Another instalment in the ongoing Weezer „SZNZ“ series is here, so the question has to be asked, is it an improvement over the previous two? Well we’re here to find out.
So the record kicks off with „Can’t Dance, Don’t Ask Me“ a painfully generic but overall fun song that already sounds miles better than whatever was going on on the summer album – still though, the electronics are really obnoxious as is the chorus, also the ending is super abrupt and awkward it just ends like in the middle of the chorus, it’s a really weird choice, but yeah, overall it’s solid. The next song „Get Off On The Pain“ is an enygma – the intro sounds super promising, like the heavy driving guitars sound super good and I love the energy of the track up to that point but once we get to the chorus the song literally just turns into a completely different songs, the two segments just don’t mash together at ALL. The pacing of this song is just completely ruined because of this even though the 2 segments sound good on their own but together they just don’t work in the slightest. Anyways „What Happens After You?“ is a potentially alright song, like nothing mind blowing and a bit cheezy but overall passable but once again, the chorus here not only makes it one of the worst songs on this album and this whole series, the OoOOoooOoOOos are SUPER annoying and ruin a completely okay song. After that we have the song „Francesca“ which yeah sure, it’s generic, it’s melodramatic and yes a bit under-written, however the small part before the chorus where RIvers sings a bit faster, just something about the was he sings that works really well and honestly compared to some of the choruses here so far this one’s not so bad you know. If it wasn’t for some awkward choices (like the obviously thrown in synths that sound super forced and out of place or the last part of the last chorus which makes my ears bleed) this would have been of the best songs of the whole series but as is it’s just alright. „Should She Stay Or Should She Go“ is just a ruined Beatles song, I legit fell I’ve heard this exact song a milion times before a milion times better, super boring and forgetable, moving on. „Tastes Like Pain“ is funny since up to this point this 2 minute interlude unironically sounds better than literally all the full songs here and I’m just gonna let that speak for itself. However I do have to say, the closer „Run, Raven, Run“ I actually enjoy quite a bit – it’s a bit goofy overall but really heartfelt and it’s probably the most solid tune on the album – the switch up in the middle of the song works super well and the build up back to the chorus is very climactic and rewarding, I gotta say probably my favorite song on the whole album, extraordinarily well made closer, just wish the rest of the songs lived up to it.
And there you go, that’s „Autumn“, to the surprise of no-one another mixbag in this SZNZ series – funniest thing about this one is probably the fact that they just completely gave up at least trying to sound like the season they are trying to portray, like this one sounds literally more like summer than the summer one. Still probably the best installment overall so far, not really a compliment though.
-favorite tracks: Can’t Dance, Don’t Ask Me; parts of Francesca; Tastes Like Pain; Run, Raven, Run
-least favorite tracks: What Happens After You?; Should She Stay Or Should She Go
So… This new The Garden album? Well… It’s alright lol.
Now that we got the unnecessary suspensful intro out of the way – this New Garden album is actually quite good. I was originally dreading the release of this thing as I did not really enjoy any of the teaser tracks the band put out for this thing – the sort of forgetable „Freight Yard“ was just okay, Orange Country Punk Rock Legend was, at least at the time just too goofy and all over the place (a quality of the song which I know funily enough enjoy) and „Chainsaw the Door“ didn’t leave much of an impression either (although that is like my top 3 song from this album now)- needles to say, my expectations were really low for this new album. My fears were further confirmed once the actual album came out and 4 songs in I had yet to really necessarily enjoy anything – that luckily broke once the fifth song, the title track, kicked in and it felt like I was listening to a whole different project – from here on out things did fortunately turn for the better (although nothing really managed to top said title track).
