Giant - Promised Land

[heavyharmonies]

Just got done listening to the entire album for the first time. In short: much better than I was expecting. I had not listened to any of the teaser tracks out there, so this was my first exposure.

 

Very vintage AOR, with solid ballads and rockers alike.

 

Here is the full version of one of the rockers: Complicated Man

 

I think a lot of folks will dig ths album, even if it is a different lead vocalist.

 

I'll try to have samples of all the tracks up in the next day or two.

 

-Dan

[Geoff]

Still haven't heard even a snippet of one of these tracks... very much looking forward to hearing the full thing. I didn't know it was that close to completion. Nice.

[TIM (2)]

Not a fan of that song one bit. Nice guitar work but bog-standard plodding heard-it-all-before Hard Rock, and a song that I would skip before the chorus even kicked-in....

[Jez]

Not a fan of that song one bit. Nice guitar work but bog-standard plodding heard-it-all-before Hard Rock, and a song that I would skip before the chorus even kicked-in....

 

 

Have to agree a little with TIM there - That song was decidedly average compared to the other one I heard recently. I do hope the other 10 or so are a lot better than that one.

[Jeff]

Agreed with above, pretty average is the best way to sum that track up. I admit I expect quite a bit from Giant though, as mentioned in another thread their first release takes me back to high school and some great memories...hard to live up to that.

[Geoff]

Okay, had to give it a go. Haha, man that song is shit. Outright, through and through 100% filler. It actually pisses me off that bands write songs like that. Does anyone ever like those style of songs??? Awful.

 

BUT, on the positive side, even the brilliant 'Time to burn' had a few fillers like that and more importantly, the actual sound of everything (aside from the actual song) is excellent. Great production, great musicianship and the vocals work very nicely. It doesn't scream GIANT to me immediately, but I can see this whole thing working quite nicely on some good songs. Which that one is certainly not. Yuck.

[heavyharmonies]

It doesn't scream GIANT to me immediately, but I can see this whole thing working quite nicely on some good songs. Which that one is certainly not. Yuck.

 

Actually, that's what I like about the track: it's not the same old cut-and-dried "Giant"; it's a bit outside their normal lightweight stuff.

[Geoff]

It doesn't scream GIANT to me immediately, but I can see this whole thing working quite nicely on some good songs. Which that one is certainly not. Yuck.

 

Actually, that's what I like about the track: it's not the same old cut-and-dried "Giant"; it's a bit outside their normal lightweight stuff.

Yeah, but doing something outside the norm is only good if it's actually good. I'm as big a fan of a good hard rock song as the next guy, but surely that's a filler in anyone's book? Although, it does remind me of the kind of stuff that fills early Y&T, Van Halen and Gotthard ('G' and 'Dial Hard') albums that a lot of people do seem to enjoy. So maybe it's just not for me personally.

[chocularok]

Hell, I think the song's pretty good. Very Van Halen-y sounding. I'll pick this one up.

[heavyharmonies]

I've posted samples for all the tracks:

 

http://www.heavyharmonies.com/cgi-bin/glam...me=Promise+Land

[SUICIDE]

Will stick with the rockers of this. The slower songs were coma inducing.

[Captain Howdy]

Complicated Man sounds nothing like Giant, and reiterates my feeling that the band name should not have been used.

Its not a bad song per se, but it does sound like a blatant VH rip off, and it just doesnt say 'Giant' to me.

[edwithmj]

If that song's filler I can't wait till I hear the good songs - it's brilliant! I'm still looking forward to this one immensely.

[Glen]

Most of the songs sound pretty good.....nothing earth shattering and as a lot of others have said, nothing like early Giant. 'Complicated Man' is not my thing at all.

 

Not quite as excited about this now which is a shame really.

[dethuniverse]

anything with Terry Brock is worth listening to imho

[Jez]

anything with Terry Brock is worth listening to imho

 

Agreed on that. The rest of the samples sound pretty good, so my interest is sparked once more.

[zacharyamelie]

The song sounds alright. Reminds me obviously of VH/David Lee Roth, but also the energy tracks from Mr. Big like Addicted To That Rush and Daddy,Brother, Lover Little Boy. I wouldn't buy it because of this track but I wouldn't instantly hit the skip button.....although after listening to the other samples, the song really doesn't belong. I would never associate that track with any of the others, still not a terrible song.

