Originally Posted by mrhauskins

I pretty much agree with everything. Song quality is good, but to me it's not as good as 'The Moon is Down'. And yes, the production sucks. It sounds really lo-fi to me, like they burned all the albums at 96kbps. I don't know. To me, if the quality was better, it would make the listening experience much, much better. Chris' vocals are top notch, though. I honestly think his voice has gotten much better over the years and he nailed it this time around.

PS. I wrote this before reading the review. Interesting that we both talked about crappy bit rate.

it's great to see all these people agreeing with me. i was a little worried there was something wrong with my hearing.

King's Canyon is my favorite song off the album, despite not knowing what Chris is talking about.

And I completely agree about the strength here being in the choruses instead of the verses. Overall I'm happy with the album, but not thrilled.

I have had the same struggle with the production. I have wanted to enjoy this album much more than I have.

It doesn't really have anything about the production (which i also hate) but i can't get into this record, nothing stands out besides Rescue Trained and Engines.

I love this record, but my biggest gripe is how the vocals were handled (mix wise). The effect on them is a real mixed bag, and the effect on them is such a downer for me.

Good review, agree completely for the most part.

I read your name and assume you were once a nu-metal frontman, Scott.

if this record came out when it should have (aka 2003), the chorus to Janie would have been EVERYONE'S away message

I'm just finally giving this a listen. Production is pretty bad, but I'm liking it otherwise!

Scott, my man. You have articulated my thoughts on this album perfectly. I had such high hopes for it, shame I've only been able to bring myself to listen to it a hand full of times.

My number 2 of the year

First up - great review

Originally Posted by remoteCONTROL

The second is that I have NO IDEA what the lyrics "Only a stone from King's Canyon..." mean and Chris sings it over and over again on track 4. For me, it makes it really hard to relate to the song. If you get a chance to do an interview with these guys, please ask the inspiration behind that line and don't let them give you a Jason Vena answer of "the lyrics are what you make of them."

The meaning of that song as I see it is that the character is only a stone from King's Canyon - one stone among many stones. Like feeling like a drop in the ocean.

"Only a stone, so I make my way my own."
"Only a stone, I will make my way my own."
"Just a stone, who could notice, here in the bones and the locusts, just a stone."

The "tell me who will ever know" bit doesn't make sense with that meaning, but yeah.

I would listen to this record so much if it didn't sound like I ripped it off limewire. I don't understand how such a high profile release was put out with such terrible production quality.

Didn't Chris produce this? I agree with the review, has a shit ton of potential and all the fantastic songs are there, but the production really really turned me off. It kind of works on "So Cold" and "Janie" but otherwise it's a big distraction. Total letdown of an album for me. Hopefully, if they're planning to do a follow-up, that will fix this big issue.

The vocal effect sounds like autotune and is really distracting/unnecessary.