Album Rating: 2.0

Oof the band’s going off on twitter against fans who don’t liked the record. It’s not a great look. They keep telling people to pay more attention to the lyrics, and to be fair I didn’t really give them much focus. But I’m also a pretty firm believer in the fact that if you don’t present your lyrics in an interesting vessel it doesn’t really matter, cause I’m rarely (if ever) going to come back to listen to them anyway.

I also have to give Pop Songs more than a couple cursory listens! And Con, it was your review that got me to check Greatest Hits out, so it’s too bad you’re not huge on this one =/

that's really fucking disappointing to hear, jesus christ. listen to the lyrics? the lyrics are what make this such a shallow listen in comparison to the last. such mediocre metaphors thrown out all over the place. hoping this is just a minor road bump and eventually they get it, but EVERYTHING shifted from what it needed to focused on on this

Album Rating: 3.0

"Oof the band’s going off on twitter against fans who don’t liked the record. It’s not a great look."

Mind linking? That's disappointing.

This is a good review. I'm torn, though. I understand the disappointment, but I think this is a good album. I'm not convinced the album's lack of energy is a problem -- or that the first album's energy was what made made it good -- and, if nothing else, I appreciate what the band are doing here. I'm not sure they've quite accomplished what they were going for (which I'm trying to figure out), but I'm also convinced there's something more to it.

https://twitter.com/SamuSM182/status/1135567078528815104?s=17

Album Rating: 2.0

this bored the shit out of me, which i didn’t think i’d be saying about these guys but here we are

and no blush, the "lack of energy" of this compared to the surplus of whatever energy is definitely not the breaking point here.

first and foremost, start with the drums all over this thing. whether it would've been Sam on the drums or not, wouldn't have mattered. not innately my problem, but the patterns on greatest hits were so eccentric in comparison to this. listen to how the percussion was constructed on a song like, say, name brand. out there as fuck, varied, bouncy, energetic. then compare it to literally ANY SONG ON THIS. boring, apathetic, uninspired four on the floor patterns, no flair, no style, just scraping by for the sake of scraping by.

but alright, let's then accept that this is just not a drum-centric album like greatest hits. cool. not the sole problem. riffing is uninteresting around the board. tones are lifeless and lost all the grit that made gh such an interesting dance punk experience. stephen plays such a nonessential role here as well, like name ONE bass part that really contributed to a song here

and lastly, since erik wants us to look at the lyrics, let's talk about the fact that there is 0 lyrical substance here. like what the fuck is a song like the devil?

"[Chorus]
I think I
Made a mistake
Cause everything’s
Looking pretty great
And it wasn’t perfect I could tell
The white wallpaper slowly browned
And as it peeled and fell to the ground
The earth was exposed as itself"

THIS COULD NOT HAVE BEEN DELIVERED IN MORE OF A FLAT SENSE ON PAPER. and that's what this album fails at the greatest. the tepid melodies, and the uninspired, killers worship sounding song structures would've maybe passed better if not for A COMPLETE LACK OF LYRICAL SUBSTANCE ANYWHERE. no fun metaphorical talk, no interesting takes on self deprecation, just bland, bland, BLAND ass words about nothing. fuck this shit man

Album Rating: 2.5

Lmao I'd hardly call that "going off". Sounds like he just doesn't handle criticism well.

and DONT GET ME STARTED ON ERIK TELLING SOMEONE "OH TELL ME ONE ALBUM YOU'VE HEARD THAT SOUNDS LIKE THIS"

BITCH IM PRETTY SURE THE GRIND IS A FUCKING KILLERS SONG, YOU HAVE NO ROOM TO SAY THIS STUPID SHIT

I really fuck with the guys a lot, I'm not saying this stuff to down them, because again, they've been nothing but fantastic to me whenever we've met, and I never plan on being anything but such to them. nothing personal, but god DAMN IT I'm just disappointed seeing such ignorant behavior towards people when what's coming towards them isn't unexpected nor undeserved

Album Rating: 3.0

"uninspired four on the floor patterns, no flair, no style, just scraping by for the sake of scraping by."

Yeah, that's fair enough, can't knock that. I'll be honest, though, I've a thing for lazy-sounding music -- I think it can be utilised for the better, and I think it is here. I don't think the song-writing has dipped much, and I'm more willing than most to accept a dive stylistically. What do you think of the comparison to Pop Music, dude(s)? Seen that thrown around a bit.

the production obviously takes much more from that than gh. really liked it regardless because it still had the instrumental life of greatest hits, and the melodies on blue ribbon especially were still fantastic. this just forgoes everything that made it and gh had to make them truly standout.

Album Rating: 2.0

I guess my issue isn’t the laziness in itself, more that the songwriting as a whole is pretty consistently lazy. Like you said, I think a lazy, blasé style can actually add something to a performance (one of my most anticipated albums of the year is Horse Jumper of Love, who basically thrive off of that). My issue is that I don’t necessarily think that’s they were going for, or if they were they don’t pull it off. It’s definitely more relatable to the catchy, accessible side of Pop Music, which after relistening to, I definitely enjoy more than Greatest Hits. But with this one, I could pick any song at random, listen to it, and essentially experienced the whole album. Lazy I can be ok with, but it still needs to be engaging.

Album Rating: 2.0

https://mobile.twitter.com/remodrive/status/1134970876112384000?s=21

And here’s more Twitter, especially in the responses. Granted, I don’t necessarily think the fans are in the right, but this is what you get when you ask for opinions on Twitter haha

"actual depth" hahahsgsghahahahahahahagagagagagagagagahhahaahhhahahagagagagag

this album the fuckin kiddie pool

Album Rating: 3.0

I don't think the album is as bad as people are acting but there is something definitely missing. I'm a fan of the direction of this album, it is just missing energy. The drums are rudimentary which takes a lot away from the start. Then too often the vocals are flat/nasally and are missing passion. See you glimpses of passion in the vocals and energy in the music like around 2:35 of Ezra and Marla (that chorus in general). The songs just kinda blend into each other too much. Album could use a few more catchy riffs/hooks, but mostly i think they just needed to rerecord these songs with more energy and maybe a few more bpm on some songs and the vocal approach i'd like to see a little different.

Yeah these songs would probably be better if they re-wrote them and re-recorded them with a different band agreed.

Like others have expressed, "lazy" or "slack-ass" (as I prefer) can be an aesthetic that is still dynamic and engaging. This is static, uninspired. Blase. Every song had me thinking "this is just an inferior version of x song by y artist". Bad Killers, Bad Motion City, bad Smoking Popes.

I think the real problem here is the try-hard vocal performance. Each syllable is pronounced like it's so profound he can barely squeak it out.

Album Rating: 2.5

"Not trivializing our fans, trivializing people like you who aren’t really fans of us. You look at us as service industry animals who are here to serve your needs. You are self obsessed, like a teenager. There are plenty of people between 10 and 20 who think like adults."



Oh my. Apparently if you dont unquestioningly like everything a band puts out, youre not a REAL fan.

sickly album art

"service industry animals"

jesus fucking christ, what a tool ass thing to say. and he wants to call other people out for being self obsessed LMAO

I was excited for this after how much I love Pop Music. But none of it really caught my attention. Pop Music is so catchy, but this new one is lacking that aspect. The twitter threads are fun and cringe.

Album Rating: 2.5

Yeah Horse Jumper of Love let's talk about their upcoming album ayyy

Glad to see blush with the 3 I was there too. Bumped it down tho because I don't think I'll ever listen in full again, at least not for a bit.