Arm's Length - There's A Whole World Out There (May 16th 2025) Album • Page 7

admittedly i've only had one listen on a windy bike ride but this did seem very much just like NBSNAF pt 2. not mad at it, excited to get some better listens in.

 

I’ll preface this by saying the last record was great, but this feels like a step forward to me in every way

 

This shit is so good. The Wound is fire

 

Haven't really listened to these guys outside of hearing Object Permanence on the previous record but just went through all of this record. That closer is something special, man

 

That’s so interesting, cause while I don’t think it’s wildly different from their debut, I do think it is wildly better.

 

My god this is so good.

 

Holy fucking shit. That's all

 

Thought this was really great on first listen. Some awesome lyrics in there. I obviously need many more listens but my initial feeling is that it's at least on the level of the first album.

 

Closer is so excellent. Early onset was a tough listen.

All in all this way exceeded expectations after thinking all the singles were in the "pretty ok" tier

 

when i listened to NBSNAF for the first time i thought it was good but i never really went back to it. the singles for this one had a death grip on me and as a result this album quickly became my most anticipated of the year, which i never would've expected.

every single one of those feelings was justified when i hit play on the world and that drop happened. my entire body got covered in goosebumps and chills.

hard to see anything beating this for me in terms of expectations vs results. i echo every single sentiment about feeling like i've just heard what will become one of the most important records for this style of music and the scene at large. couldn't be more proud of these guys.

 

haha that’s exactly how I felt about the last one - I still think it’s a classic and never understood why it wasn’t bigger

I’m glad this is doing that now for other people! Band is amazing.

 

Keep getting So They Say vibes throughout this.

 

The soft moments on this album are just incredible. They were present on NBSNAF, but they feel so powerful here.

 

This is great. 'The Wound' is my early favourite.

The vocalist just has that knack for writing so earnestly and it is so easy to connect with and love. Would agree that this is a progression of NBSNAF. I didn't understand how that did not make them massive but hopefully this pushes them on. They deserve it.

 

Attic floored me

 

Fuck

 

Rare record where I got to the end and went "do I just wanna listen to this again?"

 

I agree about this record, it's definitely a maturation/progression, but not a huge leap. And that's not meant to diminish it, or NBSNAF in any way.

For me with TWY, TGG was a huge leap in terms of the band's performance and less of a leap, but still a clear growth and progression, in the songwriting.

 

I liked NBS,NAF…but this is hitting different for me. Just a wow from me. This wasn’t exactly on my radar, but I will definitely be giving this a few more listens over the coming days/weeks.

 

I will say I’m a little bit surprised about the reception as I do think nbsnaf is better, which isn’t a knock on this. I think Allen’s lyrics are probably his best ever all over this thing though

 

Yeah I like this a lot but I don’t see it as a huge level up either. It kind of feels like NBSNAF 2.0 to me.

 

Jim, I have to disagree.

 

Honestly NBSNAF 2.0 is underselling it - it's a distillation and refining of that sound but done so well it sounds like a massive step up.

 

Damn this was strong, couple listens so far and can see the progression from NBSNAF. Lyrics are great, instrumentation is great, drums are sublime, lots to appreciate. Was starting list standouts and realized it was 80% of the album lol… need to sit with it more to establish some favorites.

Only gripe I have is with over-reliance on “that one chord” they use for tension within these open D tuning progressions (D6 I think?). They used it lots on the first album and wish they’d find more ways to tackle the songs. Actually felt like the chorus in Palinopsia did well to avoid that easy out.

Also minor comparison, but I love what Family and Friends did for NBSNAF as a breather before the ending tracks of that album. Almost wish Attic and Early Onset were flipped in this sequencing to offer the same.