Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

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scarecrow
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Re: Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

Post by scarecrow »

What happened to the track by track videos? More please.

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Re: Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

Post by abw1987 »

Wall of replies incoming! Gradually making progress reading through everyone's thoughts in this thread.
Blackbird wrote:Out of pure curiosity, could you guys explain to me what you like about Native Son?
It's just a badass song through and through! It's got some of the standout riffs on the album, great drum and bass work with the band really sounding tight, a catchy melody, and who doesn't love that pre-chorus?
Box Of Frogz wrote:I don’t know why people are bemoaning the lack of an epic - the entirety of the album IS the epic.
Great point! I've stated before how I don't mind the lack of an epic because the album seems to be more about good, concise songs. But when you consider the album as a whole, the strong writing, and the consistency of subject matter throughout many of the songs, it is rather epic in its own right. I would also argue that just because "Dying Light" isn't 8 minutes long, that doesn't preclude it from being an epic.
DCooper727 wrote:
scarecrow wrote:I'm glad they've figured out how to keep the choruses as heavy as the verses.
Take the Crown suffers from that issue and it bothers me. Verses are so heavy and then the chorus kicks in all happy and shit. Just a weird tonal inconsistency that bothers me. Indoctrination is like that too, which is what keeps it from reaching its full potential imo. Just super sludgy sounding and then a major sounding chorus kicks in.
Interesting to hear some people are bothered by this! That contrast is one of Alter Bridge's signatures, so I think many fans—myself included—like that sort of thing. Just another example of the diversity in opinions among the fan base.
VigilantSteve wrote:
SHEAKENBAKEN wrote:
VigilantSteve wrote:
dpsmith33 wrote:Y’all may think I am crazy but I am having a hard time distinguishing Myles from Mark on Forever Falling. Does Mark sing the verses and Myles the chorus? I have never had this problem before. Maybe it’s something about the mix of the song.
Okay for a serious response to this question... Doesn't Mark sing lead on the whole song? Myles is harmonizing on the chorus (I think) but the lead I thought was Mark the whole song.
I think Mark is harmonizing under Myles on the chorus :lol
You sure? Maybe it's just the way I have things EQ'd, but Mark's part definitely stands out more than Myles on my end with Myles harmonizing above Mark.
Just based on which melodies they are singing, Myles is definitely singing the lead while Mark is the one singing harmony. However you may be right that they chose to emphasize Mark in the mix, given he was given more of the spotlight in this song.
SHEAKENBAKEN wrote:
Andy92 wrote:I liked Clear Horizon pretty well on first listen, but I could see why some wouldn’t. From what I read over at Ao12, Myles didn’t even want it on the album and Tim called him to argue on the song’s behalf. :lol
Tim made the right call. :rockon
Agreed! I'm surprised Myles would push for cutting such a solid track when you have songs like "Tear Us Apart" where he delivers perhaps his least passionate vocal performance in the history of the band.
scarecrow wrote:I forget who said that One Life should segue into Wouldn't You Rather, but they were absolutely RIGHT. I extended One Life a bit and put them together and it sounds great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAKpx2Aaojw
This is really cool! Amazing how naturally these flow together, really without even having to change things up too much.
austinjhnsn wrote:Take The Crown:
Chorus is pretty solid, do think it suffers from being a little convoluted to where they can't sing the whole thing live.
Yeah it's kind of a shame that the chorus is basically impossible for one person to sing all the way through due to the lack of pauses for breathing. I figured maybe Myles would sing the majority of the chorus live, but Mark would sing the "just like we've always done before" line—or maybe they'd even alternate each line—but I guess they decided to skip the one line and harmonize on the rest.
TheEndisHere wrote:
Jesterhead92 wrote:I absolutely get ODR vibes scattered all through the album. Part of that might just be that theres less "metal-ish" tracks. Walking The Sky especially has some very ODR-esque riffing and soloing imo
Now I'm actually curious which album has more solos. Walk the sky has like 8ish, I think. I think ODR has 6.
It depends what you count as a solo, but I'd say WTS has 7. 8 if you count the noodling over the outro of "Take the Crown". 9 if you count the leads over the intro/outro of "In the Deep".
AustinH22 wrote:One thing I will say, the way Elvis likes to produce, there is a massive difference in sound quality between streaming and the physical CD. And I actually appreciate that. It makes the $10 well worth it. And plus you're supporting the band more if you buy the CD. If you haven't bought it yet, either use your Amazon account or borrow someone else's.
What I often do to support the guys is purchase the album, but then still stream it when I'm listening casually, like at the gym where there's so much background noise and I'm not wearing high-end headphones so quality doesn't matter. That way I have the album itself for whenever I want to listen in high quality, and the band obviously receives the most benefit from that purchase, but then they continue to earn incrementally from each stream.
Lenishere wrote:AB has always been a band that gets me through the worst of times. I can't even begin to express how many times this band's music has lifted me when I felt down. I still remember being depressed in high school sitting in my room listening to Life Must Go On (I know, it's not a favorite but it meant a lot to me at the time) and feeling like I could get through the tough times. It's truly why they are my favorite band. I have such a personal connection to the music.

