Remove ads, unlock a dark mode theme, and get other perks by upgrading your account. Experience the website the way it's meant to be.

As It Is - The Great Depression (August 10, 2018) Album • Page 2

Discussion in 'Music Forum' started by btr, May 17, 2018.

  1. oldboot

    Regular

    No idea but I'm here for it
     
  2. koryoreo

    Trusted Supporter

    The change in direction is definitely out of nowhere and somewhat gimmicky, but I like all 3 songs. This band has always been pretty cheesy so I don't really mind the new look. It's not like they are the first band to change their sound and how they dress.

    I appreciate them taking chances and the last album was a let down in my opinion. People probably would have criticized them regardless of the direction they went in. I'm excited to hear this whole thing.
     
    beachdude42 and Blink182Bouncer like this.
  3. Blink182Bouncer

    Trusted

    They said in their Rock Sound feature the album is an homage to the post-hardcore bands they grew up listening to, but almost serves as a parody of itself in it's lyrical content.
    It's intended to be a callout of the negative culture in the emo/pop-punk scene.
     
  4. oldboot

    Regular

    Yeah, people calling this out for being disingenuous as if the eyeliner-wearing bands from 2004 bands did it sincerely or something haha. The entire scene back then was ridiculous, but I loved it...I like the nod to the past here. I love that this song feels like it could've been on In Love and Death.
     
  5. Allpwrtoslaves

    Trusted

    I actually like the new song.
     
  6. Blink182Bouncer

    Trusted

    To quote the opening track

    "Call me dishonest, call me a fraud, but you've been doing that for years and that's what got us where we are"

    That being said: The album is floating out there and the deeper cuts are infinitely better than the past two singles. Everyone who doubts this band or write them off as disingenuous, I'd reccomend you listen through it just once, just to hear the lyrics. It's a wild ride and I love it.
     
    beachdude42 and lindsaylove081 like this.
  7. beachdude

    I'm not brave Prestigious

    Yeah I just checked this out and I’m actually really enjoying it. Agreed that there are several songs on here I enjoy more than any of the singles.
     
    Blink182Bouncer likes this.
  8. The Stigma (Boys Don't Cry) is what I needed to hear from them tbh. Enjoying this record more than their first two for sure.
     
    beachdude42 likes this.
  9. Allpwrtoslaves

    Trusted

    Probably my least favorite from them so far but I still enjoy it a bit.
     
  10. dotKev

    @dotkevin

    I really enjoyed their last album & have also been liking this one. On the third listen. Gets stronger each time. I didn't listen to any of the singles when they came out pre-release. Not a bad album as a whole.
     
    beachdude42 likes this.
  11. Anyone remember Kids in Glass Houses? I'm getting similar vibes off this, particularly their third record In Gold Blood which I absolutely loved.
     
    JamesMichael and beachdude42 like this.
  12. Allpwrtoslaves

    Trusted

    Two Tongues is the early favorite. What a jam.
     
  13. tomtom94 Aug 11, 2018
    (Last edited: Aug 11, 2018)
    tomtom94

    Trusted

    On a first listen, it seems very weird to me that they didn't release the title track as a single.

    At the risk of sounding pretentious, it seems to me you could call this album a "post-emo"* album, certainly lyrically if maybe not musically.

    *Note: I am referring to mid-00s scene emo here and not the classic 90s emo.

    EDIT: The main thing I get out of listening to this album is that whoever booked the tour with Trash Boat is a genius.
     
  14. ZooZooChaCha

    Trusted Supporter

    Agreed - first thing I thought of when I heard the first track was Trash Boat.
     
  15. tomtom94

    Trusted

    I've had a proper listen and I think I'll settle on three and a half stars. I think it's a good album on the whole but there is an element of disappointment because the ambition of the album is constrained by the limits of the band's songwriting.

    Track-by-track:

    1) The Great Depression - obvious album highlight, reminiscent of Dead! by MCR, one of the few songs to actually commit properly to its subject matter rather than just mentioning it in passing.

    2) The Wounded World - still like this song, honestly, slightly cringey breakdown and all, it's just infectious and the "pointing the finger that's pulling the trigger" line is really good even if I'm not sure they got the double meaning of "trigger".

    3) The Fire, The Dark - didn't like this at first listen, now I think it's pretty good but ultimately disposable.

