(no subject)
I've been wanting to review this and by demand and request I'll go ahead and do so. I've got nothing else to do on a friday night so why not. I'm such a loser
This Is War track by track, yeah
Escape
So yeah it technically is mindless filler for an intro song, but hey I'm a sucker for intro, there are things wrong with this track however. It gets you pumped for whats to come, but at the same time drags on a little long and doesn't just jump into something exciting. It doesn't have to do that, but when I hear an intro track, I expect to get my face rocked off right afterwords so that I'm in the right mindset. They do this perfectly playing O'Fortuna live followed right after with ABL or Battle of One. That's just my personal preference but hey this isnt a live performance, sure it isnt, but a cd so we'll take what we can get. My preference however would to have it go straight into the next track as opposed to drown on those extra couple of seconds of distortion echos. But again that's just me.
Night of the Hunter
Hands down, my favorite track on the cd. To me this is the closest thing we get on the cd to a mix of now 30STM with the other 2 cds mixed in. It just screams out this band to me. The one and only gripe with it is the lack of guitar in this track. Yeah its there, but not as much as I'd like, its really low-balled under the heavy amount of keys and synth all throughout the cd. Every track actually not just this one, but thats an over all thing I'm thinking about. In earlier interviews when they mentioned they were going back to heavy synth, I was really excited, but now I'm just kinda hey... neat. I like it yes, but at the same time it might be just a bit too much. Back to this track tho, its fantastic and I really like every part of it. This is one I can imagine myself going bonkers to a live show, and for good reason. There's not a ton of summit stuff on it either so that just makes it gravy, seeing that I'm not a fan of the summit stuff. Lyrically yeah its the same stuff he's been talking about all throughout these three albums. Back in the day I'd sit and wonder what he's thinking about. But now? Not so much. I don't really care. In all honesty Jared Leto's poetry of sorts is a good example of a distorted I think I'm very in the know about life and quizzitive to the world around me, take in many cultures while figuring out my own, but no not really. Its just a lot of questions and assumptions that doesn't amount a load of crap. Sorry buddy, but it shows really well that you may be in movies and play music and all that, but you really don't know shit about your life, the world, or anything of legitimate importance. The whole I believe in everything and nothing angle is really getting tired.
Kings & Queens
I'll be honest, first time I heard this song, I hated it. I woke up early when they debuted this one on the radio a few months back and I laid in bed with my computer speakers up and recording the interview, since it was like 7am here when it went on and I was sleepy and lazy. It sounded too much like a mainstream U2 song. Very not them. The more I listen to it, the more I've liked it, learned it, got used to it, and now am past it. I don't dislike the song, its just hey there it is to me now. The same problem with what I said about Night of the Hunter tho, it lacks guitar and is pretty powerful, yet a little on the wimpy side. Its got a lot of other noises, strings, and oohs and what not, but it makes for, from what I've seen on youtube and on the late show, a pretty not exciting live song. I will admit that the summit parts on this song are not annoying and really do enhance it in general. Very nice, this is one of the few time on the cd that I will say kudos to you mr leto. The summit was a good idea here. Some people say the video helped cement it for them. Me? Not really. I was just confused by the video and really don't care for it no matter how many times I watch it. Yes it screams out the we're a cult and we're taking over angle, but I dunno, i just dont get it. Maybe I've just grown up from this band, who knows? Overall, still a fun song and I do enjoy it, just like everything else on the cd I wish it packed a harder punch, but this one is as close as its going to get.
This Is War
The only other track I heard before the album came out and again didn't care for until I listened to it again later. It takes a bit to get into. The version I heard before had no summit vocals at the beginning and I wish it still didn't. That just bugs me but whatever. I hope that never happens live. This is a song that sounds like parts of it belong smack dab in the middle of ABL to me really. I do enjoy it now. Its not a heavy song, but its not a light song, kind of half and half. I don't really have much to say about it. Its just a track that you can instantly recognize as 30STM. I will admit that while listening to the cd, lyrically this is where I started to get tired of the theme of the album. Sure thats the point of the cd being about war, beliefs, etc. But knowing the history behind this cd and their "battle" with EMI, which seemed like a big deal over nothing or possibly a publicity stunt to me, makes me weary and tired of it. I guess knowing the story behind songs without the vagueness that they usually give as an explination really ruins it for me. Or maybe I'm just tired of hearing battle songs. Although the idea of an actual Mars Army of all the 13 year old emo kids with their Ekalonz gear running off to war with hobo j at the front does make me chuckle and quite a bit.
