I think this album should smoke but I still have some problems with it.
Positives:
Best music the band has done since Politics. The heavyness is much appreciated. The solos by Loomis are absolutely brilliant and heartfelt on the whole album. My favorite is the one from Tommorow Turns Into Yesterday.
Gripes:
Singing - Warrel is still a vocal god, but every single song has the same reverb and vocal layering. I also would have liked to have heard a little Sanctuary type vocals here and there.
Lyrics - Very awesome indeed, the self titled song is absolutely amazing with imagery (sp*), but on a whole the album doesnt have as many great one liners as some of the previous albums. My favorite line from this one is "In the cold embrace of the unknown, not even blood can bring us warmth". But that simply cannot compare to "The velvet sleep is conviction only fools know". Dont get me wrong, they are still great like usual from the madman Warrel but I was hoping for just a little more.
Production - The final product is not that much better than the mp3's I had. The only difference I hear is that the guitars and drums are a bit clearer. There is still some fuzz on a couple songs and I cannot put on bass without the cd sounding distorted. Again i would have wished they would have changed up the vocals a little bit. My favorite production is still from the NK days.
Length - 41 minutes. Seems a little short for the guys, I suspect they are saving material for Nuclear Blast.
Art - Travis is the man but i would have liked to have seen a little more work from him like one piece every other song like on Dead Heart.
Last Gripe - Warrel says "fucking" on Create the Infinite. He is the one who said that he feels cursing is not necessary in songs. I have always loved the fact that he never relied on using the f word in songs.
All in all I still like the album a lot, but I think the problems I have with it prevent it from my favorite release of the year (which I was counting on).
I highly suggest you get the album because it mixes styles of Politics of Ecstacy and Dead Heart in a Dead World, which in my opinion is the most interesting sound from the band to date.
Positives:
Best music the band has done since Politics. The heavyness is much appreciated. The solos by Loomis are absolutely brilliant and heartfelt on the whole album. My favorite is the one from Tommorow Turns Into Yesterday.
Gripes:
Singing - Warrel is still a vocal god, but every single song has the same reverb and vocal layering. I also would have liked to have heard a little Sanctuary type vocals here and there.
Lyrics - Very awesome indeed, the self titled song is absolutely amazing with imagery (sp*), but on a whole the album doesnt have as many great one liners as some of the previous albums. My favorite line from this one is "In the cold embrace of the unknown, not even blood can bring us warmth". But that simply cannot compare to "The velvet sleep is conviction only fools know". Dont get me wrong, they are still great like usual from the madman Warrel but I was hoping for just a little more.
Production - The final product is not that much better than the mp3's I had. The only difference I hear is that the guitars and drums are a bit clearer. There is still some fuzz on a couple songs and I cannot put on bass without the cd sounding distorted. Again i would have wished they would have changed up the vocals a little bit. My favorite production is still from the NK days.
Length - 41 minutes. Seems a little short for the guys, I suspect they are saving material for Nuclear Blast.
Art - Travis is the man but i would have liked to have seen a little more work from him like one piece every other song like on Dead Heart.
Last Gripe - Warrel says "fucking" on Create the Infinite. He is the one who said that he feels cursing is not necessary in songs. I have always loved the fact that he never relied on using the f word in songs.
All in all I still like the album a lot, but I think the problems I have with it prevent it from my favorite release of the year (which I was counting on).
I highly suggest you get the album because it mixes styles of Politics of Ecstacy and Dead Heart in a Dead World, which in my opinion is the most interesting sound from the band to date.
