Explosions

Yall are being WAY too kind to this record.

A bit of a preamble. I’ve been a fan of TDG since Transit of Venus released (so right BEFORE the end times for the band) and they were my favorite group for YEARS! Life Starts Now is one of my favorite records of all time and all I wanted from this record was to prove everyone wrong and show that even though it’s no longer pre 2012 TDG, this band can still make great music. I was so so sorely disappointed. There is so much potential for greatness. The synth lines in some songs (even if they’re extremely safe and underutilized), the time signature changes that it feels like the drummer is TRYING to instigate, the (sometimes) interesting riffs in a few songs. It’s all a recipe for a great rock album, but then Matt Walst took a big shit in the mixing bowl. His voice is horrific, the lyrics are (I hate this word) cringy and repetitive, and man it feels like he’s holding the band back. Don’t get me wrong, it was a group effort to make an album THIS bad, but Jesus Christ a good 70% of the problems are caused by Matt. I actually kinda enjoyed Left Right Wrong and Human, but everything that I didn’t like about those records were EXACTLY what they thought they would make staples of the band. My god, just don’t listen to this. It isn’t even the entertaining kinda bad. It’s just downright boring and uninteresting.