LPSoldier1

The face mask idea is cool but I only wear mine (plain black one) when I go in a store for like 3 minutes, tops, and then I take it off. So no point for me to really spend money on one here.

I agree with this. I also agree that the album (Out Of Ashes) was far too polished and it kind of took away from the experience. But there are a few songs that I think sounded better on Out Of Ashes, honestly. Into You, Walking In Circles and Give Me Your Name all sound better on the album, IMO. I know people will be like ‘’is this guy crazy? The WIC demo is way better!’’ but it’s really how I feel. I love the guitar solo from Amir in the bridge that isn’t on the demo. And I do think Chester nailed the vocals better, too. Into You doesn’t sound as cluttered and has a nice flow unlike the demo. And the vocals are vastly superior, as well as Give Me Your Name, even though it’s pretty similar. Morning After sounds the same to me besides quality. I bet it they had recorded Fire and My Suffering in their original compositions for the album, they would have sounded better too. Let Down though I will say does actually sound better on the demo version, even vocally. Better structure too.

I knew about this from Reddit for a while. The Newswire probably didn’t include it when the info was leaked (kind of) out of respect for Mike. But seems pretty promising. Will be a cool release. It’s great that we have a few titles here of songs that we never knew about (Dialate, Could Have Been). Excited to hear Pictureboard as much as anyone, honestly. I’m assuming they just removed the sample from it, as well as She Couldn’t, so it’ll be cool to hear that version of She Couldn’t, too. Might even be better because it’ll be higher quality and I’ve always found that sample a little annoying (not overpowering but it’s repetitive). I hope the version we get here of RME has Chester, that’d be amazing.

Great read. So sad. You can really tell that he was hit hard by it, by not only this, but other examples. Hate to say it but it was probably the final blow for Chester. If there is an afterlife, I hope Chris and Chester are rocking out and singing Hunger Strike.

Hard to believe that this album came out 3 years ago, but when I look back at everything that has happened since, it feels longer than 3 years, if that makes sense. I don’t have a personal connection to this album like some fans do. It’s not my favorite album by the band. But it’s not the absolute worst one, that spot is saved for The Hunting Party. This is probably tied with Living Things and A Thousand Suns for me. It has some good songs. NCSM and BS are my favorites. I hate the chipmunk vocals on GG and SFN but yet I love them on NCSM, no idea why. GG is just a really cheesy song to me. But SFN is pretty good despite that. Mike’s vocals are good on Invisible and SFN. He’s no Chester but he’s pretty good and he seems like he finally has expected his singing voice on these songs, which is good for the future of the band if they continue with him singing. OML, the song, is touching and I understand why so many fans love it, because they relate to it with what happened to Chester. The only thing that ever annoyed me about it is that the band wrote the song for someone they worked with for a long time who died of cancer. Some people (mostly non hardcore fans) seem to think it was written by Chester as like a ‘’goodbye note’’ or something, but he actually didn’t even write the song and even if he did help with lyrics, it was about that friend who had died. But people can relate the song with whatever they want, that’s what music is for right? Heavy wasn’t a good choice for a lead single, IMO. I would have chose TTM for that. I really enjoy the live version of Heavy that has only Chester singing the whole song, I think that would have been better for the album than the version with Kiiara, which could have been cool as like a remix or alternate version. Heavy was one of two songs Chester wrote, and I feel like that is really the true song for his goodbye, as he has described the lyrics as being very personal to him and his last few years of life. And with the live version with only him singing, it gives you a more complete story for him. Just my opinion. Sharp Edges also is a good song but does not work as a closer for me, I would swap that and OML, OML would have been a great album closer.