The Great Escape - Forum Reviews

[Kazar]

Thanks for your overview, fire angel.

Although I'm not agreeing with some of your points I do feel a lot of your love and respect for the best band in the world!
I hope you don't mind me giving some of my thoughts as well, based on (most of) your post. Like yours, they're just my opinion:

- I feel there's much more cohesion between the songs than you and some might think. Certain lyrical themes definitely return - Mother Earth, (passage of) time, evil - and (this is pretty awesome) there's even one song that is a continuation from another song on the album!

- I'm not hearing any confusion within/between the songs at all. You're right about the different points in their lives regarding the songwriting: the band started writing new songs right after the recording of Mercy Falls so the writingprocess took about 1,5-2 years before recording TGE. It's variety that I'm hearing, not confusion.

- Agreed on the production and the video.

- I'm not a native educated English speaker so I can't judge too much about that. Speaking only for myself, I love the themes and the lyrics/playing with words on TGE.

Every musician in the band (including Johnny) is unquestionably talented; too much focus is put on Andreas B and Tommy by the fans because the vocals and bass are such a large part of what defines SW's music style. Under the same note however, i feel that those two have perfected their 'presence' in the band, and it's time for the other three to better express themselves in the spotlight; something i honestly felt was a little lacking this time around

Actually, I've never seen it that way. From my review of MF: "It's a piece of art, in which all 5 bandmembers shine".
Regarding 'The Great Escape', the production of TGE is - like you said - magnificent (better than MF). TGE shows every member's talent, maybe even more than ever. The guitarsound is much more heavier, the drums sound 'thick', the keyboardsound is huge/epic and the bass and vocals are perfectly in the mix.

- I love the experimentation as well. The harsher side of Tommy's vocals, the epic title track, the new tones. I'm not agreeing on the weak parts in some of the songs though.

- You're right, the title track is a masterpiece (again, I do see the cohesion with other songs. It IS a massive song but to me it's the 7th track on the album - no different entities for me)

......SW are a band that continue to develop, unafraid of experimentation, and dedicated to writing and playing the music that they love. While i did not like Become (irrelevant of the 'Tommy' absence), it is quite remarkable how far the band have come in terms of song-writing, production, and the friends they have met along the way. Every band they have played with, every fan they have talked to have helped shape them into the band they are today; i cannot wait to see what the future holds.

Yes, yes and yes !


Finally, to me (not just the raw energy of SW's melodies but) SW's melodies in general are unmatched in the music world, past and present and I certainly do feel that after WITW, MF and TGE Seventh Wonder does have the best songs and the best albums.

 

[luke1304]

there's even one song that is a continuation from another song on the album

And which two songs would that be?

 

[Frankgate]

And which two songs would that be?

wondering too, maybe Wiseman and Angelmaker?

 

[Shadowsoul]

Well wiseman is about a titanic-esque tragedy on a ship, and angelmaker is something to do with young unwanted children who are mistreated and given away to some sort of labour camp where they inevitably die or something like that. These children are made into angels. So those songs can't really be related.

 

[Kazar]

I'm sorry Shadowsoul, but 'Wiseman' is not about a titanic-esque tragedy on a ship.
The lyrics "....The band still playing but the captain resigns. And as we're all going down...." symbolises a much bigger problem.

There definitely is a connection between 'Wiseman' and another song on the album though - and I'm not even talking about the two songs that are really 'personally' connected, the ones I mentioned earlier.
I think that the problems told in the story of Wiseman can be seen as a reason for 'an enourmous undertaking' later on!
Simply amazing songconnection!

The capital T in Tellus (look in your booklet) is there for a reason. Google it and try to make a connection with the other song.
By the way; I found two great references to the other song in the lyrics from the soft part in 'Wiseman'.


Since this is the 'Forum reviews' thread, I suggest that we move on with this discussion in the 'SW Song Meaning' thread:
http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/seventh-wonder/643216-seventh-wonder-song-meanings.html

 

[luke1304]

deleted - see "song meanings" thread

 

[James007]

Thanks all. I can't really add anything that hasn't already been said. Just wanted to thank you all for the thoughtful reviews. Yes, they are biased toward SW since this is a fan forum. That's the type of reviews I prefer. Here's looking at a great new year and a successful search for a new drummer!

Happy New Year from Texas!

 

[GLDF]

Great Escape is a fantastic album. But it took some time to get into it. At the first listen to it, it fell to much into the sound of Mercy Falls, which was great, but not as surprising. I was not to convinced after the first time I listened to it. I still can't really drop Wiseman: "Fallen, maid of earth, wind and fire" and BTS: "Join me, watching two sould seek for fire". But now that I've listened to the album over and over I've started to falling in love with it. I guess I had to remember the songs a little bit to like it more. Wiseman and Alley Cat are great and catchy songs. Angelmaker is a fantastic piece on the album and is one of the best songs along with KoW and the titletrack. King of Whitewater: "When you spin around, to a different sound" is one of my favorite Seventh Wonder parts ever, that whole pre-chorus.

Lately, I've spent my days listening to The Great Escape (song) a hundred times a day (That's 50 hours a day and I really have no words about this great song. Strong riffs, big variety, great vocal melodies that partwise goes into a new direction and style, epic "choruses", great solos and overall an awesome structure. I have now decided to learn this song on guitar, which I hope will go well since there are some parts where I can't hear the guitarriffs very well. Like "From pledges and bonds".

I think the albums you don't like at first and then learn to like are the albums you'll never get tired of

Great job, SW! Keep making magic!

 

[fire_angel]

I think the albums you don't like at first and then learn to like are the albums you'll never get tired of

Truer words have never been spoken.

 

[JackWallabee]

Amazing album. Nitpick: Tommy is the best singer in metal, imo, but I preferred the distribution of instrumentals to vocals in the previous albums. There is a bigger emphasis on vocals in this album.

 

[Frankgate]

Amazing album. Nitpick: Tommy is the best singer in metal, imo, but I preferred the distribution of instrumentals to vocals in the previous albums. There is a bigger emphasis on vocals in this album.

uhm.... maybe.... or maybe not.... vocals melodies has reached perfection, but instruments do their part.

 

[JackWallabee]

uhm.... maybe.... or maybe not.... vocals melodies has reached perfection, but instruments do their part.

I don't disagree with you. It's exceptionally done. I'm just saying that prior albums had larger instrumental sections (longer or more frequent solos, etc.), and I liked that distribution of vocals to instrumentals. Still, I'm not complaining, it's just a preference.

 

[Shadowsoul]

I know what you're saying, i think that was intentional due to the shorter tracklist. The first 6 songs are all vocal heavy, although a fair amount of witw was the same. There was alot of instrumentation on mercy falls due to the way it was structured around the concept. The title track on TGE is more like mercy falls in that respect.

 

[JackWallabee]

Agreed.