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Has anyone else heard this album in it's entirety?

I think it's masterfully done. It's like The Dear Hunter, but with brilliant orchestration and with a more epic sound than Casey could ever hope for. Not to mention the star-studded cast.

It's overflowing with incredibly talented vocalists, and the actual story is really intriguing. On top of that you get spoken word poetry from Aaron Weiss.

I'm surprised it hasn't been gushed over on here yet.

You're all lucky I'm not a reviewer or we'd have a 5 on our hands and shit would go DOWN.

I actually listened to this album for the first time a few days ago. My first thought was that it was totally aping TDH but not quite pulling it off. But that was my first listen, and since narrowly missing the mark set by my favorite album of last year is nowhere near an insult, I plan to listen to it several more times.

I do feel a few things about it. First, I love the use of different vocalists and the orchestral instrumentation. But the story seemed too obtuse in places, which underlined the pretension inherent to a concept album. Perhaps that's just a difference in personal preference -- I like musical concepts that are fairly symbolic, without long-winded character names that suggest fantasy-novel-style cover art -- and I'm not a fan of different people singing dialogue at one another, e.g., "Oh man, you stabbed me, bro" and "I'm totally sorry, I'm gonna cry" (in more eloquent language, of course).

Once again, first listen ... please don't come at me like a tornado of arms and teeth and fingernails. Usually the albums I don't quite get at first end up being my favorites. And I'd like to actually read the lyrics before passing definite judgment, since it also sounds like there's some good stuff in there.

edit: Damn, lots of editing. I kinda botched this message :D

I find it funny you instantly thought Dear Hunter, but worse; and I instantly thought Dear Hunter, but better. Can we both agree that the opening track with Casey is heavenly?

I'll concede that some parts are a little hokey, especially some of the names could be better. You have to buy in to that a little bit. I really like some of the naming choices though.

As for the sung dialogue? I'm not sure what my opinion of it is, actually. I like the style of The Missing Piece where they sing... about each other, not necessarily TO each other, but the part between Adakais (I forget if that's his name) and Pallis was a little irksome when I heard it, I'll admit.

I've only listened to the entirety of it twice, the second time really intently for the story, and I'll tell you that it only added to each song when I heard it in relation to what was going on during it. Everything fits so well. The volume, tempo, and pacing of every section just makes sense based upon what's actually going on lyric-wise.


I bought the deluxe edition with special lyric-and-whatnot-insert. I imagine when that comes and I get the story in written form in front of me that I'll be able to appreciate it on a deeper level.

edit: And about the names, I'm sure they all have some kind of significance and aren't all silly and fantasy-esque for a reason.

[Spoilers?]

Barayas the spider could be a derivation of Barajas, a spanish surname. The original word for Barajas is Varalia, which means "fenced area." Considering Barayas plants the idea in Ahrima's head that eventually led to the giant fence being erected between the land of Light and of Dark. Or I could be totally off base.

edit2: oh, I think everything is derived from Aramaic actually.

Check it. http://doormann.tripod.com/aramaic.htm

Everyone's accounted for except Bawaba Bros. and Pallis.

Yeah I didn't like this as much as I thought but after a few more listens you never know. But as of now, my Rateyourmusic.com rating shows a 3/5.

skylinedfire

On top of that you get spoken word poetry from Aaron Weiss.

This has definitely piqued my interest. Plus I love the TDH, so, by all accounts, I should dig this.

Yeah that piece of information just sold me.

LOL...he's just talking guys, relax. (oh wait...isn't that what he always does anyways?)

No but seriously...it's literally JUST narration.

And yet that's still enough to get me excited. His voice, his tone, his general personality... there's just something about him that makes me care about, or at least pay attention to what he's saying.

In the grand scheme of things, yes it was his name that made me even think of looking into listening to this, but it's the rest of the information that makes me actually want to hear what it sounds like.

skylinedfire

I find it funny you instantly thought Dear Hunter, but worse; and I instantly thought Dear Hunter, but better. Can we both agree that the opening track with Casey is heavenly?

It certainly is. After my fourth listen, I can safely say that I think it dips wildly between brilliant and overwrought (though with more of the former than the latter). There are parts that totally remind me of that episode of Futurama when Fry and the Robot Devil switch hands and during Fry's opera the Robot Devil screams "Your lyrics lack subtlety! You can't just have your characters announce how they feel! That makes me feel angry!"

I've been listening to this a lot the past week, mostly because one of my best friends is their touring guitarist/singer, and I like it way more than I thought I would. "The Spider and the Lamps" and "Meet the King" are probably my favorite tracks. I haven't really payed much attention to the actual story, but what I have picked up from it seems a bit silly.

I never thought of the TDH comparison before, but now I totally hear it.

I've seen them live twice in the last week, and they pull it off quite well live. Their current set consists entirely of songs from this album, and have three different singers to help with the various guest vocal parts. They even have Aaron Weiss' narration play between songs.

I'm working on a review, but I'm still in the process of taking notes and forming an opinion. This isn't the easiest album to write about, quite honestly.

It's funny you mention how similar they sound to TDR. Who's in Forgive Durden's top 3 friends on Myspace? The Dear Hunter...

lpshinobi

It's funny you mention how similar they sound to TDR. Who's in Forgive Durden's top 3 friends on Myspace? The Dear Hunter...

Probably because Casey is featured on the album itself. If you look, EVERYSINGLEOTHERBAND who has a vocalist in the album is in the top friends list.

It's not just a conspiracy.

i think this might have the potential to be my favourite album ever.