100 Suns
Waste of a track to be honest. It should have just stayed one long song with This Is War. More of his everything and nothing mumbo jumbo meant to mold impressionable pre-teen minds. I think its crappy and gets skipped over everytime sorry. Very pretty acoustic rhythm and melody, just not something I enjoyed is all..
Hurricane
Ok before I say anything about the differences in this track I will say that this is my favorite track on the album. I know I said that about Night of the Hunter, but hell if I know anything, this song kicks ass. It DOES NOT BELONG ON THIS CD however. It really has no place, but I don't care. Its awesome. To my ears its completely fabricated by synths and keyboard samples, but again really awesome. This one takes me back to the days of S/T and needing to listen with headphones to really enjoy all the layers of it all. Its really catchy and I do my damnedest to ignore the world at war theme in this song. Its one of the few songs on the album that I've been able to attach personal thoughts and experiences onto, like I could with the other albums so that right there is a win for me. I will also go ahead and give myself the stamp of hypocrite and say I greatly prefer the Kanye version. I hate Kanye, but this song is nothing without him. After listening to both versions its very obvious that they fully planned to have that version come out but due to either the real reasons of time and legal problems needing to record a different version, or my theory that he got scared after the VMA incident this year and decided to play it safe and just cut him from the song. The parts where he play into it fill the obvious gaps in the version sans Kanye. This song doesnt sound like 30STM nor Kanye West. Its more like a neat layered song featuring the vocal talents of Jared and Kanye. When you hear the version without him in it you can tell that he threw some random vocals that dont really fit into the song to fill the gaps and quickly as they leave some space there. I dunno thats just me, but it sounds rushed. I agree with Amanda tho, the Do you really vocal line is haunting and my favorite part of the song. Its just catchy. The summit vox at the end feel like they're just there to be there. Don't add, dont take away, just there. Whatever.
Closer To The Edge
I didn't like this song at first, but its starting to grow on me, but only again because of me tacking personal thoughts onto the song. Its a driving kind of song and makes you feel like you're in a crazy montage of events with the band, at least thats how I see it. The summit vocals don't get in the way at all during this song either tho, they really help the song where as without them the song would probably sound pretty crummy. And now that I think about it, it does kinda remind me of my adventures for this band. I wish it would just start right on the drums and synth rather than the 4 or 5 seconds of organs tho. Its a jumpy quick song that should be that way from the start, but again thats just me and my personal preferences. This is the one song on the album that I think is obligatory relationship sounding song. All of ABL was those kind of songs and it seems like they had just one or two left over, but only for half a song before it returns to the hey america isn't free, or man isnt free, or society isnt free, or whatever he's going on about in this cd. I'm really not trying to decipher it anymore. Its just a fun song.
Vox Populi
Yuck. This is live only, get the crowd participating crap to me. I dunno why, I just don't really like this song and skip over it about 9/10s of the time. Half way into it I'll like it, but then dislike it again before the track is over. I usually spend the time in this track thinking about how pretentious this band is about creating an army and being something different, which they really aren't, but somehow seem to suck us all in anyway. I've fallen prey to it time and time again but I don't know what it is. None of us can, we just dive right in and I'm sure if I attend another show I'll get sucked right back in, my cynicism all aside. Its the "magic" of 30STM that's all I can say about it. But yeah this just sounds like something they stuck on here because they wanted people to participate, not so much have an interesting song on the cd. It sounds pretty close to Closer to the Edge to me tho, which makes it a matter of why didn't it get cut? You never want to have too many songs that sound the same, especially have them played back to back, but maybe I'm the only one who hears that. I have no idea.
