disappointing: No lyrics with the CD! I ordered the deluxe cd afterwards with the booklet and it was already suspicious that it took so long ... After two weeks I wrote them. Album is sold out and my package missing so no lyrics for me. Really disappointing so next time it would be nice to get at least a normal booklet with my purchase. The album itself is fine, I miss electronics and would have liked more songs. And please, don't release too many songs next time prior to release, killed my anticipation and the marketing in general was pretty bad this album cycle.
Satisfactions I love how raw the record is Guilty All The Same All For Nothing Some of the guest appearances Disappointments Drawbar. That's all.
Honestly the only thing that bugs me about the record is the fact that there are no proper lyrucs anywear in sight and the fact that the record in general is still too much radio based. I mean even though its my favorite songs on the record AFN is straight out pop-rock. Its as if it was made to be able to be played on the radio.
The only real thing that bugged me with this album was the fact that they included so many guests on a main studio album. I will probably get a lot of hate for saying that, but that's just how I feel. I think Daron was a cool guest because the first show Xero ever played was opening for System Of A Down back in 1997, and I think Daron added a great song. I just don't think Rakim, Page or Tom were really ''needed''.
My love for Final Masquerade is really really waning in the past few days. I love the lyrics, but Chester's great deliverance doesn't save the fact that the instrumental is bland. There's nothing memorable to me about the instrumental. My favorite LP ballads all have a really memorable instrumental background. My favorite LP ballad ever, Roads Untraveled, has the bells and the great guitars, I just adore everything about that song. In my opinion, LP will never be able to top it as my favorite song by them. At first I felt that way about FM, but the boringness of the instruments on the song don't give it that lasting punch.
That's interesting because I feel as though Final Masquerade has one of the most riveting instrumentals in their history of ballads. The guitar for one actually ebbs and flows and follows a lovely melody rather than just throwing out a wall of octaves/powerchords to say "oh hey here's the heavy guitar part that always comes at the bridge and end of our ballads". Rob also kills it just like everything else on the record. Not to mention there's that eery sample/synth that reels the song together. Whereas I use to feel the same joyous feeling as you towards Roads Untraveled, now the song feels slightly manufactured rather than natural. It's still an amazing song, but no longer close to perfect. That and the bells always felt incredibly cheesy to me.