Well... I'm back. Couldn't resist
First of all, it is obvious on this album that the rythme section has found its place ! The bass is stronger in the mix than before, and the little bass soli here and there are really refreshing. Along with Johanne's playing, who obviously had (took ?) more liberty on this album than previously (the killer fill in Don't Look Down !), it helps bringing a fresh "organic" sound to the band, taking it away from the often too "robotic" guitar wall formula.
- Don't look down has a lot of "one degree down in it", so I love it. And I actually wonder if there was any kind of connexion between those two songs in the writer's mind ? The hip hop groove on the break is really clever, and daring I must say. Oh, and heavy riff on the keyboard solo at the end makes me grin with joyful hate everytime (if that even means something, sorry).
- Liberty, Complacency, Dependency (never recall the right order) is ultimately epic. It lies somewhere between Somatography, Eat The Unicorn (one of the best Thresh tunes ever), and the Art of Reason intro/outro, with a very "1984ish" flavor to it. I never thought I could love tempo changes so much within a song
- Return of the Thought Police has really beautiful melodies. I find the intro riff quite weak, and the 7/8 section useless, but the rest is killer. The double tempo riff makes you wanna raise an army, ahah. As I asked earlier, was the chorus somewhat inspired by the "28 weeks later" theme ?
- And finally Ashes. It's the easiest song to digest, it's pure Threshold, but it works, and the instrumental section is quite beautiful.
Cheers.