Album Rating: 4.5

having tried cosmic elsewhere, i think part of what makes that song so successful in the track 5 slot is it's the first moment on the album we hear the vocoded vox. it feels a lot more special coming before easier and ordinary

Album Rating: 5.0

Odd take but this might be the second best thing they ever did next to City of Evil [2]



This an City of Evil are all I care about by this band

Album Rating: 5.0

… no waking the fallen? : [



I’ll forever have a soft spot for that record because it’s probably the first time I ever heard screamed vocals like that. But to this day I still think it’s one of metalcore’s bright spots, certainly the best of the more melodic kind of metalcore that was all the rage around that time

Album Rating: 4.5

i like waking the fallen more than city prob but they are def this bands top 3 along w this

Album Rating: 5.0

And that’s a really good point about the vocoder vocals onion. I was really not expecting that, and if you had told me pre release that they were going back to “autotune” after the fucking Lost chorus I would not have been thrilled.



But it’s just so perfectly used here. Where it just kinda felt like they half assed it and shoehorned it in before.

Album Rating: 4.5

they sounded great when i saw them!!! Save Me was peak. the big tracks went hard for the whole arena (Afterlife, Nightmare, even HttK lmfao). surprisingly Bat Country was not among those??? like idk, the reaction seemed tepid. new stuff sounded fantastic...except for Cosmic sighhhhhhh. idk if it was the overall mix or just my location but the autotune drowned everything else out pretty egregiously. it became more of a visual experience at that point. at least the high notes at the end of the vocal passage were sung normally so there was some saving grace. i checked out some other live vids and it def sounded better in other locations.



honestly really just sad that i wasnt on the floor with the super fans. i dont mind bleachers in a vaccuum but rather because there is rarely any singing along save for myself lol and when it comes to the big tracks. watching more live vids from the floor and everyone ate up EVERYTHING from new to old and that's so hype to me. will def try again for the floor at some point. still really happy i went. The Stage was another big highlight, it sounded massive. it was that professional live video of them on a building that made me really love this track in the first place so it def shines live.

Album Rating: 4.5

surprised Almost Easy hasn't been a staple. also would've loved Buried Alive and So Far Away but not more than Save Me so this was definitely the right leg for me

Album Rating: 4.5

i have 2 interpretations of my ranking for these guys





this > The Stage > Nightmare > WtF > A7X > CoE > StST > HttK

or

Nightmare > WtF > this > The Stage and the rest is the same



depends on how nostalgic im feeling.

Album Rating: 5.0

awh bummer about cosmic.



What I want most from this band is to do a tour like the Metallica one happening rn. Openers are popular as hell in their own right, not a lot of dates. But you play maybe 10-15 cities across the country, but do two nights with no replays. It would give them the chance to bust out some seriously underrated and underplayed songs while still being able to do all the hits for the casual fans



Probably not gonna happen but I would travel ANYWHERE if they ever could pull something like that together

Album Rating: 5.0

"surprised Almost Easy hasn't been a staple."



if i were to guess i'd say they prob retired this one because shadows can't sing it anymore. seems way out of his range at this point and they have enough bangers at this point to not be forced to.

Album Rating: 5.0

I think that’s generally gonna be the case with Nightmare and s/t tracks. He sounded great throughout the show but he definitely struggled most with Afterlife and Nightmare.



I didn’t really notice him on Save Me but that’s because I was so focused on literally everything else lol.



I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t really play much of their singles from that era. Almost Easy, Scream, and Welcome to the Family specifically.

Album Rating: 4.0

I love how heavy they’re leaning into Cosmic now. By far my favourite song from this album.

Album Rating: 5.0

[2]

goat avenged sevenfold track and I’ve been a fan for like 15 years now. It’s wild they dropped something so high quality at this stage in their careers.

Album Rating: 5.0

also wanna point out that tracks like Roman Sky and Higher walked so Cosmic could run. I feel like that track was the only natural progression from The Stage. As much as people will call this record “progressive”, it’s not at all similar to The Stage imo… Cosmic is the only song that I feel like would be a natural fit on that record.

Album Rating: 5.0

The Trax podcast just did an episode on Cosmic btw, I’ve only listened to the first 20 minutes but there’s a lot of interesting stuff in there.



Evidently Brian has been playfully kicking around the “loved so many times, and in so many lives, sometimes we got it right” vocal melody for like 15 years. And they worked in what was a joke into one of the most powerful lyrical moments in their discography.



This record has really reignited my love for this band.