Disappointments of 2011

[Geoff]

Reverse-Grower - A CD which fools you into believing it's excellent after the first spin. But who knows, maybe you were pre-occupied at the time or you'd just had pleasing intercourse and were on a high. Either way, you got it wrong. The CD actually sucks. Maybe you wanted to like it because you had a soft spot for the artist based on previous releases? But no, not this time. This time they failed. The CD sucks. Sorry, you got it wrong first time 'round. The CD is... it's shit.

 

 

i.e Steel Panther

 

No Jez - for Steel Panther you need to check under 'awesome on first spin'

Steel Panther CDs are just as awesome on the first spin as they are on the 80th spin. Just like any other great CD. No reason they wouldn't be either...

 

On this subject, The Poodles are the perfect candidate. When I first heard the new one I really thought it was great. But it's not. I like the guys, but they're just tiresome. The Poodles and Outloud would have had the best first impressions for me, this year, for CDs that didn't really turn out to be that good. I loved Steel Panther on the first spin and probably warm to it a little more each time I spin it.

[Glen]

Probably gonna have to add Fate to this list - this album really has little to do with Fate, and the hooks just arent strong enough.

[Jez]

Probably gonna have to add Fate to this list - this album really has little to do with Fate, and the hooks just arent strong enough.

 

Exact opposite with me. Much better than I expected and some fine songs ('Children Of The Night', 'All That I Want', 'Follow Your Heart' and 'Daddy's Girl' for starters). Stunning Guitar in spots and a huge improvement in the new vocalist over the last one)

[Jeff]

Well we've had our best of thread, so now Id just like to voice a few disappointments - not really interested in the albums which were just plain CRAP, but more the albums which could or more importantly should have been better.

 

I'll start with a few -

 

 

Victory - Dont Talk Science

This should spark some debate! All solidly played with a few stand out tracks but also a lot of average tracks - think I rated at least 6 songs only around 7.5/10 - was expecting a lot more. Also the last track is just wrong....dont even go there.

 

 

Really? Wasn't this sort of an unexpected release to begin with?

Then, reading your statement, you found some stand out tracks, and you rated 6 other tracks at 7.5 (.5 point away from a very nice 8). On a 10 point scale, 5 is average.

I totally agree the last track was, um, yeah..."don't go there".

I actually think this a great release and would make my statement something like "All solidly played with a few stand out tracks accompanied by a lot of really good tracks. The last track is just wrong, but aside from that, great release!"

[heaven&hell]

Well we've had our best of thread, so now Id just like to voice a few disappointments - not really interested in the albums which were just plain CRAP, but more the albums which could or more importantly should have been better.

 

I'll start with a few -

 

 

Victory - Dont Talk Science

This should spark some debate! All solidly played with a few stand out tracks but also a lot of average tracks - think I rated at least 6 songs only around 7.5/10 - was expecting a lot more. Also the last track is just wrong....dont even go there.

 

 

Really? Wasn't this sort of an unexpected release to begin with?

Then, reading your statement, you found some stand out tracks, and you rated 6 other tracks at 7.5 (.5 point away from a very nice 8). On a 10 point scale, 5 is average.

I totally agree the last track was, um, yeah..."don't go there".

I actually think this a great release and would make my statement something like "All solidly played with a few stand out tracks accompanied by a lot of really good tracks. The last track is just wrong, but aside from that, great release!"

 

I agree it can't be a dissapointment when it was an unexpected release IMO.

No one knew that was even coming out therefore there was no hype leading up to it's release and on top of that it's a damn good album. Sure it's not as good as their late 80's/early 90's output but it's still a good album.

[TIM (2)]

Well we've had our best of thread, so now Id just like to voice a few disappointments - not really interested in the albums which were just plain CRAP, but more the albums which could or more importantly should have been better.

 

I'll start with a few -

 

 

Victory - Dont Talk Science

This should spark some debate! All solidly played with a few stand out tracks but also a lot of average tracks - think I rated at least 6 songs only around 7.5/10 - was expecting a lot more. Also the last track is just wrong....dont even go there.

 

 

Really? Wasn't this sort of an unexpected release to begin with?

Then, reading your statement, you found some stand out tracks, and you rated 6 other tracks at 7.5 (.5 point away from a very nice 8). On a 10 point scale, 5 is average.

I totally agree the last track was, um, yeah..."don't go there".

I actually think this a great release and would make my statement something like "All solidly played with a few stand out tracks accompanied by a lot of really good tracks. The last track is just wrong, but aside from that, great release!"

 

I agree it can't be a dissapointment when it was an unexpected release IMO.

No one knew that was even coming out therefore there was no hype leading up to it's release and on top of that it's a damn good album. Sure it's not as good as their late 80's/early 90's output but it's still a good album.

