you cant make it through messengers but you can their other stuff? just curious. the songs dont sound much different imo.
Phantom Anthem, Rescue and Restore, and Thrill Seeker seem to be alot better than their other stuff. But all of it has the same sound except TS. Weird.
I liked it. I like those 3 albums alot more I think. Ocean of Apathy and Escape Artist are a couple of their best tracks iirc. The production is extra weird on it too by comparison to their others. I remember it lacking low end and being muddier.
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Escape Artist is top tier for sure. I liked the production a lot more than Messengers, but that improved as they went along. I can't do Thrill Seeker though, not having Jake just feels weird to me.
Yeah, imo Messengers is just a series of unmemorable guitar parts poorly mashed together with the only real intention being to reach the next breakdown. Any part in any one of those songs could be subbed out for one another and you'd never know the difference. I won't act like they became a vastly different band or anything, but even by Constellations they were refining their songwriting -- the relationship of those fast riffs and the china-riddled breakdowns was much more leveled. Transitions got a lot better, the riffs were way catchier, they tried clean vocals on a song, had many tasteful and well placed solos, and experimented with more dynamics than just "fast and heavy always" (Ocean, Mariana's, Meridian, Crusade). Unfortunately they prematurely tired to go more out of the box with Leveler and it came out extremely half baked, but R&R is fantastic and Phantom Anthem is solid as well. FIFAW is pretty shit though.
It's got some great moments though! Like the ending to Martyr and I will forever defend Broken Promises as one of their best. That was my complaint with PA.. it didn't reach the highs of FIFAP imo, but at the same time it doesn't reach the lows either haha.
Alot of the time that is what I feel when Im listening to them... that some songs' whole point is just to transition to the next breakdown they get some riff going and its cool, it lasts 5 seconds, drums get heavier and do blast beats for 2 seconds, and then bam breakdown I wish theyd groove some riffs and blast beat them for a while. would be way more interesting and fun.
I think PA has a lot more and higher highs but its been a while since ive heard FIFAP. I wasnt really a fan. Obviously not bad though.
They perform well live. Jake does a great job of riling the crowd up. I think I've seen them 4-5 times though and it's never been like "amazing" or anything, it just kind of is what it is. There's never really any cool production or anything, just some dudes playing some breakdowns and JB hopping on boxes so people and see him solo better lol. Matt is very fun to watch -- he makes shit look so easy
Always go back and forth between R&R and Constellations as their best, it's a really tough call. I think Constellations is my favorite but R&R is like their actual best, most comprehensive and well put together work
Consumer off Thrill Seeker has the very best breakdown Ive ever heard. It should be a classic. It should be like undisputed champ of those fuckin youtube breakdown compilation vids lol
Yall may laugh but Thrill Seeker is probably their most influential album the only big names around in 2005 and prior doing "metalcore inspired by thrash and tech death riffs" were Darkest Hour, As I Lay Dying, and Unearth. Thrill Seeker shits all over those. they defintely turned heads with it and then the metalcore landscape boomed from there its a well put together and enjoyable heavy romp now theyre doing their more progressive thing but that stuffs been going on for a very long time before they got to it
Nah I think you're right, at least partially. Disagree with it being the "most" influential, but it really did a great job adding a fresh coat of paint to the sorta stale mid-00's metalcore that was happening at the time. I feel like a lot of those bands wanted to make a record like Thrill Seeker but couldn't really commit or find the right formula. Personally, I don't really give that record enough credit, I think in the past when ranking their records I haven't even included it. There are some rock solid jams on it though that I've definitely forgetting about, listening back. Also continues my theme of "every other album by this band rules" haha
Yeah I meant to imply that it may be "their" most influential album not the genres most influential. I totally was thinking that every even numbered release from them arent great either lol!
Rescue and Restore Phantom Anthem Thrill Seeker Constellations Messengers Found In Far Away Places Leveler Messengers has Back Burner and Eleventh Hour tho