Without a doubt one of the best debuts of 2014.

Written by Hex_Omega on 10.08.2014 at 10:31

Without a doubt one of the best debuts of 2014.

Haha you really think so? I've seen this one around on the Internet and on file-sharing locations, but I never got the chance to check it out until today. My assessment is very different. This is the DEFINITION of subpar prog. There are maybe two interesting moments in the album that last about thirty seconds, but aside from that, the musicianship is pretty standard and kind of boring, the vocals are absolutely abysmal (whether it's the derivative sounding cleans or the atrocious growls). Even the sample they put in is without substance. There isn't even a lot of potential for future greatness that I can detect in this album; it's just flat-out awful. I have absolutely no idea why people have reviewed it so positively. A very solid contender for worst album of the year.

Two very different opinions, I only gave this one a cursory listen myself and I don't remember having any strong reactions to it. I'll have to revisit it I think.

Written by Diverge on 13.08.2014 at 05:56

Written by Hex_Omega on 10.08.2014 at 10:31

Without a doubt one of the best debuts of 2014.

Haha you really think so? I've seen this one around on the Internet and on file-sharing locations, but I never got the chance to check it out until today. My assessment is very different. This is the DEFINITION of subpar prog. There are maybe two interesting moments in the album that last about thirty seconds, but aside from that, the musicianship is pretty standard and kind of boring, the vocals are absolutely abysmal (whether it's the derivative sounding cleans or the atrocious growls). Even the sample they put in is without substance. There isn't even a lot of potential for future greatness that I can detect in this album; it's just flat-out awful. I have absolutely no idea why people have reviewed it so positively. A very solid contender for worst album of the year.

Wow I'm officially shocked. This album is tagged as progressive metal BUT if you were expecting something like Dream Theater or Opeth then BEWARE because you will be disappointed. Why I like this album? Because of the depressive vibe and originality. It is nothing like Dream Theater, Opeth or even Leprous or Haken. This is like Shining (from Sweden) but minus black metal elements. This is like Depressive Black Metal without Black Metal This band is tagged also as 'Avantgarde' here on MS but on my list it is 'Experimental Depressive Prog' which IMO fits a bit better. Sure it isn't album for everyone. Especially if you expect catchy melodies or crazy solos. You know what? Maybe you just wasn't prepared for this album and you was expecting something totally different and that's why you hate it that much. Try to check this album again when you will be in the right mood for it, you know, a bit more 'depressive'

Written by Hex_Omega on 13.08.2014 at 11:37

Wow I'm officially shocked. This album is tagged as progressive metal BUT if you were expecting something like Dream Theater or Opeth then BEWARE because you will be disappointed.

I certainly never implied that I expected DT or Opeth with this one. The avant-garde label was noticeable on the file-sharing sites, but unfortunately that label was for the most part inappropriate. The album is far more conventional than people seem to think: it's literally just extreme prog with MAYBE a dash of gothic theatrics and MAYBE a crazy avant-garde thing happening for a few seconds every ten minutes or so.

Written by Hex_Omega on 13.08.2014 at 11:37

Why I like this album? Because of the depressive vibe and originality. It is nothing like Dream Theater, Opeth or even Leprous or Haken. This is like Shining (from Sweden) but minus black metal elements. This is like Depressive Black Metal without Black Metal This band is tagged also as 'Avantgarde' here on MS but on my list it is 'Experimental Depressive Prog' which IMO fits a bit better. Sure it isn't album for everyone. Especially if you expect catchy melodies or crazy solos.

And just to clarify, this is not an album that should be characterized as predominantly depressive or experimental, in my honest opinion. The moments that tend to dominate in this album have an energy that I hesitate to characterize as depressive; there are some melodic segments that are kind of sad sounding, but ultimately come across as feeble Ghost Brigade B-side riffs most of the time. There are one or two weird instrumental parts (15 seconds each) that seem avant-garde or experimental, but the music itself isn't particularly experimental.

I don't expect catchy melodies or crazy solos- I just expect enthralling musicianship. While I was impressed consistently with the guitar work, the song itself is actually super boring and the vocals ruin this album almost entirely for me. In addition, the transitions are very poorly executed. There are a few clean vocal segments towards the end that remind me of a more grating version of modern James Hetfield a la Death Magnetic, and that's to put it politely. At other points, it reminds me of an vastly inferior version of Devin Townsend. And the tense moment with the shrieky vocals betrays the amateur nature of this release. It just blows, man.

Well it seems that this album is very polarizing. I found it to be absolutely breathtaking and I don't understand why you bashed the vocals so much.

Written by Derelict Earth on 20.08.2014 at 16:42

Well it seems that this album is very polarizing. I found it to be absolutely breathtaking and I don't understand why you bashed the vocals so much.

Because they are unequivocally terrible.

