Music Talk Board

Sam's statement:

This is one of my favorite recent-ish albums. (It came out in July 2013.) This band isn't an unknown band, per se. But they're mostly known only in Prog Rock circles. I guess I'm the only prog head on MTB, lol.
Anyway, what I love most about this album is that the compositions are dense but not boring. The music feels complex and simplistic at the same time, as if the band was trying to create something beautiful without "showing off". It's a record with moments that are beautiful, dark, haunting, happy...even all at the same time in one or two spots.
The one warning I'll give is that first 5 tracks sound rather similar. From what I can tell, this was intentional, almost as if those songs are an informal song suite. The Refusal is rather rough, but ends that part of the record nicely.

My favorite songs (although all of them are great, imho) would have to be The Last Few, the title track, and Eidolon.

Listened to about half, and it's okay. I haven't listened to it in great detail, but I can say from it that it leaves me pretty 'eh'. I really liked the intro track and 'Nachash', but from there it hasn't really grabbed me. Not bad by any means, but the first half for me has been pretty so-so. Still, I need to give it a proper, full listen before I can make a better assessment, when I have more time.

I haven't listened to this album yet, been busy with shit, like the MTB game, and random other things.

(05-31-2014, 09:48 PM)Mr Maps Wrote: [ -> ]Listened to about half, and it's okay. I haven't listened to it in great detail, but I can say from it that it leaves me pretty 'eh'. I really liked the intro track and 'Nachash', but from there it hasn't really grabbed me. Not bad by any means, but the first half for me has been pretty so-so. Still, I need to give it a proper, full listen before I can make a better assessment, when I have more time.

Yeah, honestly, that was my initial reaction to the first half too. It took me a few listens before I came to my current conclusion on it. I mean, this is one of those bands that seems to plan just about everything. (That kind of writing style works well for this genre.)

(05-31-2014, 09:48 PM)Mr Maps Wrote: [ -> ]Listened to about half, and it's okay. I haven't listened to it in great detail, but I can say from it that it leaves me pretty 'eh'. I really liked the intro track and 'Nachash', but from there it hasn't really grabbed me. Not bad by any means, but the first half for me has been pretty so-so. Still, I need to give it a proper, full listen before I can make a better assessment, when I have more time.

I'm halfway through the album now, and I agree that the first half is kind of eh. The few songs kind of sound too similar to each other, but maybe it's cuz I'm playing it in the background while doing other things.

Second listen. Feel largely the same about the first half, though noticed a few more 'stand-out' moments. Picks up a bit in the latter half, though there are still a few bits that are same-y/filler-ish. There's some really good bits in it though, which I really dig. I think the album would be better more condensed, which might conflict with the more prog-y developed bits, if that makes sense. Overall, it's a bit hit-and-miss; the bits that stand out are pretty solid, but the in-betweens a little 'eh'.