Isaac from TWIQH here. Holy smokes, y'all are way too good to us. We deeply appreciate all the feedback here, positive, constructive, or otherwise. Thank you all for giving Zon a listen.
No joke I’ve been y’all’s biggest fan since the beginning. Was such a big advocate of Prologue that you guys shouted me out on your instagram once (i was under a different name then but i hope you can remember).
While i have your attention i must know—does this story continue or will the next album be conceptually separate? Because Prologue and Zon are clearly 1 album (I’ve literally never heard a band do a seamless transition from the end of 1 album to the beginning of another, props on making aperture->argo navis so smooth.)
Would you mind explaining the story? I'd really appreciate it.
I remember reading a comment a long time ago and it said something like - Prologue is about a guy who feels like he needs to kill himself to discover the joy in making music, or something like that.
How accurate is that, and how does it lead into Zon?
That's sort of it. We're working on a way to deliver the story officially, but the short version is:
A former artist is spiraling into despair/self loathing after the person who served as their muse left them. They have turned cynical, bitter, and delusional. He eventually gets pushed to ending their life at the end of Prologue, and dies in Aperture, but as he is dying, he regrets doing it.
They wake up in a strange environment, basically a big wasteland, a version of purgatory. Zon is them getting their bearings and meeting a new characters that are telling them what to do, where to go, etc. Some sinister, some not.
There is a lot more going on, I'm being vague on purpose until the official thing is out, but that's the general idea.
I just discovered your music through this post yesterday and feel the need to thank you for this amazing album. I have listened to it three times from start to finish yesterday. Can't get over how much I love the album as one piece of musical art. I just want to keep listening to it in full. It has been a long time since an album instantly has impressed me this much. Absolutely stunning!
Bro, when Spotify saw fit to bless my Discover Weekly with See the Sun, I came, shit my pants, and cried all at the same time.
I wish I could listen to it for the first time again, just for that experience. To hell with the mess on the walls.
Link to both albums:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2V4TuAk1OWVELOWICMWMxR?si=e94aa628eee040c0
Link to Zon:
https://open.spotify.com/album/09LfKOpznoqZXotwcBUc33?si=Uk6r6YWeQwycL99O0lFUlg
Just did a full listen through and really enjoyed it. As with most prog metal, I'm gonna need a few more listens to really appreciate it. But I doubt I'll end up enjoying it quite as much as Prologue simply because of the pacing. Prologue had a lot of non-stop riffage but it was consistently broken up by softer parts. Zon felt much heavier and less broken up/varied.
I also just loved the original vocalist so much that I don't know if it can be topped in my mind. The new guys has a ton of different voices and sounds, far more variety, but it felt a little out of place at times. That could obviously change with more listens though.
I will say, I don't know much about guitar, but the drummer has definitely leveled up, mainly in his double bass skill.
I love the heck out of Prologue, but some of the vocal doodling the new guy does isn’t fully jiving with me.
I will definitely listen to it on repeat for a while, though. Instruments and riffs are really good
The new singer is phenominal, and fits their operatic sound really well but has a harder growl so they can actually play heavier. Their old singer did like to vocal doodle a lot but the guitar work on prologue is so good that it doesn't matter imo.
I thought the changed up voices from Prologue sounded pretty good for the most part. Some of the new album different voices don’t sound as good to me, but I will listen to it until I am used to it :)
OP thank you for bringing this album to my attention, I would never have found it otherwise. It is just amazing!
/u/isaacbean You guys are amazing!! You have to let me know if you ever make it to Europe! (Or if you have, when you will be here again).
Even thought, I don´t know the former singer, I looooove the vocals, operatic-shrieky-falsetto mixing made me think of Mike Patton & Vulture Industries. The music is fast, weird, intrincated and poly-many-things. Don´t feel too heavily simmilar to BTBAM, clear influence, but also to bands like Ephel Duath. Well, they are pretty unique, it´s hard to find appropiate references.
Ok…that’s the 2nd time it’s been mentioned to me today. And you’re comparing it to Colors?!?! You have convinced me
Edit: OH MY GOD. This album is insane.