 

I'm going through the samples Dan has added and it sounds great. I know everyone is saying this isn't Giant, but who cares the songs are great no matter what the band name is called.

 

I'm so not a ballad guy, from the samples they do nothing for me, but the rockers sound fantastic. From the samples my early picks are 1,3 and 9

[melodicrockoz]

To me Giant have that slight VH influence & you can hear bits of it on the first album & then little bit more on the 2nd album.

The new album is pretty cool though.

[edwithmj]

Wonderful album. It really grows on you. If you ignore the fact that Dann Huff is absent you end up with a really good AOR/Hard Rock album with excellent musicianship and catchy choruses.

[Zorro11]

I think that is a good album. Maybe there are some fillers in the end, but the first part has very strong tunes.

[TIM (2)]

I think that is a good album. Maybe there are some fillers in the end, but the first part has very strong tunes.

 

Yep there definitely sound like there are fillers at the end. Anyone who has this & can give a detailed description?

[Geoff]

I think that is a good album. Maybe there are some fillers in the end, but the first part has very strong tunes.

 

Yep there definitely sound like there are fillers at the end. Anyone who has this & can give a detailed description?

Didn't realise it was this good until I did this.

 

Not too detailed, but here’s a summary:

 

On the plus side, the band sound good musically, the vocals are great and the production job is too. So there’s nothing at all wrong with the sound of the disc. Now, to the songs:

 

1. Believer (Redux) ; good solid melodic rock number. Good opener and nothing negative to say about it.

2. Promise Land ; Excellent song, but if you’ve heard Spiro’s version you already know that. As for who’s version is better, both are excellent.

3. Never Surrender ; Did somebody say Journey? Very Journey-ish, complete with horrible, tacky “keep the faith never surrender” style lyrics. End of the day, good melodic rock tune though.

4. Our Love ; Good enough ballad, but very safe and not even a patch on previous stunning Giant ballads.

5. Prisoner of Love ; The chorus is actually okay on this one, but the rest of the song just screams filler.

6. Two Worlds ; another melodic rocker. Man this sounds like someone from recent times. Very solid and a sure crowd pleaser.

7. Plenty of Love ; another very good rocker. Reminds me a little of ‘Too hot to sleep’ era Survivor. Another sure favourite amongst listeners, I’m sure.

8. Through My Eyes ; another one direct from Spiro. Again, a great song regardless of who’s singing it and this is therefore a good version.

9. I'll Wait For You ; probably my favourite song from the album. Good, solid melodic rocker.

10. Dying To See You ; very, very, very safe ballad, bordering far too closely on fillerdom. Very sappy and only the 2nd halves of the choruses slightly redeem this.

NOW, why did they not just end the album here?! Game over, everybody’s happy with a good album. Instead, this happens:

11. Double Trouble ; this one has a pretty cool chorus, but it is just a filler regardless of that fact.

12. Complicated Man ; as we’ve all already heard, this is pitiful.

13. Save Me ; a DREADFUL filler of the highest order. Why they even bothered recording it, let alone putting it on here I will never know.

[TIM (2)]

Geoff - you've managed to completely put me off this one now! I'd heard some soundbytes and thought some were okay but the last few were horrible. If the first 8 or 9 songs are also a bit patchy then I'll skip this. I accept that this was always going to be a million-miles behind the other 3 albums, and that these days AOR/MHR albums come complete with 4 or 5 filler tracks as standard, but I hoped there might be 2 or 3 big songs on here that would make it worth buying....

[melodicrockoz]

Even the Japanese bonus tracks wont save this album from not being in my top 20 albumns of 2010

[Geoff]

Geoff - you've managed to completely put me off this one now! I'd heard some soundbytes and thought some were okay but the last few were horrible. If the first 8 or 9 songs are also a bit patchy then I'll skip this. I accept that this was always going to be a million-miles behind the other 3 albums, and that these days AOR/MHR albums come complete with 4 or 5 filler tracks as standard, but I hoped there might be 2 or 3 big songs on here that would make it worth buying....

Yeah, it's definitely not great but it's hard to be really critical of it, bar those few absolutely terrible tracks. But as hard as it is to be critical, it's equally hard to be too positive about it. too Most of it's pretty good, but nothing will send you into cardiac arrest with it's awesomeness. Safe. Very safe.