Black Clouds & Silver Linings: Reactions

[cramx3]

Well the album has been out awhile now and I still listen to parts of it (if not the whole album) daily.  This album has aged MUCH MUCH better than SC.  My initial reactions to the album was, "this could be my third favorite behind I&W and Awake" and I am starting to really believe that is the case.  What I thought was the worse song, TSF, is becoming a really really awesome DT song for me.  The intro and the end to TSF are just so awesome.  TCOT is still not my favorite on the album although my friends tell me I am a moron for not thinking so, but I still very much enjoy it.  ANTR is still my favorite, but AROP is getting more playing time since I thought it was a really good live song.

[Dublagent66]

It's up there with the best of em.  Top 5 DT album.

[2Timer]

This album is aging very well with me. Definitely some of their best work, imo.

[MykeHavoc]

It's good.

[Chino]

I am still loving this album.

[Zydar]

Still firmly in 4th place for me.

[juice]

3rd place i reckon

[ariich]

Still a solid #3 for me

[Jamesman42]

Top album for me.

[Mladen]

Dropped from #4 to #5. I realized Systematic chaos is slightly better.

[rumborak]

It's a solid album, and the best of the "new DT".
That said, it can not displace I&W, Awake, SFAM or 6DOIT.  And there's a good margin between them an BCSL.

rumborak

[faemir]

Dropped from #4 to #5. I realized Systematic chaos is slightly better.

[ddtonfire]

This album hasn't dropped any spots since I bought it. Solid #4 for me.

[Chino]

Dropped from #4 to #5. I realized Systematic chaos is slightly better.

for reals?

[Plasmastrike]

It's a solid album, and the best of the "new DT".
That said, it can not displace I&W, Awake, SFAM or 6DOIT.  And there's a good margin between them an BCSL.

rumborak

Exactly.

[KevShmev]

It's a solid album, and the best of the "new DT".
That said, it can not displace I&W, Awake, SFAM or 6DOIT.  And there's a good margin between them an BCSL.

rumborak

Talk about hitting the nail on the head.  I could not agree more.

[yeshaberto]

just gave it another spin yesterday, and it still continues to get better each time

[SnakeEyes]

It's a solid album, and the best of the "new DT".
That said, it can not displace I&W, Awake, SFAM or 6DOIT.  And there's a good margin between them an BCSL.

Perfect. 

[Mladen]

Dropped from #4 to #5. I realized Systematic chaos is slightly better.

for reals?

Yep. SC is incredibly catchy and fun, absolutely nothing wrong with it. BC&SL was brought down by The Shattered fortress, in my opinion, which feels lazily constructed in some places. It's still a great album, though.

[YtseBitsySpider]

its mediocre for me...it did the same thing the last three did for me....hooked me for a bit...then I couldn't make it all the way through...then I skipped to the "good one"....then I stopped listening to it entirely. It sits firmly in the bottom half of their catlogue for me.

[Perpetual Change]

It's a solid album, and the best of the "new DT".
That said, it can not displace I&W, Awake, SFAM or 6DOIT.  And there's a good margin between them an BCSL.

rumborak

I agree about the first three, but lately I've been questioning #4.

[skydivingninja]

It's a solid album, and the best of the "new DT".
That said, it can not displace I&W, SFAM or 6DOIT.  And there's a good margin between them an BCSL.

rumborak

This.  BC&SL stands at number 4 for me right now.  Still an impressive album.

[rumborak]

its mediocre for me...it did the same thing the last three did for me....hooked me for a bit...then I couldn't make it all the way through...then I skipped to the "good one"....then I stopped listening to it entirely. It sits firmly in the bottom half of their catlogue for me.

The exact same thing has happened with the last three albums for me. Starts out good and I'm hooked a bit again, but then I lose interest in the album quickly. After that, there's one or two songs I specifically dial in to listen to.
I'm still on the fence whether this is a result of me just having grown tired of DT, or whether their last 3 albums are actually less enjoyable.

rumborak

[Plasmastrike]

its mediocre for me...it did the same thing the last three did for me....hooked me for a bit...then I couldn't make it all the way through...then I skipped to the "good one"....then I stopped listening to it entirely. It sits firmly in the bottom half of their catlogue for me.

The exact same thing has happened with the last three albums for me. Starts out good and I'm hooked a bit again, but then I lose interest in the album quickly. After that, there's one or two songs I specifically dial in to listen to.
I'm still on the fence whether this is a result of me just having grown tired of DT, or whether their last 3 albums are actually less enjoyable.

rumborak

Well said, but, damn, me too.