 

But IMO there's no bigger disappointment than a big named band that continues to release albums long after they've peaked, all of which totally devalues their reputation. Fair Warning, Bonfire, Europe, Foreigner, Magnum, Megadeth, Queensryche, Warrant, Whitesnake (I realise there are some contentious ones in this list!!) are all bands that are running-on-empty and trying to make money releasing sub-par albums when in-truth they should've given up years ago. They are devaluing their bands reputations. If you can't release something that's somewhere close to your peak then don't release anything, and just tour by playing the classic stuff. Victory have a reputation as one of the best German bands ever, and releasing something that's no better or worse than the majority of other 2011 albums is not good enough.

[Glen]

Well we've had our best of thread, so now Id just like to voice a few disappointments - not really interested in the albums which were just plain CRAP, but more the albums which could or more importantly should have been better.

 

I'll start with a few -

 

 

Victory - Dont Talk Science

This should spark some debate! All solidly played with a few stand out tracks but also a lot of average tracks - think I rated at least 6 songs only around 7.5/10 - was expecting a lot more. Also the last track is just wrong....dont even go there.

 

 

Really? Wasn't this sort of an unexpected release to begin with?

Then, reading your statement, you found some stand out tracks, and you rated 6 other tracks at 7.5 (.5 point away from a very nice 8). On a 10 point scale, 5 is average.

I totally agree the last track was, um, yeah..."don't go there".

I actually think this a great release and would make my statement something like "All solidly played with a few stand out tracks accompanied by a lot of really good tracks. The last track is just wrong, but aside from that, great release!"

 

I agree it can't be a dissapointment when it was an unexpected release IMO.

No one knew that was even coming out therefore there was no hype leading up to it's release and on top of that it's a damn good album. Sure it's not as good as their late 80's/early 90's output but it's still a good album.

 

But IMO there's no bigger disappointment than a big named band that continues to release albums long after they've peaked, all of which totally devalues their reputation. Fair Warning, Bonfire, Europe, Foreigner, Magnum, Megadeth, Queensryche, Warrant, Whitesnake (I realise there are some contentious ones in this list!!) are all bands that are running-on-empty and trying to make money releasing sub-par albums when in-truth they should've given up years ago. They are devaluing their bands reputations. If you can't release something that's somewhere close to your peak then don't release anything, and just tour by playing the classic stuff. Victory have a reputation as one of the best German bands ever, and releasing something that's no better or worse than the majority of other 2011 albums is not good enough.

 

OK, fair point that the album did come out of the blue (the pre-release PR sucked), but when you read a 3-4 page thread with comments like -

 

'it kicks arse'

'its crazy awesome stuff'

'Victory has returned with one of the best albums of their entire career' - review

'Think the last Treat album in terms of quality and energy' - review (er, bollocks)

'Man its awesome'

'Its so freaking good & contender for album of the year'

 

.........and then you buy it and by track 4 its decended into averageness, with little or no hooks.

 

Well, I call that a disappointment, sorry.

[Geoff]

Well we've had our best of thread, so now Id just like to voice a few disappointments - not really interested in the albums which were just plain CRAP, but more the albums which could or more importantly should have been better.

 

I'll start with a few -

 

 

Victory - Dont Talk Science

This should spark some debate! All solidly played with a few stand out tracks but also a lot of average tracks - think I rated at least 6 songs only around 7.5/10 - was expecting a lot more. Also the last track is just wrong....dont even go there.

 

 

Really? Wasn't this sort of an unexpected release to begin with?

Then, reading your statement, you found some stand out tracks, and you rated 6 other tracks at 7.5 (.5 point away from a very nice 8). On a 10 point scale, 5 is average.

I totally agree the last track was, um, yeah..."don't go there".

I actually think this a great release and would make my statement something like "All solidly played with a few stand out tracks accompanied by a lot of really good tracks. The last track is just wrong, but aside from that, great release!"

 

I agree it can't be a dissapointment when it was an unexpected release IMO.

No one knew that was even coming out therefore there was no hype leading up to it's release and on top of that it's a damn good album. Sure it's not as good as their late 80's/early 90's output but it's still a good album.

 

But IMO there's no bigger disappointment than a big named band that continues to release albums long after they've peaked, all of which totally devalues their reputation. Fair Warning, Bonfire, Europe, Foreigner, Magnum, Megadeth, Queensryche, Warrant, Whitesnake (I realise there are some contentious ones in this list!!) are all bands that are running-on-empty and trying to make money releasing sub-par albums when in-truth they should've given up years ago. They are devaluing their bands reputations. If you can't release something that's somewhere close to your peak then don't release anything, and just tour by playing the classic stuff. Victory have a reputation as one of the best German bands ever, and releasing something that's no better or worse than the majority of other 2011 albums is not good enough.

