Bleed and Scream...

Ok Behshad, I just bought it from ITunes. It's downloading right now, and I won't be able to listen to it for a few hours. I'll check it out and let you know what I think. I only bought this because of Andrew's review though.

I found the first song to be almost exactly like most others by these guys. It has great guitars, decent vocals and lyrics, but lacks a great chorus. This song starts out hard, but then softens with the chorus, and that is a major no-no with me. I lose interest in the tune right when the chorus starts. The chorus is supposed to lock the song together, not let it slip away. Nonetheless, it's still a good tune.

Saint John wrote:I found the first song to be almost exactly like most others by these guys. It has great guitars, decent vocals and lyrics, but lacks a great chorus. This song starts out hard, but then softens with the chorus, and that is a major no-no with me. I lose interest in the tune right when the chorus starts. The chorus is supposed to lock the song together, not let it slip away. Nonetheless, it's still a good tune.

Exactly, this my problem with all of this cd , it left me not wanting to listen to it again(i listened twice with a pair of headphones just to see if i missed something),For me, the hooks were lacking all throughout the cd, or the song sounded somewhat like they were trying to go toward a speed metal sound ( i would imagine its like country for some people, once i hear any evidence of it i turn the song off>speed metal )

GI_Jim wrote:Ok Behshad, I just bought it from ITunes. It's downloading right now, and I won't be able to listen to it for a few hours. I'll check it out and let you know what I think. I only bought this because of Andrew's review though.

How long does it take to down from i-tunes on average? What bitrate do you get when you download from them?

yulog wrote:

GI_Jim wrote:Ok Behshad, I just bought it from ITunes. It's downloading right now, and I won't be able to listen to it for a few hours. I'll check it out and let you know what I think. I only bought this because of Andrew's review though.

How long does it take to down from i-tunes on average? What bitrate do you get when you download from them?

I don't know. I clicked to download it, then left the room for a couple of hours. I think it loads them pretty quickly. I downloaded one last night from the female singer who recorded a song with SP, and it was a complete waste of time and money. You can't even tell that Perry is on there. But that song downloaded in less than a minute. Probably 30 seconds.

GI_Jim wrote: I downloaded one last night from the female singer who recorded a song with SP, and it was a complete waste of time and money. You can't even tell that Perry is on there.

That's been his M.O. for about 15 years now. I think that Journey and Perry brokered a deal that went something like this: "Nostrildamus agrees to sign off on essentially everything you want, assuming you guys play nice and mention how the door is always open for a reunion." It just allows the perpetuation of the myth that the guy can still sing and keeps him feeling somewhat important.

He can't sing, though, and it's really that simple. His contempt for Journey is such that if he could perform one Journey song and perform it well - anywhere - he would hop up on a stage, in a bar, on AI, or at a Journey gig, kick ass, and leave the band twisting in the wind. But he can't, and he knows that, so there's the continuation of shameless "guest appearances" on albums. The guy burned out his voice during Escape, took vocal steroids (TONS of them) to keep singing, and he destroyed his voice during ROR by boozing on top of steroids ... and that is something that becomes irreversible.

TBF showcases a voice absent of almost all of his range. And while songs aren't all about range, you need infinitely more than he had left at that time to get on the road and perform the vast majority of the back catalog, and he knew that. And that's why he never toured behind that album. I also strongly suspect that he wouldn't have been able to pull off the TBF songs live, especially considering the rumors of many, many vocal takes on certain songs. Message Of Love and I Can See It In Your Eyes sound like a guy with almost no voice left at all. 2 musically gifted awesome songs with some of the worst vocals I've ever heard. Hell, Augeri was vocally stronger than the TBF-era Nostrildamus for his first 5 years.

Dan, let's save that for another thread! Back to Bleed and Scream...

1. Programmed drums. Why do most of these new bands play to programmed drums instead of a living, breathing drum kit? The dynamics are SOOOO much better and to me, this is a deal breaker.

2. The lead vocals aren't doing anything for me. He has great pitch, and I think he would do awesome work on backing vocals, but I do not like him on lead vocals. Sorry, I've tried.

3. Every time I hear a song that I think will have a good feel/groove to it, they throw in WAY overly busy guitar licks and ruin the whole mood of the songs.

4. I HATE double kick drums. Never heard a band do a song yet that I thought added to the song.

5. All of my favorite bands (Journey, Foreigner, Survivor, Chicago, Styx, etc...) had two things in common. They had one or more GREAT singer with strong vocals, and they had...

A KEYBOARDIST A WHO PLAYED AWESOME INTROS AND FILLS IN THE SONGS!!!


Think about it...

1. Separate Ways
2. Faithfully
3. Blue Collar Man
4. That Was Yesterday
5. Cold As Ice
6. Burning Heart
7. Oceans
8. High On You
9. If She Would've Been Faithful
10. What Kind Of Man Would I Be

Just to name a few. I put a lot of thought into this subject, because I've seen Andrew review several new "bands" with high scores that I just don't get. Of course I think he does it because the people are on his message boards, but whatever the reason... I really feel like this is the missing ingredient. Sorry B... I tried. Now I'm out 10 bucks!

Behshad, I'll give you a specific example of what makes this feel off to me. The very first track has a great intro. Then when the verse kicks in, they keep the guitars up to 10! The guitars should have dropped back and made room for the vocals, but they don't at all. Instead, Erik is singing full blast on his first lines. To me, this just doesn't work at all.

"A Bitter Taste" started off beautifully, then at the 13 second mark they fuck it up thoroughly with the hard, over-played guitars and drums. They then slow it back down for the verse and it sounds great again. The song sounds great all the way to the 3:20 mark, then they feel the need to jump up the drums and the guitars again. It they would have just added a nice melodic solo, it would have been an amazing song. As is, I don't like what they did with it, and it ruined the song for me personally.

I know music and art is subjective and to each their own. I appreciate your love of this band and the album, but it's just not my cup of tea. You still my boo though!

This is the album of the year in my book.
I appreciate the loud guitars cause I love guitars !
I understand if you didn't like it. But it's my cup of tea !
This along with H.E.A.T are my two picks of the year.

It's no ECL1P53, but I like what I'm hearing.

This is what I had waiting for me yesterday when I got home

Behshad wrote:This is what I had waiting for me yesterday when I got home

Did you get mad? I know someone would have got an ass whipping for leaving that at MY house!

Yep I got mad that my friend Jim is letting his feud with Andrew affect his musical judgement

WET is a masterpiece !

Gideon wrote:It's no ECL1P53, but I like what I'm hearing.

Of course its not ! Its much better than ECL1P53 !

Behshad wrote:Yep I got mad that my friend Jim is letting his feud with Andrew affect his musical judgement

WET is a masterpiece !

\

Wrong B. I was on good terms with Andrew when W.E.T. came out and I immediately said it just didn't do anything for me. They're great musicians and Jeff is a great singer but the formula just doesn't work for me. And I've worked with Robert on a song or two, and think the world of him and W.O.A. I didn't care for their last album either. The first one was stellar, but the last one seemed like a color-by-numbers album. I'm hoping for great things with the next one!

Behshad wrote:

You already knew that!

Finally getting around to listening to this. Review to follow soon.

Only 2 songs in.

I can tell it is going to be a good CD. Do not like the mix though.

Heavier version of "Work Of Art" to my ears.

3rd song has some speed metal riffs in it (Ain't Dead Yet). Someone mentioned that. I sort of get it. Doesn't bother me because it's still melodic but I did notice that.

It's pretty good. I like it well enough. A bit faceless here and there but a cool release in 2012. 85%