Album Rating: 3.9 | Sound Off

--shit's like the harry potter egg jukebox that is only listenable underwater--



deep lore

Song sounded better out of the water

Album Rating: 3.0

Declension Choads

Album Rating: 4.5

Production has grown on me. I think it has to do with the headphones I've been using. When I listen on my open backed it's too difused, on my iems it sounds good. It's still veiled but it works, same on one pair of closed backs I have. On everything else it sounds pretty shit.



I think it's a beautiful album that needed TiA production, there are a lot of details that make it an enjoyable.



I wonder how much of it's veil has to do with wanting to draw attention away from both Sean's being gone. Probably been said in prior comments, but I was walking my new pup and it the sound just settled in.



The segways are actually pretty nice on this. Usual woo-woo bullshit, but it works..

I usually chalk up complaints about production so soon into an albums life cycle as people not being that interested in listening to what’s there…curious listeners will come around.

There’s definitely some “not an electronic musician trying to do electronic music things” that just come across as failed moments (Blut Aus Nord is another example of this…), but I end up not minding them in the context of the atmosphere (same with BAN).

^ great record, yah

Album Rating: 4.5

better with every listen, wonderful record to end the year on

I dunno if anyone says it, usually it was the Sean's getting the praise, but Paul Masvidal is the fkn man hard

Album Rating: 4.5

Yeah this has only gotten better for me



Paul is a musical genius

hard [2]

I actually TOTALLY agree about the interludes being quite lovely - the parts I was referring to are wrapped up in your complaint about the "washed effect"...they way the synths are voiced/spatialized around the instrumental tones and electric drum samples have moments of dissociation from their source in a way that's definitely more distracting than immersive.

Which is basically what you just said haha...for me though, it's not the lack of clarity in the overall image that's distracting, its the mental trigger that I am "noticing" the moment something goes from being an instrument to a sound effect, or vice-versa, to something in-between...electronic/pop artists that mix those paradigms spend entire careers making that work. Here, it just feels like something not being paid attention to, a bit of an unruly artifact in the overall process.

Totally not "that" noticeable, agreed...it's a nitpick at best haha - still a REALLY lovely record.

regardless of anything else - excellent Christmas hat. 5/5

definitely better than that atrocity from 2014

Album Rating: 4.5

it's great is what it is

The single is my fave here but parts of aurora got quite stuck in my head pretty quick.

I enjoy the mixing and like the decision to mass track everything. It's washy and masked but I still really like it.

Sounds to me like Paul having fun writing again, like I can feel his enjoyment in those many layered guitars and space vox

Yeah, I cried to this week 1. Not sure what’s wrong with me, but also - agreed.

I knew a lot of it, but not quite to that extent...thanks for sharing your energy :]

Album Rating: 4.5

HELLS YEAH OCTAGON BUMP THAT SHIT UP BABY YOU KNOW ITS RIGHT



also completely on the same page with you about how tragic and heartbreaking the entire situation surrounding the band is and how much vulnerability and beauty and emotion Paul put into this. Also kudos to the other 2 guys for fitting in flawlessly

Fantano's review was basically

Too much shoegaze vocals

Too much filler interludes

2/10

Someone tell him that he should not review prog albums anymore. He's a mofo analyzing the genre.