Figured I'd give ASOP another whirl as Eochaid was bigging it up...
Mirror's Truth - literally my first thought is 'fuck that guitar tone'. So ugly and shitty sounding. Anders' vocals sound so weak, for some reason that half-yell thing he's trying sounded so much better on SOAPF. Production choices, I guess. The chorus is just annoying. This idiot wailing 'widddouutt even tryeeennnggg'... shut the fuck up. Seriously. There are some nice melodic guitar passages in the song but they're too low in the mix, almost like they're embarrassed to be there. It's crazy how much better this song sounds live, all the power from the live performance is totally lost on CD. Not too dissimilar to STYE.
Disconnected - same shitty guitar tone, unfortunately. It almost reminds me of the 'wahh wahh wahhhh' trumpet sound in guitar form. Kind of appropriate. The chorus... looool. 'ohhhhh I feel like shiiiit'
it's genuinely worse than I remember. Anders does actually manages a decent verse with 'Their marks in the pavement' - actually sounds like a melodeath singer somewhat, and the guitar as the chorus transitions in the second time is good - albeit soundng more like a keyboard than a guitar. Vocals are still killing me though. Some serious autotune going on here as well, Battles style.
Sleepless Again - acoustic opening to this one is nice, as is the transition into the riffing. Good energy. Anders' vocals in good rhythm with the instruments. Then the chorus, god fucking dammit. Awful again. Slows everything down and just sounds really lame. Verses in this song are pretty good, chorus is just stupid. Worse than a lot of the stuff on Battles, frankly. The solo on this one is really nice. Fits in well with the song, melodic and emotionally-tinged. Good stuff. This song had a lot of potential and a lot of really cool things going on, the chorus just ruins it.
Alias - Pretty catchy, guitar tone on this one doesn't sound like ass, Anders is trying to scream properly. It's 'nu In Flames' all the way, but it's fine. The acoustic interlude is pure old school IF. Bizarre to put it on this track, but it's really pleasant, sounds like it could have come off LS/Sub. First song on this album that doesn't wind me up.
I'm the Highway - guitar melodies on this one are decent, albeit sounding very thin. Vocals on this one are mostly bad - should be screaming the entire thing instead of trying to half-yell most of the verses. Guitars in the chorus sound more like a keyboard, not powerful enough. Best part of the song is the part starting with 'forget the promised land there was never an invitation', followed by some really good guitarwork. Again, I have to say, some of these uptempto melodies could have slotted very easily into Battles. How different are the melodies in this to something like 'Greatest Greed' or 'Us Against the World', really?
Delight and Angers - ugh, here we go. Back to that gross guitar tone. Anders in full-on whiny bitch mode. He sounds terrible. The chorus makes me want to stop listening to the album... seriously, how can anybody listen to that and not have the urge to facepalm? 'pleeeasseee healll meeeee, I can't sleeeep' ... vomit. Drums on this sound programmed. So lacklustre. 'Chasing leftovers under the fading sun...' section is the best the song sounds for a minute or so, then back to that enraging chorus. Can't believe this absolute piece of shit regularly stole a setlist place from literally anything else pre-2008. Criminal.
Move Through Me - wish Anders would scream properly, his voice is so annoying on this album. Anders aside this is a decent, almost industrial sounding track in parts. The guitarwork about 3/4 into the track is really solid. If Anders had growled throughout this rather than yelled practically the entire song it would have been a lot better.
TCP - the initial intro should end at least 30 seconds than it does. It's the same five seconds being played on loop. As soon as those irritating vocals come on I'm done. Just listen to Anders for goodness sake
as my grandma would say "he thinks he can sing? That isn't singing". 3 minutes in and I am bored as fuck. This is just as bad as I remembered it. Wallflower, a similar attempt at this kind of song, is far superior. This was 8 minutes of my life I won't get back. Probably the last time I'll ever listen to this, honestly.
Sober & Irrelevent - oh thank god, some energetic guitarwork. Feels like emerging from a sewer into fresh air. WHY IS ANDERS YELLING EVERYTHING AGAIN. GROWL FOR FUCK'S SAKE. This is a good song ruined by shitty vocals, much like Move Through Me. What's worse is that he'll actually growl very briefly for like, two words, then go back to yelling. So annoying.
Condemned - best track on the album, hands down. The opening reminds me a bit of Transparent. Anders is just about screaming through this one, although even on this track it seems like a fucking effort for him. He's barely able to do it. Was his voice just completely fucked when they recorded this album? Kind of wish the solo didn't get the wah pedal abuse, as that just reminds me of SC.
Drenched in Fear - I distinctly remember this track being compared to Whoracle and I never understood why. Still don't. Literally hear nothing remotely Whoracle-ish about this. Chorus is typical ASOP fare, Anders' shit singing layered on top of everything else. The melody is good but the voice is not. Instrumentally this song has a lot of interesting stuff going on, but I'll never be able to ignore the vocals so it doesn't really matter.
March to the Shore - Guitars sound too thin. Vocal lines on this are just weird, they just sound like Anders randomly yelling stuff into the mic whilst the band jams behind him. There's barely any cohesion at all, and it's uncomfortable to listen to. Solo feels out of place, slows down the pace of the song. Have to admit the chorus has a nice rhythm though.
Usually when I go back to an album I've grown to have contempt for I find things about it that I overlooked, but I actually think I dislike this album more now than before I listened to it. There is some good guitarwork here in places, but it is surrounded by some seriously bad shit, and Anders' vocals are absolutely intolerable to me on most of these songs. I actually thought he growled more on this album, but most of it is just him yelling. I cannot stand his 'singing' on the choruses. Sorry, but even autotune Anders sounds better than this. It's painful to listen to at times.
Good songs/Songs not totally ruined by Anders: Alias, Condemned
Potentially good songs ruined by the vocals: Sleepless Again, I'm the Highway, Move Through Me, Sober & Irrelevent, Drenched in Fear, March to the Shore
Garbage: Mirror's Truth (fuck that guitar tone, but it's much better live so production & vocals killed this one), Disconnected, Delight and Angers, TCP
Overall 5/10, will not listen to as a full album again. Literally all the points here come from the guitarwork, which does shine on most of the songs at some points. Other than SC this is probably Daniel's worst effort on drums, very pedestrian for the most part. Bass might as well not be there. Vocals drag everything down.
