The Official Hard Rock / Classic Metal Music Discussion and Memorabilia Thread!

[wolfking]

I like what I hear from Resurrection Kings; same kind of vibe as Voodoo Circle

Why Jake didn't keep Chas West is strange.  Great voice on this guy.

Hmm...I wasn't that impressed with the songs I heard, but I should check it out.

[BlobVanDam]

Have we talked about the Resurrection Kings album?mhave had a listen and it's pretty good. Another one with a Whitesnake vibe but not as much of a direct copy as the Voodoo Circle.

I thought it was a solid album, still want to spin it more. I don't get a Whitesnake vibe from it at all, just vintage Dio, with the exception of Path of Love which has that sleazier rock groove to it.

I spun that recently too, and thought it was VERY good.  Thought it would be another Frontiers-by-the-numbers, but found it really good.

Wait, I'm mixing this up with Revolution Saints.

Oh, FFS!  Frontiers really needs to come of with some better project names!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNWnX4a_fwc


I still need to grab that Revolution Saints album. I liked what I heard, I like the people involved, and I like the standard Journey production. No idea why I never got it.

[Bolsters]

Was the Revolution Saints album the one that had a clone of Never Walk Away on it?

[wolfking]

That Revolution Saints album was really enjoyable, very solid.

[wolfking]

I'm listening to Act 1 of the Astonishing first the first time, and I'm not sure if this is just a steaming turd, or I'm just not digging it at all.  Seriously, what a fucking borefest.  No memorable sections, no catchy choruses, just uninspired, endless sections that seem to have no flow or any coherency.  And seems to be that the only heavy sections are rips of The Test That Stumped Them All to my ears.  I'm up to Brother, Can You Hear Me, and I honestly can't wait for this to end, so disappointing.  Shit story too and I'm following the book and the website as I listen.

Maybe it will get better towards the end of the disc.

[BlobVanDam]

Most of what I like about the album is over by Brother Can You Hear Me. That's the strongest run of the album by far.
The second disc is generally heavier, but imo much less memorable or well written.

[wolfking]

Most of what I like about the album is over by Brother Can You Hear Me. That's the strongest run of the album by far.

Good lord. 

The second disc is generally heavier, but imo much less memorable or well written.

So there's some hope then.

A Life Left Behind just rolled by and at least it had a bit more of a memorable chorus.

[Train of Naught]

I'm taking a guess here and say that if you find nothing memorable about Act 1, you'll be even more disappointed with the second act.

[wolfking]

I'm taking a guess here and say that if you find nothing memorable about Act 1, you'll be even more disappointed with the second act.

More than likely.

Chosen could have been a great stand alone song with a bit of reworking.

As a fan since Scenes, this is quite devastating.  I wasn't a big fan of ADTOE at all, but I don't know, this is just something else.  Not sure how people can listen to this over and over.  I think I'll have trouble even listening to it for a second time.

[jingle.boy]

I just think there is a complete misalignment in what The Astonishing is (and professes to be), vs your tastes Kade.  Honestly not surprised to hear this at all from you.  What's more surprising is that Paul and Tim are loving it.

I'm kinda middle-of-the-road.  I can appreciate some/much of it, but too much of it feels forced.  Like, if it's going to be a story I'm going to get involved in, I don't need the lyrics to be so goddamn explanatory!  Things like "they ask me "Ahrys... could things be any tougher" and other parts where they have explicitly told us what's going on - I don't need to be told that this is Ahrys.  The art of a concept album is in knowing that the listener is invested into it.  Especially in this case where there really is only a couple of songs that stand alone on their own, this album is going to appeal to the listener that dives into the story and characters.

And they really should have hired a female lead to play the part of Faythe.  They could've brought her (whoever) on tour with them too.  Hell, if Kamelot can do it, DT sure as shit can.

You don't see SFAM pulling shit like that.  Or O:M, or The Wall, or T.H.E., or .... I could go on.

The more I think about what I don't like, the more I'm leaning towards your opinion, Kade.  I wouldn't call it a steaming turd, but it's currently near the bottom of my DT album rankings.  I'll give it more chances though - especially since I shelled out $95 to see them in April.