To dissect this album more in depth we have the opener „Haunted House on Zillow“ which is only a minute long and still manages to be too long for its good – credit where credit’s due, it sets the tone for the first few songs and I guess the rest of the album pretty well, however that doesn’t mean the song itself nor the tone is all that pleasant. The followup „Oc93“ has a solid punk aesthetic and an okay chorus, however that’s literally like the only thing the song has going for it – it really feels longer than it actually is which usually in The Garden songs it’s the other way around. ¨Puerta de Limonisa¨ exists just to fill in the runtime, removing the song changes zero things with the album. ¨Freight Yard¨ is still kind of a meh song, that’s like the one single which I’m still not super crazy about. As I said alredy the title track ¨Horseshit on Route 66¨ has no business going this hard especially after the mixbag that is the first few song of this album. ¨What Else Could I Be But a Jester¨ is a decent followup to the last song, mainly because it doesn’t go for the same formula the first 4 song go and switches things up for a more harsher distorted electronic sound that really reminds of their last album which is probably the best compliment I can give this song. Just wish it was longer. The next song ¨X in the DIrt¨ kind of reminds me of the first 4 songs but for some reason this one actually works. Don’t really have much else to say about it, fairly decent. ¨Orange Country Punk Rock Legend¨ sticks out in this album like a sore thumb but it’s just so goofy that it works. ¨Chainsaw the Door¨ is a song that grew on me probably the most – the melody is super fun and the song is just super nice to the ears, the guitars with the electronics mix really well together and it’s overall just a pleasant listen. The last two tracks ¨Squished Face Slick Pig Living in a Smokey City¨ and ¨At the Campfire¨ are both decent. The former of the two having a pretty decent atmosphere and serving as an okay transition into the last track, which maybe isn’t the most ear-catching song of the album but still manages to wrap things up nicely making the album feel like a whole expirience (plus I enjoy the 2 second freakout on which the album ends).
So yeah, not much else to say here, if you enjoyed The Garden up to this point (especially their earlier work from what I’ve been told) then you’re probably gonna find some level of enjoyment out of this.
-favorite tracks: title track, What Else Could I Be But a Jester, X in the Dirt, Orange Country Punk Rock Legend, Chainsaw the Door, At the Campfire
-least favorite tracks: the first four with the exception of maybe Oc93
What the hell were you smoking when making this album name and WHERE can I get it.
Well hello there friends and welcome to this special review – this day’s review is about Big Thief’s new album „Dragon New…“ (I’m not writing all that, you read the title) and what an album it is – almost 80 minutes long and 20 whole fricking songs. I mean trust me I like me some Big Thief but for a full hour and a half? Well it’s safe to say I was a bit skeptical at first going into this, but I’ve heard some pretty positive things about, so I gave it a shot and well, I can pretty much safely say that the runtime is, for the most part, justified. Sure there are ways to cut corners here and there and yes, there is a track or two that could have been cut in it’s entirety, but in the greater scope of things, this thing just delivers. For many it may sound a bit underwhelming at first glance but further listens reveal the true beauty in the songwriting and by the end of it you realise that this is Big Thief’s most cohesive complete and fulfilling body of work to date. I’m not gonna go through ALL of the songs, just the ones that stood out to me the most, wether that means good or not so good, because there necessarrily isn’t a bad track here.