Search & Distroy
I've listened to this and the last 3 tracks on the cd maybe 4 times total so I can't say much about them. Musically its kind of neat but thats about it. It really reminds me of that the left over tracks from the S/T days. Mainly a mix between Anarchy In Tokyo and Occams Razor. Wow really? Did I honestly just remember those tracks? I had completely forgotten about them and just re-listened to them. Still fun cuz they still feel new to me :) Back to this song tho. Being as its named the same as a song by the Police its hard for me to separate it tho. Not really, but I want to use that to bring up a small gripe about this cd as long as there is a connection there: the bass. See? Cuz the police is pretty much just Sting and he plays bass? Yeah ok whatever. This cd wasn't recorded with a bass player, of course neither was the S/T but it really showed in that one just as it does here. S/T was so distored guitar heavy that there was no room for it, but this cd is so open and thin that I think that it leaves it wide open for some fancy bass parts. ABL had some neat bass stuff going on where it was allowed and seeing that Matt himself wrote and recorded it we got to see a bass more than just a timekeeper or doubling up the rhythm guitar. However on War it goes back to just being something to help keep time and fill in a small sound gap. Tomo and Jared split up bass lines for the cd from what I read and while Tomo is a fantastic guitarist and violin player, a bassist he is not, at least not from listening to this cd anyway. Of course that could also just be Jared not allowing it since he's a controlling superficialist. I won't even mention Jared playing it, because as we all know he doesn't play guitar either. Well he knows how, to be a rythem guitarist anyway, but not an overly complicated one anyway. And thats ok, being a vocalist and guitarist is tough tough stuff and he does know how to play a guitar, just not overly complicated stuff, lots of bar and power chords. I still debate if he's just puppeting that guitar live tho, of course playing in drop C allows you to not have to hold down crap on the strings and still play a note so yeah he could really be playing and bouncing around, but hey now I'm just getting ahead of myself. Anyway point is, this cd needs some good bass parts hands down.
Alibi
I've listened to this song once and couldn't even bring myself to listen to it again for this review. Its just boring to me. Its a simple ballad and that's fine, so simplicity is a must and works for it. I've never been a huge fan of 30s slow songs, but thats beside the point. The only problem is that almost this entire cd is kind of light and vaguely like a bunch of ballads so that takes away from the power of this one. ABL had Was it A Dream and The Story and hey, they were strong powerful songs. Alibi not so much. I will give it tho about half way into the song when he starts to wail a bit, hey, thats what you should be doing from the beginning. It just doesn't measure up to how high it should be getting is what I think. It builds and builds and then just marginally gets there. His vocals soar harder and louder, but the music just drowns under it. On its own its ok, but in the context of the album it just sits there without much power to it. Sorry, but the surroundings of the cd make or break ballads, didn't you learn anything from those hair bands in the 80s?
Stranger In A Strange Land
Now this is neat, all the way through musically. I don't know what is being played or whats being used but its cool. Its very industrial and metallic. The lyrics are just more slapped on there what is everything, but in the context of this song they work for some reason. This really takes me back to S/T days but mostly those extra tracks that weren't on the cd tho. If i had to say this is the brother to any previous song I'd say its a deformed step brother to Phase1: Fortification. I will say that the track having an intro of its own kind of bothers me as it gets you pumped up then drops down. It wasnt until multiple listens of the song did I realize that the intro isnt just an intro but a vocalless version of the chorus, just like any other song on the planet, but I can't seem to catch that while listening to the song tho and I don't know why. Its neat, but not a song I ever expect to hear live. It amonst many others on the cd make me wonder, how would you even do that live? Which is a shame, cuz its really neat to listen to.
L490
I think its pretty universal that the monks creep everyone the hell out. Normally I'd say hey slow drowning ending to the cd, but when the cd really doesn't ever soar to begin with it, its ok to just kind of fade out. I wish it was more than an instrumental tho, but it is nice to hear some real guitar stuff on this track tho, not just 30STM style long chords that we always hear. I know Tomo is capable of cool stuff but doesn't ever get to play it. I just find it funny and ironic that the one song on the cd that doesn't sound anything like 30STM is the one that Jared had nothing to do with. I wouldn't mind hearing a solo cd from Shannon now, I think he's got some interesting ideas behind that crazy super huge drum kit of his that is just waiting to bust out. I will say that I was kind of shocked that they didn't have any sort of bonus track on this cd or at least something after it ends of a hidden track, that has always been a sort of staple for them that I've copied in my own music, but oh well. The monks chanting would be a perfect transition into a super heavy jumpy song, but again oh well. I know that if you pre-ordered the cd on itunes you could get "bonus tracks" but they were just remixes and guess what? Not all that great. Sorry guys, just kinda let us down on that one.
