I would completely agree. However the one thing that really kills the album for me is MTG. The song doesn't feel like it fits to me. Otherwise I love the album.
I really enjoyed it. I loved Phoenix's stuff in the latter half. I gotta say that while Drawbar wasn't anything like I expected when I knew Morello was featured, it is a fantastic segue from the pre MTG to the last two tracks. So well done. I can see why MTG might be a little jarring. It is rather disjointed at times, but I love that aspect. Keys To The kingdom is sort of the same in that regard.
Alright, here I go. I popped in the stream in my car, and KTTK came on. BOOM. Warbled screaming, as I was expecting. Then BO0M, aggressive, explosive drop, sent euphoria through my spine and veins. I had one of those moments when I realized, "Shit, I feel like I'm back in the past. This is really happening - this familiar sound that I know, but in a new way. Wow." Needless to say, tracks 1 - 8 kicked hard thoroughly, but then Mark The Graves started playing and I was like... ∑ut¿ I had read very good, interesting things about it, and I was surprised to see that I didn't really like it at all. I thought it was strange, but negatively strange, not good. Then, Drawbar was a total bummer. Not even because of ghost Morello, but because it was just lame and boring. Final Masquerade, as I said before, sounds like a mom rock tune with a bit of LP flavor in it. Not even close to being one of their best rock ballads. (SOTD, LOATR, BITS, Iridescent, etc.) And then.... Wow. A Line In The Sand. Here comes the epic closer. Mike singing, eh, it's alright, I guess. Then, eh? GATS riff? Reprise? GIV33 M3 BA4CK WHAT5SS MYINNEEEEEE. Err. Ok. I thought it sucked to be honest. Probably their worst closer ever. (Seriously, nothing tops TLTGYA.) Summarizing, tracks 1-8: Awesome, fun, aggressive, enjoyable, ..... VySc3R4L. Tracks 9-12? # m e h . I give the album a 7/10. I prefer MTM to it though. Simply because there is more variety and most of the songs have great substance and are no-skippers. (Except for NMS and maybe HHH for me, also possibly Valentine's Day for it's sorta depressive vibe.) But, for example, I always missed Across The Line from the M2M tracklist, so something like KTTK would've made M2M even awesomer-er. But, I think the two records are sorta similar in aesthetic. In terms of musicality, songwriting, lyrics, LP will be LP. This stuff isn't great, and it isn't terrible. It's, well, LP. UIG has middle school lyrics, but who cares. I think there are some pretty weak songs on here, but many strong ones. If there was a big EP released that consisted of: KTTK AFN GATS Wastelands TS War UIG Rebelliion I wouldn't have minded at all. The last 4 tracks to me seem kinda unnecessary and it's as if the guys ran out of ideas when it came to the 3rd 3rd of the album. Anyway, I'm rambling. Not bad tho LP, I see the artistic growth taking place with this album. I'm sure fans are already loving it.
It is one of their best album in my opinion, but i will be happier to hear some joe scratching in between those heavy guitar and drums. Kinda miss it though. But a good album it is.
Sadly, I agree with this. The album is great (except for Mark the Graves for me), but I don't know, there's something missing here. I just hope they did this album because they really wanted and not for trying to respond to the environment calling them soft.
Last song starts out great, then gets really repetitive. Makes me wonder .. if this is really the reason they keep em within the 3m to 4m threshold. It just couldn't hold the energy even with "Maiden-esque" part. Definitely physical CD purchase. Quality music here from LP and as an "HT" era fan.. I think this pretty much surpasses all their old songs. edit: Soooo freaking happy to have a Mike heavy song. I felt like I got my true fix. What is a Living Things?
Lol, I listened to it a fourth time and I absolutely love it. I think I don't dislike anything from it.
I am also not very fond of A Line In the Sand. I'll have to listen to it more to make a final judgement though, I've only heard it 2 or 3 times.
ALITS is decent. I think Keys is easily the best song on the album. Chorus is filthy. Chester is a fucking maniac. I love it. This is a perfect LP song I also think it's very important to not dismiss GATS just because it's been out for awhile. In the context of the album as a whole, GATS is a top 3 track - just behind All For Nothing
Ok so after listening to it ALL DAY. It feels like a "LETS MOTHER FUCKING JAM AND THRASH OUT" album. Even the slower ballad type songs like until its gone and FM seem like they whipped it out. It feels like the album was rushed A TAD BIT, but they still pulled it off. It's not polished by any means. MTG is really organic, but so is the entire album. At first I didn't see any ATS comparison at all, but now I do. I feel like with both those albums, they weren't afraid to take risks and went with their gut feeling.
Decent it is, I might when I get the CD just make my own splicing of the song and trim it to about 3 minutes. Rest of the album is pretty sweet. Drawbar reminds me too much of the Mass Effect 3 song when the reapers come in lol That's how I feel about ALITS, even the lyric at the beginning feels like is not in rhythm or something. Like it was "ok guys! we gotta wrap this up? Which song you want it to be? inny minnie minny moe". Oath to Victimized with the riffs.. cool but I would've prefer something out of ATS. Victimized was too soon.. or heck even something out of HT, Meteora, or MTM. And I was really pumped to hear the song.
Yeah. It kinda feels like a debut rock album from some band we've never heard of. LP really went back to jamming out together and not giving a fuck if shit wasnt perfect. That's why I really like ALITS and MTG. Very raw. Rick Rubin would have pushed them to not put those songs on the album, or change them completely. I'm not a huge fan of hardcore punk, so War doesn't float my boat. But I dig everything else.
Mark The Graves is fucking textbook There Is Nothing Left to Lose Foo Fighters. If you put Dave Grohl instead of Chester it's a Foo song.
Melodically, this album ranks last out of LP's body of work. I've listened to the album 3 times now and if you asked me how a majority of these songs go or what they are about, I couldn't tell you. None of the choruses dug their way into my brain like LP's hooks usually do ( with the exception of FM and AFN ). These two songs are bright spots for me on the album and when they come on shuffle during my work day, I will consider not skipping them. With each listen, I grow more and more sure that this album doesn't agree with me, and that I didn't have a mental block or a self fulfilling prophecy that this album was going to suck. I've heard it, and to me it does suck as a whole. I'll give it a 4/10 because I maybe like 40% of what I heard on this album.
I love the album so much and how fluid it feels. All of the tracks compliment each other superbly. Best Rock album of the year for sure. These guys are legends.
I want to hear it again on CD quality. And have the ability to skip and repeat. Going to be now knowing when I wake up I probably won't be able to listen to it anymore.