I can see both sides to this discussion. On one hand this did come completely out of the blue and it was a nice surprise to hear new music from Victory when it was not expected by anyone. But I'm sure many share a similar feeling towards Victory as I. I would list them in my top 10-20 bands of all time and 'Culture Killed the Native' is also one of my all-time top 10-20 albums. In their prime they never faltered and I guess when it was realised that there was a new album out with a lot of key members and a Garcia-sound-alike vocalist, it was probably quite realistic to expect something sensational. I agree with everyone that it's a good solid album, but there's also no arguing that it does not compare to anything from their prime.

 

I like the disc plenty and gave it an admirable 73%... but I guess when you're dealing with a 80-95% type band you could label it a "disappointment." I also really wish that Tommy Newton had produced the whole thing as I feel the tracks he did produce really capture that 'real' Victory sound very nicely.

 

Another disappointment for me:

 

Chris Ousey - 'Rhyme & Reason' ; again, I obviously never expected a single thing from this, having given up on Heartland a long time ago. But then I heard that Slamer was involved and my pants bulged. So much so that I bought it blindly... only to find out Slamer had only produced and played on it. As always, his production is spot on and guitarwork is second to none, imo. Brilliant and ballsy guitar album, but some joker thought it was a good idea not to utilise him in the song writing department and instead it's a collection of pretty tired Denander and Ousey collborations. Granted, it's not bad and there's a small handful of really good songs on here... and Slamer's been far from perfect in recent efforts... but I was just really hoping it was played, produced and written by Slamer.

[Glen]

The Ousey is better than the new Victory IMO but both are riddled with filler with only a few standouts. 'Give Me Shelter' is stunning.

[Geoff]

Wow, did we all seriously miss the most disappointing CD of 2011? It looks like it. For me it has been:

 

House of Lords - 'Big Money' ; In the past few years, and basically since I first heard them, I have viewed these guys as one of the most solid, consistent and reliable bands doing the rounds, aside from that obvious 'Myth' trainwreck. But I don't know what went wrong this time. As I've referenced a million times already, this is probably the worst produced album of 2011 - it really sounds like a piece of shit. But even when you take away the awful sound quality, the songs just weren't as strong for me this time. There are only 2 fillers ('Big Money' & 'Searchin') but the problem is the rest of the songs, for me, all rate between 7-7.75. I couldn't even muster up an 8 for any of these. Funnily enough, I actually rated Fergie's version of 'First to cry' an 8. And I don't think it was just the production... it just sounded better.

[exact3]

Wow, did we all seriously miss the most disappointing CD of 2011? It looks like it. For me it has been:

 

House of Lords - 'Big Money' ; In the past few years, and basically since I first heard them, I have viewed these guys as one of the most solid, consistent and reliable bands doing the rounds, aside from that obvious 'Myth' trainwreck. But I don't know what went wrong this time. As I've referenced a million times already, this is probably the worst produced album of 2011 - it really sounds like a piece of shit. But even when you take away the awful sound quality, the songs just weren't as strong for me this time. There are only 2 fillers ('Big Money' & 'Searchin') but the problem is the rest of the songs, for me, all rate between 7-7.75. I couldn't even muster up an 8 for any of these. Funnily enough, I actually rated Fergie's version of 'First to cry' an 8. And I don't think it was just the production... it just sounded better.

 

i never bothered to get this one so that is why I missed it

[Nightrain]

A little thought for the discussion.

 

'Big Money' is pretty fine by me except the production, an improvement over their last album in terms of songs, but inferior to WUD and CTYK, overall still an 80% from me. I think some elements in this album have gone back to their Demons Down days, but of course there are inconsistency in songwriting.

 

Chris Ousey is lower than Victory for me but not by large margin. I still think 'Don't Talk Science' is worth around 80% and Ousey is at 70%, but I think Ousey should belong in this list because of Mike Slamer's name hence the high expectation while Victory shouldn't be here because despite some fillers, most of the songs are basically similar to like what Victory did in the past.

 

I never rated Victory very high to be honest, even back in their glorious days, most of their albums are around 70%-85% from me, so if this gets around 75%-80% by the end of the day, it's definitely not disappointing because it's basically on par with their earlier output.

[Geoff]

A little thought for the discussion.

 

'Big Money' is pretty fine by me except the production, an improvement over their last album in terms of songs, but inferior to WUD and CTYK, overall still an 80% from me. I think some elements in this album have gone back to their Demons Down days, but of course there are inconsistency in songwriting.