Ok so this sounds like a super negative review of this CD, but hey thats because it is. I don't hate this cd by any means, it is 30STM and I still do like the guys, but it feels like an old ex girlfriend now that you want to possibly get back together with because you had good times and great memories but they've changed a little and you're still trying to decide if you like these changes or not. Its always good for an artist to grow and when ABL first came out I didn't like it and wanted the sound to stay the same, same deal with this cd. But after writing music myself, you can't stay the same forever it just doesn't work that way, nor should you limit yourself to it. I think the problem with this cd however is that they're trying too hard to be different. It was a great idea to include the fans on such a high priority as they've always been good about it. The cover idea with the fans on it is a fantastic idea and after the album came out I kicked, and am still kicking, myself for not taking the 10seconds to submit a picture to it. The summit vocals while at a glance are a good idea, but super over used and strategically just not in good positions. Tone them down a bit and take some out from portions and it would be fine. I agree however, this isnt so much a cd but an instruction booklet or guide to what you should be doing at a concert. On one hand I'll bet its neat to go to a show and say I have a part here and I get to participate, but at the same time people do that anyway and hey, I don't want to sing my own part, I want to sing ALONG with the song, and thats what you should want to Mr. Leto cuz you can't deny that its the greatest feeling in the world having a crowd sing your songs back to you.
So in conclusion, a pretty alright cd and yes I'm strangely addicted to it, but only a handful of songs which makes me sad as 30 has been on of the few artists that I would have to listen to the cd from start to finish each time I put it in, and now thats not the case. I really think I might have grown up from it. But its like I said to Mike the other day, I feel like I've done an ample amount of things for this band, gone to see them, supported, listened, and enjoyed. Then they stopped talking to me and kinda let me down, now they need to win me back to be honest if they still want me. This cd however while curious isn't enough guys sorry. I'll give the live show another shot, but if the videos I've seen are any indication of how kind of boring and laid back things have become you just might not get me.
This Is War track by track, yeah
Escape
So yeah it technically is mindless filler for an intro song, but hey I'm a sucker for intro, there are things wrong with this track however. It gets you pumped for whats to come, but at the same time drags on a little long and doesn't just jump into something exciting. It doesn't have to do that, but when I hear an intro track, I expect to get my face rocked off right afterwords so that I'm in the right mindset. They do this perfectly playing O'Fortuna live followed right after with ABL or Battle of One. That's just my personal preference but hey this isnt a live performance, sure it isnt, but a cd so we'll take what we can get. My preference however would to have it go straight into the next track as opposed to drown on those extra couple of seconds of distortion echos. But again that's just me.
Night of the Hunter
Hands down, my favorite track on the cd. To me this is the closest thing we get on the cd to a mix of now 30STM with the other 2 cds mixed in. It just screams out this band to me. The one and only gripe with it is the lack of guitar in this track. Yeah its there, but not as much as I'd like, its really low-balled under the heavy amount of keys and synth all throughout the cd. Every track actually not just this one, but thats an over all thing I'm thinking about. In earlier interviews when they mentioned they were going back to heavy synth, I was really excited, but now I'm just kinda hey... neat. I like it yes, but at the same time it might be just a bit too much. Back to this track tho, its fantastic and I really like every part of it. This is one I can imagine myself going bonkers to a live show, and for good reason. There's not a ton of summit stuff on it either so that just makes it gravy, seeing that I'm not a fan of the summit stuff. Lyrically yeah its the same stuff he's been talking about all throughout these three albums. Back in the day I'd sit and wonder what he's thinking about. But now? Not so much. I don't really care. In all honesty Jared Leto's poetry of sorts is a good example of a distorted I think I'm very in the know about life and quizzitive to the world around me, take in many cultures while figuring out my own, but no not really. Its just a lot of questions and assumptions that doesn't amount a load of crap. Sorry buddy, but it shows really well that you may be in movies and play music and all that, but you really don't know shit about your life, the world, or anything of legitimate importance. The whole I believe in everything and nothing angle is really getting tired.