So with that out of the way, let’s get into the actual meat and potatoes of this record – the album open’s up with the at first kind of underwhelming „Change“ which is ironically a song that doesn’t really change during it’s 5 minute runtime – but as everything on this album, it’s a grower. Over time I learned to appriciate what it’s going for and learned to love it and I’m sure you will too. Definetly one of the more accesible tracks here, because believe it or not, Big Thief actually get a bit experimental on this record – case in point the next track „Time Escaping“ which sounds like some sort of ritual being performed, especially the drumwork, that’s like something out of a psychological horror movie. Probably the first track that really caught my ear on first listen, but this one kind of shrunk on me over time – it’s still fantastic and I appriciate the band’s efforts to try something new here, but it doesn’t have the same replay value as some of the other tracks I think. „Spud Infinity“ is a really goofy and dare I say wacky track, it’s really country-ish and has this weird bouncy effect at the start of the track and just the way the strings and vocals are eranged sounds just super like something I’d hear some random rednecks play from a Barn in the middle of nowhere and I mean that as a compliment belive it or not. Though innitially I was super put off by this track, just something about it rubbed me the wrong way. „Certainty“ is certainly a sweet track, though there are tracks on this album I belive that do this style much better and honestly with one of my biggest criticisms towards this album being it’s length, this one could have been easily cut I think. Still a nice moment on the album and since it as of writing this review stands as THE most popular track of the album, people seem to really enjoy it, so I digress. Anyways after this we have what I consider to be the best track of the entire album in the shape of the title track (no I’m not writing all that again) – a beautiful guitar-driven ballad with a dusty atmosphere and a deeply layered instrumentation with some beautiful and haunting vocals merge together to create one hell of a track that always leaves me utterly mezmerized by it. From here on out things get a bit all over the place – „Sparrow“ has one of the better choruses on the album but is way too long for it’s own good, „Little Things“ on the other hand is probably the only song on the album justifying it’s longer than 5-minutes runtime, it feels like the title track but with like a more punch to it – the second half of this song always blows my socks off, the guitarist can really shred let me tell you. Then you have the song „Blurred View“ probably the most „different“ song on the album – the vocals sound like they were recorded on a potato or something, yet it works somehow – the heavy bass hits with the super compressed sound of the track create this eerie atmosphere, that just, something about it is… It just feels like I’m drowning, like this track is swallowing me whole, it’s a super neat moment, that also serves as a nice middlepoint for the album – now onto the second half. Now if „Spuf Infinity“ was inspired by country in some aspects, then the song „Red Moon“ makes country it’s only aspect and it does it well. I’m not super big (pun intended) on country but I can appriciate when it’s done well and this song certainly does just that – it’s just not one of MY personal favorites. „No Reason“ has exactly that – no reason to GO SO HARD GODDAMN. The chorus hits harder then my dad’s belt and not only that, it also has a FLUTE OUTRO – I mean this song is the full package. Seriously though, great track all things considered. „Wake Me up to Drive“ is anothe one of those… Weird ones. I like the artificial drums and the burried mix, it sounds pretty solid, but I’m just stuck here wondering like…. What does this track’s existence provide to the expirience of the album? I mean sure, more variety and all that, but it’s so out of left field I still don’t know how I feel about it – it’s an okay track though, one of the tracks that stick out more on first listen for better or worse. Now I DID say that the title track is my favorite, but is it the catchiest? Well no, that award goes to „Simulation Swarm“ an absolute EARWORM that just won’t stop playing in your head – it’s just so bouncy, so full of life, it feels like it has a heartbeat man. Really dig this one, one of my absolute favorites for sure. I really love love love the next song „Love Love Love“ even though it start off like we’re already a minute into the track, I just can’t help but love the guitars on this track and the chorus while yes very repetetive does it’s job well enough – I approve of this track. The closing duo „The Only Place“ and „Blue Lightning“ are both fine, „The Only Place“ is more stripped down and lowkey with some pretty impressive guitar-plucking flexes and „Blue Lightning“ is not really my cup of tea once again, but it fits the album well enough and does it’s job as the closing track too, so I can’t really complain.
So yeah, this is what’s in my opinion the best Big Thief album – then again I only heard like 1 more, but I have a feeling that this is just their most cohesive body of work to date. I like to just put this album on and just escape reality for a hour and a half – it’s beautiful, immersive whatever else you wanna call it and yeah, I think I’m just gonna leave it with that, great record all around.
-favorite tracks: Change, Time Escaping, Spud Infinity, Certainty, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You, Sparrow, Little Things, Flowers of Blood, Blurred View, Dried Roses, No Reason, Simulation Swarm, Love Love Love, The Only Place, Heavy Bend
So apparently saying the same word over and over and making some of it’s parts longer ISN’T considered a review… But everyone who has heard this thing KNOWS that that is the only appropriate way to react to this album: WHAAA- (ok I said I’m actually not gonna do that again this time). So yeah, this thing is great – it’s only February but I’m pretty sure no record this year is gonna top this one right here. It’s everything and more I ever wanted from the band and with the context of Isaac Wood leaving the band to focus on his mental health it hits even harder than I innitially thought. So I’m gonna do my best at breaking down why I think this is an absolute masterpiece, but truly and honestly no words could do this thing justice, you gotta hear it to believe it.