[Evermind]

I too think The Answer - Three Days is the strongest run on The Astonishing, so yeah.

And they really should have hired a female lead to play the part of Faythe.  They could've brought her (whoever) on tour with them too.  Hell, if Kamelot can do it, DT sure as shit can.

So much this.

[Lowdz]

I'm taking a guess here and say that if you find nothing memorable about Act 1, you'll be even more disappointed with the second act.

More than likely.

Chosen could have been a great stand alone song with a bit of reworking.

As a fan since Scenes, this is quite devastating.  I wasn't a big fan of ADTOE at all, but I don't know, this is just something else.  Not sure how people can listen to this over and over.  I think I'll have trouble even listening to it for a second time.

Well, this quote is correct. It is something else, not a normal DT album. They've been totally upfront about that. I compared I it previously to KISS's The Elder and that applies here. I loved the Elder for being different and it's the same here. Did I need another ADTOE or DT12? No, but I'd have been fine with it.
It helps that I'm a fantasy fan, can accept the story and I don't really have anything else like it.
The more you put into it the more you'll get out, but it's not a metal album at all.
The ending is still twee and shit though. The emperor was so awful we were going to war with him but we'll just let him off all the oppression because we can listen to music again?

[BlobVanDam]

The ending is still twee and shit though. The emperor was so awful we were going to war with him but we'll just let him off all the oppression because we can listen to music again?

The whole concept with music fixing everything is too idealistic and a little pretentious. I normally don't really care about lyrics, but this is easily my least favourite DT album lyrically with all of the characters talking.
I'm glad they did something different, because it's what I wanted them to do, and with that risk some parts paid off greatly, while just as many parts weren't successful. I couldn't care less about what percentage of ballads it has, or metal, or prog, or whatever checklist you want to go by, if it's good music, I'll like it for what it is.

[TAC]

Kade, you should like The Walking Shadow. Has a King Diamond feel to it.

[jjrock88]

Paul, I like your analogy of the Elder compared to TA, but could you imagine if The Elder was a double disc and about an hour and a half longer.  That would be a grind to get through.

I'm cool with DT doing something different, but this album needed to be condensed into one cd.  It just drags and with so many tracks, it just appears too much.

I know there is some good stuff on it, but not enough for me to listen often.

[TAC]

And they really should have hired a female lead to play the part of Faythe.  They could've brought her (whoever) on tour with them too.  Hell, if Kamelot can do it, DT sure as shit can.

I disagree. They have a great vocalist. They have neglected his talents for a long time. Finally they have an album where they stretch him out.
On O:M, it's a few lines in one song. It's not really relevant here.

I mean if they need a thrash riff, should they bring in Skolnik. Hetfield? Schaffer?


I've been thinking about The Elder comparison. Not sure if I agree. Or disagree. 

[jjrock88]

I think the Elder comparison is fair, as is Nostradamus.  Just an album that surprises the fanbase and has fans that absolutely love it and some that don't.  I think TA falls into this category.  Checking out the DT side, most people are going ape shit over it. 

I'm glad people are enjoying it, but I am quite flabbergasted with this release.  I will try it again at some point though.

[Lowdz]

And they really should have hired a female lead to play the part of Faythe.  They could've brought her (whoever) on tour with them too.  Hell, if Kamelot can do it, DT sure as shit can.

I disagree. They have a great vocalist. They have neglected his talents for a long time. Finally they have an album where they stretch him out.
On O:M, it's a few lines in one song. It's not really relevant here.

I mean if they need a thrash riff, should they bring in Skolnik. Hetfield? Schaffer?


I've been thinking about The Elder comparison. Not sure if I agree. Or disagree. 

It's a really good album. Just not a good KISS album.

I hated Nostradamus, after a couple of decent JP albums, so maybe the point is valid.
I'm certainly not trying to convert you, I really can see why some won't like it. I was worried pre release, I'll admit. It's been on near constant rotation in the car though. I really didn't expect it to be a car album.
The lyrics don't bother me at all. I long ago gave up caring as most of the music I was listening to was written by bands with English as a second language (and I don't mean Americans  )

[TAC]

News flash: I have never heard a single note of Nostradamus.

