47 replies to this topic

[Apollo]

The March felt like the song all the Acts were building up to, to me. Genuinely one of the coolest things I've ever heard. Picking a favorite song on the album is way too difficult, as I agree that Act V, more than any of the others, feels like it needs to be listened to as an album. Completely different genre, but it's kind of the same issue I have with the Low Level Owl albums from The Appleseed Cast---I love them, but the whole thing is practically one continuous movement so I don't feel like I can jump into it or pick a favorite track. That being said, Cascade is so cool.

[HorizonTheTransient]

Yeah, as a whole Act 5 is rock solid, but it has to be taken as a whole. Right now, I'm listening to King Of Swords just because. All of the previous Acts had songs that stood on their own as complete experiences enjoyable in their own right, but Act 5 is... different. It's very good, but it's not really what I was expecting or looking for.

Also, for The March, I'm surprised nobody pointed out the dark reprise of Smiling Swine for the intro- guess that Swine ain't Smiling anymore.

[Snakenole]

The March is amazing. But it's too damn short. That's not a knock on it, but it just feels like it needs to be twice as long. Like it needed the "epic treatment". I expected it to continue the first time I heard it and then when it was switched to the next song, I was sort of surprised.

[Antone]

What a great album, hit me right in the feels more than a couple of times. I'm extremely stoked to hear some of these songs live next week. Hello again everyone, it's been a while.

[HorizonTheTransient]

The Haves Have Naught is probably one of the three best songs on here- the other two being The March and Regress. Allow me to explain:
1) The Haves Have Naught is a beautiful dialogue between The Hunter(why do we call him The Boy?) and Mr. Usher, starting from opposing viewpoints, and slowly coming together. It's the Hegelian Dialectic in song form- thesis, antithesis, then finally synthesis.
2) The March is that moment in the story where the big twist has happened and now all the pieces are chaotically falling into place for the imminent climax.
3) Regress can be abbreviated as "Hurry up and die already."

[twotimesthedime]

HorizonTheTransient, on 13 September 2016 - 02:43 PM, said:

Also, for The March, I'm surprised nobody pointed out the dark reprise of Smiling Swine for the intro- guess that Swine ain't Smiling anymore.

Oh that was absolutely killer for me. Smiling Swine is my favorite song off Act II (and one of my top TDH songs) so as soon as The March started playing my brain exploded a little. I recovered in time, but then the reprise of the "far too many ways to die" lyric killed me further. Such a great song.

[CruelAndBitterHeart]

HorizonTheTransient, on 13 September 2016 - 02:43 PM, said:

Yeah, as a whole Act 5 is rock solid, but it has to be taken as a whole. Right now, I'm listening to King Of Swords just because. All of the previous Acts had songs that stood on their own as complete experiences enjoyable in their own right, but Act 5 is... different. It's very good, but it's not really what I was expecting or looking for.

Also, for The March, I'm surprised nobody pointed out the dark reprise of Smiling Swine for the intro- guess that Swine ain't Smiling anymore.

Good call on The March and Smiling Swine! I didn't pick up on that but now that you've pointed it out I'm blown away. Casey is a genius.

[CruelAndBitterHeart]

I also view The Flame (Is Gone) through A Beginning as one big epic song since most of the events in those songs seem to be happening in quick succession. I think I'm going to have to join the chorus of this being the best Act record. I feel like Casey really pushed himself this time around and it resulted in an incredible album.

PS: Sorry for the double post.

[Snakenole]

CruelAndBitterHeart, on 14 September 2016 - 01:00 PM, said:

I also view The Flame (Is Gone) through A Beginning as one big epic song since most of the events in those songs seem to be happening in quick succession. I think I'm going to have to join the chorus of this being the best Act record. I feel like Casey really pushed himself this time around and it resulted in an incredible album.

PS: Sorry for the double post.

I look at it that way too. For fans of Coheed, it sort of reminds me of The Willing Well songs on Good Apollo I. Those all have "The Willing Well" in their titles, unlike these song, but still the two album "ends" have a similar vibe to me.

[Kaevan]

Does anyone feel like there's a bit of a reference to Cascade during The Flame (is gone) when the mood sightly perks up around 2:40? Tonally it seems similar, and the riff is pretty similar too. For some reason this whole song reminds me a bit of Act II tonally. I think it could be intentionally trying to take us back there a bit, but maybe not.

I wonder this because Cascade seems to involve the Church & Dime, and the end of the album does too.

[HorizonTheTransient]

I think a part of why Acts 4 and 5 sound similar to Act 2 is because all of them happen in the City. Act 1 is basically a prologue, and Act 3 is a thematic break from everything else.

It's not that Act 5 sounds like Act 2, it's that Act 5 and Act 2 both sound like The Dear Hunter, whereas Acts 3 and 1 are kind of odd ones out, stylistically.

[stretts]

Act V might finally beat out Act III as my fave.

[jon]

stretts, on 14 September 2016 - 05:11 PM, said:

Act V might finally beat out Act III as my fave.

This may happen for me too. It going to take me a while to really decide because I am still learning to "follow" a few of the songs. There seems to be so much going on in each song in terms of the way they build, the call backs, and the story integration that my head is swirling a bit (especially after reading this thread and the analysis threads).

So excited to see them next month! Really hoping to hear Regress into The Moon/Awake.

[Apollo]

Has there been any in-depth discussion yet on what reprises there are, and where?

[Captain]

I think there might be a thread around for that somewhere, but I don't think it's been resurrected for Act V as of yet.

Act V is really weird for me. I love it, I really do. And some of the songs on it are very quickly becoming my favorite TDH songs. But I feel like Act IV was an overall more accessible record. Like, if I wanted to show someone who had never heard of TDH some songs from the recent acts, more of them would come from Act IV because they're a little less, I don't know, entangled? Intertwined?

Maybe I'm just tired and babbling incoherently, and maybe my whole view on the thing will change in a week or a month or something. I dunno.

As a side note: where does The Moon go into Awake? it all sounds like one song to me.

[marcelovdo]

The Revival is probably still my favorite song off of the first half of the album. My favorite song from the second half is definitely all of them.

[CruelAndBitterHeart]

Does anyone else feel like the part from 3:52 on in The Moon sounds an awful lot like the part from A Beginning from 3:57 on? Like with similar chord progressions and usage of backing vocals, almost like the Moon is foreshadowing what's going to happen in A Beginning?

[FrankTheHermit]

Captain, on 15 September 2016 - 11:16 PM, said:

As a side note: where does The Moon go into Awake? it all sounds like one song to me.

I'm pretty sure it's right at the 5:10 mark. I only say that because The Most Cursed Hands/Who Am I has a very similar sudden transition, and it's easier to tell where the transition is in that one because the lyrics are literally "who am I" when it comes in.

[Snakenole]

On my digital copy it's listed as "The Moon--Awake" so I don't look at it as two different "parts". I just thought it was saying the moon was awake. LOL. Is it listed differently on the CD? I haven't gotten anything from MerchNever yet.

[FrankTheHermit]

Well, computer files can't have a "/" in the title. So I'm sure they just used dashes to compensate, but on track listings and Spotify and everywhere else they use the slash.