Really surprised by the single! Feels closer to Anarchy than boy. But lightyears better than anything on anarchy. Like it a lot actually!
Max has never been a great singer, but he use to try to sing. I think they just lost me as he committed to that hoarse voice. I couldn't make it through the song. It doesn't sound anything vocally like anything but IDTII. There's no ebb and flow and it just gets noisey. I enjoyed Hebrews too. I'm hoping the rest of the album is more varied or more vocally stylistically like previous stuff. I'm glad people like it though. I hope he finds peace and health but I'm not really convinced all this publicity was so much helpful. Just hope he takes care of his health.
Maybe it's bad quality. I don't know. I even went back and put on some of Hebrews, Anarchy and other albums and I'm like this does not sound anywhere's close to this. There's just something about his growl in the song that doesn't hit my ears good.
I'm eagerly awaiting news of a Is A Real Boy/Oliver Apprentice comic and CD bundle hahaha. I can't wait to spin those 2 after each other.
It's kind of weird for Max to come out and say this IARB character is/turned into something evil. Or even that it's not him, which I don't fully buy. Even our characters are shades of ourselves. It's the piece of art that my personality most identified with as a teenager/college kid. I never took it literally, or thought it meant it was literally him, just that frustration of adolescence and the ideas of a world that doesn't add up.
Don't have time to read that PDF he posted, but I'm here to say that I really like the new song. Looking forward to the release.
I like this song a lot. Looking forward to the record and I’m happy Max is doing what’s best for him.
all in all, I hope that dude's okay. I think this all makes total sense if you've been paying attention (maybe not all of it, but majority). I think him staying at home writing books is probably a more mentally lax job. them touring one last time with somebody like Senses Fail would be cool.
He even acknowledges that it still had pieces of him and was somewhat inspired by his life, and I think (my memory is hazy due to the length of the essay and that I read it early in the morning) he specifically said something like this is what would've become of the character from IARB had he not have dealt with his internal struggling and learned to cope with the world. So I don't think it's the exact right interpretation that the "character" on IARB is evil or that Max is trying to shame people who identify with that record (I imagine most people in this thread, including myself, do). I think it's meant to more be a warning of what could happen if you don't address those inner demons. Of course that's what I got from the essay rather than the album, and I'm interested to hear the full album to see exactly what he has to say on it.
i dunno how i feel about the song yet. it has some energy, but the acoustic guitar was a strange choice, and it has a little to much emphasis on the chorus for being such a short song... based on this single and looking at the track times i don't know if this album is going to be what i was hoping for, but i'm intrigued and will give it a chance.
I hear you and your explanation makes more sense. I guess I just wanted that character to come out heroic in a way even if tragically. Hell, it's Max's story and he can do what he damn well pleases with it so just have to see how it turns out.
I get that, but it sounds like he does! It sounds like the end of the album gives the character a positive ending of acceptance and Max mentions that he believes the character goes on the find peace (don’t remember the exact word max used) in the afterlife/next life/whatever comes next spiritually. I really doubt this album ends on a dark note.
Song is very good, definitely sounds like a streamlined mix of the last two records. Really glad people are enjoying this.