Within the last year or so I've been having an existential crisis - wondering if what's out there after we pass on is really out there. I feared aging, I feared sickness, I feared death. I was having panic attacks and after the ending of a long term relationship that threw me into a state of not knowing where to go in life anymore and not know my purpose - it only made things worse.

As if the band knew my feelings and read my mind, they released this album. And it speaks to me and heals me just like those early albums did ten or more years ago. I understand it's a mixed reaction for people here, but songs like The Bitter End sets my mind at ease and reaffirms that everything will be alright no matter what happens. This album has already meant so much to me and encouraged me to keep fighting and keep living life to the fullest regardless what lies ahead.
Posts like this are a great reminder that even the "cheesy" songs have their place, and in fact a very important place that lifts a lot of people up. Kudos to Alter Bridge for continuing to address subjects like these, even though doing so might be slightly embarrassing or uncomfortable. I've got to try and remember that whenever I start to dismiss such songs!
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Re: Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

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Final set of replies and now I am fully caught up on this thread! :lol

Let me just say that it has been a pleasure reading everybody's thoughts on this album. This kind of detailed analysis is what motivates me to keep this site going, and it's great knowing just how diverse Alter Bridge's fan base can be.
gregslobos wrote:No, Myles wrote the majority of the lyrics. Mark I know wrote Godspeed and Forever Falling. I think he writes some for his others but it's Myles for the most part.
For example, Myles wrote the lyrics for Take the Crown.
I think you're right. Some of the lines in "Godspeed" and "Forever Falling" are classic Mark. For example in the former, there are lines with an ambiguous object like "test me once again" and "set my life on low". And there are lines where words were added because he needed another syllable, like "and you have changed / oh all our lives" and "and then the days / they ran out". Forever falling is similar, with vague imperatives in the verses and "oh"s galore in the choruses, not to mention multiple uses of "lost".
UninvitedZero wrote:I've been having trouble getting into Clear Horizon as well. Something about that chorus sounds all Slash and The Conspirators
Oh yeah, both the verses and the choruses have melodies that sound like SMKC. Not surprising given the same guy writes melodies for both bands! Despite the similarities in melodic style, the instrumentation in "Clear Horizon" gives the song enough of an Alter Bridge flare to set it apart. The atmospheric first verse, the riff-heavy second verse with all its layers, and the chorus with its stuttering riff and double-bass drum pattern – all signature Alter Bridge.
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Putting aside my disdain for the way rap/hip-hop has taken over the charts over the last decade or two, it is an absolute travesty to see that Chris Brown can still manage #10. I'll never understand how people can continue to support that piece of trash.
rscotta831 wrote:
George wrote: 4. Godspeed

This song gave me goosebumps. It has a really pop theme to start but it becomes so keen. The intro reminds me a lot of Shinedown's last works
Shinedown is EXACTLY what I said to my wife as soon as I heard the first chorus. More so their song Unity. But we love Shinedown nearly equally as AB. Myself AB a notch more, my wife Shinedown a notch more. Man I wish they would have toured together in the states like they’re about to in Europe. Perfect combo.
I can see the similarities here. The verse melody could be lifted from a Shinedown song. Another small similarity: in the second half of the verses and also in the bridge, it sounds like Flip hits the kick pedal on each beat, which is something I often hear from poppier bands like Shinedown and Nickleback.
MuffinMcFluffin wrote:Okay, this is going to be a weird post so feel free to skip lol.

I care about song order more than anyone should care to, and I pay close attention to it and sometimes consider revisions myself.

...

