I gave this a first listen during a walk yesterday and found myself welling up at certain points. I wasn't exactly taking the lyrics in either, but when Ruston does a sad song, it just hits you right in the gut. His vocal performances in those kind of songs is so strong. Looking forward to playing this to death as I seem to do with all his records.
I really enjoy this. Need to keep listening but I could see this ending up being #2 behind Dying Star for me.
Wish I didn’t have to wait until almost February to hear these songs live. Seems like I bought those tickets forever ago and it’s still 4 months away lol
I think this mostly sounds pretty great, and I just wish I liked the lyrics more. Glad he seems to be doing well, but the topics are just less of what I usually want to hear.
first night of his tour, and the new songs all popped off. he introduced “Rubber” saying people usually think it’s a snoozer (definitely seen similar comments on here), then proceeded to play it with an extended jam outro. TK is playing steel, too, and Twisted Root was just the two of them.
Just checked the setlist. As someone who is seeing him for the first time, I’m very excited he isn’t playing a lot off of The Weakness. Playing a lot off of this album and Dying Star is perfect.
This record has really settled in as another AOTY contender. I don't know if it's as much to my liking sonically as The Weakness was, but lyrically it is pummeling me in such a profoundly hopeful way. Also, listening to his discography front to back is wild. Feels like the end of each album goes perfectly into the start of the next one from a storytelling standpoint.
Every year that Ruston releases a record, it’s my AOTY. I thought this one would be the same, and I do love it, but I cannot get around that Moving Mountains record.
Not really a secret that he's friends with them, so it's not surprising (even if it's disappointing). I think he was one of the people in the "Dear Maria, Count Me In" rerecord cough hype video, and he brought Alex out to sing the song at one of the Dirt Emo shows earlier this year.
I checked it out, pretty good song, although Ruston's part is polished to the point where you almost don't recognize his voice.
The Weakness, while still good, lost me a bit and I don't come back to it as much as I do Dying Star and SAD, but this album might be my favorite of his now.
Imo this album is a step-up from The Weakness but not at the level of Dying Star or even Shape and Destroy.