New song is meh, but skimming the thread led me to "Summertime Gladness" which I somehow missed, so I came away happy.
The first half of DBMII is meh (except for Spooks) everything else is fucking amazing. Jonny's melodies are insane, Will's guitar tones are spot-on, Jon's lyrics are super fun. Spooks, Elder Goose, Heat Seeking Ghost Of Sex and Purple Reign are all top-tier DGD.
I initially hated DBMII at first because it marked the end of the Kurt-era and, we all know how terrible Jonny is. But it's got some groove, especially like the low-end on that one.
Wait, there are people who think Jonny's bad? I know he's a horrible person but his voice's natural vibrato and way he uses falsetto and the natural breathiness of his voice creates such an emotional feeling. Tilian will never be able to capture the feeling of when he says "Now breath in wide I'll forgive you later" on 'Open Your Eyes...'
Johnny has a great voice but is an absolute shit writer. His melodies are redundant and meandering he doesn't have any songwriting chops especially not compared to Kurt or Tilian
Really excited for the rest of this album, Midnight Crusade was just alright for me at first but it's grown on me heavily.
the big difference you'll realize between johnny era stuff and kurt and tillian era stuff is that they actually write cohesive songs now
Don't get me wrong I like at least half of the first DBM but the writing got sooooo much tighter once johnny was out
Haha already realized that back when DBMII came out. Sandwiched between a masterpiece and a very very good record the difference is staggering and the comparisons in no way help it at all
I still think DBMII has some of their best instrumental work, but my GOD, Jonny holds that album’s songwriting back so much.
All of Jonny’s melodies are phoned in on DBMII. Everyone else’s parts are solid. Still my second least fav release from them