Oct 20, 2024

Oh well, basketball is my preferred sport anyway

 

Oct 20, 2024

I do the same thing. I’m not quite at the level where I need Subway Surfers gameplay playing at the bottom of a video I’m watching but I’m close

 

Oct 16, 2024

Got yours I'll re tally once @Michael Myers adds his, no rush man

 

Oct 14, 2024

Ka is a goner!

 

Oct 12, 2024

 

Oct 4, 2024

Did you skip marilyn manson? Lol

 

Oct 4, 2024

Good writeup. Reminds me of how autistic I get when I love an album.

To add onto the Linkin Park mention, I remember when they did the show in honor of Chester’s passing 7 years ago and had a bunch of artists doing the vocals. Oli Sykes did Crawling and it was pretty great. You can tell how much he loves the band and is influenced by them.



Will post my review in a day or two!

 

Oct 3, 2024

The concept for this album was a bit more slapdash in its execution than the sequel because this series was originally just going to be EP's like this but it started evolving into full albums giving time to flesh stuff out in and outside of the music. If this is interesting to anyone I highly recommend their newest album although it's a lot more electronically experimental being a mix of more pop-punk and hyperpop adjacent sounds.

If you're interested in more classic heavy metalcore sounds I recommend Sempiternal which is a classic in the genre that people now are still trying to catch up to, or if you want a more stadium rock/metal sound that's easier to digest then That's The Spirit is also a great album!

Spoiler: UNHEALTHY AMOUNT OF YAPPING.

Okay so first things first, I'm fuzzy to a lot of exact points and it's hard to find full breakdowns to sift through so forgive me if I get a couple things wrong. This is the 1st part to a 4 part concept and only 2 installments have been released so far and the 2nd album in the in the Post Human series "NeXt Gen" has a bit more going on storyline wise and even I'm out of the loop on a lot of s--- because there's some plot developments at their concerts and a full ARG as well.


And before I get into some exact details I think it's somewhat important to talk about the context of some of the album, the term "Survival Horror" comes from the genre of videogames and games in that vein heavily inspired parts of this album (especially the Resident Evil and Parasite Eve games)the connections to ideas that genre has are more apparent with the background concept of the record but it also effects the musicality of the album since they got the composer for the new Doom games Mick Gordon to help co-produce multiple tracks.


The albums idea sorta plays out in two narratives, one is more literal (the lead singer Oli Syke's drug addiction and his disillusionment with certain political things and the pandemic as a whole, bear in mind this was made during the height of it.) and the more figurative narrative (inspired by the same ideas but much more fantastical and in the background of the record instead of the forefront)


Dear Diary: this opening is the perfect example of what I mean, this song could be perceived as an edgy version of the lead vocalist going through withdrawal with some obvious embellishment but narratively it's about the start of a virus (obviously inspired by COVID but more so a nod to resident evil chronicling the start to a virus created by a cult named GeneXsis if I'm remembering correctly that turns people into monsters such as zombies, vampires etc. There's mutations to the virus that also turn people into something called Post Humans but that's a lot to get into rn lmao)


You can skip past this but it provides some interesting context if you're intrigued. Lyrically the songs takes heavily from the famous "Keepers Diary" document from Resident Evil 1 which reads:


"May 9, 1998

At night, we played poker with Scott the guard, Alias and Steve the researcher.Steve was very lucky, but I think he was cheating. What a scumbag.

May 10th 1998

Today, a high ranking researcher asked me to take care of a new monster. It looks like a gorilla without any skin. They told me to feed them live food. When I threw in a pig, they were playing with it... tearing off the pig's legs and pulling out the guts before they actually ate it.

May 11th 1998

Around 5 o'clock this morning, Scott came in and woke me up suddenly. He was wearing a protective suit that looks like a space suit. He told me to put one on as well. I heard there was an accident in the basement lab. It's no wonder, those researchers never rest, even at night.

May 12th 1998

I've been wearing this annoying space suit since yesterday, my skin grows musty and feels very itchy. By way of revenge, I didn't feed those dogs today. Now I feel better.

May 13th 1998

I went to the medical room because my back is all swollen and feels itchy. They put a big bandage on my back and the doctor told me I did not need to wear the space suit any more. I guess I can sleep well tonight.

May 14th 1998

When I woke up this morning, I found another blister on my foot. It was annoying and I ended up dragging my foot as I went to the dog's pen. They have been quiet since morning, which is very unusual. I found that some of them had escaped. I'll be in real trouble if the higher-ups find out.

