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LoganMH

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  1. It's very cinematic, but much too futuristic sounding for GoT in my opinion. My early guess is that it might be for The Twilight Zone reboot, which is premiering on CBS on April 1st Trailer music doesn't sound a million miles away from Muse's song either ...
  2. I put in the first vote for Pressure ! It's strange. I certainly don't hate the song as a standalone and know I'll enjoy it live, but it does the Psycho thing of repeating for a minute and a half longer than it needs to, and I sometimes find that worse than a song that has elements I'm not keen on that disappears more quickly (or seems to). It's to the point that I think Pressure disrupts the flow of the album for me where comically (compared to what I expected going in), even tracks like Dig Down don't. I reserve the right to take this back after future listens, of course
  3. Also not in order: 1 The Handler 2 MK Ultra 3 Unnatural Selection (live) 4 Animals (live) 5 Survival (possibly, somehow?!!!) (honourable mentions: USoE, Isolated System, Algorithm, The Dark Side, Break It To Me, The Void [Acoustic]) 1 Aftermath 2 Revolt 3 Save Me 4 Liquid State 5 Psycho - as much as I’d get into the spirit of it live ... (dishonourable mentions: The Globalist [would’ve been on instead of Psycho, but I don’t mind some of the sections separately], Mercy, Explorers) Doesn’t look quite right to me somehow, but I’ll commit to it for now. Despite no ST tracks breaking the top 5, I prefer it as a whole album over T2L and Drones and found it more fun than The Resistance
  4. Comparing to post-BHAR releases only - I’m expecting to prefer the new album to Drones, but there’s no guarantee past that point. It’d probably only take another good song and no major fall off in quality to beat out the couple of highlights from The 2nd Law for me, but am prepared for it to fall short of The Resistance. Will be very interesting to see what the non-single material turns out like!
  5. The clip sounds great to me - reminds me of moody, History-era Michael Jackson (more than anything Timbaland achieved on Xscape, weirdly), but with a crazy hook at the end. The reaction should be interesting if it's released as the next single or gets a video - I expect some people are going to detest it ! I'm curious to hear how it fits on the album. The other tracks seem to complement each other well production-wise, but this one sounds like it could stand out quite a lot (especially after Pressure on the tracklist). Perhaps some of the hook's weirdness might need to return in a later track on the CD to balance things out a bit ?
  6. Easily better than everything except The Handler on Drones for me (that's a fairly low bar, admittedly) - but possibly also the best genuine attempt at trying to *evolve* their sound since Black Holes. Algorithm into this and Pressure sounds like a pretty interesting start to an album to me! Will be curious to see the track length of The Void. Only bought the standard editions of albums in the past but have taken a punt on the super deluxe package this time because of the extra remixes providing more value for money - fingers crossed
  7. Dig Down into The Void could be a great choice. I always felt the best way to use that song would be as a penultimate track or near enough. It might work better as the last rally before the climax ...
  8. I think the new songs are okay so far (crowd whoops aside), and it would probably only take the rest to maintain the same quality/not involve a stunt guest producer or second vocalist for me to enjoy the album more than T2L and Drones. That probably says more about how low I consider the hurdle to be more than anything, but there you go I'm conscious that I don't want to overplay the importance of Rich Costey being back on board as a co-producer just yet (the pros/cons have been discussed elsewhere), but I think it might just help avoid a couple of the things that plagued the backend of the last two albums and keep the songs feeling a bit better glued together/streamlined. If not, that'll be too bad, but I'm cautiously optimistic at the moment. I'm glad the colourful sounds and aesthetics are back, and that the piano is going to be more involved again. I think it's going to be quite entertaining overall. It feels strange to say that based on my relatively lukewarm reaction to all 3 of the songs we've heard so far on a standalone basis (and massive problems with the last two albums), but I don't feel too negatively for some reason. Just as long as they haven't been forcing things too much with the heavier stuff. I agree that the "alternate versions" are a particularly interesting prospect at this point (if only to see why they committed to the idea!). So fingers crossed, for now!
  9. I'm getting a real sense of deja vu with this project. Overproduced, cringeworthy songs about politics and life on the road, followed by heartfelt acoustic versions to show off catchy songwriting prowess. Hmmmmmm. Got it ! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDi-8dWYGB0#t=01m23s
  10. I guess this reflects their intention to do a stream/download only and not put out a DVD/Blu Ray release. An intentional 4.0 mix to give an "all-encompassing, in the round concert feel" wouldn't be good enough to justify purchase for many when it's so far behind accepted home theater standards (5.1, 7.1 etc). On a fairly cheap download they can just provide a basic stereo mix and be done with it. Their next full scale live release will probably be aiming for better visual/audio fidelity than Rome - I guess this is just a stop-gap EDIT: Have just seen Marc Carolan's instagram post about the hard work put into the mix. Perhaps he decided to take a more experimental approach after the physical release was ruled out? It seems to have worked better for some than others ...
  11. I'm getting more of a late 90s straight-to-video Disney sequel feel with those vocal harmonies and the percussion - very Lion King I think I can hear some gospel-esque church organ underneath too, so will be interested to hear how all of the elements come together. If nothing else, I'm glad the album sounds like it's going to be colourful and diverse again. After The 2nd Law I wasn't sure that's what I wanted from the band anymore, but the greys and browns of Drones made me realise I did, I just wanted it done better.
