I love SC, warts and all. I place it as one of my lower DT albums, but I still place it above ADTOE, because for me the high points are higher than anything on ADTOE. I was going to say the low points are lower, but then I remembered Outcry, which I dislike more than anything on SC.
And now for the obligatory rundown, because it's what all the cool kids are doing these days-
Forsaken - A catchy and well written shorter song, with nice chorus harmonies, tasteful and memorable piano, and a killer JP solo.
Constant Motion - Very derivative of Metallica in sections, but I love this song. Hell, that's probably
why I love this song.
I enjoy the vocal play between JLB and MP, and I really like both solos. And the chorus is great, especially JR's synth melody line over the top.
TDEN - To me this is hands down DT's most underrated song. One of DT's most unique songs, with its heavily chromatic riffing and almost atonal feel, the entirely shouted verses, and the rhythmic style of songwriting.
It also contains one of DT's best instrumental sections imo. It doesn't rely on back and forth dueling at all, but instead is constructed very much more like Metropolis, with recurring melodic and rhythmic themes and variations, to create something that serves the song instead of feeling cut and paste (which some of the other songs unfortunately do suffer from).
And most of all, this song is FUN. I'm
glad this song has so many Youtube views.
Repentance - I would love this song but for the fact it drags on a bit too long. Aside from that, it has a nice mellow feel to it, and is very tasteful. JP's solo is tasty, and the outro harmonies and prominent distorted bass would be perfect but for the aforementioned fact they repeat for too long. Cut a couple of minutes off the song, and it would be perfect, but it doesn't have enough variety to last *checks* 10 fucking minutes?!?! Yeah, it should have been more like 6-7.
Prophets of War - While I don't dislike it, it's still one of DT's worse songs. However, when I saw this song live, I danced like a muppet on speed, and enjoyed every second of it.
TMOLS - The instrumental section is only "ok", and pads it out too much, but the rest of the song is haunting and downright beautiful. An unfortunate case where an otherwise amazing song gets dragged down by the instrumental section. I don't even dislike the instrumental section, it just doesn't
add anything.
ITPOE - ITPOE pt 1 is great from beginning to end. As for part 2, again the instrumental section is only "ok" and is the weak link of the song. The rest of the song makes up for it for me though. The intro is low key and subtle, with its sly bass riffing where JM yet again takes the spotlight, and the creepy piano sprinkled over the top. I would also say it has one of DT's best pre-choruses. The moog reprisal of the theme at 13:12 still gives me goosebumps every time.
SC still kicks the shit out of WDADU and steals its lunch money on a daily basis.