Kaboom
03-27-2005, 04:17 PM
so i cheated, and i downloaded it off emule because i couldnt wait till tomorrow (apparently they are FINALLY releasing it tomorrow in europe after a week's delay), i inmediately played it and after the FIRST listening (sorry folks, its 2 am here, i cant do repeated listens) here's what i make out of it.
first track starts off VERY well. its the title track and it keeps the same "harder" style that we know from in absentia, instead of the more chilled out "spacey" ambience of other albums. it does, however, revert to the spacey music in some sections. Some of the transitions from the hard rock to the "spacey sections" in this song are VERY good. others could be said to be too sudden.
when moving on to the second song i was rather let down to discover that the album is not "one long song" with complex transitions between them but that its actually separate songs.
song#2 continues with the harder rock line, and the guitar is even harsher and distorted... OVERDRIVE!!!! however the keyboards are always there to provide a little break from the harsh sounds every now and then. excellent effects, but the whole band sound can get muddied up in the louder parts (it can also be my crappy stereo's fault) this track desperately calls for a hi-rez medium (VINYL PLEASE PT, ARE YOU LISTENING????) 192kbps probably doesnt do it much justice either
track #3 AAAND porky tree wouldnt be porky tree without a softer track with acoustic guitar and a soft piano line. I really like this song, the beginning reminds me of stop swimming, but when the drums come in the song progressively gets louder, even though it never come close to the two previous ones. i can see a couple more backup singers in this song. they obviously didnt share my point of view.
track 4# The moment u hear the first drum beat of this song, you know that we are off the acoustic mood. somewhat dark in atmosphere at the beginning, the very weird (but REALLY cool) melodic line that the voice is follows makes it hard for me to know whether its darkness or anguish. This time the overdriven guitar amps are sometimes surrounded by a very warm keyboard harmony that makes the song sound less hard. However the drum beat couldnt be more "metal". there is one point in the song where it reminds me of System of a Down. it calms down shortly after that though.
Track #5 Werent we missing a 12 minute epic? what would prog be without long songs? starts off like pure narcotic, then goes onto sth i hadnt heard before. remove the speedy drum beat and you are left with a guitar soaring above a bed of very spacey sound, but the beat seems to push it all forward, making the song move quite fast. There is something weird about this song that makes me feel as if something wasnt right, but not with the song, but with me. This is exactly the kind of thing i look for in music. awesome. then it moves on to deep unrest. the spacey cushion dissappears and we are left with 2 dissonant guitars resting on a continuous bass line and proppelled forward by the drums. after this, there is a section that could very well be taken right out of a Rammstein song... What i love about prog is how it progresses! however it soon gets out of the pit of repetitiveness that rammstein lives in. aaand suddenly, the guitars quiet down, the drums stop and we are left with a wowing keyboard background, a couple of piano chords, a very distorted drum beat and a very cool, slow moving guitar solo that reminds me of some of Knoppfler's stuff. After this, the beat comes on again. for the ending, all instruments start fading away, but at different speeds. the keyboards fade the slowest.
Track #6 the begginning of your song has you waiting as if some hardass guitars were about to break into the song, but they never do, in fact the song just seems to progress slowly and harmonically. the vocal harmonies here are particularly interesting.
track #7 AT LAST! some time signature changes and unusual time signatures. almost feel as good as some of Yes's. this is another song that mixes the new harsher PT sound with quieter, softer parts
Track #8 this track seems to blend on REALLY well with the end of track 7. nothing really shocks me about it, its just on par with the rest of the album
track #9 Apparently only the last track has survived the "hardening" of the band's style. a very nice song to cool down after an album that is far from being nerve-soothing.
I LIKE THIS!!!! its not at all like stupid dream, definately NOTHING like sky moves sideways, but it does bear some resemblance to In Absentia. keep in mind that i have only heard this album once.
what i really liked about this album is that even with the pumped up guitars and generally noisier songs they havent lost their finesse, their "touch". every instrument is still right in place and doesnt yell out.
a very nice album.
cheers!
first track starts off VERY well. its the title track and it keeps the same "harder" style that we know from in absentia, instead of the more chilled out "spacey" ambience of other albums. it does, however, revert to the spacey music in some sections. Some of the transitions from the hard rock to the "spacey sections" in this song are VERY good. others could be said to be too sudden.
when moving on to the second song i was rather let down to discover that the album is not "one long song" with complex transitions between them but that its actually separate songs.
song#2 continues with the harder rock line, and the guitar is even harsher and distorted... OVERDRIVE!!!! however the keyboards are always there to provide a little break from the harsh sounds every now and then. excellent effects, but the whole band sound can get muddied up in the louder parts (it can also be my crappy stereo's fault) this track desperately calls for a hi-rez medium (VINYL PLEASE PT, ARE YOU LISTENING????) 192kbps probably doesnt do it much justice either
track #3 AAAND porky tree wouldnt be porky tree without a softer track with acoustic guitar and a soft piano line. I really like this song, the beginning reminds me of stop swimming, but when the drums come in the song progressively gets louder, even though it never come close to the two previous ones. i can see a couple more backup singers in this song. they obviously didnt share my point of view.
track 4# The moment u hear the first drum beat of this song, you know that we are off the acoustic mood. somewhat dark in atmosphere at the beginning, the very weird (but REALLY cool) melodic line that the voice is follows makes it hard for me to know whether its darkness or anguish. This time the overdriven guitar amps are sometimes surrounded by a very warm keyboard harmony that makes the song sound less hard. However the drum beat couldnt be more "metal". there is one point in the song where it reminds me of System of a Down. it calms down shortly after that though.
Track #5 Werent we missing a 12 minute epic? what would prog be without long songs? starts off like pure narcotic, then goes onto sth i hadnt heard before. remove the speedy drum beat and you are left with a guitar soaring above a bed of very spacey sound, but the beat seems to push it all forward, making the song move quite fast. There is something weird about this song that makes me feel as if something wasnt right, but not with the song, but with me. This is exactly the kind of thing i look for in music. awesome. then it moves on to deep unrest. the spacey cushion dissappears and we are left with 2 dissonant guitars resting on a continuous bass line and proppelled forward by the drums. after this, there is a section that could very well be taken right out of a Rammstein song... What i love about prog is how it progresses! however it soon gets out of the pit of repetitiveness that rammstein lives in. aaand suddenly, the guitars quiet down, the drums stop and we are left with a wowing keyboard background, a couple of piano chords, a very distorted drum beat and a very cool, slow moving guitar solo that reminds me of some of Knoppfler's stuff. After this, the beat comes on again. for the ending, all instruments start fading away, but at different speeds. the keyboards fade the slowest.
Track #6 the begginning of your song has you waiting as if some hardass guitars were about to break into the song, but they never do, in fact the song just seems to progress slowly and harmonically. the vocal harmonies here are particularly interesting.
track #7 AT LAST! some time signature changes and unusual time signatures. almost feel as good as some of Yes's. this is another song that mixes the new harsher PT sound with quieter, softer parts
Track #8 this track seems to blend on REALLY well with the end of track 7. nothing really shocks me about it, its just on par with the rest of the album
track #9 Apparently only the last track has survived the "hardening" of the band's style. a very nice song to cool down after an album that is far from being nerve-soothing.
I LIKE THIS!!!! its not at all like stupid dream, definately NOTHING like sky moves sideways, but it does bear some resemblance to In Absentia. keep in mind that i have only heard this album once.
what i really liked about this album is that even with the pumped up guitars and generally noisier songs they havent lost their finesse, their "touch". every instrument is still right in place and doesnt yell out.
a very nice album.
cheers!