I was gonna buy a couple songs off of itunes from this but only the first two songs are available for sale and I don't want those two the others sound better but I can't buy a whole album right now damn.

Album Rating: 2.5

Just listen to the songs on youtube, they're easily available



And nice comment Philalethes, yeah it definitely loses the essence of the genres it is influenced by. The violin noodling is pretty bad too

Album Rating: 4.0

it's their first album



how many debuts sound as accomplished as this does? hardly any that i've heard



the issues will sort themselves out as this band goes forward

Album Rating: 2.5

Aspid - Extravasation

Integrity - Those Who Fear Tomorrow

Morbid Angel - Altars of Madness

Celtic Frost - Morbid Tales

Entombed - Left Hand Path

Iron Maiden - s/t

Led Zeppelin - s/t

Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced?

Megadeth - Killing is my Business...

Agalloch - Pale Folklore

Candlemass - Epicus Doomicus Metallicus

Mogwai - Young Team

GYBE - debut

The Chameleons - Script of the Bridge

Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures





Some debut albums in my library that all blow this album out of the water. There are plenty more too

Album Rating: 3.0

"lol this Core? Core music is usually labelled 'core' because it derives from Hardcore"



lol at reading comprehension. I think I made it pretty clear what I think "core" music means. In my opinion its not just break downs. It more importantly is watered down music that was derived from a more extreme genre. This is mainly because of its use simple poppy chord progressions. We have seen popular music get progressively heavier over the years, as distortion and even screaming has become more acceptable. This is where all your Van's Warped tour and Hot Topic bands come in. This band is doing a very similar thing by presenting elements of black metal and progressive music, but underneath is essentially just basic pop structures.

"This is also fairly new, and therefore has a lot less exposure. Those two albums have been subjected to a lot of listens by people that wouldn't typically frequent the genre. This one is still fairly underground, so for the most part, only people that are looking for these kinds of albums will find it, and they're more likely to enjoy it more"
^ Well fucking said.

And agreed, this is an outrageously well thought out piece of music as a debut LP.

Album Rating: 2.5

"Fun note: Zeppelin's debut was compiled of lots of stolen material."



Yeah, I know

Album Rating: 3.0

"it's their first album how many debuts sound as accomplished as this does? hardly any that i've heard"



This is a great point. I think that as a debut album, this band has a lot to be proud of. It is a good album, that does put most bands first releases to shame. I just don't understand holding this up anywhere near the standards that some of the other greats of progressive metal have produced yet. Its just not ground breaking enough, or does it contain enough substance.

Album Rating: 2.5

"lol at reading comprehension. I think I made it pretty clear what I think "core" music means. In my opinion its not just break downs. It more importantly is watered down music that was derived from a more extreme genre. This is mainly because of its use simple poppy chord progressions. We have seen popular music get progressively heavier over the years, as distortion and even screaming has become more acceptable. This is where all your Van's Warped tour and Hot Topic bands come in. This band is doing a very similar thing by presenting elements of black metal and progressive music, but underneath is essentially just basic pop structures."



check out this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdHJrg1W7Q0



proves that metalcore can have some balls and sound good

Superb album.

Album Rating: 3.0

I certainly don't mean to make it seem that being any type of core band is inherently bad either. Just that, to see a band that is being rated around 4.3 right now, I expect to hear an album that is of the quality of Lateralus, Jane Doe, Still Life, Crimson, or (sorry good review, but here I disagree) Colors. These were visionary albums, that were created with unique intentions, and realized to almost perfection. This band clearly stands on the cusp of a very unique sound. Until though, like this review said, they can come up some original riffs or memorable motifs they should be considered a band to be watched, not worshiped as the next "demigods of prog-metal".