Simplistic, yet flawless. Quite a thoughtful and emotional record.

Written by Diverge on 14.08.2014 at 03:50

There are one or two weird instrumental parts (15 seconds each) that seem avant-garde or experimental, but the music itself isn't particularly experimental.

Do you think that combination of so many genres in one song can't be called experimental?

Written by Góral on 03.11.2014 at 19:04

Written by Diverge on 14.08.2014 at 03:50

There are one or two weird instrumental parts (15 seconds each) that seem avant-garde or experimental, but the music itself isn't particularly experimental.

Do you think that combination of so many genres in one song can't be called experimental?

I actually don't hear that many genres in it, to be perfectly honest.

To answer your question: yes. Experimental music is much more than just a mixture of different genres.

Written by Diverge on 04.11.2014 at 01:01

Experimental music is much more than just a mixture of different genres.

Sorry for another question but what means 'much more' in your opinion?

Written by Góral on 04.11.2014 at 20:01

Written by Diverge on 04.11.2014 at 01:01

Experimental music is much more than just a mixture of different genres.

Sorry for another question but what means 'much more' in your opinion?

In my experience, experimental music is generally marked by unorthodox approaches to a conventional genre. As an example, I choose Gorguts, a band that chose to incorporate dissonance into conventional death metal structures. I'm not very aware of my death metal history, but not many bands at the time were thinking about death metal in the same way. It wasn't that they had a pre-existing genre that they merely incorporated into death metal. It was all about their new approach to death metal, and it is an approach that spawned Ulcerate, Portal, etc.

Another example would be Orkenkjott. Given some time, I realized that most of the experimentalism came behind their approach. Who would think about parodying 80s hair metal at some random point at the end of a song (Profeten), right after the most gorgeous song on the album (Fem Soler)? Otherwise, it is fairly conventional progressive metal, just with some quirky little twists.

I only mention this because I think the terms "avant-garde" and "experimental" tend to get overused by the prog community. I am guilty of this, for sure. But in this case, We All Die (Laughing) was labeled as "avant-garde", and it's a label I find deceiving because I really don't see much here that I would call experimental. At best, it is a weak kind of experimentalism (like Orkenkjott); at worst, it is simply prog metal.

Written by Diverge on 06.11.2014 at 02:07

I only mention this because I think the terms "avant-garde" and "experimental" tend to get overused by the prog community. I am guilty of this, for sure. But in this case, We All Die (Laughing) was labeled as "avant-garde", and it's a label I find deceiving because I really don't see much here that I would call experimental. At best, it is a weak kind of experimentalism (like Orkenkjott); at worst, it is simply prog metal.

I'm not meticulous but don't you think that avant-garde and experimental should be distinguished? I noticed that most of the reviewers/users use these terms interchangeably. You too. In my experience, this is a mistake. Term experimental is relatively generic and suggest some unconventional approach to music, non-standard arrangements of standard (stuffs like Sigh, Gnaw Their Tongues) and experimentation with different genres as well (Lux Occulta). Can you imagine the experiment-pyramid where you can be able precisely defined a little experiment, medium and large? Can you able to synthetically define what is Igorrr's music? Is this only the mix of most distant and different styles of music or is it a completely new (revolutionary) look at the music at all? I am sure that neither you nor anyone else can't answer clearly when experiment begins and when it ends.

And in this moment comes the concept of avant-garde music, to make life easier for such music-heads like us Talking about avant-garde music, I mean a new, unknown before trends in music (your example Gorguts). This is the search for own personal expressive music-language, new look to something that already exists and making it "new". This may be a step toward a new subgenre, which I call "genre personalization". Avant-garde is a much narrower and more precise term than "experimental", and I think that this term is often abused.

But coming back to the We All Die (Laughing). I totally agree with you that labeled her "avant-garde" was deceiving. But your opinion that "it's not experimental," is a mistake as well imo. This is not a standard prog music, this is not a standard depressive stuff, not death, not doom. So what is it? I think that Hex_Omega very aptly described it (Experimental Depressive Prog).

Btw, the music here is quite interesting but I agree - vocals sometimes sucks terrible

I hate the fact they took their name from a song by The Angelic Process. This captures nothing of what made that band so great. Straightforward and predictable music, with, as has been said, vocals that range from awkward to cringe-worthy. Calling this prog seems like stretching it too. The only thing "proggy" to me are the fact there are a few vocal styles going on, but then again this is one long song which I guess is enough for most people to regard something as prog. It's not terrible though, but not really good either.

The distribution of ratings for this album is absolutely hilarious. I'm glad the average rating is moving closer to the rating it should have, though.

Written by Diverge on 13.12.2014 at 01:08

The distribution of ratings for this album is absolutely hilarious.

Yup. Probably the most controversial debut of 2014 here on MS. But opinions about this album on other metal sites are rather positive.