Anyway, what was the point of this post? LOL that I am consciously aware of track order in albums and think about them all of the time. In my book, Clear Horizon can't open the album or come early, and if attaching One Life to it means pushing that song back instead, then I would rather do that than bring up Clear. If we did, the song I'd open the album with is Pay No Mind.
I actually found this to be a really interesting post! Songs may sound better suited to the front of back half of an album, and you often have themes or specific lyrics that make more sense in a certain order. I'm sure the guys put a ton of thought into song order, but some fans will inevitably have different ideas. I do think "One Life" segues better into "Wouldn't You Rather" than "Clear Horizon" though, so its position at the beginning of the album makes sense.
MuffinMcFluffin wrote:I think it would've been just fine had Myles not harmonized over himself. When he goes up on "clear horizon" in harmony in that chorus, it changes up what I'm feeling they should have done. I don't know how Myles will sing it live if he does, but I'm hoping for another sound in my head that rids the high portion of the harmonization.
"Cry of Achilles" has the same problem. The album version has harmonies that are basically equal in the mix, so when I first heard it live, I was surprised at which part he was singing.
One Drew Remains wrote:I've got to be honest, I think releasing so many songs before the record came out has really affected my listening experience.
I agree. I hate to say it because I totally understand why they had to release so many in advance. In today's society where we have no attention span and are constantly bombarded with other content competing for our attention, it's really the only way to maintain awareness of the upcoming album release. But it does significantly diminish the experience of finally listening to the full album when you've already heard almost half of it. Sure, I could have abstained from listening to the pre-release tracks, but it's almost impossible to avoid seeing what other people have said about the songs in the meantime. That's almost worse because it basically spoils the songs by the time I finally do listen to them. Plus, I prefer to consume my media "as intended"; i.e., I'll listen to songs as the bands releases them, I'll watch movies in the order they were released, etc.
nagpo wrote:I think we can all agree: Not a single solo on this record is as good as the one on Open Your Eyes. That thing is epic
Sorry to be contrarian but I disagree! OYE's is gratuitously shreddy, but with just enough melody and feeling to make it a good solo. That said, it was exactly what needed to be written at the time, as proof to the world that Mark Tremonti can shreddddd :rockon. But I think the solos to "Walking on the Sky" and "Dying Light" are better. Both are gut-wrenchingly passionate and just as technically impressive.
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Re: Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

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ABDub has been putting in some work on these replies ;)
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Re: Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

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abw1987 wrote:
MuffinMcFluffin wrote:I think it would've been just fine had Myles not harmonized over himself. When he goes up on "clear horizon" in harmony in that chorus, it changes up what I'm feeling they should have done. I don't know how Myles will sing it live if he does, but I'm hoping for another sound in my head that rids the high portion of the harmonization.
"Cry of Achilles" has the same problem. The album version has harmonies that are basically equal in the mix, so when I first heard it live, I was surprised at which part he was singing.
I'm still surprised to hear which one he sings live. That's not how I hear the song in my head/in the album version. This is true for the intro singing part and the chorus. I don't like the live version as much because of that (plus, I'd be fine if they went straight from Myles' intro guitar part to Mark's riff live instead of having an applause break, as the album does it).

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Re: Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

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Agreed on all counts McMuffin!
AB4Lyfe wrote:ABDub has been putting in some work on these replies ;)
Lol, I feel like I've rediscovered an old hobby :beer
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Re: Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

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abw1987 wrote:I can see the similarities here. The verse melody could be lifted from a Shinedown song. Another small similarity: in the second half of the verses and also in the bridge, it sounds like Flip hits the kick pedal on each beat, which is something I often hear from poppier bands like Shinedown and Nickleback.
Our three fav bands. Yes, Nickleback is all but dead now. But when we saw them open their 2008 tour in Nashvegas, it was at that moment, the best concert we had ever seen. They brought the freaking house down that night.

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Re: Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

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The song is overall very generic, but Wouldn’t You Rathers solo is probably the most satisfying solo on the album.

I’m not sure why, but some solos just click in your brain and give you that feeling of satisfaction. I don’t really get that from this album with the exceptions of Wouldn’t You Rather and Dying Light.
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Re: Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

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Agreed. And I really wish Clear Horizon had a solo. It would elevate a good song to upper tier.
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Re: Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

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Arctic wrote:The song is overall very generic, but Wouldn’t You Rathers solo is probably the most satisfying solo on the album.

I’m not sure why, but some solos just click in your brain and give you that feeling of satisfaction. I don’t really get that from this album with the exceptions of Wouldn’t You Rather and Dying Light.
Literally the only two memorable solos on this album. That's one of its major weaknesses in my eyes.

The ending solo of Walking On The Sky is interesting, but a bit too technical and not emotional enough for me personally. The Forever Falling solo is okay, but nothing more, same goes for Godspeed. Everything else is probably even more forgettable.

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Re: Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

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I think "Walking on the Sky" and "Take the Crown" also have memorable solos. WOTS's is completely mental and insubordinate, like Mark is disgusted and wants to throw it in someone's face. TTC's is a well-balanced and heartfelt mix of melody and shred. All of the solos fit their songs well, but those in addition to the ones mentioned above stick out to me most.
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Re: Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

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I had spent an hour writing something, and apparently my login had expired, and it erased it all. LOL. Damn it. So here are my brief thoughts, compiled from other stuff:

After living with this record for more than a week, and literally trying (and failing) to not listen to it daily, I'm pretty confident in saying this is my second favorite Alter Bridge, top-to-bottom, next to Blackbird. It's just that good. Consistently good. And that's a big key to me. I love the huge focus on melody and "the song" as opposed to drawing things out. It just shows so much growth in the band as songwriters to be able to do that and not lose a thing in terms of quality. The riffs are in some ways the heaviest they've ever done, juxtaposed with the biggest melodies they've ever done. And like I said, the solos are damn good, but pop up at the end, or in spots you wouldn't expect. Just an all around masterpiece of an album.

