Still not a fan.
I decided to grab it for the car today for some reason. I've only spun the album twice and hated it both times. Maybe third time lucky hey......
Okay, supposed to go to work, but want to post this first. So I did infact grab my CD and have played it twice in the car last week. Prior to this, I had only listened to the album twice and fucking hated it. I made views pretty clear early on. Now, I'm always one that knows that sometimes a new album is released from one of your fav bands, however, you're just not in the mood for that style at the time. I thought this may had been the case. Letting it sit for almost a year and coming back to it with no expectations, care or even hopes for it. it's almost a year old, the hype is over, let's just listen.
A lot of my initial thoughts on the album still stand. There is so much going on here that is getting praised that I just don't understand. I find there is moments to be just DT going through the motions and I'm still struggling with a lot of the melodies, or lack of melodies, but........I kind of enjoyed this a little more for what it is. The production I will say sounds fantastic and despite some lack of melodies, James sounds really nice in places.
The Alien: Look, this is DT by numbers. We've heard it all before, but this is fine. The vocal melodies on this one annoyed the fuck out of me early, but they are okay really. JP's solo is quite nice here. I struggle with JP on this album too. There's some nice stuff but at times he also feels like he's just filling space. This one is quite creative though. As the song goes on, I really do like that double time melody reprise at 8:13. Still not blowing me away, but the song is fine.
Answering the Call: This was the only real song I dug on my first two listens. I love that heaviness of the riff. It kind of goes off in a different direction and falls back into the DT by numbers formula but it's not that bad. The heaviness comes back into the verses. I do find James a little awkward in the verses though. Things get more comfortable at 1:30 though and some slight catchiness. I like the short chorus type thing, I think after a few listens that works well. One thing I like is the transition into the riffing from the 'will you wager your life,' section. For some reason I find the use of the word 'wager' a bit strange, not sure why. I like the tempo shifts during the solo sections, very cool. No masterpiece here, but a nice tune with a cool atmosphere.
Invisible Monster: Hated this one at first and again not crazy about it at all. More DT by numbers here but I still find it pretty stale and sterile. James sounds half asleep on this one. The thing is, the chorus is quite catchy but not really in a good way. Look.....it's fine for what it is, just we've heard it all before and lacks some energy.
Sleeping Giant: I couldn't for the life of me understand the hype about this song. Going into this again pretty fresh, it does sound completely different from when I first remember hearing it. The riffing is kinda interesting at the start. The verse I struggle with and has that familiar chug sound which gets old pretty quick. The 'shadows disappear, at night' melody is really quite good. That sticks in your head and is very simple but pretty effective. It's subtle but I'm picking up on that now. The verse again annoys me and I wish the band would change this chug verse style up. The instrumental section is quite enjoyable. A bit of an old school DT feel in places. I actually get SFAM feels during some of it. It's better this time around but I wouldn't say it's the best song here at all.
Transcending Time: Could be the best thing here. Now we are getting some wonderful vocal melodies. There's melody after melody here. While it seems the band have fallen into this Rush Limelight formula with a song here and there, this one is nice. Love James here. Although, JP ruins it with the solo section. I still don't know what the fuck he was thinking here. Completely out of context with the song. 4:14.....seriously John? I guess it's not that bad but just kind of a filler solo section that doesn't quite fit. Anyway, not enough to make me dislike the song. The ending is cool too.
Awaken the Master: Nothing really opening up for me here. The riffing is sweet but then it heads into safe territory again, bah! There's that chugging verse again. I've tried this song a little but not much doing it for me on this one. Again, the vocal melodies really lack and for me there's nothing really memorable.
AVFTTOTW: Hmmm.......I completely wrote this off at first, but this may actually be the best thing here. I really love the lyrics. Simple but something you can relate too and gives a great vision of what the song is doing and what it's aiming for. It's got a boombastic intro which is nice and sets it up well. 2:42 has a great melody. This is what I want more of from John that I feel has lacked a bit on this album. Wonderful. The chug of the riff is here, but the odd time and syncopations makes it work and interesting. The chorus here is nice, great shift in tempo and some nice melodies. LOL at the LTL vibe going into the second verse. I do like the very Fates Warning feel of this verse though, that's a nice changeup.
Instrumentally it's all a bit more exciting than a lot of what else is going on in the album and keeps my interest. The quiet 'blind descent' section gives great imagery and clever writing of that JP melody we heard from the start at 13:13, that's beautiful. The soloing on this one too seems more creative and inspired than a lot of the album. Something simple like the rolling harmonics into that bend at 15:01 is so creative and interesting.
Now, the final section, I really really like the tact they took with this. That's one thing that's different here, you expect a boombastic 8VM, IT type ending but when James hits that word 'legacy' that shift into the outro section really throws you but the two minute ending I think continues the imagery nicely. I don't know, I can see why people would hate it, but I think it's quite unique and works really well.
So, is it better for me than when it came out, yeah, it's okay. Is it a fav and will I be grabbing it as my go to DT album......no way. But I can appreciate it a lot more coming back to it. The words 'masterpiece' and 'best album they have ever done' really still make no sense to me, but there's some things to like here.
Song ranking;
1. AVFTTOTW
2. TT
3. ATC
4. TA
5. SG
6. IM
7. ATM
Topic: *Official* A View from the Top of the World discussion thread (Read 142655 times)