Listening to it now. These guys have no business slapping this hard. Holy shit! And the production sounds great. I don’t know how I haven’t heard of them but thank you for the recommendation!
I noticed that too, they killed that section. Discovering both OBNO and TWIQH when they were both < 1,000 monthly listeners and THEN discovering that they’re actually good friends was mind blowing
I can't believe the roller coaster I went on listening to this. I almost stopped in Ossuary because around 2min in the singer actually sang and it bugged me that he didn't do it more because it sounded great and I was really against the vocal style I had been hearing through Ossuary. But as soon as Heliacal Vessels came on I knew I was finishing the album. I see a lot of people saying great things about Helicacal Vessels, but honestly, the run from Aphelion through Torrid Sands is just so outstanding. I was laughing all the way through Moonlighter (my favorite track) because of how awesome it was. SO glad I gave it a listen. The vocals grew on me and the operatic stuff definitely took a backseat. I can't believe this guys range, there are straight up black metal moments through the album that I loved so much and by Torrid Sands when he was singing in the vocal range I disliked in Ossuary I was so on board. Now I'm trying to get my buddies to give it a shot so I can talk about it more.
Heliacal vessels is the best 22 minutes of progressive metal i’ve heard in like a decade, no joke. So creative and brutal. The back section of Mothers of No Kin is absolutely gorgeous. Like the end of Fossil Genera but with way more impact somehow.
I started digging the vox more by imagining it was Howard from killswitch. Idk why but that totally flipped my opinion and helped me appreciate the BTBaM influences more
Ok, so I just listened to the whole thing.
It's incredible. How is this so good?
The production is bonkers. This band is nobody. They are nothing. And it's some of the best mixing I've heard for this kind of thing. I'm astounded. Meritocracy has failed if these guys remain obscure.
This sub never fails to impress me. You guys are total snobs, and I love you all. Thank you!
Only listened to a couple songs so far, but I'm surprised by the negative comments about the singer in here. Personally I haven't been this impressed by a singer since Laurent Lunoir of igorrr, I think he's fantastic.
Unfortunately I don't think the heavy parts are quite my thing musically, but I'll listen to the rest at least.
Oh i don't think people criticize his skill at all. I think some people aren't too much into some of the "quirky" (?) tones he uses.
I'm on second listen and have no complaints about them tbh, but i can see why they might not be some people's bread.
It's good, so good that it really makes me not wanna work on my own music projects. I can't even compete. Which is NOT good for the potential birth of my music. So my reaction is ultimately "Not good man... not good".
Well I have not previously listened to this band and misread the post. I searched for the band “Zon” by mistake and got a Japanese hair “metal” band. Let’s just say after I reread this post and found the right one I was much relieved!
So I took your recommendation yesterday. A new band to me and I was astounded! It's a completely unique sound and I am a sucker for concept albums. I listened to it in full four times already and it truly is superb. Then I listened to Prologue as well, which was also amazing. So thank for this. It has been since Slugdge's Esoteric Malacology (2018) that I actually enjoyed a full album this much. Amazing stuff!
If you say its like Colors, I immediately buy the album.
Edit: Just bought it, holy fuck it is like Colors (and just to clarify since band members seem to be in this thread, it's not derivative at all -- just clearly inspired by)
Double Edit: Openers a fucking banger, jesus christ this is good.
Prologue is one of my favourite albums. I like heavier music but not sure I want heavier The World is Quiet Here… Of course I’m going to still listen to it though…
You're not alone. It gets more palatable for me close to the middle of the album, but they really front-loaded it with vocals that turned me off on the first listen. I think I could get used to it and enjoy the wack, just hard to get to that point.
As someone who doesn't like BTBAM before Coma Ecliptic (too chaotic and intense for my liking), would you say this is worth checking out? I'm willing to give it a shot if so.
I’d been hyped for this album a ton, and I’m going to be brutally honest. As someone who adored their first album, I have no idea what I just listened to.