I'm blown away at how they've been able to be pivot a little bit, direction-wise, and still maintain everything that makes them unique as Alter Bridge. They reduced the number of traditional solos, and shortened them, but then they crop up near the end of songs, or during sections you wouldn't expect, sitting underneath, but not disturbing the huge melodies. Every listen to this record has opened my eyes more to just how incredible the record is. I won't lie -- it took a minute. First listen I was a little taken aback. Second listen a couple of things got my attention. Third listen, boom, I was admitting that some of the tunes are absolute classics. Now, after many spins this is probably by second favorite AB record in terms of front to back. It flows that well, and has this organic feel that I haven't heard from them since the Blackbird album.

That said, obviously, other records, like AB III, have songs I love more (if we're cherry picking). But honestly, not by much. I mean yeah, Blackbird and Words Darker Than Their Wings sit higher than Dying Light to me. But the sheer amount of songs I LOVE on Walk the Sky dwarfs the amount on any other AB record except possibly Blackbird. Walk the Sky just continues to grow on me with each subsequent listen. Native Son took a few spins, and then it jumped at me, for example. Another good example is Indoctrination. I wasn't huge at all on that tune. And just now I am listening to it, and it has really connected with me, and I'm wondering what I didn't hear earlier. The growl, the chorus, the little but impactful solo at the end... it's great!

The record is a grower, with a huge reward if you let it sink in. Other than the addition of the synths for atmosphere, the biggest thing I have noticed is just how powerful the choruses are. My big thing with AB were their killer bridges. They always wrote good choruses, but man, the bridges were just other-worldly. And they still are. But the choruses are crazy good on Walk the Sky. Probably the best they've ever done on a record.

I finally think I've narrowed down a solid top-5 for me, which I can definitively set apart from the rest.

1. Walking on the Sky
2. Dying Light
3. Native Son
4. In the Deep
5. Wouldn't You Rather

To me, all five of those are what I would pull for a "best of" compilation. They are all "As" for me. The rest of the record goes from Bs to a low point of C+. I really think the record is the absolutely most consistent in terms of quality since Blackbird.

and p.s., I wish my actual first post on this wasn't erased. I really spent a lot of time putting all those thoughts together. Lesson learned!
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Re: Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

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Skywalker wrote:I had spent an hour writing something, and apparently my login had expired, and it erased it all. LOL. Damn it.
You're taking this more like a champ than I would. I've learned this so many times that I now copy every single time this happens. The times that I am too lazy and say: "Eh, it'll be fine" though are the times that it always ends up expiring my login. Other times if I know I will make a long post, I just first type it onto Microsoft Word, heh. If an hour's worth of writing was erased, I would've punched my screen and not wanted to do it again.

Okay, time to read your post. Might as well make it worth somethin'!

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Re: Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

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Title track is still growing on me. The bridge didn't fully catch my attention until yesterday. Maybe in my top 5 on the album now.

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Re: Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

Post by MuffinMcFluffin »

We should rank songs based on parts, at least top 3 or 5 (main riffs, verses, choruses, bridges, solos).

I love the bridge for Walking on the Sky, by the way.

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Re: Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

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Do you guys not check the box to remain logged in?
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Re: Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

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Kreuger wrote:Do you guys not check the box to remain logged in?
I do all of the time. Mine intermittently logs me out for no apparent reason whatsoever. This isn't the only website I've had this issue for, though.

This isn't new for me, either.

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Re: Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

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After a week and a half away from it, I'm spinning it again. I have to rank it below Fortress and Blackbird. But I'm trying to decide if I love it or ODR third best. Time will tell.
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Re: Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

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Nice review, Skywalker! Sorry to hear you lost your first draft. Like someone else said above, whenever I am writing a long post, I highlight the whole thing and hit Ctrl+C any time I am about to click Preview or Submit. Luckily I don't have that logout issue but still, better safe than sorry.
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Re: Walk The Sky Reaction Thread

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Been there, done that with the login expiration. Here's another solution if find you've been timed out after you hit submit...just click the back arrow on your browser. It will take you back to your edit page so you can copy your post, then you can just paste it after you log back in.
Another photobucket casualty... :(
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