So, going back once more to what Blake was complaining about, Oli has always been very involved with the vocals when it comes to performing live, covering most ground for the music tho he will tone it down a bit. It seems oppositely with the new album. Oli is still as active as ever with the band's older material (Anything before That's The Spirit), but he is singing little to nothing for the newer tracks. Here you can see their most recent show at Reading Fest, terrible performances of Throne and Happy Song (everything else seems solid), granted I will say that lots of articles have been coming out focusing on their overall live delivery and they seem to be nothing short of exceptional. [video=youtube;nEAiMUOZO8Y]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEAiMUOZO8Y[/video] Crowds seem as active as ever, that's always a plus. That Shadow Moses sent so many fucking chills down my spine!
Oh my god Happy Song was atrocious. I think I heard Oli singing... like twice. The worst part is whenever he is singing, the studio vocals playing in the background completely drown out his live vocals. And his screams weren't even good in that song. That was ten times worse than Thirty Seconds to Mars.
Avalanche (I REALLY like the way this one is sounding) [video=youtube;OCzonXqfYUQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCzonXqfYUQ[/video] Run (sounds like a DBZ theme) [video=youtube;q_BlK7P3R6o]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_BlK7P3R6o[/video]
I wish this would leak already so it can stop bothering me. I also wish Don't Look Down was on the album. - Watching the Reading performance. Happy Song was just awful, which is really a shame. Hopefully they step it the fuck up with that song. Hearing Oli scream "fuck someone in the cunt" during Chelsea Smile is always an amazing moment. Although it'd be better if it was still "fuck someone in the eye". Lol @people cheering "Pray For Plagues" during the CYFMH intro. Imagine the disappointment. That's what you get for those jellyfish visuals. "Antivist" is probably their best live song.
There are more songs out to preview on Spotify other than Run and Avalanche. They all sound pretty good.
Blasphemy sounds interesting. These previews have actually gotten me really excited for the album, and now I'm starting to wonder if I want to listen to it when it leaks or just wait till the full release.
There is a tiny snippet of "Oh No", it really does sound like it could be a boy band pop song, aka One Direction.
The Oh No preview is also pretty cool. I love how poppy it sounds! I would not mind if they did more stuff like that, as long as they execute it right.
I didn't listen to the snippets either but I am all down for this poppy sound. Sure, it's not as good as their older stuff but it should still be great
There's literally one pop sounding song. Well, two if you count Drown. And what's so wrong with that as long as it sounds good?
There most definitely is more than 1 pop song. I'll break it down for you real quick. Doomed - Oli seems to be singing very lightly over synths in the verses, a bit more intense in the chorus. Not Pop. Can see this being a similar opener to Lost In The Echo Follow You - Absolutely Pop, very light with a smooth instrumental and singing, claps in the verse, very love song orientated What You Need - An alternative rock/punk style song. Sounds more instrumental based than the other synth filled tracks. Not Pop. Avalanche - Absolutely Pop, but damn right catchy. Fast paced pop synths with Oli singing, sounds like Oli is singing more love like lyrics. Run - Honestly, it sounds like Oli is singing over this [video=youtube;rltG_yVwGck]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rltG_yVwGck[/video] Blasphemy - Mostly plays a guitar solo and slight vocals from Oli, think a guitar solo like this one, go to 2:07 [video=youtube;khACKq23bC8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khACKq23bC8[/video] Oh No - 110% Pop, it doesn't sound like BMTH, more like One Direction. This seems like it could be aimed for those 14 year old kiddies in the fanbase, and imo the most unappealing of the bunch.
Leaked. - "Doomed" was great. Wish it had more of that electronic influence from the first verse throughout, but it's great nonetheless. Massive chorus. "Happy Song" is my favorite of the pre-released ones. At least it's not that whiny, has amazing sing along quality, and everything sounds huge. "Throne" is that Linkin Park song Linkin Park hasn't written yet. I'd be lying if I said I didn't like it, but I just wish it was more complex or surprising in any way beyond the first 45 seconds. I cannot get over how whiny and over dramatic "True Friends" is. From the whiny vocal, to the awful lyrics, to the synth hits that sound like they were sampled from Who Wants To Be A Millionare, it's just bad. "Follow You" is so lyrically clichéd, but at least it's a somewhat charming song. I'd probably enjoy it more if it didn't come from the same band who wrote "Pray For Plagues". It's a good song, at the end. "What You Need" isn't very interesting. Nice harmonizing between Oli and Jordan at the end, and I guess the chorus is good. Lyrically bad. "Avalanche" had good moments and bad moments. I totally fell asleep between the first chorus and the ending. It's not bad, not very good either. "Run" is alright. Problem is, all these songs sound the same. And keep using the same tricks. Like the clipping before the end. On "Happy Song", "Throne" and now again here. At least the guitar and synth work nice together at the end here. Ah, yeah. This is what I wanted "Drown" to sound like. This is good. I really came to like this song since it came out, and this version is even better. I was excited for "Blasphemy" and I'm a bit let down. Love that wailing guitar or synth, can't quite tell what it is right now, it sounds like a guitar, but I can't imagine how you'd get that sound. Awesome, anyway. Still probably one of the better songs here. Harry's vocals are so good on "Oh No". And Niall does some amazing stuff on guitar. - All in all, a thoroughly unimpressive album, with absolutely no truly awesome moments. It's sad. It should've had more electronic influence and less fake anger. And way better lyrics. Basically, more "Doomed" and less "True Friends".
My enjoyment of this album falls with the fact that I am not a 15-year-old angsty teenager anymore and I am not in love with Oliver Sykes. Some of the tracks have pretty great instrumentals but are ruined by awful, generic lyrics and sometimes unfitting vocal performances. On most of the pre-released singles we got a fifty-fifty mix of the "newer" BMTH formular and the more 2000's pop rock inspired sound. And while those songs felt kind of generic at least they sounded like a natural evolution for the band. But on this album we have songs like "Follow You" and "Oh No" which are straight up pop songs. And while most of these songs are more interesting than the 2000s inspired rock tracks, they end up making the album sound a bit disjointed. Especially hearing what I think is a saxophone on "Oh No" made me burst out laughing. Not because it's bad but because it doesn't fit on this album. Lyrically, as I said, this album is trash. It tries to hit a kind of clever emo-vibe ala My Chemical Romance, but ends up falling short big time. A few fun firecracker songs save the album from falling completely apart. Favorite tracks: Doomed, Drown, Blasphemy, Avalanche. Worst tracks: What You Need, True Friends, Happy Song, Run.
I'ts not a bad album, would listen again. I'm not looking for great stuff from them, so this record it's ok to me. Doomed is pretty awesome.