So far: I love this album. I've actually been enjoying it more with every listen. I'm on my 4th listen through, and I've also done a lot of skipping around to the standout tracks (Which happens to be almost half of them).
The good:
This album sounds very refreshing to me, even as someone who ranks DT12 and ADTOE consistently in the top half of their catalogue. This to me sounds like a band that's enjoying themselves, and in return, I'm enjoying listening to it basically constantly the whole time I've been awake since the album dropped (I skipped school for this release
). They've completely committed to this huge concept, and it works out very well in my opinion. It doesn't sound like they've held back from anything on this album. From the pre-release build up, to the story, characters, places, and to the music itself; the strings, brass, woodwinds, bagpipes, electronic stuff, ballads, metal, and all the other little things (The rock tango as someone called, and the 20s music straight into the blast beats
). And astonishingly, I generally enjoy all of it.
I'm glad to have more piano, and JLB does such an excellent job portraying the characters, especially Nafaryus. I'm a particular fan of what Mangini has done on this album. There are so many great grooves, fills, and little intricacies too. Plus the drum sound is better than the last 5 albums imo. So far, I haven't dived into the actually story, but I have a general idea of whats going on. I already bought the MP3s on Amazon, and I'm gonna go pick up a CD in an hour or so so I can read along the lyrics booklet. Overall I'm just happy that the music and the concept fit well together, because I was really worried about that. I tend to like themed/concept/rock opera albums less because the lyrics feel shoehorned in, but that isn't the case here. Big fan of what the band has accomplished with this album.
Standout tracks:
Dystopian Overture
The Gift Of Music
A Better Life
Lord Nafaryus
A Savior In The Square
Act Of Faythe
Three Days
Ravenskill
A tempting Offer
A New Beginning
Moment Of Betrayal
Heaven's Cove
The Walking Shadow
Our New World
(These are the ones I tend to skip around to)
The bad:
Many people have pointed out that sometimes the songs lack an individual identity, too many piano intros, etc., and I agree. Obviously this will be the case to a certain extent with any album of this scope I would imagine, but I feel it could've been done a bit better without compromised the flow or story. Of course, they will probably develop their own identity as I listen more. A decent number have done that already.
Another complaint I have is about the ballads. I have no problem with the number of ballads, but rather the placement in a couple places. Sometimes they seem to run together, and it messed with the pacing a lot on my first listen.
Minor things: Not a fan of sound effects, but I don't mind them enough to care.
Sometimes lyrics are just flat out cheesy, but that isn't to extreme, or in too many places, so it's also not a big deal.
Honestly, none of these things is a major problem for me. It hardly detracts from my enjoyment of this album.
Misc.
- Everyone is talking about the vibes the get from songs. I'm getting a MAJOR James Bond vibes from 3:12 to 3:30
- Hate the clapping sound in Hymn of a Thousand Voices with a passion
- There's a melody somewhere that remind me very closely of War Inside My Head, but I forgot where it was. I think one of Nafaryus's songs.
- This will probably sit at a solid 4th in my rankings once all the hype is gone
Topic: *Official* The Astonishing discussion thread (Read 518501 times)
