Metal Reviews

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This makes me proud to be a Washingtonian. Granted, I haven't heard the album in its entirety, but the songs I have heard made me flap my hands and sputter like a retard. It was so grand.

I kind of wish they kept off most of the mellow songs are included more heavier ones. The mellow tunes would have been a great EP follow-up, like Sap and Jar of Flies.

Excellent album, though.

Yeah, I agree. I'm willing to bet that a lot of this material is stuff Jerry's been saving up for quite a while, so perhaps he didn't want to wait.

Added my score. Quite a grower.

Bingo! This is more like it! The harmonies on Looking reminded all to well of Rain When I Die from Dirt. The rest of the album is damn near flawless. The could have been called Dirt II and I wouldn't have minded.......thank God they didn't though.


Score: 91
Songs of choice: A Looking in View, Check My Brain, Black Gives Way to Blue

Dirt II? It sounds nothing like Dirt.

Coincidentally, I bought this album just this afternoon.

Anyway, I agree that it's an excellent comeback. In fact, it sounds almost like the "missing AIC album" between Dirt and Jar Of Flies. Check My Brain is my personal favorite. But pretty much every song on this album rocks.

Believe it or not, I think the material on this album sounds most like the band's two Last Action Hero songs: What The Hell Have I? and A Little Bitter. Both of which came out in 1993, right between Dirt and JOF.

this is a great comeback for one of my favourite bands. Every song i really enjoyed and replayed frequently. 've even grown to enjoy check my brain
IMO there is no low point on this album
personal favourites: your decision, black gives way to blue, last of my kind and all secrets known

Great review Adam, but I gotta ask since you rated them the same, do you really think this is as good as Facelift? To me it just lacks a certain depth that Facelift has, I think the songs on there were much more memorable and diverse than on this one.

Yeah, I really do, though I had to think about it long and hard. It had to grow on me a little, maybe because of my initial skepticism, but I think its got some A+ material. I will agree that Facelift is the more varied of the two, and is probably more consistent throughout, but I think the high points on this album outshine those on Facelift enough to make them even out.

Hmm. An explanation is in order and an apology if need be. By saying "Dirt II" I was taking a personal observation at a new album that is not a soundalike or even a 'knockoff'. Dirt is one of AIC's finest and BGWTB holds a few noticeable nuances that give it the energy that Dirt maintains to this day. And so I wanted to give this new album proper credit for becoming something that may not be anything like Dirt but can stand on its own and end up being possibly their 2nd best album. I apologize for any confusion and will consider my wordings a bit better going forward.

This album is indeed an infectious grower that I can't seem to stop playing. Every damn time I go to my iTunes or iPod I just cue it up for yet another listen. Adam, I couldn't agree with your review more. AIC exceeded all of my expectations and then some. This is a really damn good album that imo does have the ability to stand toe to toe with Facelift. I'm blown away and happy as hell that AIC have returned. YES!

I don't agree at all. I fail to see how thinning out the material by excluding a couple great mellow tracks and replacing them with filler heavier tracks would make this album stronger.
The balance of the two is part of what makes this such a great album.

And what would make you think Jerry has been "saving" some of this stuff? He released a massive double album worth of stuff in 2002. None of this material would be any older than that.

I must agree that the slower tracks add a nice dichotomy to the album. I'm happy with the album as is.

I think its a fair assumption. Degradation Trip came out in 2002, and this reunion didn't materialize for another 3 or 4 years after that album came out. If he wrote something in 2002/2003 and saved it until it was recorded for this album, that would be 5-6 years. You don't think that's "quite a while"? Of course, everything I'm saying is complete speculation.

No kidding, Degradation Trip came out in 2002? I did not realize that. I do realize of course that I mentioned that fact in my post, but it had slipped my mind seconds prior to submitting the post. So thanks for the needed refresher course.

My point it that these songs have been written since his last solo album and released at their first opportunity. I guess I don't understand how that can be considered "saving" them.

I didn't think this was a grower, I got it straight away. 90 from me, it's a monumentally good album. So many sweet tracks.

Oh, you went and deleted posts Adam? Thats glayme.