so i dont know how exactly to open this post, but i guess i just did.
Anyway, this post is gonna be mainly 2 things. An update about this blogging thing, and a rant bout the new 30 seconds to Mars record.
So onto the update about this blog: I havent been posting frequently on here at all, and i've come to enjoy posting on here, mainly because i can just spew out my thoughts on whatever. So with that being said, i'm gonna try and make these posts a weekly thing, probably every wednesday. at least thats what i'm aiming for.
oh and i'll try and make my posts about everything, not just music, transformers and school.
Now to the mini-rant on the the new 30 seconds to mars record.
If you dont know fo these guys, it's JAred Leto's (yea that Jared leto) musical endeavor. Now i'll be frank, out of the tracks i had on their last album, i really liked thier sound, but then their got labeled as Emo with their song "the Kill" and i really stopped listening to them. Then came clips and the first single from their latest album "This is War". As i'm posting this, i'm fnishing my first listen of it and it's honestly not a bad record, but thats about as much as i can say about ti positively. It's good but it leaves a lot to be desired. At least for me. My biggest issues are as follows:
1a,b, and c) Mr. Leto relies too much on extra bits and bobs on this record. Case in point the overused childrens choir prerecorded vocals, unecessary atmospheric intros, random oh's and whoahs.
Lets tackle these one at a time, first up the Children's choir extra voices. This feature wouldnt be bad if it wasnt overused like it is on this record. The first track is filled with them and as such is a forgettable intro track. The title Track features whatever group Mr. Leto recruited doing all the back-up vocals on the chorus and such. and track 8 "Vox Populi" is seriously hindered by the fact that the group of voices opens the track by singing the chorus 2 times, which as much as Mr. Leto sings the chorus himself. I get that they were trying to go with something new on this record, to break out fo the label that thier last record gave them, but iit is my firm opinion that these extra vocals , which are also used in the current single "kings and Queens" were used too much, as they dominate the majority of the tracks on the album, appearing to drown out the musical prowess of any guitar work done by the group, or any drum work done by Mr. Leto's brother, who is a very good drummer.
1B) the intros. There is an abundance of occasions on this album where any given track (excluding "kings and Queens" and "stranger in a strange land") starts off with a quiet intro that builds up. now this is fine if it is done properly. But i feel Mr. Leto and his group missed the mark with their intros here as most are just progressive slightly industrial build-ups that seemed to have just been tacked onto the beginning of the song.
1c) Mr. Leto has a great vocal range, but he needs to look at modern, non-emo rock bands and realize that nobody is filling their songs with "whoah's" "oh's" and nonsense words at various points. theres at least 2 songs on the album, if not 3 or 4 where the majority of the time that could be spent showcasing any instrumental talent the members of the band have, is filled wiht these random vocals from Mr. Leto and/or the aforemntion pre-recorded choir group, which may i ad doesnt even show up in the video for "Kings and Queens". their voices just enter, and Mr. Leto makes it look like he's summoning their voices, as if he is playing God. Goign along with the main point here though, i feel like there is too much vocal work on here, like Mr. LEto loves the sound of his own singing range too much. This hinders the instrumental parts of the songs, in my opinion
2) the overall feel of the album: there is no cohesivity, you've got a mismash of varying sounds, as if 30 seconds to mars is trying to find their niche. tracks like "Night of the hunter" "stranger in a strange land" are more industrial, whiel tracks like " Kings and Queens", "this is war" and "Closer to the edge" are more hard rock songs. and then you have the slower or mid-tempo songs "L 490" (which is an instrumental, a very underwhelming one), "100 suns" and "hurricane". I feel like the band is trying to hard on Hurricane, as there is the organization of qucik first verse, chorus, long second verse, bridge, chorus, bridge, bridge, bridge. This organization does not work for the song at all. "100 suns" has potential but it's just a forgettable mid-tempo song with little variation in the lyrics until halfway in.
So yea i combined my issues, but i am disapointed wiht this album. not as much as i was with Echoes the fall's debut album though, which is a separate rant.
anyway, sorry for the lengthy post. i'll be back next week.
