there are not many albums i enjoy as much as this. whether or not it's repetitive, i've never had this much fun listening to an album. perhaps i have the brain of an infant

Album Rating: 3.1

there are not many albums i enjoy as much as this. whether or not it's repetitive, i've never had this much fun listening to an album. perhaps i have the brain of an infant

excellent review, pos.

I like SYL, however I'm rather reluctant in going through his solo stuff.

Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off

At least listen to Ocean Machine and Terria.

Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Off

Well-written, even if I wholly disagree.



Also I don't think there's any way this is a 1.5.

Album Rating: 3.0

"and makes Between The Buried And Me look good, it could be this is a bad era for music."



lol, golden



really good review

Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off

This album exists to make Ghost looks good tbh

Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off

lunarfail strikes again

Album Rating: 4.0

Don't want to neg because some of it's well-written, and I'm of a mind that different music speaks

to different people. I don't think you can be "wrong" with regards to liking or disliking something.





..But I -have to- for a couple reasons. One would be the Infinity comparison (which is something

more objectively tangible) - it's pretty questionable. The differences between the two albums far

outweigh the few similarities. They both have silly moments, and you probably dislike both. So they

make -you- in particular feel the same way when you listen to them. But objectively, they are very

different.



I'd also like to note that each of the first six songs on the album has at least one tempo change

(well, Praise the Lowered doesn't technically have one, but the sudden shift from calm verse to

thundering chorus gives the illusion of one). Maybe you like every song to have 5+ tempo changes and

that's why you're criticizing, I have no idea. It just really needs to be mentioned so that the

uninitiated reader doesn't get the wrong impression that the tempos don't change at all. Perhaps

worth revisiting as it's pretty misleading.



Just subjectively (nothing to do w/ the neg) - I think the guest spots as a whole were indeed

underutilized (we're in agreement here). But some were good. The November's Doom guy sounds really

badass on the first track, while Joe Duplantier's little offbeat/syncopated vocal bridge on Sumeria

is pretty amazing. The real letdown is Akerfeldt as his part could have done by pretty much any

random metal vocalist.



Also, another thing that just dawned on me. The steadily-building-towards-crescendo thing (which you

criticized) is very heavily utilized by Opeth.. a band that you gave several 4.5's.

I scratch my chin-beard at this.

Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off

"Also I don't think there's any way this is a 1.5." [2]

Album Rating: 1.5

One would be the Infinity comparison (which is something more objectively tangible) - it's pretty questionable. The differences between the two albums far outweigh the few similarities. They both have silly moments, and you probably dislike both. So they make -you- in particular feel the same way when you listen to them. But objectively, they are very different.

I'd also like to note that each of the first six songs on the album has at least one tempo change (well, Praise the Lowered doesn't technically have one, but the sudden shift from calm verse to thundering chorus gives the illusion of one). Maybe you like every song to have 5+ tempo changes and that's why you're criticizing, I have no idea. It just really needs to be mentioned so that the uninitiated reader doesn't get the wrong impression that the tempos don't change at all. Perhaps worth revisiting as it's pretty misleading.

Also, another thing that just dawned on me. The steadily-building-towards-crescendo thing (which you

criticized) is very heavily utilized by Opeth.. a band that you gave several 4.5's.

I scratch my chin-beard at this.

Album Rating: 2.5

I have an infant and this album taught him to say "this sucks".



Awesome!!

I listened to this on an eight hour drive home over Christmas. I was really excited to hear it because I really, really love "Juular." It's not a very instrumentally interesting song, but I find it hauntingly entertaining.

That said, I was extremely bored and disappointed when I heard the rest of the album. Nothing caught my attention at all. I have only that one listen to go off of and I haven't followed along with the lyrics yet, so I hope maybe this grows on me. =/

Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off

This album basically requires a deep knowledge of Townsend's work, and reading the lyrics to find much appeal in it.

this album requires ears to hear, and fucking nothing beyond that

sounds like an 80 minute fart in my ear

Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off

Your loss pony boy.

I think people are taking this way too seriously

'Deconstruction' is just hilarious

yea

Hey fade

yeah fart and poop noises so funny

i can take something dumb like this as seriously or not seriously as i want, and it's still going to be legitimately bad music. everything is jumbled and sounds as if it was thrown in solely for the purpose of making any specific moment sound louder. ALL of the guest vocalists are underutilized and serve no purpose with the possible exception of Floor, whose song stands as being the most tolerable. i don't understand the stupid argument of 'you're taking it too seriously'. What? Whether I like an album or not is not going to be contingent upon how 'seriously' I take it; that'd be a horrible means by which to enjoy music.
It's a fundamentally flawed argument that implies that I don't enjoy this album because, subjectively, I don't 'understand' it, but that's the beauty of music, that you get to enjoy it however you want. There's no wrong way.