Album Rating: 3.5

In a recent interview Chris stated Sulynn merely added a few melodic guitar lines here and there and wasn't part of the writing process as much as she was on Victory Lap. He had to write most of the lead and secondary guitar parts, with the exception of Todd's songs which he writes on his own.



Also there's no way this is worst than Less Talk More Rock as the ratings suggest. Check out the album with the track order I suggested and it's closer to classic Propagandhi imo

I’ve never been a fan of reordering records, I’d like to think the band ordered it that way for a reason. More power to you if you enjoy doing that tho

Album Rating: 3.5

I mean, very often it also comes down to producer suggestions and such. Many bands don't really pay much attention to track order or even care much, which is terrible because it's such an important factor to listening a full length.



There are many examples of albums totally destroyed by awful tracklists. A Perfect Circle's Eat the Elephant is an obvious example of that. Anberlin's most recent album was also slapped together in the worst way possible (ignoring the actual rollout which was also dumb). Imo it can either break or make an album so that's why I tend to figure out a decent tracklist that can keep you engaged.

Interrupting all the egregious whining right quick to say I love this album, y'all can continue now googoo gaga

I mean I’m sure it happens with bigger producers but this band comes from the DIY punk scene and they’ve always been very deliberate with their albums, I can’t imagine this is much different.

Album Rating: 3.5

^Yeah you’re totally right about that. This may be the outlier in that regard for me.



I might bump this. It’s growing on me heavily.

There's a bunch of riffs I really like here

Album Rating: 2.5

Im not entirely sure how simply rearranging the song order can transform a mid album into a great album? What sorcery is that?

Album Rating: 4.0

No issues with the track order here, nor with the album as a whole. It may help to forget about their previous discog but this is a highly enjoyable, though somewhat contained, intelligent punk & guitar record. Had this on during commute the past three days, love it.

Album Rating: 2.5

They just consistently set incredibly high standards. As a massive fan of Prop I find impossible to overlook, but you're right, their body of work and my expectations definitely contribute to my score.

Album Rating: 4.0

not getting the hate on this. vocals are maybe a bit off in a few tracks but they are just aging. riffs for days.

Album Rating: 3.5

"Im not entirely sure how simply rearranging the song order can transform a mid album into a great album? What sorcery is that?"



While subjective, there are also guidelines to sequence a full length album. It's literally part of the producing process. The songs are never slapped together randomly because obviously it will have impact on pacing and flow, and the overall impression of the body of work.

Album Rating: 2.5

I understand what you're saying but mid songs are still mid songs, the flow of an album is absolutely irrelevant if it has nothing to work with. it doesn't matter how carefully you arrange and slice it. Besides what if I only want to listen to a couple of songs? Surely albums live or die by the quality of their songs? Not the flow. In my humble opinion.

Album Rating: 5.0

Bad

Album Rating: 3.5

@Shogun Fair enough. For me it does affect the quality of my listening experience. Maybe I’m too ocd in that regard. To give a clear example, “God of Avarice” is one of my favorite songs here, but it’s a bit overshadowed by “Stargazer”, which is a clear standout style and music wise. So a slow burn song following that doesn’t work for me. I placed “God of Avarice” before and a faster song right after “Stargazer” and to me it just flows way better and therefore I enjoy it better (I actually don’t think there’s a single bad song here). Those are the kind of things I notice.



Since the keys change constantly and there’s no continuous lyrical theme I just take the liberty to change it. With concept albums is like a take it or leave it sort of thing.

Album Rating: 3.5

riffs for days [2]

Album Rating: 3.5

Pretty sure I dig this more than Victory Lap.

Album Rating: 4.5

No idea why people are being so hard on this one. The first 4 tracks are all AMAZING. Maybe only 1 or 2 weaker tracks in the line-up? But nothing outright bad. Amazing riffs throughout. Poignant subject matter, mixed with meaningful reflections on growing older. This band is as great as ever.

Album Rating: 2.5

After listening to this more than once, I kind of just wish they would have given us an entire album in the style of Stargazing instead of the album we actually got.

I REALLY just wish this was a good album overall. Sadly, its just not good. No urgency, lyrics are kind of lame. Stargazing and Prismatic Spray both have cool lyrics, but most of the lyrical content besides those two songs is not great. The stuff about "people don't mean it when they pray" or the dog in a lake metaphor song, it is seriously just the kind of stuff you'd expect college students to be going on about. Its tired, cliche, and not really very interesting. Being wrapped up in politics takes its toll on a person and by age 50 it just all becomes a bit sad and I think unfortunately we are starting to see that process being reflected in their output.

Hey if Noodles like this, it could be good. (okay above it was just a Noodle user). I remember hearing that single and being all huh that is aggressive. Maybe the "Dissent of Man" of Bad Religion could be interesting for this band if all this is, but I just maybe later. I'll check it out.