Album Rating: 3.5

Heh, one can only hope. Unfortunately it's more likely to whittle down his already cult fanbase. But I'm definitely going to do my best to make it to every one of his shows that I can, and not just because he's an insanely good live performer.

Jesus Christ dmathius you're fucking brainwashed

Album Rating: 3.5

Gyromania has entered the chat.

Nah, I'm already out. Peace. Keep thinking every act of violence committed against a black man by a white man is racist but not when it's the other way around. White man bad, Black man good.

thanks sjwmusic for your enlightened opinion

no one will miss you

yeero what the hell dude

Sint's av is me reading Gyro's comment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5VcHFlX-08

Good review. Pretty much says what I feel on first listen. Worth buying though flawed.

Album Rating: 3.5

Thanks! And yes, definitely flawed, but there are songs on here that I really do like, and even if the album as a whole doesn't hold up, I'll be returning to those songs.

Album Rating: 5.0 | Sound Off

white man: *commits slavery and lynchings and segregation and kkk and systemic discrimination and so on*

black man: *kills white man*

gyromania: "why black man gotta be so racist?!"

Album Rating: 2.5

I felt I couldn't relate at all to this. I thought it was a joke album but...is it supposed to be serious?

Album Rating: 3.0

Decided to bump this up. Corniness be damned, it's catchy as hell.

Album Rating: 2.5

Remember how corny hero of war by rise against was? Imagine an entire album like that!



Also good god the userbase of Sputnik

Fun fact: not walking into someone’s under construction garage is highly correlated with lower chances of getting shot!

Also I’m not coming back to this thread but the dumbasses still deserve time because he left before they killed him. That’s the time for a police report. But he wasn’t just out jogging, he’s on video going into their garage.

Album Rating: 1.5 | Sound Off

Those men had zero right to shoot him and should face justice for taking the law into their own hands.



That being said, the video does alter the narrative. Celebrities like Lebron James are preaching a narrative that instances like this are cases that prove that any African American leaving their home are at risk for randomly being targeted and even killed at no fault of their own.



Based on the new video evidence, Ahmaud Arbery may not have just been a random jogger, he most likely was somewhere he was not supposed to be.



He did not deserve to die. Those men should not have confronted him. Those men deserve to be tried for their actions.



The narrative that continually is pushed to fear monger and drive division that African Americans are far more likely at risk to be randomly targeted without cause is suspect and disingenious when the cases being propped up simply don't fit that narrative. Case in point the Michael Brown incident in Ferguson Missouri as well.

Album Rating: 3.5

"Decided to bump this up. Corniness be damned, it's catchy as hell."

Glad you're coming around on it.

Album Rating: 3.0

The melody in Torn in the USA is too damn catchy. I know people hate Flyover State but I feel the same way about that song. When it's all processed cheese, all that matters is how much you like the music I guess.

Regarding the political nature of the album, the discussion has been centered around Arbery because of the timing of this release, but that's not what the lyrics are actually about. I'm a centrist at heart which usually just makes me the target of both sides, but here goes anyway: I can see why this would annoy some people because even though it claims it wants to "get the discussion rolling" or "get Americans talking" (or whatever BS was used in the press release to market this), he really only pushes one side of the story, which is "the racist ignorant white male christian republican who needs to be enlightened/saved/see the error of his ways." I think a quality political rock opera would raise questions rather than simply trying to tell listeners who to blame. Addressing racism/homophobia/xenophobia should certainly be part of it, but that's hardly all that's wrong with America - more and better points/questions need to be raised, and from both sides - right-wingers and liberal elites need to realize that neither is infallible. I think all this album serves to do is pat the latter on the back and enrage the former, to the point at which I'd say this album actually works against its own interests and accomplishes the opposite of what it sets out to do. No one is going to listen to this and think oh, wow, can't believe I've been wrong all this time - better start checking my privilege. Of course, we already knew that this was lyrically vanilla/cliche, so I guess it's a moot point. For the record, I'm not trying to suggest that values need to be forfeited in order to reach some imaginary oasis in the middle of the spectrum, but just that we've forgotten how to respectfully interact across the aisle. An album that addresses that would have my full support/interest/money.

Album Rating: 3.5

I feel like that's a valid point when it relates to genuine political disagreements like, for instance, how to approach gun control, or even *maybe*, how to regulate abortion, as long as that discussion is in good-faith.

But how does it relate to people so fundamentally disconnected that they're willing to carry Nazi flags or call the people who do "very fine people"? If 75 years of America telling itself that it's #1 because it kicked the Nazis' asses isn't enough to convince some "patriotic" Americans not to become neo-Nazis, then it's pretty fair to assume that no rock opera, no matter how good, is going to get the job done either.

That's my issue, Sowing. People purport to want to open a dialogue, but just look at this trashy album that focuses on one very cliched side and doubles down on stereotypes. And then you have people who say shit like "white man: *commits slavery and lynchings and segregation and kkk and systemic discrimination and so on*". People are adept at living in the past and perpetuating guilt and racism all the while (ironically) claiming to want to do away with it. Like, who the hell is going to have a positive response to this album's bastardized messages, or any kind of guilt-tripping.