goddamn, how i miss the old 4 piece that wrote this album. they hated everything, and didn't strive to be technical or prorgressive. they just played it by ear. everything meant something, it wasn't just passable because it was well-rounded and highly interwoven. they weren't afraid of being catchy, using even time signatures, or cutting solos, but they weren't afraid of not doing anything of those things, either. it was about phat riffs, slick grooves, lively effects, and soaring vocals, in a big bag of everything else. a big, cooperative Van Gogh. it was not about tacking great material together (which they admit to doing now) but writing a real song and striving to puch it to the highest potential, regardless of consequences such as length and inaccessibility. these songs have a center and there's nothing disjoint or fatty. they weren't trying to create an album, they were fine-tuning and breaking up a jam session into chapters that stood for something that i, personally, can relate to phenomenally (obviously by following my own interpretation), and in the end we got the soundtrack to that which is and is not. something totally alive but indestructable. you don't have to reason with yourself to enjoy it, you just listen and you feel the chemistry and the power of this band. nowadays they're all trying to do their own thing with each others' shit, and really sounding like they're just up their to show off their riffs or beats they wrote alone, by themselves. it's good but i'm not hearing a band, i'm hearing 4 dudes using the band as a vehicle to show off their musicianship (one at the top of his game and establishing himself at last, one other doesn't really care anymore, another just sounds like he's out to have fun, and another that just doesn't realize how poor he is when he's on his own). this album was far removed from albums following in that way (in my opinion, duh), and i think it's far worse on 10,000 days than lateralus (which had some great, unified feelings at specific points, especailly the point.. you know which one). i don't feel this way because i'm having a nostalgia trip, i heard Lateralus and Aenima around the same time (Lateralus was the first I got into), and i know it's not cool or whatever to like a band's most popular album as your favorite, but man, i just can't help it. whatchu think?
in a way, i think its actually better that they went through this intense period and got everything out on the epic that is AEnima, but you cant always recreate things like that.
the album is legendary, which makes it even better looking back...its like Zeppelin breaking up, Jim Morrison dying...
__________________ A Serpent guard, a Horus guard, and a Setesh guard meet on a neutral planet. It is a tense moment. The Serpent guard's eyes glow. The Horus guard's beak glistens. The Setesh guard's nose drips...
I think all the albums serve to show is the progression the band have gone through in their attitudes and musical styles and abilities, as well as just an aging perspective on life. I love the progression between the albums, and would be really disappointed in them if they did not show signs of change from one album to the next.
I would love it if they had stuck with their Undertow/Ænima sound. So much more interesting.
__________________ A Serpent guard, a Horus guard, and a Setesh guard meet on a neutral planet. It is a tense moment. The Serpent guard's eyes glow. The Horus guard's beak glistens. The Setesh guard's nose drips...
__________________ A Serpent guard, a Horus guard, and a Setesh guard meet on a neutral planet. It is a tense moment. The Serpent guard's eyes glow. The Horus guard's beak glistens. The Setesh guard's nose drips...
in a way, i think its actually better that they went through this intense period and got everything out on the epic that is AEnima, but you cant always recreate things like that.
the album is legendary, which makes it even better looking back...its like Zeppelin breaking up, Jim Morrison dying...
Right on.
__________________ Shut up and sit down you big bald fuck.
