Hey, the band can be proud of it all they want. But at the end of the day, we're listening to the album, and whatever impacts the enjoyment of listening is worthy to discuss imo. A TON of bands (not just prog) don't know when to, respectfully, STFU and trim their songs down. There are sooo many songs where I get to about 5 minutes (of 6, 7, 8, whatever) and just want to go to something else. I don't need to always have the riff reprised for the 5th time or get a third solo on the outro
And yeah like Samsara said, if you like it, cool! That's awesome and I'm actually happy about that
I'm not saying it isn't worthy to discuss - not at all. Of course it's worthy, that's why I'm discussing it. However, I don't think the issue you described is an issue with the album being too long. You just don't like the songs, and that's cool. I mean, if the (generic) band had 3 less songs and the album was under an hour, but the songs still present were unchanged, you'd still be wanting to go to something else at that 5 minute mark. Thus, it's not the length of the album that is in question, but rather the songs themselves.
That's incorrect. I do like the songs. I just think there are parts that go on for too long relative to how interesting the passages are. Maybe there's a minute of fluff at the beginning/end or in the middle, maybe there's one too many solos. The length of the album is therefore directly related to the length of the songs themselves. I can absolutely like a song while having criticisms about it
It's very similar to how some people like Dream Theater songs but roll their eyes and look at their watches when the inevitable solo fest starts.
It's also relative to each and every band. Right off the top of my head I can think of a few albums that are some of my all-time favorites that only have 2 songs in the 5 minute range and 7 others beyond 7 minutes. Lots of my favorite albums have songs that go well over 10, 15, 20 minute marks.
This album, specifically, I think is very good on the first listen. I will definitely be spinning it again. However there are a couple points (solos, namely) that I think, "I could do without that, getting kinda bored here." Hopefully that changes, but yeah, I think it's quite healthy, actually, to enjoy something
and point out the flaws! It's educational and, honestly, fun. (Hanging around with pure power metal diehards who refuse to discuss any potential criticisms in music we both like has made me hyper sensitive to this issue, truth be told.)