I actually got to Celldweller through his instrumental work. As some people might know, I’m an instrumental rock fanboy, and through that genre I found his first Soundtrack for the Voices in my Head, which I liked. From there I found Wish Upon a Blackstar. I still listen to that album in instrumental form instead of vocal form (I don’t like some of the language he uses), it’s still awesome either way. Birthright is my favorite from that one and might be my favorite song of all time, Louder than Words and Best it’s Gonna Get are both serious ear worms for me, and It Makes No Difference Who We Are and The Lucky One are for some reason nostalgic to me.
I like End of an Empire as well, and like you (or “Just Like You”?) the title track is my favorite. But I also like the “faction” tracks, 02, 05 and 06 all have awesome music, and the “conversation” in 06 is interesting. Although I haven’t heard all of Chapter 3 yet it seems like Faction 08 will be equally awesome, and I’m waiting to hear how the story unfolds in 07 and 09.
Well, like I said yesterday, I started listening to their songs a few days back. The only album I’ve listened to in full is Wish Upon a Blackstar, and I think my favorite song from that is a tie between It Doesn’t Matter Who We Are and Birthright.
Just Like You is great, like a love child of Under My Feet and Against the Tide. I could imagine singing it by a campfire.
Good L_ck (Yo_'re F_cked) is The Lucky One of EoaE: cheesefest disguised as a good electronic rock track. It’s not bad, cough cough Unshakeable just not the strongest part of the upcoming album.
You’re drawing the comparison to the lyrics, right? Because I happen to like The Lucky One as an instrumental track.
Anyway. Listening to the Faction music right now. Faction 7 really does little to advance the plot or make good music. Faction 08 is interesting, probably not as interesting to me as 02 or 05, but still a good soundtrack piece. Listening to Faction 09 right now, it seems to be a good advancement of plot, like Faction 06 was, and it sounds pretty good as well.
I’m not saying that The Lucky One is a bad song. It just has dumb lyrics, and it’s not a bad thing per se. I like the lyrics up to this line: “It’s raining piss, will somebody tell me what’s that all about?” I understand if it feels like nitpicking, but the line doesn’t fit the song or the album in any way.
I like the composition and message of The Lucky One. The drum comp and vocals (especially in the chorus) are on point, and everything else is as solid as you would expect form a Celldweller track.
I’m just realizing, the opening speech of Faction 09 sounds a bit like a somewhat traitorous Great Being referring to Matoran. And the closing one reminds me of another Great Being speaking to Takua upon his creation. Anyone else get that feeling?
So I found the instrumental version of G.L.Y.F. Pretty nice upbeat theme, I like the drum part, but it just doesn’t seem to fit with the “soundtrack of the end of an empire” that I’ve associated with the album. I think Faction 08 did a real good job of deconstructing that song as a soundtrack piece, though.
Just Like You… was a letdown. Granted, it’s probably a lot more interesting with lyrics, but as an instrumental it does nothing for me.
I think overall, Dreams doesn’t carry the tone and style I’ve come to expect from EoaE, the only saving graces for me are Faction 08 and maybe G.L.Y.F.
I really enjoyed Just Like You, and I think it suited Dreams and End of an Empire altogether. Tonewise is was really modest when compared to the other tracks but its theme wasn’t clashing with the albums.
Aaaaawwww yeeaahhh. I discovered this guy fairly recently (2-3 months ago?) and I am definitely a fan. The first song of his I heard that I really liked was “Tragedy”, but then I got in more with tracks like “Blackstar” and “Louder Than Words”. All very good stuff.