Perfect timing before hitting the gym this morning. I wish my vinyl would arrive before I go on vacation!
Just finished first listen. Heck of a way to go out for these guys. Bravo. side note: glad the one unreleased SBM track made the album!
What an amazing production!big step up from OID. On Heaven side now. Deryck really sound more like old himslef. Great colourful hooks. Bad Mistake and Future Primitive would fit on Offsprings Americana haha. Early favorites : Dopamine, Time Won’t Wait, Not Quite Myself. going on hell side next.
Can’t say on first listen that I didn’t feel like this had some recycled sounds and melodies, but all in all it was much more enjoyable than their last couple and a good collection to go out on. The pop punk half had way more for me than the metal, but I guess their metal influence hasn’t really done much for me since Chuck anyway.
Done with the hell side. Kinda underwhelmed tbh.It sounds like literally anything on 13Voices and OID (melodies & lyrics) still like two songs at least : Don’t Need Anyone and It’s All Me. Rest is very meh. HEAVEN > HELL
yeah Heaven side easily clears for me. I Can't Wait, Not Quite Myself and Johnny Libertine make me miss old school skate punk Sum 41 real bad. only main complaint of the Heaven side is Landmines, Time Won't Wait and Dopamine kind of just feel like 3 slight variations of the same song, Dopamine being my favorite of that bunch. I wouldn't trade Chuck for anything, that album's awesome, and I love the 2 after, but 13 Voices and Order in Decline is when Sum 41 kinda went on autopilot for me into forgettable metal and the Hell side here sadly doesn't feel much different (Don't Need Anyone and It's All Me were also the standouts for me, plus Over the Edge for the breakdown) AKNF still stands as probably one of my top 10 if not top 5 pop punk albums of all time and I always felt their brand of pop/skate punk with shades of metal was always more unique compared to their just straight up metal stuff. songs like Waiting On A Twist of Fate is a nice happy medium.
half-expected Deryck to sing "MAYYYBE LIFE IS LIKE A RIDE ON A FREEWAY" in Future Primitive's intro, haha
Cause we're finally here at the end besides the final tour unless of course they return in a few years. Being a fan of this band for so long, kind of a bummer to reach the end lol
I won't listen to the leak but does this "feel" like a final album? Is there a sense of finality to it?