This feels more overt that I remember.
Uh, besides Words.
But Iâd still rather listen to L or warts.
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So thereâs a couple ok songs, but none of these tunes would have grabbed you guys if anybody besides umphreyâs wrote them. You know itâs true. I like Hiccup, Fenced In, and Dayvillle monarchy. But neither is above a 7/10.
The most divisive element of um has always been BBâs voice. And he didnât shut up here. Jam band vox never should be emphasized. Theres rarely room for what I like best about the band to breathe: the instrumental bits. Most the songs all the instruments kind of just blend together and form one âtoneâ for the entire track. None of the players ever stsnd out.
Did I mention Baylissâs lyrics are awful? I used to like his words. They didnât use you be so cheesy. They used to be clever, vaguely political sometimes (Crooked One) , funny and self depreciating.
I think umphreyâs really couldâve used a jolt in the nuts and went back to their roots with how the crowd size has suffered over the past few years, instead of drifting away further from what makes them such a unique band. Before this emo, and hard rock and simple funk groove songs and prog mantis stuf and dance jamsâŚ
you had something with UM that couldnât really be easily classified. It was just umphreyâs. Technical but funky, but trippy as fuck, and always jazzy, with just enough distortion to give it the balls Phish didnât have. The Smell the Mittens, and Padgetts, and N2F. The baths, the SFB, the soul foods. Fun lyrics like in slacker and resolution and bad poker. Jajunk and dbk only using vocals briefly but weaved in brilliant elaborate compositions. You still had introspective bayliss lyrics, but they were weaved in elaborate compositions. 13 days, roulette. UM used to be funny as hell too. So many silly moments in the show. Shitâs too seriyoy these days. Iâm going out there to have fun!
Obviously the dudes canât force whatâs no longer there. I still enjoy the live show, although that too is past its peak
I understand that they changed as people⌠But this new music is the polar opposite of the music they put out in the beginning and itâs just still kind of perplexing how far they are from the band I really fell in love with.
18 Likes
Tl;dr
Summary
2 Likes
Album sux
This is how I feel. There arenât a lot dynamic changes and nothing stands out. Each song just has kind of one basic theme that runs through the whole track. Even track to track it seems like the tempo rarely changes. And by having so many tracks doesnât help the cause.
Thereâs too much emphasis on vocals with Bayliss seemingly cramming as many words he can into every line with no room for the songs to breathe (a problem Iâve had with his lyrics for a while now). Not to mention itâs like almost every song HAS to have him harmonizing with himself, and the lyrics are so basic with no subtleties.
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100%
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Agreed with this entirely, as well
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How many of these songs listed have been recorded and put on an album?
While I donât disagree on your points on BBâs annoying vocals & lyrics, they clearly are always going for something different in the studio. Itâs also been 20 years since LBDOK so itâs not a surprise that their songwriting has evolved for better or worse (mostly worse)
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Thereâs something that keeps drawing me back to this album, even though itâs at times not very good and Iâm also still keeping the new Porcupine Tree and Dear Hunter albums in heavy rotation, which are very good. Maybe itâs a good counterpoint to those, I donât know. Still donât want to hear most of these songs live, though.
What I do want is more songs with riffs like Ordinary Times.
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I listen to Hiccups every once in a while
I think all of this is right but doesnât really excuse a lackluster release.
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I get your point. But (literally) every band changes their song writing as they age. If the band stayed the same and never wrote Mantis and some of the other shit theyâve done since â09, they wouldnât be where they are today.
This is the same exact conversation that happens on this website every single time a new album comes out. Most people donât like it. Some people do like it. Eventually it grows on some who initially didnât like it.
A lot of things are predictable with this fan base. But the majority of the fans not liking the new album is far and away the most predictable.
I like the album. Itâs not my favorite but I still like it.
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once they give it the treatment
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Iâve been alternating between these 3, too.
My only gripe, and idk why I compare the 2, is that tDB will play new songs and take them for a ride. Meanwhile UM plays a 3 min version of their new song. Almost feels like UM just plays the new stuff to get it out of the way and said itâs been played (stats for life bubs). I would 100000x like a new song if they played a 10-15 min version
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Pretty sure theyâve opened up 2 or 3 of the new tunes already
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Ya well I have no idea what Iâm talking about then
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