Album Rating: 4.5

The production sounds basically the same as the retraced remix/remaster to my ears. Not my favorite sound compared to Traced in Air and Focus, but it's far from being offensive. Then again, there are plenty of albums with consensus-agreed subpar production that have never bothered me. Kinda makes me glad that I don't care that much about it, because it seems like it has great potential to ruin experiences for a lot of you guys in spite of albums being otherwise strong. I'm happily ignorant I guess

Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Off

great review ♥



i really disgree that this is their "least re-listenable record to date" though. i think its full of gorgeous hooks and melodies that really reward subsequent listens. especially 'mythical serpents' and '6th dimensional archetype' have been on repeat here nonstop XD

Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off

Lol you have Bose headphones.

i really disagree that this is their "least re-listenable record to date" though [2]

Album Rating: 4.5

I have heard people say before that this is their most 'human' album but I really don't feel that is true at all - if anything it is just projecting, I think it's their most abstract album to date. The entire album is about world-building the perspective of a wandering spirit, its extremely abstract and weird its hard to imagine it projects the sorrows of a band member.

Enjoying this a lot more now. I still agree with you Cotton that there aren't any "holy shit!" moments but it's very smooth and consistent and some of the songs are growing on me

Yeah I really don't get how this is their most human album, or wtf that even necessarily implies lol

I've actually cried twice to this already...and i'm a bird, so...

Album Rating: 2.5

Lol you have Bose headphones.

Album Rating: 3.0

bad production makes me not wanting to relisten this.

bass synth is horrible.

Fantastic review Xeno. I enjoy the interludes but it's true that they could have been... less.

I literally haven’t listened to a second of this bands music but props to the last remaining original member for continuing on. This couldn’t have been an easy record to make.

Album Rating: 3.5 | Sound Off

Not a fan of the production here either, but it's not a deal breaker. First spin left me underwhelmed but the second started to reveal some cool things so I'm going to relisten this a few more times before deciding if this is a 3 or a 4'5 (or somewhere in-between)

Album Rating: 3.0

Earth to Masvidal.. Man, this one is a mess. I'm hoping it grows on me

Album Rating: 4.0

The complaints about the production I'm not getting lol, get better headphones.

Album Rating: 2.0

Yeah, production is the lesser of this album's problems for sure

Album Rating: 3.6

I have monitor quality headphones. album sounds like shit lol. get better ears

Album Rating: 4.5

I definitely hear the issues with production. This is missing something that was there from Focus on through Carbon, I think it's the clarity of sound. This feels very muffled at times.



However, this a great album. Kindly was definitely a misfire, but this is far from being underwhelming (KBtFU still has some great tracks). There are times it sounds like ideas that haven't been distilled fully but when it hits it does so very effectively. I'm normally one to skip through interludes but they feel fitting here.



It's a great transition after losing not only 2/3s of the song writing process but also two pretty titanic players in the field.



I heard a lot more than I expected to, and am grateful for it. I hope Paul keeps moving forward and tightens up the area Cynic is exploring.

Album Rating: 3.6

when this gets busy it's legitimately hard to distinguish anything from the muffled noise which is a bummer with how good some of these melodies are. the vocal mixing sounds paperthin and super weird. and then you've got synth parts that sound like the raw MIDI output has just been copy pasted on top of the track with no attempt to actually mix them in. shit is baffling

Album Rating: 2.5

i listened to a bit of this and yeah the production is glaringly bad