DecoyMusic.com

I listened to this once and haven't returned because of the quality of the leak/tagging etc. I may end up buying it. Act II I think is much better though.

ive tried and tried and tried and tried to get into this band.. i just can't for the life of me.

I'm with you Aaron; they're a bit too theatrical for my taste. I do think they're talented though, and the concept is interesting...just can't get into the music.

To me this album and this band are 99 percent pretentious, 1 percent talent haha

Agree with Aaron...liked Act I when it first came out when I thought it was merely a Receiving End side-project...but now just can't dig them for some reason, and left wanting Receiving End to get back together

It's amusing how the tastes on this site have changed, but I'm still glad this got at least four stars.

As was to be expected, I love this, haha. I think the last few tracks are great (with the exception of Go Get Your Gun and its Red Hands-esque lyrical cheese during the chorus -- though I still like the song overall). But then, I'm one of the patient few who didn't think Act II was too long. Also, Act II had a more tangible story arc, and I preferred its musical transitions over the sound effects-based ones that are more common in Act III... but I'd say my love for the two albums is the difference between a 4.6/5 (for Act II) and a 4.4 (Act III).

Decent review, aside from the assumption that no one would enjoy it in one sitting. In fact, the other day I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Acts I-III back to back.

Wow, for listening all three acts back and forth, you obviously totally love this band dude. But.. why should everybody get down to tears for it? I've tried this band since day one, and... while it shows some nice instrumentation and really impressive signing by Casey, all the polka and mexican ranchera kinda kill the rock in there. Didn't think its suckey... they just didn't click on me. Surprisingly, i've listened to this and i must say I appreciate track 4 and alikes a lot. Lots of jazzy vibe and less polka stuff, which is a welcome change.

prog....I live for it. Loved the last album. thought this one was pretty good. I'll have to have more time with it, but i'm gonna say a once through gets 8/10 from me.

Haha, that's actually more than I gave it on my first listen! It's a grower, and beware ... the leak is shit.

And @ rinox: I never suggested that anyone shed a tears over the band. I certainly haven't. I just like 'em a lot. Maybe because I like polka. I also like ranchera when it's done well -- and let's face it, a lot of Mexican music styles, including ranchera, draw heavily from European polka. I like the variety of other styles and instruments too, and that they're arranged in ways that still produce memorable melodies and hooks aplenty.

It's nice to see someone showing respect for the band, though, even if they aren't a huge fan ... it's more than some others seem capable of doing. :)

Gotta back my friend Scott up here (and not just because he's my adopted brother - I hate some stuff he digs), but this album is a grower and is honestly really flippin' good. I definitely enjoyed Act II thoroughly, with the exception that it did drag a bit in the middle (mainly during the Bitter Suites.. good songs, but I found that it was the place I quit listening if I didn't do the whole album in a sitting). This album could definitely stand a little more punch in the last three tracks, but definitely is not too long. Contrary to Scotty-boy - I dig Go Get Your Gun, while cheesy, it's catchy as hell. I'm a little saddened by the amount of "blah" expressed... not everyone will dig, I definitely agree and am fine with, but the fact the majority of commentors on here don't dig is a little depressing. Oh well. Whatcha gonna do? I do appreciate the good, though rather short-winded for such a thorough series, review.

I basically just highly recommend people to WAIT to hear a legitimate copy of this CD. The production does sound incredible but the leak we're all hearing is a pile of shit. It's scratchy sounding, and the transitions are all wrong. There are 14 songs, not 18, and the last song is 5 minutes, NOT 45 seconds, like on the rip of the leak.

Casey can do no wrong in my eyes.  I loved Acts I and II, and judging by the sound of things, I'll be crazy about this one too.  These albums are so dense and diverse; I can't see anyone on this site not enjoying at least some part of them. 

And I can see why this album/band would be labeled pretentious, but I've never gotten that vibe from Casey.  He seems like a very humble, down to earth kinda guy.  I think ambitious would be more fitting a description. 

I agree. When I talked to him, pretentious was the last word that came to mind.

Hey Dear Hunter...

Hahaha. Rick, i'm starting to believe you make these images yourself.

You know - that came up when Thrice were tackling the Alchemy Indexes and I was annoyed by how quick people were to throw out "pretentious" then. I see it a lot for Mars Volta too. I think its sad that if a band has goals loftier than "putting something out to tour on so we can go out, drink, do groupies, and make our 80's predecessors proud", then they're potentially labeled as pretentious. I see nothing wrong with working to have a strong message to your work or trying to tell a story with your work.Now someone saying "I want to make the album that defines the voice of my generation", that's something to throw the word out at. Sorry to vent on that, but it's just annoying that I see that word used so much in describing some of the more inventive (or at least ambitious, as was mentioned above) artists.

I agree with Jeremy. It seems the last 3-4 years the word 'pretentious' is thrown around way too easily.

Oh be quiet, you pretentious prick!

;-P

I can't believe I actually listened to this album in full for not having listened to either the first two discs.

just because the dear hunter albums have a loose concept rather than whine about girls not liking them doesn't make them pretentious.

The word pretentious is used for bands like The Mars Volta because they have gotten to the point where Cedric and Omar are THE Mars Volta and the rest is the Mars Volta band.  I love TMV, but that shit is pretentious.  I don't get the pretentious feeling from The Dear Hunter at all.  Dude seems mega chill about his band and doesn't seem to spout of about his music being the best thing ever. 

I want The Receiving End of Sirens back.

Hey Dear Hunter, The Decemberists called and they want their sound back...they also said to try harder next time.

saw them lastnight with mewithoutyou.  so.  g'damn.  incredible.  picked up act III too...and it is mindblowingly epic to the greatest extent.  the vocal harmonies, instrumentation, song writing, and lyrical scope are unlike any other band out there.