APC - Eat the Elephant Reviews & Discussion

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hellboy
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APC - Eat the Elephant Reviews & Discussion

Post by hellboy »

A new thread to separate the general stuff from EtE reviews and such.

Anyway, looks like promo copies are out there, so expect to see a few more reviews on sites around the place (and probably a leak in the next week or so)

First one I've come across is from Metal Sucks, who don't sound entirely taken with it:
I don’t think anyone was expecting A Perfect Circle to make a metal record. But Eat the Elephant, the band’s first studio album of new material in nearly fifteen years, isn’t even metal adjacent; it’s not even a hard rock record. Heck, some might argue that it’s barely even a regular rock album, period. For perhaps the first time in the band’s career, Billy Howerdel’s guitar playing often takes a backseat to his piano playing; the gorgeous title track, which opens the album, is not the calm before the storm so much as it’s the clouds before the drizzle.
They rated it 3/5
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Re: APC - Eat the Elephant Reviews & Discussion

Post by UndKeineZwEier »

This is an easy line but I still appreciated it:
This is a record that concludes with a song called “Get the Lead Out” in which absolutely no lead is gotten out. 
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Re: APC - Eat the Elephant Reviews & Discussion

Post by Ravenpig »

I don’t care if it’s heavy I care if it’s good.

The songs released so far point to an eh ok record. I very much hope I’m wrong.
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Re: APC - Eat the Elephant Reviews & Discussion

Post by hellboy »

I agree the songs so far point to a 6 or 7 out of 10, and a relatively mellow record (which the review would seem to confirm). Hopefully people aren't expecting another Mer De Noms, though I expect many are.
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Re: APC - Eat the Elephant Reviews & Discussion

Post by nxrm »

hellboy wrote: from Metal Sucks
...is not the calm before the storm so much as it’s the clouds before the drizzle.
...
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Re: APC - Eat the Elephant Reviews & Discussion

Post by Kittaan »

That review doesn’t surprise me at all.

Whatever the album sounds like, I’m hoping it works better live. The new tracks sounded decent on the last tour.
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Re: APC - Eat the Elephant Reviews & Discussion

Post by xZ1mM3r »

MetalSucks wrote:Thirteenth Step might have been chill, but there was a diversity to its chillness; other than being less-than-heavy, songs like “Weak and Powerless,” “The Noose,” “Blue,” and “Gravity” don’t have a ton in common with one another. But a lot of the material on Eat the Elephant sounds kinda similar
I feel as though there is no pleasing everyone. In general people praise albums when they follow together.. had Thirteenth Step been a consistent flow of similar songs, we would love it for it's consistency... And conversely reviews would harp on Eat The Elephant for feeling disjointed..

This feels like a reviewer loving the older stuff, and being closed off to a new sounds from a band. If a band is still making similar songs after nearly 2 decades then they aren't evolving. Maynard has even stated himself (I'll get the quote way wrong, but the point is the same) that a band has to evolve, if he is still screaming out his problems on new songs then his screaming clearly wasn't working.

In the words of the scholar and visionary Tech N9ne: "If you don't like my new shit, then buy my old album."

I for one am super excited for Eat The Elephant. I enjoy the new songs we've heard, and I love Puscifer, so I'm not turned off by they idea of them sounding similar.


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Re: APC - Eat the Elephant Reviews & Discussion

Post by UndKeineZwEier »

I disagree. First of all, I think Thirteenth Step has a great flow to it. But flow doesn't come from just having a bunch of the same sort of songs. It comes from the way songs flow into each other and dynamics and pacing in how you spread out the more upbeat faster stuff with the slower stuff. It's why Tool have always the segues.

You can have an album of very same-y stuff that has a good flow, but having same-y sounding songs doesn't necessarily mean an album will have good flow.
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Re: APC - Eat the Elephant Reviews & Discussion

Post by hellboy »

Yeah, Thirteenth Step has a great flow, and consistent theme. It's an album that tells a story for the most part.
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Re: APC - Eat the Elephant Reviews & Discussion

Post by xZ1mM3r »

hellboy wrote:Yeah, Thirteenth Step has a great flow, and consistent theme. It's an album that tells a story for the most part.
The reviewer wasn't suggesting it didn't have a theme, at least I didn't think so. It sounded like he was referring to the songs sounding so different from one another. It sounds like Eat The Elephant might have similar sounding songs AND a consistent theme... Which makes me wonder why so many of you aren't more optimistic for it. Yeah it doesn't sound like it's going to be a rock album, but that doesn't mean it's bad. I think the doomed, talktalk, and disillusioned all have a very clear and consistent message.

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Re: APC - Eat the Elephant Reviews & Discussion

Post by hellboy »

I enjoy the three tracks released so far, so am very much optimistic for this release.
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Re: APC - Eat the Elephant Reviews & Discussion

Post by tys0n »

I just remember listening to Emotive and all hype is gone.

