Personally, I haven’t ever gotten into any of these guys’ material, and haven’t even heard anything from this, so I’m just playing with any criticism of the lyrics (as ass as they may be).

That, and the microwave lyric makes me picture dude’s approach to using a microwave as similar to that of a toddler’s approach to using a computer keyboard.

Album Rating: 3.5 | Sound Off

The actual messages behind their lyrics have always been pretty hollow and thinly veiled. That isn't what we are talking about (at least not in my case). I'm talking about the words used themselves. The means by which they transmit their puddle deep messages. Just off the top of my head, Salem, Fell in Love With a Ghost, It Seems, etc. all have really fucking good lyrics in terms of mainstream rock at the very least. Are there messages very deep? Not really. Are they at conveyed well? Yes, imo. Then looking at self-titled, the lyrics are even more thinly veiled, but the way they flow from line to line makes it interesting. Christ Copyright, despite being the most obvious message ever, has lyrics that are rhythmically pleasant. Stories even has Fade In/Fade Out, which doesn't try to make it's lyrics interesting, but they are at least heartfelt.

The most important part of all of this is that their lyrics were never "bad." They never ruined a song, and sometimes they were actually pretty damn good. Then get to Spirits. There isn't a single set of lyrics I can say something good about. None of them do anything interesting. At best they are mediocre like on Tired of Winning, and at worst they are "put me in a microwave," "call out the fake," or the entirety of Deja Vu. Do these bad lyrics make these songs entirely bad? Sometimes. Are they worse than anything off of the previous albums? It's a matter of opinion ig, but I would say absolutely. Do they bring down the album as a whole? Yes absolutely. Is the album bad? No.

Album Rating: 3.5

Never listened to this band but so far I feel like I could enjoy them...but do all their albums sound this bad? It reminds me of that Incubus album "8". Nothing breaths and the mix is just so muddy.

Album Rating: 4.0

Rather enjoyed this, Dream With Me is a big song!

Album Rating: 4.5

Interesting discussion about the lyrics. I haven't looked into their meaning, but fundamentally I rather like how the one liners and phrases work with the songwriting and instrumentation. If anything I feel like the vocalist's passion and unique vocal delivery increase the lyrically impact significantly.

Album Rating: 4.5

The opening few minutes to Valhalla gave me chills the first time I heard it. I love the off kilter ascending riff that fades out the track too.

Album Rating: 4.5

I continue to be pretty impressed by these guys. For a band that could be lumped in with Papa Roach, they insist on experimenting and playing around with their songwriting and structures. If this gets any radio play I'd be incredibly impressed.

Y'all are wildly wrong, this sounds like if the Doom soundtrack had lyrics written by a 14 year old atheist. Big loud pile of fucking nonsense and jun riffs and it's the best record they've ever made.

Album Rating: 4.5

Turn It Up Like, Don't Look Back, Valhalla, and Spirits are absolute barn stormer 10 / 10 songs for me. The rest of the tracks range from good - excellent. Really enjoying this release =)

"this sounds like if the Doom soundtrack had lyrics written by a 14 year old atheist"

Is this a good thing or a bad thing

"Is this a good thing or a bad thing"
Yes.

Album Rating: 4.5

Track Ranking:

1. Turn it up like

2. Spirits

3. Don't Look Back

4. The Other F Word

5. Valhalla

6. Face It

7. Dream With Me

8. Tired Of Winning

9. Ships in the Night

10. Deja Vu

11. Best Times

13. Neverland

My big three are Deja Vu, Don’t Look Back and Face It

Want something to work at the push of a buuttooon

Album Rating: 3.0

They will probably never top their self titled

Album Rating: 4.0

While the lyrics kind of declined, not that much in maturity, but in diversity of expression/metaphors, I can't even wrap my head around how one can't love the hooks of this album. I love Spirits, The other F word, Valhalla, and Face it. I really dig how they upped the heaviness and energy, much to the expense of their overall sound diversity (which I don't care about that much). I'll agree that in some cases I see them struggling to make a hook (like in Tired of Winning), but I can think of instances where that happened in past releases (First Punch/If I Were/Who we Are), so I think the argument doesn't justify bringing the album down enough.

The true minuses is: lack of more maturely phrased themes, and a lack of dynamic range (lot of compression and constant loudness). Other than that I think it easily beats Stories, which had way more filler and not enough cohesiveness, which is a total L since the 80+ interludes in there were just for the sake of cohesiveness.

Album Rating: 4.0

I very much get some of the dislike for this album, but man is this the album I've been wanting them to put out for a while now. Cut down on the more generic radio rock singles ("You Don't Know What Love Means", "Best Times"), upped their progressive and heavier aspects ("Valhalla", "Don't Look Back", "Turn It Up Like"), and cut down the track count for a more consistent album. I still think it'd be cool to see them go a bit heavier for a song or two, but there are some great songs I come back to a lot on here.

Album Rating: 3.5

new single out

Album Rating: 4.0

Singles aren't exactly looking great.. House on Sand must be my fav so far, the other two seem kind of forgettable in the context of their discography. And what's with the weird samples? Those "aaah"s in angel song really bug me, lol. Hope I can grow into it