Ok,
It's been about 9000 blue moons since last I posted, but I can't let this release go by without comments. So here ya go (cut and pasted from an email I just sent):
Track 1 - Very "Rush" sounding at the start. Like "Moving Pictures" era... aka "The Good stuff". Some good widdly widdly moments. Then we get into some LTE melodic sounding stuff. Again... me likey. Around the 4:00 minute mark we get a marked change to something that gives me almost an old Genesis vibe before the guitars come back in. Then James starts singing. It's ok.. but nothing special. I don't like the background "talking" stuff that double James singing. Nice unison playing by Jordan and JP.
Track 2 - Hmm, this reminds me of some other band. Not sure what it is. For some reason I like this song. It's not usual DT fare... but I like it. I got it. It's an Evanescence type vibe I get from this one. That groovy, melodic thing.
Track 3 - So most of us have heard this one. I like the proggy vibe of this one as it starts. Then it starts into the Metallica ripoff. "Blackened in the ennnnnnnd".
What's with the space ship noises, Jordan? Please, Mike... SHUT THE HELL UP! Did I mention I want Castronovo to replace this guy so a real singer can sing backup? Some of the shreddier moments heard thus far. Solo is pretty killer. Something about the chorus I don't like. It's just goofy to me. It'll stick in my head, for sure... but it's because it annoys me so much, not because I like it.
Track 4 - I hate the bass in this one. Something about those chords Myung is playing grates on my nerves. Once they stop playing that opening riff crap, it gets better. Then the "blast beat" section.
HATE the vocals that start on this one. Distorted vocals are stupid. End of story. I don't like the chorus on this either. Mike... SHUT UP! Eventually we get to the breakdown section with JP and Jordan grooving. This is better now. Again, LTE vibe. Pretty shreddy speed-metally solo section. Then back to the riff that shall not be named cuz it sucks and annoys.
Track 5 - "The AA Song". WAY TOO Floydian for me. This excites me about as much as going on a Jack Daniels and Prozac bender while listening to the paint dry in the house whilst staring at the lawn in anticipation of it's growing. Oh yeah... Roseanne Arnold is there too... nekkid and eating haggis. THAT'S how much I love this. *gag* The Roadrunner guys should have thrown them out of the studio when they played this pile of crap for them. The proper label response to DT on this song SHOULD have been, "Ummm.. you DO understand we are a METAL label, right?" Someone wake me up when this turd is done lingering like a rotted body in the hot sun of a Louisiana bayou, will ya?
Track 6 - Nope, I lied... it's still Track 5. DEAR GOD, MAKE IT STOP!!!
Track 6 ( for real ) - Is this that damn Muse song again from the last cd? Glad to see they got it out of their system... NOT. Am I the only one that's getting a friggin DISCO vibe from this piece of crap? So evidently they picked up a Donna Summer cd as an influence this time around? Stick a fork in them, these guys are DONE! What is with the gang vocals? Are these supposed to be powerful or sound big or something? Cuz I'm pretty sure they are just screaming "I HUG BOOBS" and "I WANT CHANGE" or something. Oh God.. more Mike talking. Hey Mike.... SHUT THE F*** UP!
Track 7 - Thank God... a slow song. All this metal was giving me high blood pressure. Oh wait... no... I just suffered through 2 straight tracks of dog crap in a pot of boiling piss. This better get better quick. James comes in... and we're back to happy Floyd crap again. Seriously, did they think they were on the Turdburner label now or Roadrunner? This is like country meets Floyd. I thought Anna Lee sucked. This makes it look like a masterpiece. Good Golly... I think I just threw up. Why did I have to wade through 8 minutes of crap to get to something resembling a song I MIGHT expect to hear on a DT cd? The solo is ok, but not overly special. Did I mention wah pedals sucks? And just because you play something SLOOOOOOOW, doesn't mean it's all that melodic and not just boring as all get out, JP.
Track 8 - Whew... thank goodness Track 7 is over. Will this be the tasty close to this craptastic effort, bookending a steaming pile of horse doo doo? It had so much possibility with Track 1. *sigh* Oh, we're trying to be evil now? W-E-A-K. This is about as metal as grandma's lace doilies and plastic covered furniture. Seriously, this is so bad it's funny. I can see them all dressed in Manowar garb trying to be metal and just embarrassing themselves. Finally around 6:30 it gets not as terrible. Start the song here and it could make a decent showing. Again, the gang vox are just not doing it for me. This song is just too long to keep my attention... this seems to be a motif on the cd. At least there's a real solo on this one. Pretty decent shreddy stuff. Jordan needs to get over his analog synth love and just get back to playing something from the 21st century. 'FART BASTAAAAAAAARD' is all I can hear when James sings "Dark Master". And so it ends...
Overall thoughts. Not enough here to warrant going to Roadrunner Records. This cd has more in common with Air Supply than it does with Trivium. Seriously, what were they thinking? They damn well better not play any of this crap during the tour or they'll get booed off the stage... even if it's only me doing it.
I'm not sure, but I think that dog turd, Daedalus, was better than this.
Well, there ya have it. Jeffro's obligatory knee jerk, one listen review.
Flame away, fan-boys and fan-girls.
You know the thing that pissed me off the MOST? It's that I will be buying this damn thing's special edition, JUST to have the multichannel audio to listen to. If I wasn't such an audio nerd, I could bypass this sucker completely. Damn them.
Hugs,
Jeffro