    4) The Stigma - really good chorus, can see why this is doing numbers, second verse is a bad Glassjaw impression and undermines it a bit though

    5) The Handwritten Letter - the fact I had to look up this song's title rather says it all, though I will confess to humming along to it while I've been listening

    6) The Question, The Answer - completely forgettable

    7) The Reaper - a really good song that fully realises their heavier aspirations. Not a huge fan of Aaron Gillespie's part, think he may be a label mandate but have also never listened to Underoath.

    8) The Two Tongues - as mentioned above, one of the best songs on the album, again helping to realise their heavier aspirations while retaining their strength for good vocal melodies

    9) The Truth I'll Never Tell - can't get this one out of my head

    10) The Haunting - massive disappointment, both lyrically and musically. What could have been an in-depth exploration of sexual assault and exploitation of the vulnerable is ultimately a mediocre pop-punk song

    11) The Hurt, The Hope - ultimately fine but nothing special, especially lyrically

    12) The End - see above.

    One of the issues I think is it is a huge leap they are trying to bridge musically - their pop-punk was never exactly The Wonder Years in complexity and now they're trying to make a jump to sound like much heavier - and more complex - bands. The comparison to Trash Boat is slightly unfair because As It Is aren't attempting to do hardcore - but look where those guys have gone in a similar length of time, and then compare it to something like "The End" with its bold messages of "nobody's listening" and "this is the end", and you do have to feel that they could be doing more.

    The biggest problem is that while they're talking about expanding the scope and the look overhaul and so on, this isn't actually matched by the songwriting a lot of the time. "The Haunting" is possibly the best example of a song where talking about a subject is equated with dealing with it - jesus, guys, sixteen lines and the best you could come up with is "sexual assault by popular musicians is bad" - but you could argue the same of the last couple of songs and The Stigma as well. Musically, too, they're still stuck in pop-punk mode - the riffs are nothing special, the lyrics are all repeated endlessly when subverting them might have more impact, etcetera - I commented that Wounded World sounds like someone told them to repeat the hook and they took it very literally.

    This is possibly a very negative review for an album I'm ultimately positive on so I will say: the title track alone goes a long way to redeeming it, they still have a really good ear for melodies to the point I wouldn't be surprised to see them start getting co-writing credits on much bigger albums, and the stretch from The Reaper to The Truth I'll Never Tell is some of the band's best work. But it's not the album that its best songs deserve to be wrapped around. It's ultimately a step forward in their music journey and not the peak; I hope they keep moving forward on the next album.
     
    JamesMichael and beachdude42 like this.
  16. beachdude

    I'm not brave Prestigious

    I agree with virtually all of this, very well-put. This album definitely has grand ambitions, but doesn’t always live up to them.
     
    JamesMichael likes this.
  17. Allpwrtoslaves

    Trusted

    The more I listen to it the more I hope they stay committed to this change and refine it for the next album. This definitely has some of their best songs on it but, like you said above, a lot of filler.
     
  18. tomtom94

    Trusted



    New single. VERY catchy.
     
    Blink182Bouncer and beachdude like this.
  19. tomtom94

    Trusted

     
    Blink182Bouncer likes this.
  20. JamesMichael

    Software Engineer Prestigious

    Sounds pretty weak if I’m honest
     
    tomtom94 likes this.
  21. tomtom94

    Trusted



    New double single. In the mould of I Lie To Me, in both a musical sense and the sense that they are aggressively mediocre.

    In a broader sense, can't help but feel a bit disappointed about the band that put out "I'm the poet and the problem / I'm the sickness and the cure / We tell you what you want to hear / Cause we're so insecure" sliding hard into music that feels like exactly that kind of pandering. Feel they are capable of more than they're showing.
     
  22. Blink182Bouncer

    Trusted

    I've had a more charitable opinion of the new singles, but it's very obvious as a fan that Patty's mental health has been seriously rough over the pandemic to the point where it's interfering with the band. He says some things in livestreams about how he can't handle everything in life or that things feel like they're not getting better and it's just... really jarring.

    The departure of Ben & Foley has been pretty brutal too, especially because Ben was so integral to the band dynamic. It feels like the band is just The Patty Walters Show now, and as much as I love the guy, there's a noticable emptiness in the band and it breaks my heart because they've made so much music I love and now their future feels very uncertain.
     
  23. Blink182Bouncer

    Trusted