I’ve figured it out: this is all reminding me of Meteora, which is one of my favorite records and best produced records of all time. Key and chord progression is near identical to Somewhere I Belong. Heavy melody/guitar reminds me of Don’t Stay. And the bassist and drummer get almost no credit in reviews but man, they are so tight and brutal. A good rhythm section is worth their weight in gold. I can not stop listening to it. It almost makes me feel better about 2020.
Holy shit... my jaw dropped when I heard Dear Diary, I'm so happy right now and yes - the production is pretty flawless on this thing.
The only two songs I can't get behind are Kingslayer because BABYMETAL is just not for me and Itch For The Cure because it's complete filler. Very solid EP/LP whatever it is.
I wasn't sure about Kingslayer on first listen, but after a couple listens it's a banger. Itch For The Cure is basically the intro of Kingslayer and it should have just been one single track tbh.
As someone who is not a fan of LP pretty much at all, I don't love the moves in that direction. But this is really solid. Opener is fantastic, and I still love Parasite Eve, Obey, and Ludens. Not a fan of Teardrops, but it's fine (too much of the LP influence there for me). Kingslayer is rad. I don't know if I like anything on here than than the highs of the last two records, but the lows of the last two records were much worse imo than anything on here. This is definitely a step in the right direction for them.
I thought people loved That’s The Spirit. It’s bangers from top to bottom. I can certainly see not liking it if you only like the earlier stuff, but the highs on that record are stratospheric and the worst songs on there would still be some bands greatest hits. Is it just the poppier direction, lack of screaming or something else?
I don't care what direction they go, I think that album has some of their weakest songs. Throne and True Friends are instant-skips for me. I can't recall what "What You Need," "Run," or "Blasphemy" even sound like off the top of my head (had to look at a tracklisting), so they weren't memorable. "Doomed," "Drown," "Avalanche," and "Follow You" are great. "Oh No" and "Happy Song" are okay but the latter in particular is so derivative, it practically verbatim rips off a Thrice riff. That's my take. Sempiternal and There is a Hell... are some of my favourite albums of all time. Amo has some really incredible songs but there are a couple duds for me there as well, and it really doesn't compare to how I feel about those other two.
I don’t like That’s The Spirit aside from a few tracks like Doomed, Follow You, and Avalanche. I just found it boring and generic. One of the reasons I enjoyed Amo so much was because it had identity. I would argue that TTS just felt like a blatant LP rip off. The LP vibes are still prevalent in Post Human but it’s more subtle and done overall better IMO.
This new record is seriously impressing me that it’s starting to look like; There Is A Hell.. > Sempiternal > Post Human: Survival Horror At least, for me personally. I even kind of like Kingslayer now hah
Haven't heard this in full yet, but I think there's a good argument to be made for Drown to be their best song.
I don't mind TTS but it's my least favorite BMTH album (I don't count that 100 track experimental thing - if we are then that's my least favorite haha)
Somehow I think Sempiternal is my least listened to, even though most people would say it's their favorite.
I definitely don’t listen to Sempiternal as much as There Is a Hell.. or Amo but whenever I do - I’m reminded how great of a record it is. It’s also a pretty gnarly record in terms of lyrics. Sometimes it comes across as slightly try-hard but this one line in House of Wolves still always fucks me up: And when you die, the only kingdom you'll see.. is two foot wide and six foot deep! Goddamn Oli. I SAID GOD. DAMN.
I wouldn't argue this. SS is my most listened to, but it's because I was a super angsty 16-17 year old when it came out.