Review Summary: Snore, but alright.
It's been 4 years since I wrote my original review of this album. I was a high-schooler then; a hormonal mess, letting my emotions run wild and guide the way rather than my intellect, and given the current negs and the comments below, you could tell. In looking back, I got to thinking about how much I've personally changed, and this album came to mind. So, now that I'm not the idiot I was back then, I thought I'd rewrite this review, as sort of an apology for leaving my lengthy pretentious bitch-fest of a review here for so long.
Okay, now that we have that out of the way, I'll just say it: I think this album...could've been better.
Now, I can already here the boos from the people who read the original review, but hear me out first. As any run-of-the-mill album, it's good, but as a motW album, it's just not up to par with the other albums we know and love them for.
The album itself is good. It's more dynamic than I remember, but that's mostly because what I remember was "WHERE R DA BR00TLZ?" The production is nice, Driver's compositions are outstanding, and it's jazzy with a wide variety of instruments used, which would give any self-respecting fedora-wearing music nerd an aural orgasm. It's a bit more upbeat than motW's other songs, so definitely an interesting creative direction.
Of course, then we have to come to why I don't like it as much as everyone else seems to. The answer is: it's just not very emotional for me. Yes, the album seems like the perfect one for me on paper, but in execution, it just didn't seem to come together all the way. When I said it's more dynamic, it's really more in the song structures and arrangements than anything else, which is disappointing for any full-length album in general. As a motW album as well, it doesn't seem to come together. It just seems too controlled and too neat to feel like maudlin, if that makes any sense. It seems more like a primer to the maudlin discography rather another entry into it, which is also disappointing.
I can understand why people like it. It's melodic, feels nice on the eardrums, has more variety than your average radio station does, but it just doesn't seem to do it for me. Over the past 4 years, I've re-listened to Bath and Leaving Your Body Map more times than I count, and never once did it feel old, but I can't see myself replaying this one for any reason other than personal self-reflection. I will give it credit for that; it did show me how much of a petulant entitled prick I was as a high-schooler, but it doesn't seem to do much else for me, honestly speaking.
Sorry, internet. I'm sorry I still don't like Part the Second all that much.
P.S. Oh, and sorry for being so subjective. I remember you guys hated that.
Recommended Tracks:
Another Excerpt: Keep Light Near You, Even When Dying
(that bass line, man)
Laboratories of the Invisible World (Rollerskating the Cosmic Palmistric Postborder)
(the guitar harmonies)
