Are there any albums that are SHRINKERS for you?

[The Letter M]

We've all heard/seen or even used the term "grower" when it comes to a new(ly discovered) album that grows on us, that we appreciate more and more with each new listen, but has the OPPOSITE ever happened to you? Has an album ever started out OK or even GOOD and then just gotten worse and worse over time, either initially by days, or over a long period of time like months or years?

-Marc.

[Zantera]

A lot of albums. Funny enough, the albums that are the best to me after 1 listen are usually the ones that fades the fastest. It's all about staying power, and I think albums that are harder to get into are often more rewarding once you "get it".

The Incident is a big one for me though. I really liked my first 20 or 30 listens, but I really don't like it anymore.

[wolfking]

Too many to mention.  Happens just as much as 'growers'.

[Zook]

Drowning Pool's first album. Started out pretty good, but soon I discovered it was the perfect cure for insomnia.

[jammindude]

Great subject.

The Incident was my first thought as well.  But I'm sure I could come up with more. 

SC, BCSL and to a lesser extent ADTOE were all a bit "shrinkers" for me.    I liked SC at first, and now I just think it's awful.    BCSL went from wonderful to meh.   And ADTOE went from STUNNING to just really, really good.

A few Rush albums have been shrinkers.   Counterparts being probably the #1 example.   That album was so amazing when it came out, but now I really love about 3 or 4 tracks and the rest is pretty boring.

[Sacul]

Most of them are prog.

[Calvin6s]

Shrinkers are more likely than growers for me.

Growers aren't even really growers.  My tastes just change and years later I will enjoy something I didn't use to enjoy.  But I never force myself to listen to an album I find "meh" until I start to like it.

Shrinkers are usually brought on by "peer pressure".  I hear excellent reviews of something, I give too much weight to that opinion until I realize I never thought it was all that great to begin with.

Since this is the DT board, DT12 has really gone downhill for me.  I basically like Illumination Theory and The Enemy Inside.  All the others have good parts, but overall I can't really find that much special to hang onto.

[Tom Bombadil]

A lot of DT albums come to mind. And a whole bunch of others I can't remember

[KevShmev]

Metallica - Load
Rush - Test for Echo

I thought both were really good at first, and listened to both a ton, but over time realized how pretty average they both are.

[PixelDream]

The Incident is the ultimate example for me too. I used to really like it, and seeing PT perform it in its entirety was really something.
But nowadays, it just seems like such a 'cold' album.

The only thing I still like about it are the disc 2 collaborative tracks and the really heavy parts of The Incident.

[jammindude]

Metallica - Load
Rush - Test for Echo

I thought both were really good at first, and listened to both a ton, but over time realized how pretty average they both are.

Why do I have the polar opposite reaction from every other Rush fan on planet earth in regards to both CP and TFE??  It just makes me feel odd.  Like I'm sure I'm missing something.   But TFE blew my doors off, and just got nothing but better with repeated listens.   CA just bumped it out of the top 5, but I still think TFE is such an amazing album.   

Oh well.  Different strokes. 

[Lucien]

dt12

[Crow]

BC&SL for sure, I liked it at first 'cause it was the first new album from the band since I discovered them but now it's firmly lodged in my bottom 3 on the basis of "has no great songs, at best average ones".

[Implode]

The most recent half of Dream Theater albums or so.

[ThatOneGuy2112]

As far as DT goes, BC&SL definitely. I was completely enthralled when I first heard, but now I think it's just ok.

There's far too many others out there to name off the top of my head though. Shrinkers are far more common than growers.

[Calvin6s]

Most of them are prog.

Probably true for me as well.  But that is just where I'm at right now.  Prog fatigue.  I sold many of my 80s glam era CDs when I got into Megadeth/Metallica.  Then I sold the heavy *caveman* stuff when I got into Dream Theater.  Then I started missing those 80s glam era songs and heavy thrash songs, so I repurchased them.  So now I just temporarily retire genres when I reach that fatigue level, because I know the fatigue will wear off once I give it a break for a few years.

So there is shrinkage from the cold weather and then there is just temporary fatigue.

[Heretic]

Some of the recent ones I can think of would be Mastodon and Anathema's new albums. Love them when I listen to them, but I just don't have the urge to very often.

[Dark Castle]

Some of the recent ones I can think of would be Mastodon and Anathema's new albums. Love them when I listen to them, but I just don't have the urge to very often.

Haven't listened to either too much as of recent either, but for me that has more to do with there's so many albums I've been trying to listen to haha.

[Anguyen92]

I guess, uhhh, Saliva's Blood Stained Love Story. 

I liked the song "Ladies and Gentlemen," as that was the theme song for Wrestlemania 23 so that got me to listen to the album.  Had some decent songs and all, but man, I hadn't really listen to any of those songs at all for the last 3-4 years or so for some reasons (probably, due to finding more bands that I discover that I enjoy a lot that blows Saliva, musically, out of the waters and I liked Saliva back then.)

Also Seether's Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces.  Back then, I liked stuff like "Like Suicide," "No Jesus Christ," "Breakdown," "Fake It," and other songs, but they just hadn't aged as well, in terms of enjoyment, to me like their "Karma and Effect" album.  The only song that really did aged well from that album was "Rise Above This" only because the message in the lyrics were so powerful and genuine.

[BlobVanDam]

A lot of albums. Funny enough, the albums that are the best to me after 1 listen are usually the ones that fades the fastest. It's all about staying power, and I think albums that are harder to get into are often more rewarding once you "get it".

I've never agreed with this at all. I don't think there's any correlation at all between how long it takes to "get" an album, and its staying power.
There are many albums I've loved from first listen, that I still love over a decade later, and there are also many albums that took a while to grow on me that have still completely worn off on me.

[BRGM]

First one that comes to mind is Hakens The Mountain, thought it was amazing the first couple of months after its release, haven't listened to it since then. DTs later outputs and also Steven Wilsons Raven (though to a far less extent). I see The Incident being mentioned alot but I still really like that one.

[hefdaddy42]

The one that springs to mind id Black Clouds & Silver Linings.

[Dark Castle]

The one that springs to mind id Black Clouds & Silver Linings.

First album that I listened to from Dream Theater. I used to go around the grounds at my job picking up trash and jamming to it. Rarely listen to it these days.

[Phoenix87x]

I find this happening primarily with electronic music. I'll find something that sounds cool, get it, listen to it for while and completely lose interest in it.

And then I also find it happening with new releases from bands way past their prime. I'll get hyped up with a new release, get lost in the novelty and then a few months or a year down the line, I'm like "yuck, this sucks"

Most of the other things in my collection I feel like I can come back too.