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Originally Posted by !@#$%!
animal starts pretty good! then it breaks into a dumb unlistenable chorus
is that the “groundbreaking” contribution of their producer?
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There's a couple of cool guitar tones and well blended synth/guitar moments but you're right, it feels underwhelming.
For me, part of the issue is that the intense band dynamic/chemistry and high energy performance was carrying a lot of the load on SK's previous albums. Their songs (in terms of chords, melody) don't have a whole lot going on, to the point that if you played many of their songs on, say, piano and vocals... they wouldn't really work. They're a riff and performance band and they do it better than almost anyone.
And, they're also a band with a highly distinctive drummer who makes a huge contribution, which is neutered when reduced to playing drum machine parts with occasional fills.
This 'production' on the new album pretty much collapses that raucous band energy and replaces it with a kind of faux-80s new wave feel. The songs don't have the elements needed to work in that mode. It just comes across as undercooked and that they're working very hard in a mode which doesn't suit.
All my opinions of course.