Manchester Orchestra The Million Masks of God
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Pheromone
May 1st 2021


21850 Comments


i love you

Rowan5215
Emeritus
May 1st 2021


48421 Comments

Album Rating: 3.7

couldn't really love you anymore



you've become my phero

Pheromone
May 1st 2021


21850 Comments


woah nice

i will now jam black mile again

theBoneyKing
May 1st 2021


24890 Comments


Should I check this Dad?

Pheromone
May 1st 2021


21850 Comments


yes son,

but it's boring

Sowing
Moderator
May 1st 2021


45535 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

"OK Sowing, just gave this record my third listen focusing mainly on narrative, and on where the fable of where the Boy That Cried Wolf comes in, here's what I got. All very premature, of course.

So, I find the end of Inaudible pretty striking. "Are you clean but finally forsaken? Are you washing it out with your hands?" This record begins in the aftermath of some sin, where the narrator is cleansed by the fallout. As we can gleam from the title of the record, this is a record that centers around hard-earned revelation and recompense. Also significant to the concept is that there is a lot of mirroring in Inaudible, which has already been roundly made fun of by Rowan. But, paying attention to meaning and not quality, this line strikes me as relevant "I jump you like an animal. You bite back like an animal." Notice, of course, the comparison of him and his wife(?) to animals, and that Hull is the one who initiates the action, causing the other to mirror him.

The 'all I do is repeat myself' segment is evidently quite crucially important as it is repeated very prominently in the record, and it shows Hull very self-centered, a pit of bottomless need. Those lyrics shift in an intriguing way at the end of dinosaur though: "So love me now, cause I just can't redeem myself...From all my faults I blame on someone else." Building on from that, in the internet, Hull has a line comparing himself to an autograph, and comparing the subject to the internet, again re-affirming that he's wrapped in ego, while what he's encountering is literally the container of all knowledge, revelation itself. Naturally, the track ends with Hull gaining clarity from the encounter. "Unframe my mess. Untrain my eyes. Untame my head."

In the final seconds, the fable is repeated again, with perhaps his actual daughter speaking, stating that the boy who cried wolf was lying about the wolf, but that there actually was a wolf an it ate all the sheep. And, I think it's apparent that the boy who cried Wolf is Andy himself, who, as stated in Dinosaur, placed the burden of his faults on others, blaming them for his own mistakes, making them the wolf, as the mirroring of the intro track suggests, while he himself is the one responsible for damaging his loved ones. "All the time I thought I was right" is the final line, stating Andy was delusional and truly thought that others were the wolf, and not himself. It's in that state of heavy revelation that rebuilding or fresh starts can begin, which may be the concept a lot of the lightness within this record is reflecting.

Record is starting to grow on me, despite my gripes."



I'm in love with this interpretation. Thank you.

nol
May 1st 2021


12280 Comments


"You know that everyone who ranks this below a 3 gets a lifetime ban, don't you?"
its true


JohnnyoftheWell
May 1st 2021


64287 Comments


all about toeing that line, y'all are brave

Demon of the Fall
May 1st 2021


39056 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

I was leaning towards a 3, but this revelation is making me want to 2.5 it.

Toondude10
May 1st 2021


15372 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

Sowing's getting his machine gun filled with bans

MarsKid
Emeritus
May 1st 2021


21057 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

Who said I'm getting banned

DDDeftoneDDD
May 1st 2021


23526 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

IIIIIIIII

BELIIIIIIIIEVE

YOU WERE CRAAAAAAAZY

Groundking
May 1st 2021


2436 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

We needed at least one proper rocker in the second half to break up the pace a bit, but other than that they've smashed it again.

Larkinhill
May 1st 2021


8315 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

YOUUUUU BELIIIEEEVED YOU LOOOOVED MEEE

Calc
Contributing Reviewer
May 2nd 2021


18036 Comments


this is so good I need to recheck the back catalog to see what the hell I'm missing


Knott-
Emeritus
May 2nd 2021


10259 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

ThEy StIlL sOuNd LiKe A mIx Of ThE mOsT uNaDvEnTuRoUs ElEmEnTs Of A lOaD oF oThEr BaNdS -

lIkE tHe SaFeSt PaRtS oF eVeRy AnTlErS/fLeEt FoXeS/sIlVeRsUn PiCkUpS/hAlF mOoN rUn/My

MoRnInG jAcKeT aLbUm ShOvEd In A bLeNdEr. VaNiLlA iNdIe SmOoThIe.

Knott-
Emeritus
May 2nd 2021


10259 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

This is really, really good. It's not perfect - some of the pacing issues people have mentioned are definitely a thing. But it's a genuine transformation for the band. It opens up some doors to new sounds and new structures for them. And Hull is amazing on this. His performance reminded me of Kensrue's on Thrice's Beggars... suddenly with a range and poise he's always shown flashes of. He's never been a one-dimensional vocalist, obviously, but he carries this album on his fucking back.

Rowan5215
Emeritus
May 2nd 2021


48421 Comments

Album Rating: 3.7

"We needed at least one proper rocker in the second half to break up the pace a bit"



...Dinosaur?



but tbh as much as this is growing on me I really think the choice to lump all the stylistically similar songs together did more harm than good

Groundking
May 2nd 2021


2436 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

Nooo Dinosaur is way too slow, needed something a bit more upbeat.

Pikazilla
May 2nd 2021


32373 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

ThEy StIlL sOuNd LiKe A mIx Of ThE mOsT uNaDvEnTuRoUs ElEmEnTs Of A lOaD oF oThEr BaNdS -

lIkE tHe SaFeSt PaRtS oF eVeRy AnTlErS/fLeEt FoXeS/sIlVeRsUn PiCkUpS/hAlF mOoN rUn/My

MoRnInG jAcKeT aLbUm ShOvEd In A bLeNdEr. VaNiLlA iNdIe SmOoThIe.



did someone seriously say that



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