Yeah, I feel like his vox sound like they belong on a hip hop track or something? I can’t quite pinpoint it but something felt off. I’ll always love this band but this album isn’t shaping up to be too hot imo. These songs are just so.....boring
“On the first record, we kept constantly changing things up. Now, I want to create a sound and groove that doesn’t take as many listens as before. We have some stuff that calls back to the first record, but now it’s a bit straight-forward.” It’s like they are intentionally dumbing themselves down. It’s kinda disheartening. This is the same band that wrote Timothy for Christ’s sake like, I don’t get it
Yeah this isn't as bad as what this thread made me believe, this is fine. And I don't see the problem with dudes at or reaching 40 trying to make music that might widen their audience
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with wanting to widen your audience but I also feel that simply making good music should be the primary focus. Do that and you’ll get attention. I mean, look at a band like Daughters. They hadn’t made an album in 8 years and then they come back with an album that has very little commercial appeal, but it’s a killer record that was true to them and in turn they have garnered so much critical acclaim and their audience has increased exponentially. It’s hard for me to listen to songs like Of Want and Misery, Contact, or Pirate Blues, songs so full of love and passion, and not be disappointed with these tracks. But honestly, context aside, if I had heard these songs outside of As Cities Burn and they were just some random band’s songs I’d still think they were bad.
Song grew on me with repeated listens. I dig it now - nowhere as bad as this thread makes it out to be but definitely the weakest of the three tracks released.
It all reminds me of the rollout of the new Underoath album. Subpar straightforward songs. If people like it and they get more fans, good for them but it's 100% not for me. This is the biggest disappointment of the year for me.
Yeah it’s really similar for me as well. Underoath was my biggest disappointment then and this seems like it’ll be this years
I'm going to have listen to this one a few times. My initial thought is TJ's vocals aren't working for me but otherwise it sounds like a natural progression from Hell or High Water.
Agreed. Damn tell me two years ago that we'd get a shitty new Underoath album and an As Cities Burn album with three shitty singles and I'd call you a monster.
Didn't think that latest was that bad honestly. But I do think TJ doesn't need to there vocally unfortunately. Doesn't do much for me.