The unreleased tracks sound a lot better than some of the stuff on the album imo. Even waves and some other shit that was on Tim's insta is better than some of the stuff on the album. Honestly, I think that ABC is one of the better vocal tracks on the album and like you said, Audacity is one of my favourites, along with Reverie. Most of the intstrumental stuff just resonated with me more, and I'm just a fan of the NLND vibe in general. Still a good album and makes sense to why they would want to expand tho, just hoping we get hte unreleased stuff soon like fuckjam because that song is fucking genius
I agree, it would be great to get these tracks in nice quality and spruced up enough to have them be released. I do like Playing God, Reverie and Ego Death as well on the album but The Audacity opened my eyes. What is sad is I know that it's more of a one off and not the new direction they are going in, who knows though I could be wrong.
Totally fair opinion and I agree that the first 4 tracks are good with The Audacity being my favorite as stated earlier. I disagree about ABC though, it's one of the most cringe things I think I've ever listened to and watched so for me nah, that song just is hyper pop trash to me. I'm 35 years old though so I have no tolerance for that kind of music/sound.
Haha it's not but I did just watch his review earlier today lol. Not that it changed my opinion in anyway. I'm someone who likes the genre a lot more than he does too so while I agree with him on some points, I disagree with him on some other points he made.
To me the album seems like a proof of concept more so than a cohesive album. the best song of RTYWD is better than the best song of NLND, but NLND is a better cohesive album.
I'm right there with ya on chimera, tho I wish the whole song had vocals rather than just at the end, or no vocals at all, the instrumental sections feel kinda dumbed down almost as if it's a backing track for vocals
I thinks it’s a great step to a better direction. Their instrumental tracks on this are some of my favorite songs from them PERIOD, however, the album is hindered by the vocal features. Plain and simple. I just hope that this albums popularity BOOSTS the bands popularity so that if they feel the need to add vocal features they’ll have better artists that really compliment their sound rather than distract. ABC is the only one that works IMO. Memento Mori and Fuck Around and Find Out sound out of place. Even if at the core they are not bad songs I’d rather just listen to the instrumentals; makes the album feel very disjointed because of it.
Agreed wholeheartedly that it's a jumbled mess. One interesting take from another poster is that RTYWD should really be consumed as a whole start to finish story, instead of a thematic collection of similar works. The album starts at Genesis and ends in Ego Death to signify a whole lifecycle. All Falls Apart signals that from hereon forward everything is going to be completely different. And Ego Death really sticks to the definition as Vai just anhilates the whole concept of the album and tears it all down to nothingness, kinda hinting that both Tim and Vai created something bigger themselves and their own images of self are now in question, and the album drops off on a somber tune of defeat by Brasstracks.
Same for me "the audacity" is a true gem and deserve a place amongst their best tracks ever. But beside this track i think the whole album is a downgrade from NLND in terms of production, composition, tones... But i understand they went for a totally different thing with RTYWD because NLND is such a perfect instrumental album it would have been unmatchable anyway.
The album oddly made sense to me after I listened to it start to finish with the visualizers and music videos. I love the variety of the album and think it showcases Polyphia's overall skill progression over the years. At first ABC and Neurotica didn't set well with me, but I enjoy them now. Minus the abdcdefghi.... part by Sophia. Other than that I enjoy every song. NLND had a great theme to it imo and didn't break from it too much. Probably still my favorite album by them though. Songs like nasty, bad, od, saucy, goat stand out to me the most
I agree. I've never been a fanboy so I feel like my judgement isn't clouded much by bias. There are things I appreciate on this album, but I hate just about every vocal. What they sacrificed for vocals was not made up for by the quality of the vocals, as they are generally cringe and uninspiring. Still love this band though and especially Tim. Polyphia guitar riffs have opened my mind to a new world of possibilities on the instrument.
100% agree. There is just so much they could have done, and they just chose an extremely safe and frankly- boring direction. They really put their uniqueness behind them on a lot of the tracks.
Yeah, it's almost like they were trying to break all this new ground but not in a good way to me. The reason I listened to Polyphia in the first place was because of the angular guitars and the tone they had, it was just the only truly groovy prog like rock out there. The closest to it was Chon, but they have a little bit more of an emo/indie vibe to their songs and tone. I'm just hoping either with the next record from Polyphia or another band steps up to the plate to make truly groovy, funky prog rock that feels new.
Vocalists add absolutely nothing to the tracks and only cheapen the Polyphia experience. While I appreciate them trying something new, I hope they steer clear of vocals or at least implement them in a better way.
Agreed, I'm sick of instrumental bands feeling the pressure to add vocals. I get that being an instrumental band lowers a lot of opportunities but Polyphia got this far without having vocals so I don't see why all of a sudden they went with this approach. It seems like they're headed more in that direction too which is a shame. One can only hope they that go back to their roots for the next album and have it be with little to no features so they can just focus on making the music that defined Polyphia in the past while still breaking new ground.
