Board 8 > NFUN Ranks User-Nominated Albums

(+) Yeah! (+)

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Pocket Orchestra - Knbnaguje

gesundheit

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@FL81

Holy mother of God, look at that album art. Off the bat, this is a song I'm surprised that I haven't heard (as far as I remember) at a ski place, or some other place of business that likes to portray itself as vaguely youth-oriented and cool without really committing, whether out of a fear of appearing to be trying too hard or just laziness... I don't think that's supposed to be an indirect way of describing the music. Like, it's straight-forward hair metal, it is what it is and the 80's were a wacky time. Wait, this is from 2007? I guess that's pretty contemporary with Dragonforce. I guess that's surprising because where Dragonforce and even Blind Guardian are pastiches of this kind of music, Gamma Ray is playing it pretty straight here. It's not committing to much more ridiculousness than what is inherent to the genre, aside from the plot.

Ultimately, I think Land of the Free II is kind of monolithic. If I were somebody that naturally paid a lot of attention to lyrics, I might have found it more interesting; as it is, most of it blurred together to me. It's been <x> years since I reviewed it, but my feelings are probably very similar to what I'm guessing they were for Beale Street, where it's enjoyable, but fatiguing and something I have trouble with treating more than background music. I did appreciate when for brief sections moods were mixed up, and the goofy energy of MONDAY TUESDAY! and Real World's Bob Dylan impression[?????] were welcome. If it utilized the occasional mood swing more effectively and incorporated genre changes into the core identity of the album instead of just the periphery, it'd be a lot more interesting. It'd be a better concept album too. When telling a story, especially an overwrought one like this, you need to have some kind of journey, and let the listener experience the awe and the trials and the pain, instead of them just being chanted at them. I know you love Wheel of Time, and I think that song shines brightest where this album falls hardest

Rating: 7/stargate
Favorite song: Opportunity

NFUN posted...

I know you love Wheel of Time

your mentioning of that a while back was kinda what prompted me to go with this album

that, and my #1 favorite song of all time is on this very album

bamp

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