Haha I feel alone about with this I get that people don't like the "randomness" of some of the solos(really War and ALITS is probably the biggest sinners) but to me many of them just felt really "fresh". I liked how "fucked up" they sounded, like they weren't planned and Brad just went in like: "Uhm... Then we just need a solo right here. Something like this?.. Yeaaah! Not even gonna try to play that again" While some songs lack kind of a lead melody or a better groove from the lead guitar, I still think overall the album had some great moments. Hell the ending to Mark The Graves is honestly one of my favorite moments in the entire LP catalog and Brad is one of the major factors in that. It's not about how hard it is to play but how interesting it sounds IMO.
I don't get these 40 people! And our guitar expert picks All For Nothing as the best solo. We've heard it 20 fucking times! LETS YELL! BID drums work with BID, the song. Plus that drum-glitch before the final chorus... gawd.
Rob Bourdon for sure. I love his playing on A Line In The Sane, Rebellion and Wasteland. Creative, fast and groovy. Not true. Except for a few more or less accidental chromatic notes in Keys To The Kingdom, all the solos are in Aeolian or Harmonic Minor. I'll agree that the shred solos aren't exactly musical though, but one could argue that the messy playing fits the punk-vibe from the album.
Because people seem to think that just because he doesn't scratch as often as he used to he's not really contributing to the band.
Like when? I'm hearing a lot of studio effects (Most likely added by Mike during production)... But I'm not hearing any of his signature scratches on here... His presence is mostly out of the mix, sadly.
My point still stands. Just because he isn't scratching on the record, doesn't mean he hasn't contributed anything with the band on THP. He does happen to sample sounds along with Mike on the music they make. It wouldn't surprise me if Joe did a lot of synth work on UIG.
Joe doesn't do as much prominent scratching, but I'm assuming he's the one that creates all the airy and atmospheric sounds in the songs. Key examples that come to mind are in the bridge of KTTK (before the "heavy" part kicks in) and the intro to GATS. There's a lot of that sprinkled throughout the album to give it a more LP-feel. I don't think he's as absent as everyone thinks. That said, there's no question that in terms of "stepping up", Brad is the undisputed winner. He went from doing either no guitar work at all or very simplistic chords in Living Things, to some pretty interesting metal riffs and solos in The Hunting Party. It's a day and night difference. Rob has been stepping up more and more since Minutes to Midnight, and by this point I think it's just safe to call him the most talented instrumentalist of the band. Mike and Chester have been flawless since day one. There's not really any "stepping up" on this album, just more top-notch performances we're used to. People bitch about the way Chester sounds in this album, but it's so aggressive and in the spirit of the album. It sounds fantastic to me. Especially since we all heard him sing By Myself at Download. The guy still has every ounce of firepower in his vocal arsenal he's ever had. Phoenix is Phoenix. Never really has impressed me much.
this. i disagree about chester. but its ok. Rob did a amazing job on this album, but he has always been the most skilled in the band, so he didnt really stepped up that much. Brad is the opposite of Rob, he always did his guitar work as simple as possible, not that its bad, but there's not many songs where he does something different than the usual. although some of his guitar work on THP may seem a bit random and not very technical, but before this album he never done anything like it, so brad has to be the right answer
Rob without a doubt. He's always been a great drummer, but his beats in the past have been simple and toned down IMO. The only other time you really got to glimpse his potential was on Minutes to Midnight, than it was back to electric drums and simple back beats to make way for the rest of the band. This album though he finally gets a chance to shine through
It was a tough choice between Brad and Rob but ended up going with Brad. As Ben previously mentioned, there is just a difference of night and day from LT to THP regarding overall guitar riffs, rhythms, etc. If anything, THP has left me so much more hopeful for Brad's future work in the band. Too bad it took him so long to showcase his true skills.
I think you have to give Brad a little credit here. Rob's drumming is amazing but I think Rob has always been underrated anyway. In terms of improvement Brad had bigger gains to be made since he didn't really play guitar much on recent recordings. Although I still don't think Brad's guitar is anything that epic on this album, Rob's drumming certainly is. But again Rob has always been underrated. I am hoping this album is the start of inspiring Brad to play guitar again and keep improving.