  12. Just quickly on this - that's a very good point, and I must say I forgot Matt went to such lengths to 'clarify' haha. At the time I remember thinking he was probably telling porkies about the single market I expect I'd disagree with him on a lot of things, but he's entitled to his opinions (or, to keep them to himself, if he'd prefer), and the Matt-Brexit/Scottish independence thing was very much an "of course he did :rolleyes:" moment for me!
  13. It’s tricky. I mean, “what are you willing and not willing to compromise to get what you want” is the important question, exactly as you say, when looking at the bigger picture. But I think there’s a growing tendency for people to conflate separate political events based on perceived trends, and extrapolate similarities without acknowledging the various cultural nuances that make them different. It’s something I feel quite strongly about whenever I see people making comparisons between Brexit and Trump. The assumption often seems to be that because a person can trace some general parallels in attitude, or identify how one political result might plausibly have contributed to the momentum of the other in some way, that they’re inextricably linked, and that the mentality underpinning both is similar. I don’t think it’s that straightforward - not in a lot of cases, anyway, despite what outspoken protesters/commentators would have you believe. Of course, Nigel Farage cosying up to Trump didn’t help the optics (), but while Farage was instrumental in prompting the referendum, he was a fairly marginal figure when it came to actual campaigns for and against the UK staying in the EU. A substantial number of people from both sides of the political divide over here had wanted to ‘leave’ for some time, with every intention to maintain very positive, mutually beneficial relationships with neighbouring countries in Europe (and fight to protect the rights of all people living over here at the time of the vote). The thing is, the EU was initially sold as a trading bloc in the 1950s (practical and sensible), but evolved into the political organisation it is today (seeking “ever closer union”) against a lot of people’s wishes. Possibly due to laziness, many weren't sufficiently engaged until - in their minds - it seemed too late to affect any sort of meaningful change (and all UK governments seemed unwilling to really push for it, in any case). Perhaps it’d be a bit like if the US, Mexico and Canada signed some sort of trade agreement, added a bit about free movement of people, and then slowly started shifting powers from their individual governments to the greater whole. When the going got tough, some people would want to cut their losses. I mean, literally the day before the referendum, a former President of the European Commission was calling for the establishment of a European Army - that sort of thing spooked people, I think ... On the immigration issue, not every person who voted to leave necessarily thought “we want less people coming into our country” so much as “we want the people in the UK to feel like they have a direct say, one way or another, when they vote for their preferred parties during elections - rather than be forced to follow quotas set from the outside”. Restoring parliamentary sovereignty/moving closer toward Matt’s “direct democracy” ideal was the main impetus for many, not just the cover-up story for some sort of mass racist/anti-immigration sentiment. Many understood that the UK economy would take a hit in the short term (at least), and thought it was a price worth paying. Many others, sadly, will have felt the squeeze, and the lack of any sort of coherent Brexit vision in the aftermath will continue to raise questions about whether it would have just been better to wait for the rest of the continent to agree drastic reform was necessary from within (there was clear unrest in France, now Italy, and there’ll be more to come). But it wasn’t going to be neat whatever happened, truthfully - and there was a real sense, reinforced by comments by the UK government and EU itself, that this might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity (for better or worse). There’s no putting the genie back in the bottle with this sort of thing. And in fairness, I thought there were plenty of reasonable, impassioned debates where speakers on both sides of the Brexit issue came across well. Some people were unsure how they were going to vote right up until the day of the referendum. And, there was some disgusting racism - absolutely. No apologies are being made for that. But the tenor of the argument was, for the most part, quite different from all things Trump. As I understand it, anyway. I’ve probably talked around the houses a bit here without adding much. I’m just wary of the UK and US political situations being compared too closely. It’s often said that both of our viable parties in the UK are to the Left of the Republicans and Democrats in the US (both are overwhelmingly in favour of extreme gun control, are pro-choice etc.). And as much as some people might be found over here moaning “I wish we had someone like Trump over here to negotiate our Brexit” (which many people would be horrified by), there are just so many differences. Frankly, I don’t feel qualified to start unpicking the Trump issue (and related ideologies), as much as I’ve been following as an outsider - there’s just so much to cover, and the US is so much bigger ! But I honestly think it’s Matt’s complete feeling of alienation from what he’s witnessing in the US (as a very English guy who probably only lives there because of his wealth/privilege/relationship) that prompts some of his more irreverent comments. Not that it’s an excuse, really. I think we more or less agree on that ! I saw an interview recently (might have been a fairly old one?) where Matt was deflecting from some US issue or other with “but er … yeah, big fan of the constitution haha” as if he was fully aware he’s just bluffing/going through the motions/doesn't really know what he's talking about. None of which would notice half as much if he didn’t insist on making all the political references in his lyrics to begin with !!
  14. Matt’s stated positions on Brexit and Scottish Independence were entirely inkeeping with comments he'd made about the appeal of direct democracy, decentralisation of power etc. - there are many people with similar concerns who don’t have racist sympathies. It would’ve been much more surprising to me if he’d expressed support the other way. Saying that, if I started making "final solution" references in my latest song, I'd expect to be grilled in interviews and have a more serious response prepared
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