Album Rating: 3.0

Actually I am a musicologist, and one of my areas of study right now is in how music evolves. I find this especially interesting in the many genres of metal, and specifically, am interested in how certain bands seem to spark entirely new genres. It is as if every so often a band is able to take all their various influences, and make a giant musical leap, creating a new sound that is so visionary that we come up with an entirely new descriptor for it. Enter Black Sabbath, Metallica, Slayer, Tool, Carcass, At the Gates, Meshuggah, Dillinger Escape Plan, Earth Crisis, what have you. So yeah, I guess I have no idea what I am talking about when it comes to Hardcore, Metalcore, Deathcore, Grindcore, Mathcore or any other core.

Album Rating: 3.0

You find The Great Misdirect to be the better album? That is very interesting. I think that BTBAM progressed very much as songwriters between those two albums, but as a whole, Colors is one of those rare albums that achieves a level of cohesiveness reserved for the truly classic albums of an era.



Here's to hoping that there new album will be great later this year.

yes, tools also.

Cuz I'm
hardcore

Don't make me
start war

You little
Cum whore

You've become
A general bore

If you think you're my one and only
I got four more

So spread legs
this forelore

Yeah I'm rotten
to the core

Cuz I'm
Hardcore

Fore shoar

Album Rating: 3.5

"Actually I am a musicologist"

Is that even a thing. Also, anybody who deals with anything in scientific manners does not throw around overzealous "arguments" like "These were visionary albums, that were created with unique intentions,"

Album Rating: 3.0

Ok, so I apologize if I was talking in layman's terms too much for you, but since most people don't have a back ground in music theory, I thought that I could get my point across better this way. This music isn't anywhere as inventive as many are making it out to be.



As a "black metal album", sure it has some blast beats and raspy screams, but no where to be found are its use of non-chromatic chord tones. True black metal loves to make use of common tone chromatic neighbors such as flat fifth chord, or chromatic mediants. Instead this music uses harmonic motion that is more similar to metalcore music like Killswitch Engage, which is often just standard diatonic music progressions revolving around tonic, submediant and dominant progressions.



And as a progressive album, again there isn't anything that inventive or memorable here. Opeth is a band that excels at creating music that often explores many strange modal progressions or uses unresolved dissonance as an unexpected rule and not an exception. This album again, is far too often very predictable, and for its long song length, increasingly boring as each part presents very standard diatonic ideas. Tapestry of the Starless.. is a perfect example. The classical guitar interlude that comes in around 4:30 starts off interesting enough, but then for 2 and 1/2 minutes continues on this VI-I progression. Again bludgeoning you to death with a simple relative major-relative minor progression with little motivic development that adds anything to the progression of the song overall. What you are left with is just a bunch of noodling on some very common guitar chords.



With out going in to extreme detail, I don't know how I can be anymore clear on how this band has more in common with other forms of dumbed down pop metal, than it does the greats of progressive metal. This band, as of yet, has no business being compared to the quality of any of the great bands that I have previously listed. They may in the future, but until then, like cyna1d3 said, this is just another criminally over rated band.

Album Rating: 3.0

"Actually I am a musicologist"

Is that even a thing.



Really? I sure hope so, or I wasted a lot of time and money in school getting my music theory and musicology degrees.

Album Rating: 3.0

Also, anybody who deals with anything in scientific manners does not throw around overzealous "arguments" like "These were visionary albums, that were created with unique intentions,"



Agreed. There is nothing truly scientific when it comes to rating of albums. However, when you get a large enough sample size over a long enough period of time, through the law of averages, the mean rating starts to plateau. I am not the one who single these albums out with this status. It is the countless charts and lists over the years that have done so.



So at this point, I think it becomes interesting to ask why do so many people consider Wish You Were Here, Some Kind of Blue, Revolver, or Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 14 to be "classic", "visionary", or "unique" pieces of music. You definitely can't scientifically prove that they are classic. But, when an overwhelming general consensus exists, from a musicologists or music theorist's stand point, it becomes interesting to try and dissect the common qualities of these albums in order to attempt to find out what it is that makes them "classic".

I'm hoping to begin taking music theory starting in the fall of 2013. I'm just learning guitar and recording stuff right now.