May 15th 1998

Even though I didn't feel well, I decided to go see Nancy. It's my first day off in a long time but I was stopped by the guard on the way out. They say the company has ordered that no one leave the grounds. I can't even make a phone call. What kind of joke is this?!

May 16th 1998

I heard a researcher who tried to escape from this mansion was shot last night. My entire body feels burning and itchy at night. When I was scratching the swelling on my arms, a lump of rotten flesh dropped off. What the h--- is happening to me?

May 19, 1998

Fever gone but itchy. Hungry and eat doggy food. Itchy itchy Scott came. Ugly face so killed him. Tasty. Itchy.Tasty."


Parasite Eve: also a very one of the more literal songs in terms of serving both narratives. It's very obviously a song about the pandemic while also setting up more events in the concept with the introduction to the character Eve (the robotic voice you hear that is voiced by the lead singers wife) who serves as a bit of an antagonist in the world and comes into play slightly more on the second album.


Little fun fact but the lyrics "if the suspense doesn't k--- you something else will" was also used in old Resident Evil promo material!


Teardrops: One of my favorites on the record but it's pretty self explanatory lol.


Obey: Also self explanatory, bit more punky in the way of people mad at the system in general. You could connect this to the concept but it would be easier to do with the context of the second record in the series.


Itch For The Cure/Kingslayer: Lyrically it's bit Matrix adjacent with feeling like you're becoming more aware of the artificial nature of certain parts of reality and having more autonomy than you originally thought, in terms of the lore it's about a rebel group of people still alive during the apocalypse realizing that Eve is becoming a threat so they initiate "Project: Kingslayer" to try and shut her down, unsuccessfully of course.


The title Itch For The Cure is also a direct reference to Linkin Park who this album and the band as a whole are very influenced by.


1x1: another personal favorite of mine, especially the bridge which hit me pretty hard back in my white boy depressive episodes. This one much like Teardrops is self explanatory so I copied the about section on genius so you can hear from the man himself.


“1x1” mainly talks about how humanity feels guilty remembering that they destroyed other species or even other people because of ethinical, religious, gender and sexuality differences.


[The song addresses] the guilt that we as a society carry for what we’ve done to other species and ethnicities and other genders.


—Oli Sykes, NME


Just like “Teardrops,” the song can be related with Oli Sykes problems with addiction in the past. Quarantine could have brought back these dark memories and it shows him feeling guilty about it.



Ludens: A song created for and dealing with concepts from Hideo Kojimas videogame Death Stranding, Kojima has been a big inspiration to the band with his previous work like Metal Gear Solid being referenced multiple times in some other songs of theirs. They only had a couple days to make and finish this song in a hotel room to get in done in the time for the deadline of the game going gold, thankfully for them both the album and the game deal with similar concepts so it got to fit in both contexts.


The word Ludens comes from the book h--- ludens (Latin h--- ludens, for playing man) is a way to explain how people develop their cultural abilities. This model says that people do this mostly through playing games. The game makes it possible to understand the outside world. Which is a concept that gets brought up in Death Stranding.


One day the only butterflies left will be in your chest as you march towards your death: Can be taken as just a break up song which i think does its job incredibly well but the 2nd layer is that the break up is between humanity (Oli's parts) and mother nature (Amy Lee's perspective) and the fracturing of the relationship between the two for obvious reasons.


It can also be interpreted as Eve breaking away from what she perceives as helping humanity and being worshipped as a godlike figure in some circles and finally using that power against people which sets up her story slightly more for the second album.

^ Storyline dump for this album only.

 

Oct 3, 2024

Those are my favorites as well!

If you like the slower stuff I might have a couple songs to send you in the future, good part about this band is that they experimented with their style enough that there should a least be a few songs for most people.

This is technically a concept album but I didn't want to skew people's first listen by not focusing on the music itself but I'll try and post a bit of the albums concept soon. Glad you enjoyed!

 

Oct 3, 2024

If you post both Reviews I'll add them in!

 

Sep 30, 2024

NOTHING is good - and he will be out of office soon!

 

Sep 29, 2024

Werewolf is a much easier listen for sure lmao, love that song.

 

Sep 29, 2024

Oh yeah! I’ve heard that one too. I don’t think I liked it as much as Werewolf

 

Sep 26, 2024

h--- yeah!

Classics

 

Sep 26, 2024

Just refering to 2-3 songs lol

Rihanna has more bangers

 

Sep 23, 2024

1/10

 

Sep 22, 2024

Yup, our conversation is what helped cement this pick for me. I think his whole discography is great, so you’re in for an amazing odyssey. I don’t know how everyone will like this mixtape, but I think you will like it

 

Sep 21, 2024

All I can say is you’ll wanna be high for this.