If I didn't care for their last one is there a chance I'll dig this?

Album Rating: 4.5

Aha I was literally just thinking of removing my GIR and replacing him with something a little less... neon. He can stay for now!



Jacqui to me, this is more like the last one than any others of theirs so possibly not but I think there's a few sections you might dig...

the single from this was laughably bad. does tosin have a fetish for making his music sound as sterile and empty as possible?

literally everything sounds like a guitar. the drums sound like guitars, the bass sounds like a guitar. it's infuriating

Album Rating: 3.5

lol

I should start listening to this band

Album Rating: 3.5

"the single from this was laughably bad. does tosin have a fetish for making his music sound as sterile and empty as possible?



literally everything sounds like a guitar. the drums sound like guitars, the bass sounds like a guitar. it's infuriating"



isn't this basically what happened with the whole djent trend? lol

Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off

Yeah the mixing is pretty distracting on some of these songs.



Private Vision is fantastic.

Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off

This is probably the first AAL album where I got hooked from the first listen and I recognized almost every song.

Album Rating: 3.5

Odd. Wasn't a fan of the singles, and was underwhelmed on first listen, but I listened again when I was a lot more laid-back last night and liked it considerably. The run of the last 3 songs is heavenly.



I do wish every once in a while that the songwriting was a little bit stronger though, and that's not speaking on their technical skill at all.



Need a few more spins. Seeing them live on Saturday!

Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off

This feels too machine-like / technical in places, and there're less interesting electronics than on TJOM. But still, at least half of these songs are fantastic (last 3 in particular), and I dig the diversity and decreased metal influence it has.

Album Rating: 4.5

there're less interesting electronics than on TJOM

It's interesting you should say this because to me TJOMs electronics were a big step down from Weightless, and really felt unnatural with the exception of the flourishes of Tooth & Claw... Which at this point in the thread probably goes without saying is my favourite on that record and probably of AAL in general.

Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off

I found the electronic influences on TJOM to be the most rewarding of any of their albums, though the s/t and Weightless also used them very well. They're good on here too, but they're most memorable for me on TJOM.

Album Rating: 3.5

I'm glad they pulled back on the electronics actually, thought they were a bit gimmicky from the start and didn't add much except on live settings.

How is a genre "inherently arrogant"? Because if it's refreshingly earnest, in what sense? This is mostly a non-sentence. Also, avoid opening with borderline-platitudes. If something is "easy to do" it's maybe not worthy mentioning as such. Just tell me how the band eschews or adheres to the the presupposed conventions--it strengthens your argumentation. Otherwise your first two sentences come off as fluff.

Avoid overuse of adjectives that fill in for sentiment. What does it mean for something to be "extremely impressive." Is it just impressive and you're not sure in what ways? Perhaps this is the biggest point of writing that you have to work on (and it's the same for most people, including myself--especially when I first started reviewing): structure your arguments so that you don't need to hedge your bets. Work on trying to avoid the passive voice in favour of the active voice (not always, per se, but in general).

A really good foundation here. Keep up the work.

I find tjom to rely much less on electronics than the first two albums, specially weightless.

On first listen, this seems to be their most technical album.

But otherwise, I'm not feeling it all that much.

Album Rating: 3.5

that is the overall census to it, barely any -core or hooks

Album Rating: 3.5

yea

Album Rating: 3.5

other than that it's a pleasant listen, brain dance is my favorite track of theirs in the longest time

I saw a comment in another forum where someone mentioned that this album "sounds like a drummer jamming over top of a really really long practice/jam session"

Pretty apt description imo.