 

Chris Ousey is lower than Victory for me but not by large margin. I still think 'Don't Talk Science' is worth around 80% and Ousey is at 70%, but I think Ousey should belong in this list because of Mike Slamer's name hence the high expectation while Victory shouldn't be here because despite some fillers, most of the songs are basically similar to like what Victory did in the past.

 

I never rated Victory very high to be honest, even back in their glorious days, most of their albums are around 70%-85% from me, so if this gets around 75%-80% by the end of the day, it's definitely not disappointing because it's basically on par with their earlier output.

For the record I also rated Victory higher than Chris Ousey - much, much more consistent.

[heaven&hell]

Hammerfall - Infected

 

What a horrible album this is. I can't believe this is the same band that recorded such Power Metal gems as 'Glory to the Brave', 'Legacy of Kings' and 'Renegade'. These guys flew the flag for straight up Heavy Metal from 1997 on but this album saw them experiment with their sound and look and trying a Zombie Apocalypse concept that just doesn't work. I was scared when they used James Michael as a co-producer and mixer but I can't blame this one on him as the songs are bad with only a few that are worth the Hammerfall name. This is an epic fail IMO.

[exact3]

Hammerfall - Infected

 

What a horrible album this is. I can't believe this is the same band that recorded such Power Metal gems as 'Glory to the Brave', 'Legacy of Kings' and 'Renegade'. These guys flew the flag for straight up Heavy Metal from 1997 on but this album saw them experiment with their sound and look and trying a Zombie Apocalypse concept that just doesn't work. I was scared when they used James Michael as a co-producer and mixer but I can't blame this one on him as the songs are bad with only a few that are worth the Hammerfall name. This is an epic fail IMO.

 

I would agree. This band is so far from the masterpiece that is Legacy of Kings its not even funny.

[Jez]

I hate saying it, but I'm gonna have to add Nightwish 'Imaginaerum' to the list. It's great as a Soundtrack, but was very hard work getting through (and I likes me a bit of prog quite often). Taken individually it only has about 3 songs worth going back to and for a Nightwish album, that is plain wrong. I admire them for having a go at something a little different, and had the film that was planned been out to accompany the music it may have worked, but as a stand alone piece, it's a little dreary.

[heaven&hell]

Hammerfall - Infected

 

What a horrible album this is. I can't believe this is the same band that recorded such Power Metal gems as 'Glory to the Brave', 'Legacy of Kings' and 'Renegade'. These guys flew the flag for straight up Heavy Metal from 1997 on but this album saw them experiment with their sound and look and trying a Zombie Apocalypse concept that just doesn't work. I was scared when they used James Michael as a co-producer and mixer but I can't blame this one on him as the songs are bad with only a few that are worth the Hammerfall name. This is an epic fail IMO.

 

I would agree. This band is so far from the masterpiece that is Legacy of Kings its not even funny.

 

Yup very dissapointing for a once great band.

[TIM (2)]

I hate saying it, but I'm gonna have to add Nightwish 'Imaginaerum' to the list. It's great as a Soundtrack, but was very hard work getting through (and I likes me a bit of prog quite often). Taken individually it only has about 3 songs worth going back to and for a Nightwish album, that is plain wrong. I admire them for having a go at something a little different, and had the film that was planned been out to accompany the music it may have worked, but as a stand alone piece, it's a little dreary.

 

Yeah me too. They shouldn't even have released it as a CD IMO, at least not in the 'Rock' section without considering a change of band name. It should've accompanied the film as the soundtrack. Plus it's odd that they move in this direction and revert back to a Melodic Rock vocalist (having ditched the Operatic vocalist) - Olzon is clearly a good vocalist but just sounds utterly ridiculous on this stuff...

[Nightrain]

I don't have big complain on Olzon's vocal and actually both Olzon and Turunen are operatic singer at the start, but Turunen is definitely have more power and fits into metal section than Olzon, at least that's what the band think when they found Tarja in the first place, but yeah musically, it's a soundtrack/score album and afraid can't live up the expectation of symphonic metal fans in general.

[TIM (2)]

I don't have big complain on Olzon's vocal and actually both Olzon and Turunen are operatic singer at the start, but Turunen is definitely have more power and fits into metal section than Olzon

 

I think Olzon worked well on some of "Dark Passion Play", especially stuff like "Amaranth" (which is just heavy AOR), better than Tarja would've done. Both can clearly sing. But Olzon just doesn't have the power to sing this new stuff, and nor should she be expected to. To be fair this band have never simply been a symphonic metal band anyway, their earlier stuff combined some goth, ambient and folky elements with the operatic vocals, and even "Dark Passion Play" had some of these elements on the longer tracks, and now they're heading off into orchestral/story-telling territory we shouldn't be surprised. But, IMHO, they were at their best when they ditched all that crap and just played great commercial Metal like on most of "Once" and "Dark Passion Play".