Well, if one really calls itself a die-hard fan then (to me) first step is stop complaining about them loosing the neoclassical side. That's gone since Follow The Reaper, and that was 10 years ago. I really don't think their music nowadays is less deserving. Just by not being neoclassical it doesn't mean bad. E.g. to me the melodies and dual solo and solos overall in LDB or WNGF or SPFTD or BFH have nothing to loose when confronted by songs from the first three albums. Yes, I know the whole forum is going to jump on me for this, but if you really take a second to analyse it you'll see it. And when the TLS ep came out nobody bitched about it, then it came in AYDY (the same song, no changes) and now it's as bad as the rest. People focus too much on the loss of the neoclassical side when listening to them nowadays, because yes, keys were reduced in AYDY, a bit back on BD and seem to have found their way back on RRF, but it's not like they just threw them away for good.
Imo bitching about something gone 10 years ago instead of giving the new albums a chance is sad. I know that for many people COB's first three albums mean a lot and think of them as something great that they'll never top, but if they loathe the new albums so much, imo 10 years is more than enough to get over it and admit they're not going back to that. This is not directed at you nor Joonas nor anybody in particlar Crzy_Aus, is just that from hearing it so many times it got me thinking and I just realized that the time span has been way too long for me to understand why people is still not over it.
Now I'll wait for some internet knight that claims to have no ties to anything but feels the need to dissect all my post and find all that I didn't say while purposefully avoiding to even read and understand what I say.
Oh, my God, this is great. XD May I sig this?
