I've listened to Colors II three times now. Still digesting it. It's a lot to take in, even by BTBAM standards. In some ways it's their most chaotic album ever.
I can definitely say it's better than the Automatas, though that's a pretty low bar for me. Seems about on-par with Parallax II and Coma Ecliptic. Not as good as TGM and nowhere
near as good as Colors.
It makes sense that they'd call this Colors II; all the tracks flow together in the same way, and with how famous (relatively-speaking, anyways) Colors is, it's one hell of a marketing gimmick. That said, I'm not sure if calling it Colors II was the best decision in terms of what that means for the expectations and critique for it.
I think most people would agree that constantly comparing a band's new albums to a hallmark album of theirs they released years and years ago isn't very productive. Time has passed, the band isn't in the same place as they were back then, and while the new album may be special in its own way, nine times out of ten it won't compare to the best album the band ever made. It's best to judge it as its own artistic statement, rather than to compare it to an existing statement from over a decade ago. With this album that's basically impossible.
It's not just the name or the songs flowing together. The music here clearly wants to remind you of the first Colors pretty frequently. There's lyrical callbacks sprinkled throughout, but the structural parallels for certain songs are what I want to focus on. Right from the first few seconds of the album, it's already started in the exact same way as the first Colors. Granted, piano and soft clean vocals isn't too strong of a connection, but any doubt that this wasn't intentional is shattered as soon as the second track comes in. The beginning of this song and The Decade Of Statues are practically
identical, with the combination of the initial fast riff with squealing, dissonant harmonics transitioning directly into a slower, chugging riff with Tommy screaming over both. Clearly this song is being presented as The Decade Of Statues II. So... does that matter?
I'll tell you why this matters
to me: White Walls. If you ask me, it's the best song the band has ever made, by a pretty wide margin. It's one of my favorite songs ever, and that's largely due to the
amazing extended finale. It's hard to think of a better way to end an album. So, you can imagine what's going through my head when Human Is Hell starts in
exactly the same way. 16th note odd time signature riff over toms and a steady kick. Snare comes in after a couple bars. Transition into the lead melody with the snare on every downbeat. Exact same drum switchup halfway through. Unsurprisingly, I'm loving it. I had very little expectations for the song going into it (as I always try not to), but now I can't help but hope it at least comes
close to White Walls. How could I not when that's clearly what the band is trying to make me think.
So, this song's going to have an amazing finale, right?
Nope. It's pretty lackluster. It's just the intro of the song again. They didn't even
try to reproduce the finale of White Walls. And of course they didn't have to. If they tried, there's no way it would have lived up to it. But now everyone who listens to this song who's familiar with White Walls is going to be expecting it. And I can't imagine I'm the only one disappointed as a result. Human Is Hell ain't a bad closer, and it's probably one of the best songs on the album. But presenting it as White Walls II is almost embarrassing, and my opinion of the song is somewhat soured because of that.
As for the album as a whole, I think the aspect of Colors this new album most clearly fails to reproduce is the sense of energy and momentum it had. Colors has a somewhat slow start, but things start ramping up throughout Sun Of Nothing, and the exact moment that the album goes from good to one of the best albums of all time is the transition into Ants Of The Sky. From that point onward, it's a fucking rollercoaster of an album that never drags or reaches a lull. Ants Of The Sky is a sprawling, wonderful journey, Prequel To The Sequel picks up right where it leaves off and perfectly sets up the final leg of the album, then Viridian and White Walls bring it home. Smooth as a river of butter.
By comparison, the first half of this album is pretty solid. The sequence from Revolution In Limbo to Never Seen / Future Shock replicates that flowing energy of the first record quite well. But I find that the second half of the album really drags... the whole run from Stare Into The Abyss to Turbulent just feels very directionless and low-energy. I can't think of many memorable moments in that stretch and it doesn't feel like it's moving the record towards a goal in any meaningful way. Bad Habits might grow on me a little, but the rest feels pretty throwaway.
...well that was a rant and a half. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised I have that much to say about a sequel to one of my favorite albums. God help you all if Dream Theater ever makes Octavarium II.
Topic: Between the Buried and Me (Read 131530 times)