Every track here packs a different emotional punch and every single one of them is unique in their own way (except maybe the intro and „Mark’s Theme“, but even that is such an unbelievably beautiful piece to the puzzle) and yet they mash together seemlessly creating a gorgeous cohesive story that flows from one track to another like a knife through butter (which rhymed, so it must be true). Anyways as I said the intro track (simply called „Intro“) is probably the weakest of the bunch – I do believe it has it’s rightful place on the album as it sets the tone fairly well and serves as a pretty smooth transition into the next tracl (which we’ll get into in a bit), but considering how the last record didn’t waste anytime in letting messing around with it’s opener, then this is kind of a step-down from that. Then again this album is much more different and I believe ultimately better expirience than that album was, so I can turn a blind eye toit and move on to the real first track of the album, which is „Chaos Space Marine“ and oh my god what a name for a song. This is probably the „happiest“ sounding song on the album and I think it’s very well placed here because it showcases many of the album’s main sound palates aswell as getting you hyped for what’s about to come. Also this and many other songs on this album are huge growers – like innitially I didn’t really care for this cut but it won me over as I gave it more listens and thank god I did, because it has become one of my favorites of the whole album and believe me when I say that the bar is set really high. I LOVE how diverse this song is – there is constantly something new being added in and new sounds and melodies being brought up, it’s constantly evolving and you never know what to expect – „Chaos Space Marine“ is honestly how this song feels, it’s chaotic and it just feels like a giant space marine for some reason – really hit the nail on the head with the name on this one. The next song „Concorde“ is where the album truly begins to reveal it’s true colors and you hear the shift in the sound instantly – it’s much more moody, much more dreary and much more soft. This whole song is like a giant build-up to the huge crescendo at the end and honestly I can’t really complain about anything I’m hearing here – unlike the last song, this is much more focused and much more serious and as a result I start taking it more seriously. The instrumental is gentle, slowly building in it’s power and just it’s sheer volume until it hits that peak where it feels like the emotional struggle has just become too much to handle. Isaac Wood’s vocal performance nad lyrics portray this feeling of hopelesness really well, it’s like you can hear the pain through the lyrics – it’s once again one of my favorite moments on the record (you’re probably gonna hear this a lot throughout the review, so get used to it lol). „Bread Song“ is kind of like the calm after the storm if you will and essentially consists of two parts – the first one being just really gentle guitar plucking with Isaac’s broken lyrics over it that colapse together into this beautiful musical blanket that you just never leave – and then when you think it can’t get any better than this the drums kick in and oh my god, what a moment that is. The song becomes much more colorful with it’s instruments and suddenly it feels like you’ve been transported to a different dimension – again, just an insane display of musicianship and musical mastery. Isaac again flexes his lyrical abilities here, talking about a crumbling relationship reffering to it as „bread crumbs“ (hence the name „Bread Song“), just some really smart analogies and once the weight of it all hits you – it hits you. „Good Will Hunting“ is the first non-single song on the album (not counting in the intro) and is also where I was starting to get worried at first – what if they manage to screw it up somehow? Well I should have had more faith in the group, because this song is on the same level as those songs are – I adore the female vocalist supporting Isaac’s broken voice and how it compliments the pounding piano with the kickdrums and everything – again, just the way they blend all of this together sounds like it shouldn’t work on paper but they just manage to pull it of regardless. I also love how really just intense the second part of the song, it has to be one of Wood’s best vocal performances on the whole record – also I don’t know what effect they used on the guitars here but they sound out of this world, it really helps portray this feeling of just completely loosing it. Once again, the lyrics talk about a failing relationship, possibly unrequited love and the struggles that come with that – it’s just so incredibly