@Marinatchae
I don't like the expression "to sell out." I haven't listened to this album but I've heard several "sell out" albums and I just think that at some point we gotta stop being naive and judge from a spoiled inhuman consumer perspective. Fans often react as if making music was an easy way to earn a living and also as if musicians owed us something for liking their music when actually, our behavior is selfish at its utmost. How many bands are stuck in a formula because their fans who "love" them just shit on every single album they pull out which does not correspond to what the latter expect from the former and consider good ? I'm not saying that we should be happy when a band we love releases shit music to make some money. I'm just saying, there's still other albums to come if the band doesn't fall appart because of the "fans" hate. And surely, they're aware they're not making their greatest album, just like In Flames probably knew what they were doing with that one.
Also, this idea of "selling out" can go as far as forcing the band to "sell out" to their fans' desire in order to survive, and in that case you have a band which is applauded for actually doing what they were accused of when they just followed their heart. How many "let's go back to our roots" albums do you think are more heartfelt than desperate or cynical ?

A Sense of Purpose. Hm. Yeah. That'd be nice.

Thanks to the couple to few who actually engaged in some decent discussion instead of resorting to uselessly petty insults.

The review is certainly controversial in approach, and I think it's probably evident that I didn't give this my all. I was more so interested in starting a dialogue on the possibility of a band intentionally making a bad album for the sake of making money, a concept that sounds incredibly presumptuous and hard to prove but I didn't think it'd inspire such ire.

And to the people who voted that my review was not well written, that isn't something that bothers me. I'm not sure if those votes have any real significance on a site where any user to press 'yes' or 'no' - but for those who said it wasn't well written, I would very much appreciate some constructive feedback.

what is your username a reference to?

Album Rating: 3.0

the thing is, when 'sellout' albums are actually good and well-executed people don't complain as much. Crapping out radio-friendly singles and foregoing creative songwriting for easy digestibility, though--that's when the phrase begins to have some validity to it.

They factor into your overall approval rating. Which is really only useful as a masturbatory aid.

@deathschool Ah ah ah, damn I nearly asked that question because it made think of the film Martin Hache.

i only masterbate to the time i caught my dog humping the christmas ham

@Kevin: I hear you, man. I think perhaps I misrepresented my intentions when I used 'sell-out' - i put it in quotations because it's what others tend to say about these artists. I'm on the side of the artist in rationalizing them making more streamlined music, either for profit or because they enjoy doing it. In the case of In Flames I think it was the former. I'm pretty sure even they had some self-deprecating remarks about it in interviews.

Thank you for your comment.

that's a weird thing to model your username after.

Lmao @Kevin that was actually where I got it from. I couldn't figure out what to use for a username so I rearranged the letters in that and omitted an h. One of my favourite movies.

@zaruyache
"the thing is, when 'sellout' albums are actually good and well-executed people don't complain as much. Crapping out radio-friendly singles and foregoing creative songwriting for easy digestibility, though--that's when the phrase begins to have some validity to it."

Yeah but that's what happens when you wanna enlarge your "fanbase." So I don't know what's better. Doing an awful album ultra radio friendly and then going back to something more substantial, or bastardizing your sound for good ?

Going back to something "substantial" will likely just lose you the fans you brought in in the first place, unless you manage to do so while keeping the elements that drew them in

@ Marinatchae WTF!? ha ha ha ha, I loved that movie too. Love the actors and... everything. And it was suggested to me by a spanish woman I fancied quite a bit. No, nothing sexual happened between us sorry to disappoint you, I was too.
But my point it is a huge coincidence for me to meet someone who knows that film and it's quite funny.

@elcrawfodor Well, I suppose that' what the bands usually try to do. You know, two firsts albums go in a radical direction, then third one expand the sound and try to have a more mainstream appeal and fourth is where you're out of ideas. :p

Yeah dude, I'm actually really blown away that you got that right off the bat lol. i didn't think anybody would ever guess that, because I've yet to come across another person who's seen the movie.

the first page of comments on this review is spectacular

Album Rating: 4.0

Bad review, album is also amazing

Probably won't be sticking around here. Didn't realize this site was full of snobby douches who leave meaningless criticisms like 'bad review'

Album Rating: 2.0

That will show us