I'm not a huge fan of the new album. I really like the instrumentals but having 50% of the album include vocal features is HUGELY disappointing even though I genuinely had an open mind about them prior. I didnlt like the idea of it but was excited to see what a band like Polyphia would do with it, I figured they'd find a way to blow my mind but all the vocals tracks are meh imo.
FINALLY someone thinks this too! I feel like they explored the whole "trap guitar" thing on the NLND so this just feels like a rehash. Not gonna lie, I was very disappointed when the singles came out, and I did not understand at all why the fanbases went so hard, when they've clearly topped themselves before this one.
Definitely right when you say that they are experimenting with the whole trap guitar thing but the difference is NLND felt like it had an identity as if Polyphia were evoling into their true form. It felt cohesive (at least to me anyway), maybe the only exception track wise was So Strange (feat. Cuco) but I liked that track too!
Coming from a musician… NLND was on repeat for me. Can barely get through this album more than a couple of times. I love music that I want to come back to over and over. This ain’t it for me. I’m hoping this album was about expanding their audience. Still rooting for them, just hope they go in a different direction from this
Didn’t have time to read comments so I’m sorry if this was already mentioned but, the audacity was written by anomalie. Did y’all see that video? Called like “quarantine jam” or something to that effect. It’s on his page I imagine (someone posted it here not too long ago). That’s my favorite track as well. And I think the dudes did a swell job of slapping the fuck out of it and I love the drum fill that sounds like Clay falling down some stairs but the fact remains, anomalie wrote my favorite song on the album 😬
I agree on the criticism that the album doesn’t sound very cohesive, but lots of individual tracks shine in specific individual explorations (And I think even ABC is pretty good in that context).
The unreleased tracks sound a lot better than some of the stuff on the album imo. Even waves and some other shit that was on Tim's insta is better than some of the stuff on the album. Honestly, I think that ABC is one of the better vocal tracks on the album and like you said, Audacity is one of my favourites, along with Reverie. Most of the intstrumental stuff just resonated with me more, and I'm just a fan of the NLND vibe in general. Still a good album and makes sense to why they would want to expand tho, just hoping we get hte unreleased stuff soon like fuckjam because that song is fucking genius
I agree, it would be great to get these tracks in nice quality and spruced up enough to have them be released. I do like Playing God, Reverie and Ego Death as well on the album but The Audacity opened my eyes. What is sad is I know that it's more of a one off and not the new direction they are going in, who knows though I could be wrong.
Total opposite opinion for me.
Totally fair opinion and I agree that the first 4 tracks are good with The Audacity being my favorite as stated earlier. I disagree about ABC though, it's one of the most cringe things I think I've ever listened to and watched so for me nah, that song just is hyper pop trash to me. I'm 35 years old though so I have no tolerance for that kind of music/sound.
Is this Fantano’s other account?
Haha it's not but I did just watch his review earlier today lol. Not that it changed my opinion in anyway. I'm someone who likes the genre a lot more than he does too so while I agree with him on some points, I disagree with him on some other points he made.
For me the album goes 10/10, i loved how they sound with vocals. My favorite tracks are chimera and bloodbath
To me the album seems like a proof of concept more so than a cohesive album. the best song of RTYWD is better than the best song of NLND, but NLND is a better cohesive album.
Just curious, what's your fav song on RTYWD and NLND?
Ngl I only read the title, but I agree.
What vibe was the original afa like? Was it like heavy or clean and compressed or a mix?
I've had a lot more time with the album, and unfortunately my first impressions have not changed much.
I'm right there with ya on chimera, tho I wish the whole song had vocals rather than just at the end, or no vocals at all, the instrumental sections feel kinda dumbed down almost as if it's a backing track for vocals
Memento Mori and FAFO sound generic and generic is the last word I would use to describe Polyphia.
All I know is I need MORE audacity
I thinks it’s a great step to a better direction. Their instrumental tracks on this are some of my favorite songs from them PERIOD, however, the album is hindered by the vocal features. Plain and simple. I just hope that this albums popularity BOOSTS the bands popularity so that if they feel the need to add vocal features they’ll have better artists that really compliment their sound rather than distract. ABC is the only one that works IMO. Memento Mori and Fuck Around and Find Out sound out of place. Even if at the core they are not bad songs I’d rather just listen to the instrumentals; makes the album feel very disjointed because of it.
Agreed wholeheartedly that it's a jumbled mess. One interesting take from another poster is that RTYWD should really be consumed as a whole start to finish story, instead of a thematic collection of similar works. The album starts at Genesis and ends in Ego Death to signify a whole lifecycle. All Falls Apart signals that from hereon forward everything is going to be completely different. And Ego Death really sticks to the definition as Vai just anhilates the whole concept of the album and tears it all down to nothingness, kinda hinting that both Tim and Vai created something bigger themselves and their own images of self are now in question, and the album drops off on a somber tune of defeat by Brasstracks.