saddening. „Haldern“ is definetly one of my favorite musical moments on the album – again serving as sort of a calm after the strom, this track has some really breath-taking piano leads, really gives many of the usually more hidden members of the band a moment to shine – and when the saxophones (?) are added in? I mean it takes the song from „great“ to „MAGNIFICENT“. Also the way the saxophone sounds for the majority of the second part of that song reminds me of Clown Core for some reason, just thouht I mention that- never really though I’d be mentioning Clown Core in a review about BC, NR but here we are. „Mark’s Theme“ is a song I don’t have much to say about to be honest, it’s more of a interlude then a song really – it at least gives you some breahting space, before the final three asolute titans of tracks. Speaking of which the next song is „The Place Where He Inserted the Blade“ and I’m gonna be honest here – this is my favorite song not only of the whole album, but of the year so far. For many people it’s the closer „Basketball Shoes“ and I get that, that song is insane – but this one just really felt like a blade inserted into my heart, because it really cut deep. And I know that may sound a little too melo-dramatic, but that’s this record in a nutshell – it embraces it and you can much more easily put yourself in the shoes of the protagonist of this story (basketball shoes if you will). And I mean it, this song is everythin and I mean everything I ever wanted from this group – it’s raw, it packs a punch, it has layers, it’s colorful and insrumentally rich, it’s desperate and yet comforting in a way and it feels like the weight of the world collapsing on top of you and you are powerless to stop it. The choice of chords is absolutely astonishing and fits the song perfectly and everything feels like it’s placed in it’s right place. After this absolute emotional drain you are comoforted with „Snow Globes“, a 9 minute opus to heal your wounds and give you even the slightest glimmer of hope that things are gonna be okay at the end, even though it hurts like hell – you’re gonna be alright. That’s at least how the song feels to me, lyrically it’s much more deeper than that, but after the emotional rollercoaster you expirience with this album this I feel as is the protagonist being at his absolute lowest but still choosing to keep going in hope of things getting better – and that’s how this song feels to me. I would especially like to highlight the drumwork on this song, it is really impressive and fits the chaotic nature of this album super well. Now for the final song „Basketball Shoes“ – yeah I mean duh, it’s good. I think people calling this already the SONG OF THE DECADE is a bit of a stretch, but there is an argument to be made about the significance and the impact this song has and proaly will hae. It feels like the perfect climax to this album and is THE emotional highpoint of the album for many – which I totally get, I just slighly prefer „The Place…“, but that’s just me. Still a fantastic song and a perfect way to wrap this album up – like you know an album is good when the first thing you do after finnishing listening to it is play it again.
Wow, I wish I wrote this good in my school essays… But like in those I’m kinda lost for words right now. This album really blew my already insanely high expectations out of the water – I have really high doubts that any album this year is gonna come even close to the magnificence of this project. An absolute emotional journey from the start to finnish, I honestly can’t give this album anything but that sweet sweet…
Strong 9/10
…
just kidding, here’s how I would actually rate it:
-favorite tracks: Chaos Space Marine, Concorde, Bread Song, Good Will Hunting, Haldern, The Place Where He Inserted the Blade, Snow Globes, Basketball Shoes
-least favorite tracks: Intro (if I had to pick one)
So yeah, you could say, I’m pretty late to the party with this one.
I mean what can I say about this album that hasn’t been said in the last like what, 9 months since it’s been out? That it’s the best shoegaze album to come out all year and for some people even just the best album any genre to come out all year? For some stupid unexplainable reason I’ve been avoiding this album like the plague since it first came out back in February this year and man, was I missing out. The opening track „Beautiful Dream“ has been in constant rotation the past few weeks and just few days back it finally pushed me to the point where I wanted to hear the whole album – and yeah, it’s pretty much as good as everyone’s been making it out to be, if not better. I mean good shoegaze, like really well-made shoegaze just does something to you, it’s kind of otherworldly.