What a fucking stinker.
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Re: APC - Eat the Elephant Reviews & Discussion

Post by rinkwhopper »

Sometimes I can't tell if people know Emotive was a covers album. They certainly judge it like it was an album of original APC music. To me, it was like a bonus release full of cool re-imaginings. And thematically it felt very appropriate at the time of its release.
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Re: APC - Eat the Elephant Reviews & Discussion

Post by brewdog123 »

^^^
i agree. there are some good songs on there, but yes, its like a bonus album. dont take it so seriously
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Re: APC - Eat the Elephant Reviews & Discussion

Post by children »

Emotive is easily the worst album, but it is still a nice sounding record. You gotta love the cover of Imagine and What's Going On and When the Levee Breaks. Then you get Passive and Counting Bodies which are great originals, and are worth buying the whole album for I think. I enjoy how they open and close with the very minimal covers of Annihilation and Fiddle and the Drum. Also, the live versions from when the played the full album are all great. The version of Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie is really cool live. At the very least, Emotive sets a mood, and does what it was intended to do; promote a message of peace and protest the war(s?).
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Re: APC - Eat the Elephant Reviews & Discussion

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children wrote:Emotive is easily the worst album, but it is still a nice sounding record. You gotta love the cover of Imagine and What's Going On and When the Levee Breaks. Then you get Passive and Counting Bodies which are great originals, and are worth buying the whole album for I think. I enjoy how they open and close with the very minimal covers of Annihilation and Fiddle and the Drum. Also, the live versions from when the played the full album are all great. The version of Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie is really cool live. At the very least, Emotive sets a mood, and does what it was intended to do; promote a message of peace and protest the war(s?).
Emotive was garbage only a fanboy would like. True story.

Eat the Elephant is gonna be a snooze fest. I won't go so far to say it will suck, the songs they have released are not terrible, but they are fairly forgettable.

Bring on the new Tool album. The thing most of us actually give a shit about.

Now lemme Walk Walk Walk my way out of this thread :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Re: APC - Eat the Elephant Reviews & Discussion

Post by children »

Yeah we know, MOG. You don't have to keep telling us you don't like APC.

That's fine and all but a lot of us actually do like their music.

You can go listen to all the metal music you want and pretend like you are more of a man than the rest of us.
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Re: APC - Eat the Elephant Reviews & Discussion

Post by M0G »

children wrote:Yeah we know, MOG. You don't have to keep telling us you don't like APC.

That's fine and all but a lot of us actually do like their music.

You can go listen to all the metal music you want and pretend like you are more of a man than the rest of us.
I love APC, back when APC was still APC. Mer De Noms, Thirteenth Step, fantastic albums. What APC have become, ughhhhhhh

If you think I only listen to metal you clearly haven't been paying attention.

I wanted this album to be great, I really did. It is a massive let down that we are getting Emotive 2.0
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Re: APC - Eat the Elephant Reviews & Discussion

Post by children »

We haven't even heard the whole album yet. So quick to judge. I admit that The Doomed wasn't immediately appealing for me, but there are certain parts that I liked right away and it has grown on me more and more.

I am interested in hearing the whole album and don't this this will be Emotive 2.0 in the slightest. It is an entirely new sound to me. Whenever a band does something different to their original sound, there is always people who complain.

I say go back and listen to those old APC albums. I can't stand artists who maintain the same sound on all of their albums. It's fucking boring. Go listen to Chevelle or Foo Fighters if you want music that remains consistently bland throughout their entire careers.
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Re: APC - Eat the Elephant Reviews & Discussion

Post by tys0n »

Emotive was a slapdash recording to complete A Perfect Circles contractual agreements with Virgin.
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Re: APC - Eat the Elephant Reviews & Discussion

Post by Bill Hilly »

I think we can make a pretty good assessment about the quality of this album off the three singles. It's going to be, at best, a little better than Emotive. I miss Josh Freese.
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Re: APC - Eat the Elephant Reviews & Discussion

Post by children »

tys0n wrote:Emotive was a slapdash recording to complete A Perfect Circles contractual agreements with Virgin.
That may be, but APC has always upheld a standard of quality that runs through all of their music and Emotive is not any different.

Although, I do understand that the album as a whole is not the most thrilling, but if you look at the individual tracks they are fine on their own. It is the type of album that is more atmospheric, and like somebody said before is not to be taken too seriously.

I don't see how you can't like their cover of Imagine. The build up of Annihilation into that song is beautiful. You have to dislike the original to not like it, and even if you don't like John Lennon, I don't understand how you don't like the cover. It's so dark and awesome. It's an entirely new song pretty much. They made it all their own. The guitar right after the line "You may say I'm a dreamer..." is phenomenal, and the drums are great throughout the whole album.

I look for musical value on every level and there is something to like on every song. The only song that is a little off is Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie, but it is obviously meant to be jarring and kinda funny. I am not saying Emotive is something I go to a lot, but whenever any of those songs come up in rotation they fit in just fine into the APC universe.

I think if you have only listened to it a few times and decided not to try again, that you should add it into the mix with the rest of APC and give it another chance alongside the rest of their albums. Sometimes a song will not do too much for me, but then I will hear it at the right moment when I am not expecting it and it will suddenly have an impact on me and becoming one of my favorites.

There is plenty of TOOL songs that did that to me, and that is why I force myself to have patience with new music so I can become familiar with it.
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Re: APC - Eat the Elephant Reviews & Discussion

Post by hellboy »

eMotive has it's moments, that's for sure - I quite like Imagine, and Passive is ok. Overall it's a pretty boring album though.
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Re: APC - Eat the Elephant Reviews & Discussion

Post by tys0n »

'I know people are going to take it in a political sense — that it's a call to action to change the laws or whatever. That's such a boring reactionary response to me ... especially with gun control. I think we have a much larger problem with antidepressants than we do with guns. Most of the people who are doing that have turned the voice off in their head to say, 'I probably shouldn't do that.'

I'm a dumb fuck, what exactly is he saying here?
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Re: APC - Eat the Elephant Reviews & Discussion

Post by Bill Hilly »

I think he's saying Guns don't kill people, Doctors who prescribe prozak to people kill people.
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