Kings & Queens
I'll be honest, first time I heard this song, I hated it. I woke up early when they debuted this one on the radio a few months back and I laid in bed with my computer speakers up and recording the interview, since it was like 7am here when it went on and I was sleepy and lazy. It sounded too much like a mainstream U2 song. Very not them. The more I listen to it, the more I've liked it, learned it, got used to it, and now am past it. I don't dislike the song, its just hey there it is to me now. The same problem with what I said about Night of the Hunter tho, it lacks guitar and is pretty powerful, yet a little on the wimpy side. Its got a lot of other noises, strings, and oohs and what not, but it makes for, from what I've seen on youtube and on the late show, a pretty not exciting live song. I will admit that the summit parts on this song are not annoying and really do enhance it in general. Very nice, this is one of the few time on the cd that I will say kudos to you mr leto. The summit was a good idea here. Some people say the video helped cement it for them. Me? Not really. I was just confused by the video and really don't care for it no matter how many times I watch it. Yes it screams out the we're a cult and we're taking over angle, but I dunno, i just dont get it. Maybe I've just grown up from this band, who knows? Overall, still a fun song and I do enjoy it, just like everything else on the cd I wish it packed a harder punch, but this one is as close as its going to get.
This Is War
The only other track I heard before the album came out and again didn't care for until I listened to it again later. It takes a bit to get into. The version I heard before had no summit vocals at the beginning and I wish it still didn't. That just bugs me but whatever. I hope that never happens live. This is a song that sounds like parts of it belong smack dab in the middle of ABL to me really. I do enjoy it now. Its not a heavy song, but its not a light song, kind of half and half. I don't really have much to say about it. Its just a track that you can instantly recognize as 30STM. I will admit that while listening to the cd, lyrically this is where I started to get tired of the theme of the album. Sure thats the point of the cd being about war, beliefs, etc. But knowing the history behind this cd and their "battle" with EMI, which seemed like a big deal over nothing or possibly a publicity stunt to me, makes me weary and tired of it. I guess knowing the story behind songs without the vagueness that they usually give as an explination really ruins it for me. Or maybe I'm just tired of hearing battle songs. Although the idea of an actual Mars Army of all the 13 year old emo kids with their Ekalonz gear running off to war with hobo j at the front does make me chuckle and quite a bit.
100 Suns
Waste of a track to be honest. It should have just stayed one long song with This Is War. More of his everything and nothing mumbo jumbo meant to mold impressionable pre-teen minds. I think its crappy and gets skipped over everytime sorry. Very pretty acoustic rhythm and melody, just not something I enjoyed is all..
Hurricane
Ok before I say anything about the differences in this track I will say that this is my favorite track on the album. I know I said that about Night of the Hunter, but hell if I know anything, this song kicks ass. It DOES NOT BELONG ON THIS CD however. It really has no place, but I don't care. Its awesome. To my ears its completely fabricated by synths and keyboard samples, but again really awesome. This one takes me back to the days of S/T and needing to listen with headphones to really enjoy all the layers of it all. Its really catchy and I do my damnedest to ignore the world at war theme in this song. Its one of the few songs on the album that I've been able to attach personal thoughts and experiences onto, like I could with the other albums so that right there is a win for me. I will also go ahead and give myself the stamp of hypocrite and say I greatly prefer the Kanye version. I hate Kanye, but this song is nothing without him. After listening to both versions its very obvious that they fully planned to have that version come out but due to either the real reasons of time and legal problems needing to record a different version, or my theory that he got scared after the VMA incident this year and decided to play it safe and just cut him from the song. The parts where he play into it fill the obvious gaps in the version sans Kanye. This song doesnt sound like 30STM nor Kanye West. Its more like a neat layered song featuring the vocal talents of Jared and Kanye. When you hear the version without him in it you can tell that he threw some random vocals that dont really fit into the song to fill the gaps and quickly as they leave some space there. I dunno thats just me, but it sounds rushed. I agree with Amanda tho, the Do you really vocal line is haunting and my favorite part of the song. Its just catchy. The summit vox at the end feel like they're just there to be there. Don't add, dont take away, just there. Whatever.