Anyways one of the few criticisms I’ve heard being tossed towards this album was that throughout it’s runtime it’s all pretty one-note and while that may be the case, I honestly see this is as more of a strength than anything else – just look at albums like „SUNBATHER“ by Deafheaven – that album is basically all one-note and it’s one of my favorite albums OF ALL TIME. There is a sort of catharthic feeling that comes with this kind of music – it’s so over-bearing an larger than life, that it gives you this feeling of hope and more than anything makes you feel ALIVE. And that’s exactly my expirience with this album – it transports me into a whole different dimension for one whole hour. The album cover expresses that feeling better than anything I could write here honestly – it makes you just feel free. Anyway the tracklisting consists of about 10 different songs, that aren’t all perfect to be fair, I think the album’s last leg kind of dips in quality a bit, that free feeling just isn’t as strong here as it is on some of the earlier tracks – speaking of those tracks though, GOD DAMN, they really set the bar high to be fair. „Beautiful World“ is in one word just beautiful (that’s constructive criticism right here ladies and gents), „Excuse“ and „Analog Sentimentalism“ both are just gorgeous and dare I say both quite underrated in the album – the true hidden gem though comes in the form of the 10-minute long magnum opus of this album „White Ceiling“, which never gets even a little boring throughout it’s whole runtime. The title track serves as a nice break from that behemoth of a track and leads nicely into „Age of Fluctuation“, the second longest track on the album, which doesn’t quite reach the levels of genius that White Ceiling did, but still is a nice piece to the puzzle nonethenless – the follow-up song „Youth Rebellion“ is also one of my personal favorites on here, the title kind of speaks for itself honestly, no song describes the feeling of being young and rebellious better than this one does. „Extra Story“ is definetly the worst track on here, it sort of breaks the immersion that this album creates for no reason and it might be the sole reason why I don’t enjoy the last two tracks on this album as much as the others – but it’s not like it completely ruins the album expirience, it’s just kind of out of place, that’s all. Now the last two tracks „Chicken“ and „I Can Feel My Heart Touching You“ are still great, don’t get me wrong, but I feel as though they don’t take that extra step like the other tracks did to make them really just breath-taking. Still both good tracks that wrap up the album pretty nicely.
So yeah, this album absolutely slays at all fronts – one of the most magical expiriences I had with music this year, definetly blasting this for the days to come.
Let’s just cut to the chase with this one, shall we – the Italian rock n roll stars Maneskin come with their first studio album „Teatro d’ira“ (thank god I don’t do audio reviews, beacuse I have genuinely no clue how to pronounce any of that) clocking at only 29 minutes, this album doesn’t mess around – it’s as direct and straight to the point as you’d expect an album like this to be. And for sure, the sound is a little generic at times, but if this album does one thing, it’s keeping the rock genre alive and well. This album alone also contributed a significant margin to the new wave of popular artist incorporating rock elements into their music and that’s honestly never a bad thing to have those in your music, it makes the music sound more lively.
Now this album only has 8 tracks, none of which are necesaarily bad, but I do believe some tracks turn out better then others. For example the opener „ZITTI E BUONI“ doesn’t mess around, instantly locking you in with it’s pounding guitars, that sound straight out of some western movie and an eargasmic chorus, that just won’t leave my head. The italian lyrics and accent throughout the majority of this album is also strangely addicting, it just sounds so good to the ears. The music is just filled with charisma and personality and I can’t get enough of it – this song is the perfect tone-setter for the rest of this album. „CORALINE“ is another banger tune, starting more low-key with some gentle guitar plucking and then the song breaks down into what I consider to be the emotional high-point of this record, the second half of this song really hits hard. Overall definetly one of the better cuts here, might actually be my favorite song of the whole album. The song „LIVIDI SUI GOMITI“ is an alright song, the guitars are nice and catchy, the rasp kind of growly vocals at times fit the song quite well and overall it keeps the theme of the album going. Then of course comes the smash hit „I WANNA BE YOUR SLAVE“ which isn’t anything groundbreaking, especially lyrically is where the track suffers the most, but I’d be lying if I said the song isn’t catchy as hell, it deserves all the attention it’s been getting. Then comes probably my least favorite song on here „IN NOME DEL PADRE“, not because it’s bad, but because it just is the most forgetable one on here, it doesn’t bring anything new to the table nad just overall could have easily been left on the chopping board – also the chorus is easily the weakest of all the songs here. Now the other english song on here „FOR YOUR LOVE“ picks the album right back on it’s feet, this song honestly should get more recognition then it does, the frontman’s voice just sounds so sensual and lustful, but also broken and desperate, it’s a blend that works surprisingly well. The last two songs „LA PAURA DEL BUIO“ and „VENT’ANNI“ in my opinion go hand in hand and work together as the perfect closer for this album, both are more low-key, gentle and touching and they are just a joy to listen to, especially the latter of the two.
