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

Post by merces »

Arctic wrote:Going by the 30 second previews, I’m really liking what I’m hearing from Godspeed and Forever Falling especially. For a split second I thought it was the Myles part of Forever Falling, Marks vocals are on point.
Where can I find the 30 second previews of the songs ?

*edit* found it... https://www.juno.co.uk/products/alter-b ... 738262-01/

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UninvitedZero
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Re: Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

Post by UninvitedZero »

fix wrote:
UninvitedZero wrote:or dig around the bowels of the web for a little leak... :slam
That would be in vein because - for some reason - it hasn't leaked yet! Which has to be a record! :D Not sure what (and if) they did differently this time, but that's great! :)
In vein since August... :rolleyes

It IS really good for the band. The Last Hero, I swear I heard a good two weeks before the release... I miss Kickasstorrents :lol
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Mr.Vlado
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Re: Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

Post by Mr.Vlado »

TLH leaked over 3 weeks before the album came out, actually. ABsolutely amazing that there hasn't been a leak yet.

I did not get my copy yet as I am going to get it via Amazon on Friday.
I find it very interesting that the reception is so different this time. The "professional" reviews love the album, I've almost always seen 10/10, 5/5 or 9/10. Some even say it could be their best album.

Then there are some who have listened already and loved it and others who say they are very, very disappointed.
It - again - shows how different tastes can be and that different expectations seem to influence the opinion as well.

I personally think - without having listened to the album, though - that it is a bit unfair to critize the way of recording this time.
I have the feeling that, because we know that they made their demos separately this time, people are really looking for where this can be heard. It even started months ago with the song lengths. I also love longer AB tracks and it is totally cool to be disappointed in the "shorter" songs on this album, of course, but I donÄt think that this necessarly means that the album was rushed. It received a lot critical acclaim already, so maybe it is just a matter of different tastes. They also said that the album was supposed to be more concise, more on point, maybe they really wanted to put out an album like this and it would have been the same even if they had made the demos together as they had done it before.

But what do I know, I haven't listenes to the album yet :peace

ToNsOFuN88
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Re: Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

Post by ToNsOFuN88 »

Mr.Vlado wrote:TLH leaked over 3 weeks before the album came out, actually. ABsolutely amazing that there hasn't been a leak yet.

I did not get my copy yet as I am going to get it via Amazon on Friday.
I find it very interesting that the reception is so different this time. The "professional" reviews love the album, I've almost always seen 10/10, 5/5 or 9/10. Some even say it could be their best album.

Then there are some who have listened already and loved it and others who say they are very, very disappointed.
It - again - shows how different tastes can be and that different expectations seem to influence the opinion as well.

I personally think - without having listened to the album, though - that it is a bit unfair to critize the way of recording this time.
I have the feeling that, because we know that they made their demos separately this time, people are really looking for where this can be heard. It even started months ago with the song lengths. I also love longer AB tracks and it is totally cool to be disappointed in the "shorter" songs on this album, of course, but I donÄt think that this necessarly means that the album was rushed. It received a lot critical acclaim already, so maybe it is just a matter of different tastes. They also said that the album was supposed to be more concise, more on point, maybe they really wanted to put out an album like this and it would have been the same even if they had made the demos together as they had done it before.

But what do I know, I haven't listenes to the album yet :peace
As far as track lengths, I'll admit I was a little disappointed when the tracklist was first revealed. Having heard everything it's not a problem for me now. When I'm listening to the songs I'm not thinking about how short it is or how I wished it was longer, I'm just genuinely enjoying listening. Makes the tracks seem longer than they are. Especially with The Bitter End. Shortest full song on the album, but one of the best in my opinion. After its over it doesn't seem like it's only been 3 minutes and 44 seconds. Look at ABIII. You don't need an album of long songs for it to be good.

ToNsOFuN88
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Re: Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

Post by ToNsOFuN88 »

At this point I feel like I'm more anxious for you guys to get your copies than you are, so I have someone to talk to about it. Ok probably not, but I'm just twiddling my thumbs here waiting for notifications to pop up.

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scarecrow
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Re: Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

Post by scarecrow »

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'm sorry your first impression is so negative but I think all first reactions should be taken with a grain of salt. Whether it's someone else's or your own.

God knows I embarrassed myself here when Rise Today came out. :facepalm

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SamarthJoshi
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Re: Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

Post by SamarthJoshi »

scarecrow wrote: God knows I embarrassed myself here when Rise Today came out. :facepalm
Details for those who were not there? :D :P

CrowsOnAWire
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Re: Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

Post by CrowsOnAWire »

The Juno link with the 30 second clips isn’t working anymore.

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scarecrow
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Re: Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

Post by scarecrow »

SamarthJoshi wrote:
scarecrow wrote: God knows I embarrassed myself here when Rise Today came out. :facepalm
Details for those who were not there? :D :P
This isn't that interesting but:

I had been around since the beginning. In 2007 I was 21 and fairly right-wing (I have since moved quite far in the other direction) and when Rise Today dropped I had a ridiculous freak out over some of the lyrics. Also didn't care for the "yeah-yeah" chorus. I was rightfully told to calm down by some and then I lashed out at them. It got personal.

This made me something of a board villain. It got to the point that when an unstable member posted a picture of a dead bird (blackbird?) that they claimed to have killed (it was never clear what this was about other than sick trolling), one or two people started spreading a rumor that it was me under a different account. They were right to be upset about my treatment of other boardies. But I try not to harm insects, much less other living things. This really bothered me.

I left for a while although I've checked in every album cycle. I've been through a lot (including a lot of belated growing up) since 2007. I could've started over with a new username (I barely recognize the person that posted under "scarecrow" all those years ago) but I thought it better to be transparent about who I am.

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fix
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Re: Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

Post by fix »

Well to be fair, Rise Today is one of my least favourite AB songs. ;-)

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scarecrow
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Re: Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

Post by scarecrow »

fix wrote:Well to be fair, Rise Today is one of my least favourite AB songs. ;-)
I still think it's kind of weak but I didn't need to be an unwashed asshole about it. :embarrassed

chtimixeur
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Re: Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

Post by chtimixeur »

@AB23: don't ever trust too much your first opinions on a record. I've been guilty of that many times, and from experience, I know that I need a few days and quite a few spins to know if I connect with the album or not.

For instance, I thought I was done with the band too after hearing Fortress, and after a few months, it finally clicked, and I now consider it my third favourite AB album.
I'm sure you'll end up enjoying/loving some some songs off Walk the Sky. Please tell us in a few months if I was right ;)

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Arctic
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Re: Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

Post by Arctic »

I’m kind of glad the board switched over in 2012, I was 15 when I signed up and if I were to find my post history from 2007 I would probably cringe myself into oblivion, so I wouldn’t sweat it too much lol.

Also I’m pretty impressed the album hasn’t leaked yet, it’s looking like it won’t at all. Im a terrible person so I’ve been googling every day for a download. I think I can manage two more days.
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