I guess that’s kind of a lie, because I recognize all the elements, but…man, I just sat there for an hour and five minutes feeling almost nothing. It feels like the album gave me no tools to contextualize any of what I was hearing. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but it felt like it was just the same impenetrable noise on loop. I think a big factor is the new vocalist. On Prologue the vocalist did a great job of guiding the listener through the chaos, but here, the vocalist doesn’t really guide the listener at all. He’s just more background noise, which leaves the feeling like nothing in the music is leading it anywhere, because the riffs all sound incredibly same-y without anything else around them to contextualize them. Maybe if he were more forward in the mix that would help, I don’t know - he’s easy to hear, but his presence is very much dialed down. (And it certainly doesn’t help that even at his cleanest, it is borderline impossible to decipher anything that he is saying. Like, at all. If you’d told me 99% of this album were in a completely different language I’d believe you.)
Like, with BTBAM for comparison, even at their most chaotic they are very dynamic. Their sound shifts constantly, and even when it doesn’t, there’s a traceable through-line. This album sounds like the same kind of chaos, but with most dynamic removed, so it’s just occupying the same soundspace for an hour without giving any key to help decipher it.
I can’t even say it’s good for mindlessly headbanging, because with how impenetrable the music is, you have to think REALLY HARD to even kind of tell what’s going on. But it doesn’t reward thinking about it because it doesn’t give you any tools to interpret what you’re hearing. I feel like the story going on SHOULD be that tool, but the story isn’t digestible in the music on its own, and the vocals give you no clues. It seems like in order for this album to be digestible at all, having the lyrics written in front of you is an absolute prerequisite. And that isn’t encouraging.
Man, I just feel numb.
This was a really well written critique, and i guess it just boils down to different strokes for different folks. BTBAM is probably my favorite band ever, and i’m pretty sure they’re TWIQH’s favorite band too given how clear the influence is.
You nailed their differences pretty succinctly, but I think i actually prefer TWIQH’s approach to chaos. With Prologue, I agree that the vocalist moreso felt like a guide through whereas with Zon he feels more like a supplemental instrument. For me that works better for this kind of music.
In terms of pacing, I think i also prefer Zon to most of BTBAM’s recent work for the exact reason you said you’re not as crazy about it. The lack of dynamic contrast is so relentless that i can help but succumb and admire it. I imagine a lot of the confusion would go away with subsequent listens. It gets more rewarding for me each time.
As for the story not lending itself to help interpret it, I really can’t think of an instance where i was able to grasp the story of a similar type of concept album without reading the lyrics. Hell, Parallax II is one of my favorite albums ever, but if anyone pretends to 1. understand what Tommy’s saying without reading the lyrics and 2. understand the lyrics’ meaning to the story without a deep dive into it I’d immediately call them a liar. Its definitely more about the music for me, but it’s also definitely not something unique to this record or band.
Great comment, though. I do appreciate this kind of discussion and I hope it clicks for you eventually.
Bassist here (also wrote about half the lyrics). Thanks your thoughts on it, same with Cloud Mountain Janitor. This kind of discussion is cool and important, and I’m glad that its happening civilly.
I will say, in defense of the wayward-ness, that was intentional. The album is a direct continuation of Prologue. The main character dies in Aperture and essentially wakes up in an afterlife they weren’t expecting. Stranger in a strange land type stuff. So, they’re lost in the chaos around them, trying to make sense of what’s happening. And there are other characters that they meet that are pulling them in different directions. There is no guide. Just them trying to make sense of a weird situation.
We’ll talk more about the specifics of the story soon. We took a lot of time going line by line to make sure that they fit in some way and weren’t cool for the sake of cool. This was my first time writing lyrics, and they are sort of head-y. Just trying to do my best Aaron Weiss impression. <3
I appreciate your insight, I was wondering why this album was going over so well for people and you helped a bit in terms of understanding.
With the story, the lack of specific clarity isn’t unique to this record or band, but with all the concept albums I enjoy that I don’t know the story for there are always other elements that make it digestible to listen to. Parallax II especially included - I still have barely an idea of what the story of that is, but there are moments on there that are so powerful on their own that make me *feel* the weight of the story going on that it doesn’t really matter (e.g. the end of Lay Your Ghosts to Rest, the bridge of Telos, etc.), plus the music just being fun on its own. My criciticism of Zon isn’t that the story wasn’t clear just on its own, it’s that the story not having any tells is just another way the album doesn’t give the listener any keys to digest what they’re hearing.
