Since STYE is out now, it makes sense to have a thread where people can say what they think about it!
Personally, I'm impressed, but I think I'm probably still a little bit miffed at the lack of amazing solos and the like. It's a good album, very much in the vein of RTR. Before the release, I read all sorts of things comparing it to Whoracle and such (I remember specifically reading that In Search For I was similar in style) and when I heard it, I didn't agree with those comparisons remotely. That song, in my opinion, sounds most like Watch Them Feed, and definitely nowhere near Whoracle. But in any case, I think it's an enjoyable album. F(r)iend is great, and the little 'solo' is really cool. The Quiet Place is a great single, much better IMO than Cloud Connected was. Evil In A Closet is a cool song as well. Borders and Shading is my favourite song, I think. Defintely a good album. There is only one thing that bugs me a bit about the album (taking it as its own entity and not comparing it to any others) - there's a riff at 2:41 in "Superhero of the Computer Rage" which I think kicks ass, but they barely repeat it! One of the coolest riffs on the whole album IMO... damn! Oh and another thing to say, the short instrumental between Touch of Red and Like You Better Dead is excellent!
Anyway, so I like the album a lot. One other thing I'll bitch about is that Nuclear Blast box set. I actually defended that set on here in a previous thread, but having actually received it, it's a rip-off. The special huge booklet is identical to the standard one, just 4 times the size. The matches are just ... big matches. Nothing special at all. The bonus CD-R with live videos is actually NOT a CD-R (NB have done that before, I think they mean to say VCD but they just get it wrong?) and that's quite cool, although it comes in a shitty card sleeve like promo CDs do. Even worse, the album itself comes in a similar sleeve rather than a jewel case - that really sucks! And the certificate of authenticity is credit-card sized. The box itself is really nice, and as a package it's a cool thing to have, but it was definitely overpriced.
I'm not really sure though about how I rate the album compared to their others, even Reroute to Remain. I don't know if it's just because I've been listening to RTR regularly since it came out and have grown to really like it a lot, but the new one doesn't seem to strike me in the same way. It may just be because I've not had it for as long and maybe in a year or so I'll love this album as much as the previous - after all, the first time I heard a song from Reroute to Remain, I thought "oh my god what the hell is this?" and I liked the new one from the first listen. I don't agree with much of the stuff I read about the album on this forum and in other places before it came out, though. I think that my early impressions of this album are that there is less that I DON'T like about it (i.e. that part in System - you know what I mean, Cloud Connected and Transparent) BUT, there's probably less songs that stand out to me as being awesome than on RTR (title track, Drifter, Trigger, Minus, Dark Signs, etc.....). So it probably evens out. Like I said above, there are a few songs that I think are great. The worst songs for me is probably Touch of Red (great chorus, but the rest of it reminds me a bit of Transparent which I thought was crap - this song is definitely better than Transparent though). And as I say, it's not a bad song at all, just a little bit lesser. I'm also not totally keen on My Sweet Shadow, mainly because of that synth melody that appears at the beginning, the end, and various other points. Otherwise, that song has some great riffs, but it's spoiled a little for me by that melody! It sounds a bit out of place to me.
And of course, I'm still a bit miffed at the lack of solos. There's one or two, but they're nothing compared to how it was. I don't really understand why they're not playing great solos anymore, because we all know they're capable, they still do it live, and most of the songs either have a part which is just ASKING for a solo over it, or they do have some kind of lead guitar part which just isn't as extravagant as previous albums. But having solos doesn't make an album great, I just think that IF tended to write some of the coolest melodic solos I'd heard and it's a shame to be without that now.
I'll leave it there because I'm probably just rambling and talking crap, but I wanted to write what I think of it SOMEWHERE, and here seems as good a place as any...
Personally, I'm impressed, but I think I'm probably still a little bit miffed at the lack of amazing solos and the like. It's a good album, very much in the vein of RTR. Before the release, I read all sorts of things comparing it to Whoracle and such (I remember specifically reading that In Search For I was similar in style) and when I heard it, I didn't agree with those comparisons remotely. That song, in my opinion, sounds most like Watch Them Feed, and definitely nowhere near Whoracle. But in any case, I think it's an enjoyable album. F(r)iend is great, and the little 'solo' is really cool. The Quiet Place is a great single, much better IMO than Cloud Connected was. Evil In A Closet is a cool song as well. Borders and Shading is my favourite song, I think. Defintely a good album. There is only one thing that bugs me a bit about the album (taking it as its own entity and not comparing it to any others) - there's a riff at 2:41 in "Superhero of the Computer Rage" which I think kicks ass, but they barely repeat it! One of the coolest riffs on the whole album IMO... damn! Oh and another thing to say, the short instrumental between Touch of Red and Like You Better Dead is excellent!
Anyway, so I like the album a lot. One other thing I'll bitch about is that Nuclear Blast box set. I actually defended that set on here in a previous thread, but having actually received it, it's a rip-off. The special huge booklet is identical to the standard one, just 4 times the size. The matches are just ... big matches. Nothing special at all. The bonus CD-R with live videos is actually NOT a CD-R (NB have done that before, I think they mean to say VCD but they just get it wrong?) and that's quite cool, although it comes in a shitty card sleeve like promo CDs do. Even worse, the album itself comes in a similar sleeve rather than a jewel case - that really sucks! And the certificate of authenticity is credit-card sized. The box itself is really nice, and as a package it's a cool thing to have, but it was definitely overpriced.
I'm not really sure though about how I rate the album compared to their others, even Reroute to Remain. I don't know if it's just because I've been listening to RTR regularly since it came out and have grown to really like it a lot, but the new one doesn't seem to strike me in the same way. It may just be because I've not had it for as long and maybe in a year or so I'll love this album as much as the previous - after all, the first time I heard a song from Reroute to Remain, I thought "oh my god what the hell is this?" and I liked the new one from the first listen. I don't agree with much of the stuff I read about the album on this forum and in other places before it came out, though. I think that my early impressions of this album are that there is less that I DON'T like about it (i.e. that part in System - you know what I mean, Cloud Connected and Transparent) BUT, there's probably less songs that stand out to me as being awesome than on RTR (title track, Drifter, Trigger, Minus, Dark Signs, etc.....). So it probably evens out. Like I said above, there are a few songs that I think are great. The worst songs for me is probably Touch of Red (great chorus, but the rest of it reminds me a bit of Transparent which I thought was crap - this song is definitely better than Transparent though). And as I say, it's not a bad song at all, just a little bit lesser. I'm also not totally keen on My Sweet Shadow, mainly because of that synth melody that appears at the beginning, the end, and various other points. Otherwise, that song has some great riffs, but it's spoiled a little for me by that melody! It sounds a bit out of place to me.
And of course, I'm still a bit miffed at the lack of solos. There's one or two, but they're nothing compared to how it was. I don't really understand why they're not playing great solos anymore, because we all know they're capable, they still do it live, and most of the songs either have a part which is just ASKING for a solo over it, or they do have some kind of lead guitar part which just isn't as extravagant as previous albums. But having solos doesn't make an album great, I just think that IF tended to write some of the coolest melodic solos I'd heard and it's a shame to be without that now.
I'll leave it there because I'm probably just rambling and talking crap, but I wanted to write what I think of it SOMEWHERE, and here seems as good a place as any...
