Album Rating: 3.5

I've become pretty disillusioned about the power of messages in music thanks to discovering that Paul Ryan lists RATM as one of his favourite bands.

Album Rating: 1.5 | Sound Off

True, but I also fundamentally believe you can like artwork and music, appreciate it without necessarily agreeing with the message. I think the idea you can only appreciate and be a fan of music/art only if you condone that artists message is very exclusionary.



Good art should draw people in from varying backgrounds, and good political commentary in art should be persuasive to your viewpoint.

Album Rating: 3.5

I'm not saying that music can't be good and have a message. I'm saying that the messaging itself is generally pointless because if the music is good enough then people will find a way to overlook the message, and if the music isn't good then people won't listen anyway. Either way you're always only preaching to the choir and not persuading anyone else's viewpoint.

Album Rating: 1.5 | Sound Off

That's fair, you'll have people who are only into something for what they want out of it and throw out the rest. I really like Gridlocks from this, that's the sole standalone track for me so far.

Album Rating: 1.5 | Sound Off

I mean I love RATM and disagree with a lot of their politics lol especially when they preach of the evils of capitalism but are completely fine with partnering with Ticketmaster and having their cocnert tickets go for nearly $200 a pop for nosebleeds.

Album Rating: 3.5

" really like Gridlocks from this, that's the sole standalone track for me so far."

Yeah, Gridlocks and Pretty Crazy are the standouts for me. It makes sense that they were the singles. "Torn in the USA" and "Out in the Open" have grown on me too despite the lyrics. That outro solo...damn. I wish I had a 10th of Butch's musical ability.



"dude how hasnt the onion gone out of business already

Lol! Right? I think they dropped the satire tag and just started reporting the news as-is.

Album Rating: 1.5 | Sound Off

The solos are impressive on this, I just find a majority of the tracks to be very campy and corny: Flyover State, Torn in the USA and Everything White being the primary guilty parties.



"Freedom dumb my way" uh what?

Album Rating: 3.5

Yeah, that lyric and hook are easily the lowest point of the album for me. When I listened to the album without watching the film and reading the lyrics some of the other songs redeemed themselves somewhat because the music is good ("Fuck It" and "Torn in the USA" mainly) but "Flyover State" is pretty irredeemable.

Album Rating: 1.5 | Sound Off

I agree, I think the album goes much better with visual representation, but even so, a lot of the visual movie component feels like a high school/college indie film then a well thought out film adaptation of the album.



I think anytime you add a visual component you have to go all in or don't, and with something as ambitious as this I find a lot of the film to be very lackluster and I think a lot more needed to go into this to have it done right.



But hey, he gambled and put together the film companion to this, props to him, I just find that it seems to cut corners and be very flimsy more than the times where it hits home with the music.