Same for me "the audacity" is a true gem and deserve a place amongst their best tracks ever. But beside this track i think the whole album is a downgrade from NLND in terms of production, composition, tones... But i understand they went for a totally different thing with RTYWD because NLND is such a perfect instrumental album it would have been unmatchable anyway.
The album oddly made sense to me after I listened to it start to finish with the visualizers and music videos. I love the variety of the album and think it showcases Polyphia's overall skill progression over the years. At first ABC and Neurotica didn't set well with me, but I enjoy them now. Minus the abdcdefghi.... part by Sophia. Other than that I enjoy every song. NLND had a great theme to it imo and didn't break from it too much. Probably still my favorite album by them though. Songs like nasty, bad, od, saucy, goat stand out to me the most
I agree. I've never been a fanboy so I feel like my judgement isn't clouded much by bias. There are things I appreciate on this album, but I hate just about every vocal. What they sacrificed for vocals was not made up for by the quality of the vocals, as they are generally cringe and uninspiring. Still love this band though and especially Tim. Polyphia guitar riffs have opened my mind to a new world of possibilities on the instrument.
I personally loved the album but I super appreciate the review. Good to see some back and forth on stuff.
100% agree. There is just so much they could have done, and they just chose an extremely safe and frankly- boring direction. They really put their uniqueness behind them on a lot of the tracks.
Yeah, it's almost like they were trying to break all this new ground but not in a good way to me. The reason I listened to Polyphia in the first place was because of the angular guitars and the tone they had, it was just the only truly groovy prog like rock out there. The closest to it was Chon, but they have a little bit more of an emo/indie vibe to their songs and tone. I'm just hoping either with the next record from Polyphia or another band steps up to the plate to make truly groovy, funky prog rock that feels new.
This is fully all facts
Vocalists add absolutely nothing to the tracks and only cheapen the Polyphia experience. While I appreciate them trying something new, I hope they steer clear of vocals or at least implement them in a better way.
Agreed, I'm sick of instrumental bands feeling the pressure to add vocals. I get that being an instrumental band lowers a lot of opportunities but Polyphia got this far without having vocals so I don't see why all of a sudden they went with this approach. It seems like they're headed more in that direction too which is a shame. One can only hope they that go back to their roots for the next album and have it be with little to no features so they can just focus on making the music that defined Polyphia in the past while still breaking new ground.
I'm not a huge fan of the new album. I really like the instrumentals but having 50% of the album include vocal features is HUGELY disappointing even though I genuinely had an open mind about them prior. I didnlt like the idea of it but was excited to see what a band like Polyphia would do with it, I figured they'd find a way to blow my mind but all the vocals tracks are meh imo.
FINALLY someone thinks this too! I feel like they explored the whole "trap guitar" thing on the NLND so this just feels like a rehash. Not gonna lie, I was very disappointed when the singles came out, and I did not understand at all why the fanbases went so hard, when they've clearly topped themselves before this one.
Definitely right when you say that they are experimenting with the whole trap guitar thing but the difference is NLND felt like it had an identity as if Polyphia were evoling into their true form. It felt cohesive (at least to me anyway), maybe the only exception track wise was So Strange (feat. Cuco) but I liked that track too!
Great Songs: Playing God, Audacity, Reverie, Neurotica, Chimera, Bloodbath, Ego Death
Coming from a musician… NLND was on repeat for me. Can barely get through this album more than a couple of times. I love music that I want to come back to over and over. This ain’t it for me. I’m hoping this album was about expanding their audience. Still rooting for them, just hope they go in a different direction from this
Didn’t have time to read comments so I’m sorry if this was already mentioned but, the audacity was written by anomalie. Did y’all see that video? Called like “quarantine jam” or something to that effect. It’s on his page I imagine (someone posted it here not too long ago). That’s my favorite track as well. And I think the dudes did a swell job of slapping the fuck out of it and I love the drum fill that sounds like Clay falling down some stairs but the fact remains, anomalie wrote my favorite song on the album 😬
Fyi - This thread is giving them exactly the publicity they want and you’re contributing to it.
Honestly I'll respect any take except this one, brushing off any form of criticism as "you're just giving them publicity anyway" is dumb
Does anyone know if there’s merch at Polyphia shows?
Yes there is
I loved loved loved this album , and I enjoy listening to it everyday.
I agree on the criticism that the album doesn’t sound very cohesive, but lots of individual tracks shine in specific individual explorations (And I think even ABC is pretty good in that context).
I kinda agree on this one
Yeah I can see this. They go off in so many different directions that it’s easy to get alienated as a fan of the music.