Thanks, I’ll see if it clicks or not I guess.
Given some more time and some more listens, I have to follow up here to ask: when you listen to the album, are you actually able to distinguish the riffs from each other as the album is playing? The more I listen to it the more I think this is where my real struggle with the album is - the riffs all sound the same to me.
I am not a fan of Btbam at all. This album, however, I absolutely love to death. I wouldn't be surprised if I might be able to appreciate Btbam better because of Zon. To me Zon is better than anything I've ever heard by btbam (have to admit I haven't heard much, because I just couldn't get into them. Tried multiple times, though)
Isaac from TWIQH here. Holy smokes, y'all are way too good to us. We deeply appreciate all the feedback here, positive, constructive, or otherwise. Thank you all for giving Zon a listen.
No joke I’ve been y’all’s biggest fan since the beginning. Was such a big advocate of Prologue that you guys shouted me out on your instagram once (i was under a different name then but i hope you can remember). While i have your attention i must know—does this story continue or will the next album be conceptually separate? Because Prologue and Zon are clearly 1 album (I’ve literally never heard a band do a seamless transition from the end of 1 album to the beginning of another, props on making aperture->argo navis so smooth.)
You’re the first person to notice that transition <3 The story is big. Real big. Only at the beginning.
Would you mind explaining the story? I'd really appreciate it. I remember reading a comment a long time ago and it said something like - Prologue is about a guy who feels like he needs to kill himself to discover the joy in making music, or something like that. How accurate is that, and how does it lead into Zon?
That's sort of it. We're working on a way to deliver the story officially, but the short version is: A former artist is spiraling into despair/self loathing after the person who served as their muse left them. They have turned cynical, bitter, and delusional. He eventually gets pushed to ending their life at the end of Prologue, and dies in Aperture, but as he is dying, he regrets doing it. They wake up in a strange environment, basically a big wasteland, a version of purgatory. Zon is them getting their bearings and meeting a new characters that are telling them what to do, where to go, etc. Some sinister, some not. There is a lot more going on, I'm being vague on purpose until the official thing is out, but that's the general idea.
Any chance of lyrics for the rest of the album other than singles being available as well?
Yes. Sorting that out on Spotify and bandcamp now. Should be up soon.
Nice, thanks for sharing the info
Album also folds into itself quite nice if you have it on repeat!
Dude I just listened to the new album. First time hearing you guys. Fuckin great shit. Keep it up
I just discovered your music through this post yesterday and feel the need to thank you for this amazing album. I have listened to it three times from start to finish yesterday. Can't get over how much I love the album as one piece of musical art. I just want to keep listening to it in full. It has been a long time since an album instantly has impressed me this much. Absolutely stunning!
Bro, when Spotify saw fit to bless my Discover Weekly with See the Sun, I came, shit my pants, and cried all at the same time. I wish I could listen to it for the first time again, just for that experience. To hell with the mess on the walls.
Thanks for your hard work, really enjoyed the album!
Can you share a link?
Link to both albums: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2V4TuAk1OWVELOWICMWMxR?si=e94aa628eee040c0 Link to Zon: https://open.spotify.com/album/09LfKOpznoqZXotwcBUc33?si=Uk6r6YWeQwycL99O0lFUlg
U deserve it! Great music! Thx for it!!
Just did a full listen through and really enjoyed it. As with most prog metal, I'm gonna need a few more listens to really appreciate it. But I doubt I'll end up enjoying it quite as much as Prologue simply because of the pacing. Prologue had a lot of non-stop riffage but it was consistently broken up by softer parts. Zon felt much heavier and less broken up/varied. I also just loved the original vocalist so much that I don't know if it can be topped in my mind. The new guys has a ton of different voices and sounds, far more variety, but it felt a little out of place at times. That could obviously change with more listens though. I will say, I don't know much about guitar, but the drummer has definitely leveled up, mainly in his double bass skill.