So there you go, that’s Teatro d’ira (still don’t know how to pronoucne that), album that honestly while being pretty generic offers much more then it initially lets out, give this thing a few listens, it’s not for everyone, but you might be surprised what you find here.
So, Wilbur joined a band, huh? The important question we’re all asking though is – is the music any good? And I can happily report to you that yes – for the most part anyway. There are some pretty major flaws but other then that, I’m just impressed by the sheer musicalship of this album – it’s just a bunch of dudes being dudes and it works like a goddamn charm.
Now there are just four song on this four song EP (who would have guessed?), which don’t really varry in quality, they are all relatively well made indie rock song with one thing holding all of them back – the mixing. The mixing on this album is very… Ammateurish to say the least. Some could argue that the rough around the edges mix benefits the raw sound of the album, but I just don’t feel like that’s the case – the ideas are still present there though, I just think that with some better production and more of a vocal presence from Wilbur, this thing could go from good to outstanding. The opener „Taunt“ is probably my favorite song on here, really cool Arctic Monkeys inspired guitar work, with horns that just add so much to the mix, it sounds so much richer and so much more sweet to the ears. The follow-up „One Day“ is much more poppier in comparison, the drum work on this song is something else truly and honestly. I like the catchiness of it, it’s just a really fun song, the tune is certainly there. The second to last song „Sex Sells“ lives rent-free in my head and I’m not even mad about it – being the longest song on here it manages to keep my attention all the way through, the chorus is the main selling point here. Now the closer „Cause for Concern“ is nothing special but it does it’s jov right, closes the whole thing off fairly well – once again I really like the trumpet here, it just adds so much.
So yeah, if this project shows anything for this up and coming band is mostly potential – with some proper mixing and once Wilbur gets his vocals more worked up, this can be the start of something truly special.
Uhhhh, where do I even begin with this… This is a bigger disapointment the my non-existent son.
SO, after the absolute mind-shatter that was „Ok Human“ the band released earlier this year I had no reason not to be hyped for this thing – all the singles were very fun and very ligh-hearted, with some typical weezerisms. But Jesus H. Christ, this thing is so front-loaded it hurts – the quality after the fifth track just drops substantially, it’s almost like the band completely stopped trying after that point and are trying their very best to save it last minute with some hot guitar solos that just becomes super predictable and migraine-enducing after like the fifth time the band does that. Now taking this track by track is gonna be seperated in two segments – me being an absolute weezer stan and me being an absolute weezer hater. So let’s get the less fun one out of the way – the track „Hero“ is a great powerhouse of a track with some really heartfelt lyrics coming from River with power rock riffs and an explosive chorus, I seriously adore this track. „All the Good Ones“ is much more tamer in comparison, still in a similar vain – wasn’t crazy about it at first, but it grew on me a ton after repeated listens, the harmonizing on the chorus is one of the saving grazes here. „The End of Game“ sees the band doing an AC/DC worship with some pretty succesful results if I do say so myself – just the introductory tap solo is aboslutely mind-blowing. Really old-school Weezer vibes on the chorus. „I Need Some of That“ is nothing ground-breaking, but the chorus is soo damn catchy it should be ilegal, one of my favorites just for that sole reason. Now the last tolerable song on here is „Beginning of the End“, it really goes down-hill from here, which has a much more grungier approach and some insane musical passages in the second half. Now that we have that out of the way, let’s move to the awfulness – „Blue Dream“ is literally just a demo version of Ozzy Ozbourne’s and that’s not even a stretch, it’s literally just that, an objectively worse version of the song, this song is begging to be skipped everytime it comes on. „1 More Hit“ is… God, where do I even begin with this song – I get