[bl5150]

I thought Kade was going to ask me what I was smoking and say that The Astonishing is fantastic

I think I am 80% of the way with the new PC but this fucking Windows 10 is a glorified beta at best. I would've hoped that after being out there for a while (and with relatively positive reviews) that it would've been a smooth process.  But no..........everything from the initial updates to the time.........yes, the time .......has been a royal pain in the ass.   And of course they make it a bitch for you to use old software that was half decent in an effort to push you towards their half finished mail/browser apps.

And now the big one.  I have been stubbornly holding on to iTunes 10 for years because it was the last version to be half decent , but like with Windows 7 I thought I had to finally give in and do the upgrade before they forced me to and here we go,............so far it seems it has fucked up the conversion of my library which seems to have lost (at best) all my playlists (incl,. roulette preps for you dudes) and all my song ratings.   I am hoping I can use my backup software to roll back the library files.  Fingers crossed.

 

[TAC]

I thought this was where the cool guys hung out. When did this turn into the dork thread?

[BlobVanDam]

I thought this was where the cool guys hung out. When did this turn into the dork thread?

It's a prog forum. Everyone's a dork. Some are just better at hiding it than others.

And bl5150, that's what you get for using iTunes. The few times I've had to use iTunes on other machines, I've never known what the hell it was trying to do, such a vague and terrible app.

[Bolsters]

That sucks pretty hard, I imagine those roulette playlists would have been quite extensive by now.

I would have saved them as .m3u files as a backup before doing anything else.

[bl5150]

I'm the guy who is well known around here as knowing SFA about computers.............in the northern hemisphere it's obviously Tim.  And I have never heard of m3u 

[BlobVanDam]

m3u is a universal playlist file format. I have all of my playlists backed up in both m3u and in fpl format (foobar's internal playlist format). Apple don't like to follow standards though.

[gazinwales]

I like what I hear from Resurrection Kings; same kind of vibe as Voodoo Circle

Why Jake didn't keep Chas West is strange.  Great voice on this guy.

Hmm...I wasn't that impressed with the songs I heard, but I should check it out.

Speaking of Jake, I'm looking for the Badlands debut CD, seems impossible to find for reasonable price.
Even the re-issue seems to be OOP now.
Had it many years ago, lost it some how.

[Bolsters]

I'm the guy who is well known around here as knowing SFA about computers.............in the northern hemisphere it's obviously Tim.  And I have never heard of m3u 

I thought you might know what m3u files are. Back in the day you couldn't save playlists any other way than as files, if I recall.

[bl5150]

back in the day I didn't do digital media.  I really only made the decision to rip all my CDs and "go digital" a few years ago.    And even then it's more about not having to find CDs.........running it all at a touch of a button through the stereo/PC speakers without CDs. And all my old stores closed down   I have never used iPods/phones for music so I am still relatively prehistoric 

[jjrock88]

News flash: I have never heard a single note of Nostradamus.

You aren't a big fan to begin with; this album will not win you over!

[Bolsters]

back in the day I didn't do digital media.  I really only made the decision to rip all my CDs and "go digital" a few years ago.

I guess that's understandable then. Back in the late 90's when I got started with digital music the concept of a media library didn't exist, so if you wanted to just double-click something to play an album, or all of the songs of a band, you had to have an m3u playlist to do it. So I had a folder full of them.

[jjrock88]

I thought this was where the cool guys hung out. When did this turn into the dork thread?

lol

[wolfking]

I'm listening to disc 1 without the lyrics like how I would listen to all my music to see if something pricks my ears.  Perhaps not reading along with book might make it a better listen.

As Chad stated, some different voices I think would have really helped and would have also would have been able to make the lyrics less self explanatory which I also found a little tedious.

Will ventue into disc 2 in the coming days.

Agree with Jason that this does have a Nostradamus vibe.  That album I really appreciated a bit over time, so maybe this is the same.  There's no saving the story though.

[jjrock88]

I agree about the different voices too.

[Lowdz]

Nah, I'm happy enough with James doing the lot. I love his voice, always have.
If they'd used different voices it would've had to have been done under a different name than DT.

Maybe it should have been a pe truck / Rudess project.

[wolfking]

I don't understand the talk of James altering his voice dependant of the character.  Sounds the same to me.