Closer To The Edge
I didn't like this song at first, but its starting to grow on me, but only again because of me tacking personal thoughts onto the song. Its a driving kind of song and makes you feel like you're in a crazy montage of events with the band, at least thats how I see it. The summit vocals don't get in the way at all during this song either tho, they really help the song where as without them the song would probably sound pretty crummy. And now that I think about it, it does kinda remind me of my adventures for this band. I wish it would just start right on the drums and synth rather than the 4 or 5 seconds of organs tho. Its a jumpy quick song that should be that way from the start, but again thats just me and my personal preferences. This is the one song on the album that I think is obligatory relationship sounding song. All of ABL was those kind of songs and it seems like they had just one or two left over, but only for half a song before it returns to the hey america isn't free, or man isnt free, or society isnt free, or whatever he's going on about in this cd. I'm really not trying to decipher it anymore. Its just a fun song.
Vox Populi
Yuck. This is live only, get the crowd participating crap to me. I dunno why, I just don't really like this song and skip over it about 9/10s of the time. Half way into it I'll like it, but then dislike it again before the track is over. I usually spend the time in this track thinking about how pretentious this band is about creating an army and being something different, which they really aren't, but somehow seem to suck us all in anyway. I've fallen prey to it time and time again but I don't know what it is. None of us can, we just dive right in and I'm sure if I attend another show I'll get sucked right back in, my cynicism all aside. Its the "magic" of 30STM that's all I can say about it. But yeah this just sounds like something they stuck on here because they wanted people to participate, not so much have an interesting song on the cd. It sounds pretty close to Closer to the Edge to me tho, which makes it a matter of why didn't it get cut? You never want to have too many songs that sound the same, especially have them played back to back, but maybe I'm the only one who hears that. I have no idea.
Search & Distroy
I've listened to this and the last 3 tracks on the cd maybe 4 times total so I can't say much about them. Musically its kind of neat but thats about it. It really reminds me of that the left over tracks from the S/T days. Mainly a mix between Anarchy In Tokyo and Occams Razor. Wow really? Did I honestly just remember those tracks? I had completely forgotten about them and just re-listened to them. Still fun cuz they still feel new to me :) Back to this song tho. Being as its named the same as a song by the Police its hard for me to separate it tho. Not really, but I want to use that to bring up a small gripe about this cd as long as there is a connection there: the bass. See? Cuz the police is pretty much just Sting and he plays bass? Yeah ok whatever. This cd wasn't recorded with a bass player, of course neither was the S/T but it really showed in that one just as it does here. S/T was so distored guitar heavy that there was no room for it, but this cd is so open and thin that I think that it leaves it wide open for some fancy bass parts. ABL had some neat bass stuff going on where it was allowed and seeing that Matt himself wrote and recorded it we got to see a bass more than just a timekeeper or doubling up the rhythm guitar. However on War it goes back to just being something to help keep time and fill in a small sound gap. Tomo and Jared split up bass lines for the cd from what I read and while Tomo is a fantastic guitarist and violin player, a bassist he is not, at least not from listening to this cd anyway. Of course that could also just be Jared not allowing it since he's a controlling superficialist. I won't even mention Jared playing it, because as we all know he doesn't play guitar either. Well he knows how, to be a rythem guitarist anyway, but not an overly complicated one anyway. And thats ok, being a vocalist and guitarist is tough tough stuff and he does know how to play a guitar, just not overly complicated stuff, lots of bar and power chords. I still debate if he's just puppeting that guitar live tho, of course playing in drop C allows you to not have to hold down crap on the strings and still play a note so yeah he could really be playing and bouncing around, but hey now I'm just getting ahead of myself. Anyway point is, this cd needs some good bass parts hands down.
Alibi
I've listened to this song once and couldn't even bring myself to listen to it again for this review. Its just boring to me. Its a simple ballad and that's fine, so simplicity is a must and works for it. I've never been a huge fan of 30s slow songs, but thats beside the point. The only problem is that almost this entire cd is kind of light and vaguely like a bunch of ballads so that takes away from the power of this one. ABL had Was it A Dream and The Story and hey, they were strong powerful songs. Alibi not so much. I will give it tho about half way into the song when he starts to wail a bit, hey, thats what you should be doing from the beginning. It just doesn't measure up to how high it should be getting is what I think. It builds and builds and then just marginally gets there. His vocals soar harder and louder, but the music just drowns under it. On its own its ok, but in the context of the album it just sits there without much power to it. Sorry, but the surroundings of the cd make or break ballads, didn't you learn anything from those hair bands in the 80s?
