New album review..

[everygeek]

for what it's worth here is my review of the album - Already expressed some of my feelings regards PWEI 2011 and Chaos & Mayhem on the nation so decided not to rush in with my initial feelings but to give it a week and give it a go - my thoughts for what it's worth

Back 2 Business - Apart from that dated synth sound that starts the track ( Something that is quite prevalent throughout the album this opener picked up my ears straight away - Massive production sound ( esp. on decent headphones ) and a great groove with part of me was wishing it was a little longer - Great first track though and feeling positive

Chaos & Mayhem - Already spoken of my disappointment when I first heard this track and nothing changes. Warmed to the tune a little over time but still not for me.

Nosebleeder Turbo TV - Whoever it was (sorry nationers) who said that it sounded a touch like Pitchshifter is spot on. Another track which left me feeling indifferent and suffers from sounding a little dated imho - Vocals sound poor in the mix on this track...something which I feel is common throughout the album. To my ears things are just not sitting right in the mix

Captain Plastic - Aahh the free download - Lyrically cringe worthy and the sample of Clint only furthers my thoughts that a PWEI album isn't one without him. Plods along and much like the tunes previous leaves me feeling disappointed and the overall album experience by now is not great

Mask - Once past the stumbling intro things don't get a great deal better - the quote of Gra saying these are some of the best songs he's written seems to bypass me a little. Less than sounding dated this to my ears comes across still sounding like an demo (A feeling a I had listening to the albeit shortly released VE tracks)

Equal Zero - The track under another name a lot of us seemed to really enjoy goes under a bit of a transition and suffers more for it I feel - Still feeling vocals not sounding great in the mix. Production heavy as the album sounds really starting to feel that this had taken priority over some of the songs. Still feeling massively indifferent let’s see what the next track will bring

Oldskool Cool - If anything my head was in my hands when I first heard this - Dated from start to end (especially the drums/loops & synths) - To be positive though the guitar for the last minute and a half or so is a definite highlight not only for the track but the album so far...clutching at straws I know but believe it or not I do want to love this album

Seek & Destroy - More poorly produced vocals on a track most of us are very familiar with - Much like the VE original in many ways and this is not a positive for me. More filler vocals edits padding out the track as heard on previous songs. The outro leaves me a little confused and the overall feeling that the ideas really haven't been properly executed

Disguise - At last a track that makes me sit up - As others have mentioned really loving the bass sound and the whole groove of the song really works for me...that is until the "you can save the violins section" and there we go again...dated synths and really dull music and melody - the track eventually reverts back and ends on a positive for me

Wasted PT1 - More of that disappointing Punk rock out with the dated synths and questionable vocals - if anything a perfect epitaph for what is a poor release from what was once one of the great bands of my generation

Wasted PT2 - A rather large pile of nothing bookending an album that has left me hugely disappointed (A word I know I've used a lot)


As you can tell it's not for me and I won't be seeing them on this tour - I've supported PWEI for as long as I've known of them and spent fortunes following them around but this to me is tarnish.. A blot on their legacy and I am a little gutted to be fair
Heh it's only a rock and roll band at the end of the day and good luck to them but this "version" of Pop Will Eat Itself is not for me but will be for others.
God bless ya one and all

[AxeofMan]

That's a good review and I understand not liking the album, but some things I'd like to comment about:

Nosebleeder - I thought the vocals were perfect in the mix. It's a very Industrial-noisy track (Put it next to Skinny Puppy's Politikil) and the vocals aren't exactly the center, but rather another instrument.
Seek and Destroy - I actually can't see how this track is bad. It's straight from CFS/TiT era (Which seems to be the most popular here). Did you enjoy the previous VE version? It sounds like your problem with it was that it was a VE track.
Dated - I don't see the synths as dated. They sound like good synths, those Pendulum use ("Slam" and "Propane Nightmares"). Want to hear bad synths? Combichrist, especially "Like to Thank My Buddies". God, the synths there sound so cheap. Just in case there are Combi fans here - "Get Your Body Beat" good enough to make want to try more Aggrotech.
The production of this album reminds me a lot of the Big Beat era ("Equal Zero" reminds me of Crystal Method, and I think of Matrix fight scenes while listening to it). Maybe that's what you considered dated? I love Big Beat so I was happy to see its influence, especially when "Axe of Men" may be the first Big Beat song.

[everygeek]

Heh AxeofMan ta for the reply - I suppose my doubt over the keys is that I'm a bit of synth-head so I'm possibly being over critical there but I still stand by it - Re Seek and Destroy you know listening to the track as I reply I deffo get your "straight from CFS/TIT" era comment but it still disappoints - maybe because it's been floating around in one guise or another for so long that I'm just tired of it!!
And funnily enough I was chatting to mate last night and he said just the same regarding sounding like The Crystal Method - We agreed but mainly cos he loves them and I never bought into their stuff too much.

Actually maybe I'm just a real grumpy stubborn sod!!!

[AxeofMan]

[payback3000]

I like Captain Plastic. I dont find the words cringey...they are really funny and quirky.

Synths sound fine to me. Not exactly Tangerine Dream bad are they?

Anyhow The Cure use really cheap synth sounds and it works for them - they sound really cold and...synthetic.

[everygeek]

[payback3000]

They ruined a fair few 80's flicks with rubbish scores though. I do like there Firestarter score which I'm convinced Clinton cribbed for The Hole.

[rjrteb]

[RolexTharsus]

All the talk of the LP sounding a bit dated is probably one of the reasons I love it! Less & less new music is interesting me so some chunky 10 year old breaks & 20 year old bleeps are right up my street!

I'm on 10th or 11th listen now, I've given LOTL, DDMA, TITD & WB&G a couple of spins in between and for me NNDBAS still stands up and sounds great. Mask still hasn't convinced me but on more listens Equal Zero is a grower.

Other opinions are of course available

[tengoku]

10/10
I'm waiting for New Noise Designed By A Sadist Remastered And Expanded(including Sonic Noise Full)