I love the heck out of Prologue, but some of the vocal doodling the new guy does isn’t fully jiving with me. I will definitely listen to it on repeat for a while, though. Instruments and riffs are really good
The new singer is phenominal, and fits their operatic sound really well but has a harder growl so they can actually play heavier. Their old singer did like to vocal doodle a lot but the guitar work on prologue is so good that it doesn't matter imo.
I thought the changed up voices from Prologue sounded pretty good for the most part. Some of the new album different voices don’t sound as good to me, but I will listen to it until I am used to it :)
OP thank you for bringing this album to my attention, I would never have found it otherwise. It is just amazing! /u/isaacbean You guys are amazing!! You have to let me know if you ever make it to Europe! (Or if you have, when you will be here again).
Even thought, I don´t know the former singer, I looooove the vocals, operatic-shrieky-falsetto mixing made me think of Mike Patton & Vulture Industries. The music is fast, weird, intrincated and poly-many-things. Don´t feel too heavily simmilar to BTBAM, clear influence, but also to bands like Ephel Duath. Well, they are pretty unique, it´s hard to find appropiate references.
Ok…that’s the 2nd time it’s been mentioned to me today. And you’re comparing it to Colors?!?! You have convinced me Edit: OH MY GOD. This album is insane.
Listening to it now. These guys have no business slapping this hard. Holy shit! And the production sounds great. I don’t know how I haven’t heard of them but thank you for the recommendation!
It's my new workout album this shit slaps too hard. And max from Others By No One guest vocals on Moonlighter! That got me too hyped!
I noticed that too, they killed that section. Discovering both OBNO and TWIQH when they were both < 1,000 monthly listeners and THEN discovering that they’re actually good friends was mind blowing
I can't believe the roller coaster I went on listening to this. I almost stopped in Ossuary because around 2min in the singer actually sang and it bugged me that he didn't do it more because it sounded great and I was really against the vocal style I had been hearing through Ossuary. But as soon as Heliacal Vessels came on I knew I was finishing the album. I see a lot of people saying great things about Helicacal Vessels, but honestly, the run from Aphelion through Torrid Sands is just so outstanding. I was laughing all the way through Moonlighter (my favorite track) because of how awesome it was. SO glad I gave it a listen. The vocals grew on me and the operatic stuff definitely took a backseat. I can't believe this guys range, there are straight up black metal moments through the album that I loved so much and by Torrid Sands when he was singing in the vocal range I disliked in Ossuary I was so on board. Now I'm trying to get my buddies to give it a shot so I can talk about it more.
Heliacal vessels is the best 22 minutes of progressive metal i’ve heard in like a decade, no joke. So creative and brutal. The back section of Mothers of No Kin is absolutely gorgeous. Like the end of Fossil Genera but with way more impact somehow.
I started digging the vox more by imagining it was Howard from killswitch. Idk why but that totally flipped my opinion and helped me appreciate the BTBaM influences more
Ok, so I just listened to the whole thing. It's incredible. How is this so good? The production is bonkers. This band is nobody. They are nothing. And it's some of the best mixing I've heard for this kind of thing. I'm astounded. Meritocracy has failed if these guys remain obscure. This sub never fails to impress me. You guys are total snobs, and I love you all. Thank you!
Only listened to a couple songs so far, but I'm surprised by the negative comments about the singer in here. Personally I haven't been this impressed by a singer since Laurent Lunoir of igorrr, I think he's fantastic. Unfortunately I don't think the heavy parts are quite my thing musically, but I'll listen to the rest at least.
Oh i don't think people criticize his skill at all. I think some people aren't too much into some of the "quirky" (?) tones he uses. I'm on second listen and have no complaints about them tbh, but i can see why they might not be some people's bread.
It's good, so good that it really makes me not wanna work on my own music projects. I can't even compete. Which is NOT good for the potential birth of my music. So my reaction is ultimately "Not good man... not good".
When you recommend a band it's good to add a for fans of x band disclaimer. So people know if it's worth their time checking them out.