Stranger In A Strange Land
Now this is neat, all the way through musically. I don't know what is being played or whats being used but its cool. Its very industrial and metallic. The lyrics are just more slapped on there what is everything, but in the context of this song they work for some reason. This really takes me back to S/T days but mostly those extra tracks that weren't on the cd tho. If i had to say this is the brother to any previous song I'd say its a deformed step brother to Phase1: Fortification. I will say that the track having an intro of its own kind of bothers me as it gets you pumped up then drops down. It wasnt until multiple listens of the song did I realize that the intro isnt just an intro but a vocalless version of the chorus, just like any other song on the planet, but I can't seem to catch that while listening to the song tho and I don't know why. Its neat, but not a song I ever expect to hear live. It amonst many others on the cd make me wonder, how would you even do that live? Which is a shame, cuz its really neat to listen to.
L490
I think its pretty universal that the monks creep everyone the hell out. Normally I'd say hey slow drowning ending to the cd, but when the cd really doesn't ever soar to begin with it, its ok to just kind of fade out. I wish it was more than an instrumental tho, but it is nice to hear some real guitar stuff on this track tho, not just 30STM style long chords that we always hear. I know Tomo is capable of cool stuff but doesn't ever get to play it. I just find it funny and ironic that the one song on the cd that doesn't sound anything like 30STM is the one that Jared had nothing to do with. I wouldn't mind hearing a solo cd from Shannon now, I think he's got some interesting ideas behind that crazy super huge drum kit of his that is just waiting to bust out. I will say that I was kind of shocked that they didn't have any sort of bonus track on this cd or at least something after it ends of a hidden track, that has always been a sort of staple for them that I've copied in my own music, but oh well. The monks chanting would be a perfect transition into a super heavy jumpy song, but again oh well. I know that if you pre-ordered the cd on itunes you could get "bonus tracks" but they were just remixes and guess what? Not all that great. Sorry guys, just kinda let us down on that one.
Ok so this sounds like a super negative review of this CD, but hey thats because it is. I don't hate this cd by any means, it is 30STM and I still do like the guys, but it feels like an old ex girlfriend now that you want to possibly get back together with because you had good times and great memories but they've changed a little and you're still trying to decide if you like these changes or not. Its always good for an artist to grow and when ABL first came out I didn't like it and wanted the sound to stay the same, same deal with this cd. But after writing music myself, you can't stay the same forever it just doesn't work that way, nor should you limit yourself to it. I think the problem with this cd however is that they're trying too hard to be different. It was a great idea to include the fans on such a high priority as they've always been good about it. The cover idea with the fans on it is a fantastic idea and after the album came out I kicked, and am still kicking, myself for not taking the 10seconds to submit a picture to it. The summit vocals while at a glance are a good idea, but super over used and strategically just not in good positions. Tone them down a bit and take some out from portions and it would be fine. I agree however, this isnt so much a cd but an instruction booklet or guide to what you should be doing at a concert. On one hand I'll bet its neat to go to a show and say I have a part here and I get to participate, but at the same time people do that anyway and hey, I don't want to sing my own part, I want to sing ALONG with the song, and thats what you should want to Mr. Leto cuz you can't deny that its the greatest feeling in the world having a crowd sing your songs back to you.
So in conclusion, a pretty alright cd and yes I'm strangely addicted to it, but only a handful of songs which makes me sad as 30 has been on of the few artists that I would have to listen to the cd from start to finish each time I put it in, and now thats not the case. I really think I might have grown up from it. But its like I said to Mike the other day, I feel like I've done an ample amount of things for this band, gone to see them, supported, listened, and enjoyed. Then they stopped talking to me and kinda let me down, now they need to win me back to be honest if they still want me. This cd however while curious isn't enough guys sorry. I'll give the live show another shot, but if the videos I've seen are any indication of how kind of boring and laid back things have become you just might not get me.