[LTE]

All the songs except TCOT have stayed the same as far as listening and respect for them. They are good songs. TBOT is still up there as a really special song that I don't listen to often. Although TCOT has gone up quite a bit, the instrumentation and song structure is great, really evolved old-DT style writing, the lyrics are still pretty corny, but still fun.

[ZachyDou]

It's 'aight.

[nikatapi]

I only listen to TCOT....The only song that keeps me interested in this album....

[perfey]

It's still so good as the first time I heard it, although it doesnt feel as fresh as it did in the beginning.

[LordCaptainMcKlockenstein]

I didn't like it much when I first heard it (back in July), but I recently gave it a spin again and my opinion has improved... a little.

- A Nightmare to Remember - Biggest letdown evar. It starts so incredibly strong, but just spirals ever downward as it continues on. The song is a little too long and feels bloated, the transitions are too abrupt and thus it feels disjointed at times, and the lyrics are terrible.  The music is good, but still  not enough to save this.
- A Rite of Passage - This was my favorite off the album at first. It seemed a bit more cohesive than most of the other songs and while the lyrics aren't great, they don't detract from the song at all. As I've listened to it more and more, the WTF solo really starts to drag it down.
- Wither - Didn't care for it at first, but I think it's my favorite now. Just a nice, simple little song.
- The Shattered Fortress - At first, I thought it was the worst song on the album (ANTR now takes that spot), but I've learned to appreciate it a little more. The transitions still feel a little forced and it still seems like there's too much of the old songs and not enough new song. It feels forcefully patched together, which is too bad because this has improved the most on re-listens.
- The Best of Times - Really good song. Some may say the lyrics are 'saccharine' but I give props to them for having a lot of heart. I think everyone really puts in a good effort here and it shows.
- The Count of Tuscany - My least favorite of DT's 'epics.' Some good musicmanship, but that's really it, there's not much guiding it here. The lyrics are laughably bad and, unfortunately, I end up focusing on them whenever I listen to this. It does get a little better each time I listen, but it doesn't hook my like Octavarium, ACoS, and ItPoE did.

[Global Laziness]

Still a solid #3 for me

This.

1   Awake
2   Images and Words
3   Black Clouds & Silver Linings
4   Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
5   Scenes From a Memory
6   Train of Thought
7   When Dream and Day Unite
8   Systematic Chaos
9   Falling into Infinity
10   Octavarium

[Perpetual Change]

This album gets so much better for me every time I listen.  When I first heard it, it was probably 4-5th favorite DT album.  Now, I sometimes catch myself thinking that it's my favorite DT album before reminding myself that there's Scenes, Awake, and Images and Words.

[orcus116]

I'm still baffled how people can even think that. Even Scenes, which I don't look too highly on, has its ambitions and goals achieved higher than what was finalized on Black Clouds.

[Plasmastrike]

I'm still baffled how people can even think that. Even Scenes, which I don't look too highly on, has its ambitions and goals achieved higher than what was finalized on Black Clouds.

Yeah, same here. I'll say 6DOIT, as well.

[Perpetual Change]

I'm still baffled how people can even think that. Even Scenes, which I don't look too highly on, has its ambitions and goals achieved higher than what was finalized on Black Clouds.

It's definitely not a "thinking man's" metal album if that's what you mean by ambition.  What it is and what I think it does extremely well as is an album that I can really throw on "whenever" and thoroughly enjoy.  The musical aspect of it is just too good.  Even though I don't like the lyrics that much, I find that BC&SL's music has plenty of "hooks" to catch you as well as the depth that makes things even more exciting once you know the songs well.  I guess it's like what some people were talking about in that one Opeth thread.  I'm finding I can really appreciate this album a lot now that I know it inside and out.

[Plasmastrike]

I'm still baffled how people can even think that. Even Scenes, which I don't look too highly on, has its ambitions and goals achieved higher than what was finalized on Black Clouds.

It's definitely not a "thinking man's" metal album if that's what you mean by ambition.  What it is and what I think it does extremely well as is an album that I can really throw on "whenever" and thoroughly enjoy.  The musical aspect of it is just too good.  Even though I don't like the lyrics that much, I find that BC&SL's music has plenty of "hooks" to catch you as well as the depth that makes things even more exciting once you know the songs well.  I guess it's like what some people were talking about in that one Opeth thread.  I'm finding I can really appreciate this album a lot now that I know it inside and out.

I actually feel you on that. Well put.