Review Summary: "...so crisp and vibrant."
The Stage is a show in terms of both length and the direction it goes in, while it is intense throughout; that word alone doesn't do it entirely justice I feel.
I have to applaud the ambitious nature of this project and what they did with this, it becomes evident from some of the lyrics that most of this album is a concept - and it pairs up well with the sound itself. (Although I would later grow a little uninterested about the concept as the album went on, I still enjoyed some lyrics)
A lot of tracks such as "Paradigm," "God Damn," and "Dose" have nice mixtures of aggressiveness and powerful moments in there. (IMO the singer is in his element when it's like that) - and the drumming helped as well, pretty damn intense.
Though I shouldn't be the first one to say that when it comes to powerful and smooth; no tracks on this project quite come close to "Roman Sky" - what a song to be commended, so crisp and vibrant sounding. It's definitely up there with the title track as one of my favourites. (Speaking of, there was some nice guitar playing at the end of that first track that I kind of wish went on a little longer, though the sound of "Malagueña Salerosa" kind of makes up for that in a way, very nice)
The album gets deeper into it's powerful-like moments as it progresses as it shows in other songs like "Fermi Paradox" and "Exist" - a very grandiose and lengthy track that is well-done, but dragged on a tad too long for my personal preference. Other tracks like "Retrovertigo" and "Simulation" didn't really pique my interest all that much.
There's a handful of covers on the deluxe edition of this album, and to my surprise; I actually really liked listening to them. Out of all of them my favourites would have to be "Wish You Were Here" and "Runaway" - overall these tracks were nice additions.
There's a giant of a project here, and it's filled with wonderful instrumentation and direction. Where there were parts that I wouldn't write home about; the album had a lot of moments that made up for it - the intensity, the theatrical sound, the lyrics, the covers, and "Roman Sky" alone. We've got a very nice composition here for quite a few people to come back to.
Favourite Tracks:
The Stage, Paradigm, God Damn, Higher, Roman Sky, Fermi Paradox, Dose, Malagueña Salerosa, Runaway (Cover), As Tears Go By (Cover), Wish You Were Here (Cover), God Only Knows (Cover)
Least Favourite Tracks:
Sunny Disposition, Creating God, Angels, Simulation, Exist,
AWARDS:
Daddy's Little Girl: Roman Sky
The Son I Never Wanted: Exist
