halfway through. kicking it off before others chime in with the same, but All Out should've been a single, at the very least to break up the monotony of the other prerelease tracks.
I see the band shop is shipping the vinyl already, every other site has it coming out on the 28th....sucks but i can wait, band shop was more expensive than everywhere else. I see a lot of comparisons to The Act "but poppier", and since that's my favorite album of theirs I'm excited. Don't really care for the poppier tracks, I'll judge the album as a whole and from initial impressions it seems good if you're not expecting old TDWP.
finished. while it's not as lifeless as i originally anticipated, i found a good chunk of this to be pretty forgettable. there are flashes of interesting songwriting here, and the band does seem to pull microscopic elements from their prior work (mainly small pieces of instrumentation) into the songs, but it's all arranged in a way that's largely unimpressive and too familiar/radio-rock-y. i also just don't think Jeremy has the energy to carry the band the way Mike generally does. for me, the band works best when more straightforward approaches/clean vocals are balanced with more interesting structural/instrumental arrangements and Mike's screaming. i think Transit Blues onward does a good job at giving them near-equal attention in their songs. but aside from two interludes and All Out, so much of this is just Jeremy singing over uninspired melodies and formulaic arrangements (even though i really do love Ritual). idk, i find the discourse about "returning to your old sound" incredibly annoying (especially for bands in this scene), so i definitely don't want it to come across like i want WRAABB part 2 or Zombie part 3. i really liked The Act and a good chunk of Color Decay, so i'm all for taking a more melodic approach, but these songs just don't really resonate with me and feel too predictable. they're clearly capable of writing interesting yet catchy songs, but that's not really what i personally gleaned from Flowers.
I just hope they all accidentally fall into a vat of Dead Throne flavored water while on their way to record the next album.
Excited to hear. But yeah with how you said "they're clearly capable of writing", just based off other people's impressions I'd say they agree, it's just that they brought OTHER people on board for this album to help write it.....and I guess it shows.
or a Transit Blues or The Act vat again, i have no problem with leaning more conventional or working with outsiders (e.g. i really do love a good chunk of Erase Me). but this album just feels all conventional, save for two songs. there's obviously an audience for that, and i hope the people who like this sound of the band enjoy those songs, but i just wish it was balanced with more creative risks (even though moving towards a more melodic approach was largely a risk in itself, now it's become the core of their sound).
Would be cool to see them dive into an apocolyptic wasteland type thing. Similar to Zombie, but like desolate, no hope, minimal survival type stuff. Could work well with their faith (all hope is lost but still believing a high power will provide). Just off the top of my head.
eh, feels too adjacent to Zombie for my taste (plus idk how many members of the band identify as Christians nowadays, i think Mike may be the only one i know of). i'm trying to think of other sorts of horror/horror-adjacent genres to pull from.
Six songs in and I’m like “oh there’s Mike” lol Song is still just okay too and this is a highlight so far lmao
Doubling down that this album is great. “When you’re gone” is probably their best song since “The Thread”.
Okay finished and yeah.. this is so forgettable as a whole. They’ve lost the plot completely. When You’re Gone is the only track I could see myself returning to. It’s solid. The rest, however, largely sucks. What a massive bummer as someone who’s been a big fan for 18 years now.
the chorus of cure me is pretty cool. i find it sounds like one of the singers of emery singing it though.
Cure Me has the catchiest chorus here. All Out is cool and sounds closer to heavy TDWP than the rest of the record. I still like Ritual a lot with that Innerpartysystem sounding chorus, and Eyes as well. When You're Gone is another stand out, in particular because the instrumentation sounds so much like Sevendust to my ears. I have to tag @Penlab to know if I'm the only one hearing this lol. The main riff sounds like something they'd come up with in their sleep. The rest isn't like, awful, but very aggressively there. Overall, the songwriting isn't strong enough to elevate this above average alt metal. It most often feels like it's missing something. A spark, more bits or variety to make the songs sound more dynamic and punchy instead of ending without reaching a peak, I don't know... I love me some pop metal but it doesn't have to sound so dull and the melodies so weak.
I liked this a fair bit, although it is a little inconsistent. A few of the songs are pretty bland and lacking any kind of strong hook. Where the Flowers Never Grow, Ritual and When You're Gone are the highlights for me on first listen. I've never been the biggest fan of the band though, I still remember when Plagues came out I'd hear them a lot because my friends were into them and I always wished they'd focus more on the singing than screaming because I loved Jeremy's parts so much. This is still very different to what I was hoping for back then but I like it.
we got like 7 singles and none of them were 'cure me', the obvious catchiest track. i need to speak with their team immediately.
I just wish there was ONE more song like All Out on the record. All Out is so good, reminds me of Watchtower. But after that it gets more and more poppy and Mike slowly fades away