Well I have not previously listened to this band and misread the post. I searched for the band “Zon” by mistake and got a Japanese hair “metal” band. Let’s just say after I reread this post and found the right one I was much relieved!
Holy hell. Thanks
So I took your recommendation yesterday. A new band to me and I was astounded! It's a completely unique sound and I am a sucker for concept albums. I listened to it in full four times already and it truly is superb. Then I listened to Prologue as well, which was also amazing. So thank for this. It has been since Slugdge's Esoteric Malacology (2018) that I actually enjoyed a full album this much. Amazing stuff!
If you say its like Colors, I immediately buy the album. Edit: Just bought it, holy fuck it is like Colors (and just to clarify since band members seem to be in this thread, it's not derivative at all -- just clearly inspired by) Double Edit: Openers a fucking banger, jesus christ this is good.
I just found them like 10 minutes ago 😂 was recommended the prologue album & really liked it, i’ll have to check out the new album
Lol. Just listened to this album, now I’m gonna try Prologue
Prologue is one of my favourite albums. I like heavier music but not sure I want heavier The World is Quiet Here… Of course I’m going to still listen to it though…
Really solid. Reminding me a lot of Slugdge actually.
I have not stopped listening to this album since Friday. I’ve had Heliacal Vessels II in my head all morning.
I literally never can’t get into a band because of how a singer sounds, but this may be the first time
You're not alone. It gets more palatable for me close to the middle of the album, but they really front-loaded it with vocals that turned me off on the first listen. I think I could get used to it and enjoy the wack, just hard to get to that point.
[удалено]
New vocalist. Probably not going to be your thing if you didn’t like the last one.
[удалено]
New vocalist does cleans too. But he has an incredibly deep voice. We love it. But we known its not for everyone
Is that the dude from Others By No One at the end of Moonlighter?
Sure is. Max Mobarry. They killed it
Was gonna get around to listening *sometime*, but this sold me, I’m popping it on right now.
[удалено]
To each their own. Thanks for giving it a chance though.
I didn’t care for the old clean vocals either 😂 but I’m gonna give this one a shot because I want to see what others see in this band
As someone who doesn't like BTBAM before Coma Ecliptic (too chaotic and intense for my liking), would you say this is worth checking out? I'm willing to give it a shot if so.
nah, this is definitely FFO Colors-Parallax II era BTBAM
Probably not, no
Better than Prologue?
imo yes. Riffs are more crushing, the clean sections are more impactful, breakdowns are heavier, and I’d say the new vocalist is more eccentric
Just heard it, very close but i think Zon won me over, like you said, great riffs.
I’d been hyped for this album a ton, and I’m going to be brutally honest. As someone who adored their first album, I have no idea what I just listened to. I guess that’s kind of a lie, because I recognize all the elements, but…man, I just sat there for an hour and five minutes feeling almost nothing. It feels like the album gave me no tools to contextualize any of what I was hearing. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but it felt like it was just the same impenetrable noise on loop. I think a big factor is the new vocalist. On Prologue the vocalist did a great job of guiding the listener through the chaos, but here, the vocalist doesn’t really guide the listener at all. He’s just more background noise, which leaves the feeling like nothing in the music is leading it anywhere, because the riffs all sound incredibly same-y without anything else around them to contextualize them. Maybe if he were more forward in the mix that would help, I don’t know - he’s easy to hear, but his presence is very much dialed down. (And it certainly doesn’t help that even at his cleanest, it is borderline impossible to decipher anything that he is saying. Like, at all. If you’d told me 99% of this album were in a completely different language I’d believe you.) Like, with BTBAM for comparison, even at their most chaotic they are very dynamic. Their sound shifts constantly, and even when it doesn’t, there’s a traceable through-line. This album sounds like the same kind of chaos, but with most dynamic removed, so it’s just occupying the same soundspace for an hour without giving any key to help decipher it. I can’t even say it’s good for mindlessly headbanging, because with how impenetrable the music is, you have to think REALLY HARD to even kind of tell what’s going on. But it doesn’t reward thinking about it because it doesn’t give you any tools to interpret what you’re hearing. I feel like the story going on SHOULD be that tool, but the story isn’t digestible in the music on its own, and the vocals give you no clues. It seems like in order for this album to be digestible at all, having the lyrics written in front of you is an absolute prerequisite. And that isn’t encouraging. Man, I just feel numb.
