Marianas Trench – “Only the Lonely Survive”

Sounds a hell of a lot like Marianas Trench

 

It's as if they wrote the song or something.

 

at this point, I'm down for anything this band wants to throw at me

 

these dudes are great. took my kid to see them on the astoria tour and he had a blast. fun stuff

 

I'm having trouble understanding why anyone likes anything they do. And I don't say that to be mean or contrarian. It literally doesn't make sense to me.

 

His incredible voice and songwriting talent.

 

Way to not be contrarian by going into a thread about a popular band and posting a hyperbolic opinion that is the opposite of other people posting in the thread. Nailed it.

 

The contrarian disagrees with people just to be different, controversial, or antagonistic. I posted because I am a huge pop fan and have listened to single after single of Marianas Trench's music without finding anything to love. And I posted out of genuine curiosity, which has actually led to some extremely polite private message conversations with other users about why they love the band and what I should be looking for when listening to their music.

So, great job taking an opportunity to be kind and thoughtful about a band you apparently love and instead choosing to be a jerk. You're making the band look really good right now. (Hint: that last statement was written with the same amount of sarcasm as your snarky and degrading comment.)

 

I appreciate you.

 

I loved their second and third albums (Masterpiece Theater and Ever After) because of his voice and ridiculously catchy songwriting (see comment above, haha). But Astoria blew everything else out of the water by crafting this big cinematic pop album experience for new listeners while providing a bunch of Easter eggs for diehard fans (similar to The 1975).
Bottom line: after that album, I’m on board for pretty much any direction they wanna go.

 

Theatricality, strong harmonies and catchiness for me.

 

So do you think I should hold off on Astoria until I hear the other records? If I've ever listened to a full Marianas record (and I can't say for sure whether I have), it would've been Masterpiece Theater--but that would've been years ago as well. So basically I'm asking, is your appreciation for Astoria partially based on how it builds on the band's prior work?

 

The singles are not the band's best work. What I've always found incredible are their bookending epics. Masterpiece Theater 3, Ever After (the song), and Astoria are just far and away above what some band's could dream of being capable of.

 

"I'm having trouble understanding why anyone likes anything they do" seems pretty antagonistic to me. If you didn't want any snarky comments and were genuinely trying to start a conversation about the band, you could have asked where you could start in their discography that would be more accessible than the poppier singles. Had you asked that, I wouldn't have been so snarky. Nothing in your post said "oh he's interested in learning more about the band" to me.

So, I apologize for being sarcastic, but I stand by the fact that I felt your original post came off snarky as well. If you have an interest in getting into the band, I'm here to talk. For hours, probably.

 

Primarily judging them by their singles could very well be my issue.

 

I could very well be in the minority here, but, any who.. I used to love Marianas Trench. Fix Me, Masterpiece Theatre, and Ever After were all great albums, but everything they've released after the EA album just has not resonated with me in the slightest. This current single is unfortunately not an exception. Outside of his vocals, there's just no depth or substance for me anymore.

 

Look, Haven't Had Enough is a bop. I don't know what you want me to say

 

Amazing voice, excellent harmonies, thematic/concept albums with bookend opening and closing tracks that tie in elements from every song on the albums, super catchy beats, emotion, etc. etc. etc.

I agree the singles are not always their best work. The song Ever After is an absolute masterpiece. Their best albums are probably Masterpiece Theatre and Ever After but all of the other ones are great too.

They used to be a little more Pop Rock but their harmonies and emotion have always been there.

 

I mean, seeing the evolution helps my enjoyment of Astoria, but I do feel like it's their best work overall so I'd just jump in there. Like, the more time goes on the more I see that album as the fully realized version of the band. Masterpiece Theater was still a scrappy pop-punk band with really catchy songs and a vague concept behind the album. Ever After implemented a lot more synth/electronic and had some amazing singles, but the overall concept fell short for me. Astoria finally felt like they pulled off exactly what was in Josh Ramsay's head. (I wouldn't call it a "perfect" album though; Shut up and kiss me is fun but feels like a b-side that should have been cut.)

 

Hmmm this song seems forgettable to me. Not terrible but not up to par with their other stuff.