Okay. I'll give my reasons as to why Scarsick is nowhere near what POS is capable of. First off, vocals. Daniel has a pretty awesome voice. We can all agree on that. Why someone with a voice like his would choose to rap is completely beyond me. Second, lyrics. Daniel is an amazing lyricist, yet much of the lyrics on Scarsick are nothing short of deplorable. Third, music. POS has made some of the most emotionally touching progressive metal I've ever heard, and they chose to make Disco Queen.
All of DT's albums have a different sound too. Systematic Chaos is EASILY their least awesome effort. Now, POS is a very diverse band. I agree there. But, Remedy Lane and The Perfect Element sound very similar. They follow the same styles, for the most part. It's what they do best, and that's why I believe those two are their strongest efforts. I'm all about being progressive, but when the music takes such a serious turn for the worse like Scarsick does, I should be allowed to dislike it. I shouldn't have to alter my opinion on it because "Oh, they're trying something new. I have to like it out of respect for the band." Objectively, Scarsick is pretty bad.
The OP should also keep in mind that, except for a few fanatics and the people at Remedy Lane forums (a community you should really just avoid at all costs), what UMH has posted here seems to be the general sentiments about Scarsick from the greater music-listening community.
As far as that line about "humanity not being able to put light bulbs together" in "BE"... those lyrics pretty much sum up everything that's wrong with Daniel Gildenlow when he decides to get on his soapbox. He's really immature, unfair, and ranty. He speaks his mind before he bothers taking the time to look at things from all the angles. Had he been alive during the Renaissance, he'd have been the one person bitching that the printing press is making people (who don't even know how to bind books anymore) lazy.
It has 3.11/5 on Rate Your Music. From over 800 ratings.
I dunno which "greater music-listening community" you're talking to, but the one I know isn't scandalised when an album doesn't sound like Remedy Lane.
Reception was lukewarm, but the only people who are considering it "objectively bad" are a handful of loyal fans who have too many preconceptions to judge it on its own merits.
Note that half the criticisms are comparative. "Daniel is an amazing lyricist, yet...," "He has x voice, but...," "He's made some of the most emotionally touching progressive metal, and then..." Actually, all of them. Those criticisms couldn't be more unique to hardened fans of Pain of Salvation if they
tried. As though a band which makes an emotional and deeply heartfelt album should then be confined to that tiny pallet of fanwank until such time as they disband.
Not being as good as The Perfect Element isn't a crime. It's a very raw, dirty album, which expresses a lot of rage in a creative, and new way. I'm not telling you to like it, I'm just telling you that it's not objectively bad, nor is it the only real way to perceive it. Or even the only
common way to perceive it. Yes, it's polarising. But even if everyone who hated it were voting on it with ones - assuming it's total tosh - everyone else has managed to drag it back up over the three mark, ergo an overwhelming number of fours and fives. So the "greater music community" clearly like it more than they hate it, using the best neutral meter I could be arsed to rustle up in five seconds.
Topic: I have lost my Pain of Salvation virginity today, I purchased...... (Read 27695 times)