The album is good so far. Need to give it a deeper dive when I'm not half distracted at work. That said, I just don't connect with this type of hardcore as much as I did in my late teens/early 20s when the band was putting out Travels, Lost Ground, and Empty Days.
Alright, I admittedly wasn't too excited when I heard the first single, but I'm almost done with a full listen through, and this is seriously good. I like it a lot more than Abandoned, and that was a pretty good record too. Add it to the pile of Will Yip's successes.
According to an AMA with the band today, it's multiple perspectives. They're not saying much more than that and want listeners to figure it out themselves, but it wraps up a lot of things in the narration apparently.
After a couple of listens through headphones and one on my turntable, Derek's vocals in the mix isn't too bothersome anymore. Once I had the lyrics on me it became really easy to make everything out. In regards to the story, there's definitely multiple stories weaving through here. The priest from Travelers/Abandoned is prevalent in the last few songs with brief nods to the mother character. The father's brother is the focus of the first couple of songs. So much more to unpack!
I think abandoned is easily their best, like not even close. This is extremely good to my ears so far
skimming through the lyrics this album seems to be another one about the father, almost a direct follow up to letters home. super dark and heavy stuff as usual, excited to dive deeper and really get into the meanings and references.
I just got an email from Bandsintown saying Defeater will be in Buffalo in October- with tickets going on sale on Friday. Assuming there will be some sort of tour announcement today from them.