Do you have a Google drive or Dropbox?
Do you have a Google drive or Dropbox?
I like this album a lot. I've come to realize the APC albums are about an art student.
MDN - Art student is in high school and is super horny.
13th - Art student goes to college and has their first break-up.
eMotive - Art student gets involved with the local political activist group.
ETE - Art student is newly divorced after being married for around 10 years with two kids. They're finding themselves now on a road trip. In the middle, they read Hitchhiker's Guide.
I really like the piano work on this album and I think Maynard's voice sounds really really good. I was getting a little worried about him after the last Tool record and when Puscifer put out two records with downplayed vocals. Billy's guitar work and arrangements are lovely. I'm kind of kicking myself for having made plans around the show they're playing down here, but oh well.
That’s one thing I will grant for sure. MJK sounds great.
I can understand some of the distaste for this album as I’m sure it’s not what most people expected. There are some really beautiful tracks on here though, in my opinion. I absolutely love “Hourglass” and have been waiting to hear the studio version since I saw them live last year and heard it the first time. “Feathers” just leaves me breathless.
I feel like a lot of these songs could have been released alongside the tracks on MDN and they would not only have fit but be treated with the same affection.
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I gave this two listens and have come away unimpressed. So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish is easily the standout of the record for me. The rest of it, honestly, all the tracks just blend into one another and I got bored with it pretty quickly. I tried twice per the usual "I need to give this another try..." But yeah, not for me I guess.
Me, April 2017, at a show: "holy fuck, Hourglass....can't wait to hear this on the album!!"
Me, April 2018, at home: "holy fuck, Hourglass...who hurt you?"
Definitely disappointed overall with the first spin. I'm generally not one to consider an album out for me after just one try, so when I fly cross country next week I may just throw it on repeat as I attempt to zonk out and see if anything catches my attention.
this album fucking sucks
Bought the CD today, I'm ok with the music but the package is quite disappointing tho, they went for the strict minimum. Looks like it's the same for the vinyl, no booklet either way
Really like the title track, The Contrarian is cool too, as well as Delicious and Feathers. Definitely something to like here. I like the music of Hourglass a lot also.
The autotune in By & Down The River really detracts for me, it's absolutely littered with it.
edit
maybe not littered with it but there's some here and there.
Last edited by Jord; 04-22-2018 at 07:33 AM.
Auto tune? Are we hearing the same song?
Come on guys... easily their best album in 14 years.
OK, that was just my immediate response, and while it hasn't changed, I get that it's not helpful to just jump up and scream "FUCK THIS!"
Still, I have a very hard time believing that people defending this record would be so eager to do so if it had been put out under a pseudonym. The production is straight up garbage, the songwriting is formulaic and uninspired, and maybe I'm the only one in this camp, but Maynard's singing sounds weirdly phoned-in and nasal. Yes, there are vocal tuning artifacts in there, but it doesn't come across as intentional - it sounds lazy. The moments that sounds like they're trying to come roaring in with a bang hit with a anticlimactic whimper.
I get it, I'm not the prime audience for this, and I was never the biggest fan of APC. Still, I never felt like what they were putting out before was this kind of nonsense. I'm glad some people like it, but for me, I guess just listening to it feels embarrassing.
So, a lot like “newer” NIN! What’s wrong with the production? Sounds fine to me actually.
Had VERY low expectations for this album after hearing all the singles (that was over load with the new songs BTW), so maybe that helps why I think it’s a decent- but not great- album. It could use some heavier tunes to break up the monotony but much of it still sounds like APC if you keep an open mind. For that reason I can definitely see why people don’t care for it.
I don't think the overall production on newer NIN is that bad for the most part, with some exceptions. That "Running" song from Hesitation Marks bugged me though, but that was more of a stylistic choice I guess...
This just seems off, but I'll give it another listen and be more specific with my objection I guess, as it's really unhelpful to be so vague.
God I love the jazzy sound of “Eat the Elephant.” Yeah, this album is definitely growing on me.
Sweet, new album is sweet! Love the new, more atmospheric direction they're going in with this. It's definitely more cohesive as a whole than the first two records..
Sorry, probably wasn’t clear- I was actually referencing the comment of “defending this record would be so eager to do so if it had been put out under a pseudonym”.
I know a lot of people that think newer NIN isn’t very good (to put it kindly). It’s not far fetched to find APC fans round the same for a mediocre album.
Also Sorry for the large text if it shows up, some goofy shit happens when copy/pasting on this forum from an iPhone.
A few more listens under my belt. I like most of these songs in isolation but the tracklist is just a godawful mess. I'm going with this or something similar:
Talk Talk
Disillusioned
Delicious
So Long And Thanks...
The Contrarian
By And Down
The Doomed
DLB
Hourglass
Get The Lead Out
Eat The Elephant
Feathers
I have a feeling going forward live versions are going to completely blow away some of the studio takes. I don't think the production is completely terrible, but it lacks punch. And I really miss Josh Freese.
An audio rip of that Coachella performance would be the bees' boobs.
This album is growing on me. I still hate a couple of the songs on here but I cant expect, nor do I want, a band to make the same music over and over again.
Anyone else like Get the Lead Out? I freaking love it.
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"The Doomed" makes me feel too much like I'm listening to Metallica, and that ain't cool.
Just an incredibly weak album...songs and flow.
Last edited by Amaro; 04-22-2018 at 10:17 PM.
Honestly, I think the opposite with me... I'd be expecting less. I guess I hold NIN to a production and rock-songwriting standard that if I'd heard these new EPs from someone I'd never heard of, I'd be more interested.
This APC defense feels sycophantic, but I can't tell people how they feel about something. If they love it they love it.