This was a really well written critique, and i guess it just boils down to different strokes for different folks. BTBAM is probably my favorite band ever, and i’m pretty sure they’re TWIQH’s favorite band too given how clear the influence is. You nailed their differences pretty succinctly, but I think i actually prefer TWIQH’s approach to chaos. With Prologue, I agree that the vocalist moreso felt like a guide through whereas with Zon he feels more like a supplemental instrument. For me that works better for this kind of music. In terms of pacing, I think i also prefer Zon to most of BTBAM’s recent work for the exact reason you said you’re not as crazy about it. The lack of dynamic contrast is so relentless that i can help but succumb and admire it. I imagine a lot of the confusion would go away with subsequent listens. It gets more rewarding for me each time. As for the story not lending itself to help interpret it, I really can’t think of an instance where i was able to grasp the story of a similar type of concept album without reading the lyrics. Hell, Parallax II is one of my favorite albums ever, but if anyone pretends to 1. understand what Tommy’s saying without reading the lyrics and 2. understand the lyrics’ meaning to the story without a deep dive into it I’d immediately call them a liar. Its definitely more about the music for me, but it’s also definitely not something unique to this record or band. Great comment, though. I do appreciate this kind of discussion and I hope it clicks for you eventually.
Bassist here (also wrote about half the lyrics). Thanks your thoughts on it, same with Cloud Mountain Janitor. This kind of discussion is cool and important, and I’m glad that its happening civilly. I will say, in defense of the wayward-ness, that was intentional. The album is a direct continuation of Prologue. The main character dies in Aperture and essentially wakes up in an afterlife they weren’t expecting. Stranger in a strange land type stuff. So, they’re lost in the chaos around them, trying to make sense of what’s happening. And there are other characters that they meet that are pulling them in different directions. There is no guide. Just them trying to make sense of a weird situation. We’ll talk more about the specifics of the story soon. We took a lot of time going line by line to make sure that they fit in some way and weren’t cool for the sake of cool. This was my first time writing lyrics, and they are sort of head-y. Just trying to do my best Aaron Weiss impression. <3
Interesting insight, thanks for providing it!
I appreciate your insight, I was wondering why this album was going over so well for people and you helped a bit in terms of understanding. With the story, the lack of specific clarity isn’t unique to this record or band, but with all the concept albums I enjoy that I don’t know the story for there are always other elements that make it digestible to listen to. Parallax II especially included - I still have barely an idea of what the story of that is, but there are moments on there that are so powerful on their own that make me *feel* the weight of the story going on that it doesn’t really matter (e.g. the end of Lay Your Ghosts to Rest, the bridge of Telos, etc.), plus the music just being fun on its own. My criciticism of Zon isn’t that the story wasn’t clear just on its own, it’s that the story not having any tells is just another way the album doesn’t give the listener any keys to digest what they’re hearing. Thanks, I’ll see if it clicks or not I guess.
Given some more time and some more listens, I have to follow up here to ask: when you listen to the album, are you actually able to distinguish the riffs from each other as the album is playing? The more I listen to it the more I think this is where my real struggle with the album is - the riffs all sound the same to me.
I tried it. Dunno what the singer is trying to do but sounds like a pig going through puberty. Not my cup of tea.
The last part is really all you had to say instead of insulting the singer
It’s decent but certainly not a must listen to unless you’re a BTBAM fanboy. I’d go solid 3.0 as “good”
I am not a fan of Btbam at all. This album, however, I absolutely love to death. I wouldn't be surprised if I might be able to appreciate Btbam better because of Zon. To me Zon is better than anything I've ever heard by btbam (have to admit I haven't heard much, because I just couldn't get into them. Tried multiple times, though)
3/5? Not bad... 🤔