the sentiment of it, I get the message it’s trying to communicate and I like some of the riffs on the back end of it, but Jesus if the lyrics to this aren’t just unironically like some of the worst of the year, I get in tears everytime I have to crawl through this song though. „Sheila Can Do It“ is indeed a song, that very much does exist – that’s really about it, I actually just have nothing to say to this song, it’s just filler filler and more filler. Same story goes for „She Needs Me“, this thing is just so boring it hurts, so generic, unintresting and pointless through and through. Finally the song „Precious Metal Girl“ is um… Look, all I’m gonna say is just that I have heard better love songs from this band before, this ain’t it chief.
So there you have it, this thing is kind of a disapointment on all levels – I really wanted this to slap, but just some things are not meant to be… This just should have been good, I’m really tired after this.
First of all, that was one hell of a title to write down, but I can gladly report that the music really fricking showed up for it. The legendary post-rock outfit are back better then ever and after a 4 year hiatus decides to drop a new full length LP with a brand new set of skull-crushing music and trust me when I say, that I’ll gladly have my skull crushed if this is what it would sounds like.
Now one thing you have to understand about Godspeed You! is that they make albums as one monumental larger-then-life expirience of a track, usually diving the tracklisting into four major segments. Now this album gives a little spin on this with the tracklisting still having four segments, but the first and the third one having the majority of the songs on here and the second and the final one being just singular songs, so expect me not to go that much in depth on those. But anyway, let’s start with the first bunch of tracks, shall we? If the first segment manages to prove something to me, it’s that they still fricking got it – I’ve been pretty mixed on the last few efforts in the band’s catalog, so hearing something like this again really reminded me why I love the band’s music so much in the first place. Essenitally the first segment consist of four major tracks each leading into the other and building on intensity until the inevitable explosion in the final leg – the musical pallete is as tasteful as ever, the instrumentals sound fresh, they sound dirty yet heavenly, they build like a giant wall of noise ready to swallow you and after the they fade in the second to last track, the last track is there to comfort you with there being no instruments, just the sounds of the birds singing, before the second segment kicks in. Now the second segment is purely just one song that focuses on more the atmospheric side of things, after the pure musical equivalent of torture that is the first segment. But even though it’s not as grand nor as explosive as the first segment, it still remains one of my favorite segments here. The distant marching drums with the dusty and atmospheric strings just add so much to the track, it really prepares you for what’s to come next. The third segment is something else, that really is the full package you came to love from the band over the years, the two songs alone are enough to make a full-grown man cry, truly the definition of hope. I was genuinely holding tears back by the end of it, the unease and despair that follows you throughout the first song that evolves into this beam of hope is just magical. It uses already familiar sounds and instruments to create something beautiful and at the end of the day that’s what I love the most about the band’s music – turning despair into hope and this segment is the embodiment of that. The final segment or song, however you wanna look at it, serves as a nice conclusion to the album, being a slow-burn fade out with noisy instrumentation wrapped in an orchestral accompaniment. After a few minutes of that the song, again, end on a hopeful orchestral note and the album ends.
Sometimes, an album just doesn’t need words to portray a feeling or even many complex emotions – sometimes the instrumentation speaks louder then words and this is definetly one of those instances. Because of that there really isn’t a way for me to explain with words the true musicalship this album achieves, so you’ll just have to take my word for it, this album really is larger then life, definetly one of the band’s greater accomplishments.
