With double and triple disc CD's a band is really at a disadvantage because of the amount of material being put out and the casual fan won't listen to it all. Most of the time I listen to these albums I am not able to listen to all of them because there are so many annoying fillers and waste tracks that it makes it almost impossible to say: That's nearly a classic album right there!
At first I was a little worried about The Early November releasing a triple disc, because the bands first album was whiny, repetitive,, and dull. I couldn't imagine listening to this for 3 albums and especially since I was barely able to listen to the first album.
But this band has made some remarkable improvements. The first I would like to point out is this singers voice, he isn't as whiny and girly as he once was and has become a better song writer. Even though at sometimes he trips in his songwriting ["I think I'll eat some ice-cream", etc.], he has matured in that category so much from the bands debut full length. The other is the instruments in general, where on the first album you heard only acoustic guitar that didn't really match the vocals, on this album you are getting a well-produced album with solos, piano, keyboard, and finally nice drum work.
Disc One:
The first disc, The Mechanic, is the heavy stuff and It seems that Ace's vocals fit well at first, but it gets a little bit worst as the album goes on. Ace's vocals in "Money In His Hand", the groovy electronic beat accompanies them nicely, but on tracks like "Outside" he seem to struggle with. The band throws some yelling and screaming in there music on this first CD but it just doesn't sound desperate enough to be a scream and the band doesn't seem serious enough on this CD.
This CD, also doesn't really follow the concept Ace wanted to make about a young man leaving home. This just seems like a collection of some rocking songs, with some decent songwriting and instrumental work. This also isn't nearly as well-produced as the other discs. This is also repetitive which is obvious in the first track.
But there were some good things to come out of the First Disc, it is proof that the band can do something new than there first CD "This Room's To Cold". And it really is a step above everything in the falling pop-punk genre this year [excluding TBS], and it's not to whiny.
Overall the first disc is the weakest disc, but it's very nice to see the band try something new and succeed. Even though there were some mistakes in production and structure this is still worth a good listen because of catchiness.
OVERALL FIRST DISC: THE MECHANIC RATING: 3.5/5
Disc Two:
The second disc "The Mother", is a lot different and better than the first one. It is produced better and is more soft and depressing. Even though I don't usually like this kind of sorrowful sound this one had such better production, and better songs overall.
The CD starts to get to the point of him trying to move out which the CD is basically about. The songs are more epic, have more emotion, and are better produced. "Little Black Heart", is the best track on the CD because it is catchy and not over-done in production. The song also shows how much emotion this CD can have, sure it's not in the singers high-note he is hitting but it is in his change of tone in his voice from the first album and change of attitude.
The opener, "My Lack Of Skill", shows those piano and keyboard skills while distorting the singers voice to prove that this CD is going to be different. Sure this song tends to drag out, but it's emotional and sets up the CD perfect. But the song following this "Little More Time", should have been included on the other CD since it's a harder song and sounds like it could have been a song on there. "Hair", is a fun song that's sarcasm fits swiftly on this album, the album in general tends to be a fun album lyrically, but this song makes it fun in it's beat to. I thought it would be hard to chose one single from this album, but this song seems to be a nice choice.
"Driving South", is were we start to get into the emotional acoustic music and it really never looks back. Though the song doesn't really make sense, it tryst to be a folk song but the chorus doesn't really fit with the surrounding lines of the song. Still it points the album in another direction. "Is It My Fault?", is the best song The Early November has written. Ace's vocals fit the music perfectly, and though the song starts of slow you just have to wait till Ace makes his point in the chorus were the lyrics are deep and emotional. You can really see that the band reaching there songwriting and instrumental peak were every word Ace says goes with some sort of instrument. The rest of the songs are beautiful acoustic songs like this that occasionally throw other instruments in and storylines, like the closer a swift song about the singer meeting a girl in 8th grade they have relationship troubles and then eventually get married in the end of the song.
This is the best disc on the album musically [since the 3rd disc doesn't really have music besides background music on the sessions and little 2 minute interludes I'm just going to take that as a story/concept album], because it's still a mix of hard and soft songs [though more soft and acoustic, while the first disc was hard], and puts different instruments and a new lyrical capabilities into the bands reputation. It is overall a well-produced album with better songs than the first album.
OVERALL GRADE: 4.7/5
Third Disc:
If you thought the first two disc were innovative wait until you hear the third disc, the path a concept disc. If you want something completely out of the blue, with a psychiatrist conversation with a patient being half the album, and really no songs this is your album.
But the story is quite compelling, depressing and interesting. The young teenager [The patient] grows up with a overwhelming father that expects him to be able to live his life threw his son. And when this doesn't work out the father flips and takes his anger on his son. The teenager needs to look for help and he gets a girlfriend to help him.
The story is that then his father can't accept the teenager girlfriend, and suddenly he gets the girl pregnant. Fed up with his dads attitude and anger, the boy leaves home to start a new life with his pregnant girlfriend.
Simple enough?
Here's were it gets really complicated. Towards the ends of the sessions the teenager figures out that the psychiatrist was him and that he had been talking to himself the whole time. The closer reviles this beautiful experience in really in instrument driven ending.
So this disc is one of the most experiment disc I've heard in pop-punk. There really is no music besides background music in the sessions, and quick 2 minute songs in between. This caught me completely out of the blue, but it's so brilliant and everyone has there different side to the story so it's kind of interesting.
DISC RATING: 4.8/5
This is overall one of the most original and brave CD's I have heard in a while. From the first disc taking the bands hard rock capabilities to new heights, and then in the second disc were the band shows that they can add meaning to there popular "This Rooms To Cold" with new instruments and mature song writing. The third disc has an unbelievable storyline that catches you completely off-guard, but the only reason I didn't rate it a 5 is that I would have liked to see more music in it.
Overall Rating: 4.4/5
Download These:
Is It My Fault?
Little Black Heart
100 Times A Day
Money In His Hand
The Whole Third Disc [To Completely Understand the story]
Pros:
One Disc Price
Original
Improved overall
No Fillers
Cons:
Production On First Disc
Third Disc though incredible, needs more music
