Spock's Beard Survivor 2019 - The Oblivion Particle - Round 1

[The Letter M]

The Oblivion Particle
Tides Of Time
Minion
Hell's Not Enough
Bennett Built A Time Machine
Get Out While You Can
A Better Way To Fly
The Center Line
To Be Free Again
Disappear

Here we begin the first round of the band's 12th studio album, their 2nd with Ted Leonard as lead vocalist and Jimmy Keegan as drummer. This is an interesting album in that many fans have looked down upon this album simply because of a lack of songs written by the band members. Of album's 9 songs, only three were written by performing members of the band, while Stan Ausmus composed the opener, and John Boogehold wrote the other five, more than half of the album. That isn't to say the band themselves didn't take the songs and make them their own, especially with their unique playing and performances, but looking back on the album, I feel like they tried their best to make the most of what they were given, like having Jimmy sing lead on BBATM and having the violinist of Kansas play on the closing track (which sounds VERY Kansas-like already). The bonus track, Black Sabbath's "Iron Man", features Dave Meros on lead vocals (for the first time ever on a studio SB track, if I recall correctly) and Nick D'Virgilio on drums, which was exciting, but it's still a cover song (performed pretty well, mind you).

At any length, this album had the difficult job of following up two VERY well-received albums, and I don't think it quite hit the mark, but it's still a great collection of songs by the mighty Beard!

-Marc.

[Kwyjibo]

At any length, this album had the difficult job of following up two VERY well-received albums, and I don't think it quite hit the mark, but it's still a great collection of songs by the mighty Beard!

Bolded part is so true, I really like this record but it just can't reach X or BNADS.

Minion would be my first choice.

[Mladen]

Bennett Built A Time Machine

This one was a disappointment at first but grew on me a bit. I think of it as a solid edition to the discography. It has several songs I like returning to, but I don't play it as a whole too often.

[ronnibran]

Been voting up until now.  I never really got into TOP or NF so I can't really continue voting at this point.  I bought both of the albums and was hopeful, but neither grabbed me.  I mean there's a couple standout songs to me but most songs I can't picture how they go...  Funnily enough based on the previous post, one of the few I like is Bennet Built a Time Machine haha.

[DTA]

To Be Free Again, but honestly, I think this album is very strong and think it’s a really solid collection of songs.

[RoeDent]

Tides of Time.

"Solid" is certainly how I'd describe this album. To me, it's comparable to Dream Theater's self-titled album in that I rarely have the desire to listen to it, but when I do, I'm always surprised by how much I enjoy the songs. Definitely not at the glorious heights of BNADS, but still a solid album.