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Faceplams: Drumming in the beginning of easier than lying reminds me of Bella Lugosis Dead
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Throbbing Member
Drumming in the beginning of easier than lying reminds me of Bella Lugosis Dead
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24.24.2.2027
I wish I could pull Halsey's voice down an octave or two on several songs. I rather enjoy her vocal range when she drops it a notch.
eh...just an opinion though.
Production was great of course, reflective of the team.
24.24.1.1425 [Executed]
Generally enjoyed it. There are a few tracks where I found myself wanting her to stop singing, or more accurately, give me another verse where I can take in the music before she starts. Not trying to be a dick, but my brain found what was going on in the background more interesting than her singing at those moments. Not true for the whole album, it works great on a few other tracks, just a few moments. Worth listening to. Will definitely listen to it again.
Active Member
I do, and you're absolutely rightOriginally Posted by caca
Throbbing Member
Screw it - just ordered the target exclusive for pickup tomorrow. Sad the cover is the safe version tho (not being a perv - just never liked the edited versions of anything.
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Throbbing Member
Since your in AZ you probably couldve reserved a copy at ZIA or another local store that had the uncensored version.
Active Member
Similar to you, I'd heard of Halsey before, but had never listened to her music before. I just checked out the album on YouTube and I found "Girl is a Gun," "I am not a woman, I'm a god," "You Asked for This," and "The Lighthouse," to be the highlights. "Darling" is pretty good too. I'm not sure it's something I'll find myself listening to often (though I've said this before and changed my mind), but I'm glad most people here seem to be enjoying it!
Throbbing Member
I checked online and the colored version they had with the uncensored cover was sold outtttt oh well. I snost and lost. Didn’t wanna preorder it without hearing first.
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Throbbing Member
Finished my first listen. Loved the first three tracks, and then Lilith was pretty cool, but from there (with a few exceptions like I Am Not A Woman, I'm A God which is a fairly epic foot-tapper), I generally feel like it's an extremely well done, well executed album that just doesn't hit the subjective notes of my musical taste. Halsey is clearly a tremendously talented vocalist and I was very impressed with their lyrics. They're just coming at things from stylistic angles that often don't work for me. You Asked For This neatly embodies the album for me - the first half doesn't do much for me but I fucking love the last two minutes. Trent and Atticus's fingerprints are all over this sonically but their influence is clearly in support of Halsey's vision, and that's the way it should be. I don't know how much mileage I'll get out of it personally but hey, this isn't for me. It's not a Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross album, it's a Halsey album they produced, and regarding it the opinions of Halsey fans are probably a lot more important.
Active Member
Curious how this was recorded - did Halsey do demos that TR/AR recreated and made their own? Did they create their own songs that Halsey then wrote lyrics for?
Throbbing Member
aaaah, bummer.
Trent will have to answer that cause Halsey is not doing interviews for who knows how long.
Got the press release and there are additional imax screenings on Saturday. No info on it being released otherwise and then just details about the Sunday performance and thats it.
Active Member
On a 3rd or 4th listen, and things are clicking in like crazy. I liked it this morning; I love it now.
Stubby Member
I want to know who is playing acoustic guitar on Honey?
On first listen I enjoyed it but was a little underwhelmed. I have listened to it like 4 times now and I think it is pretty good to great. I agreed with the some of the other comments that the songs didn't have those big arena choruses but it seems like that might be intentional and that might be boring or unpopular for modern "pop" music. And I am not saying in place of big hooks are like exciting experimental moments, but I think each song gets a unique treatment to prop it up. My least favorite song is actually The Lighthouse because I don't like the first verse opening with the main guitar part. I think the second and third verse work much better and the main guitar works in the chorus. My other complaint would maybe the the mix. There are times during Girl Is A Gun and You Asked For This and Honey that I wish vocals and the music meshed together better the drums get kind of small and the music gets a little muddy and I know You Asked For This is going for a wall of sound but it sort of just gets flat. I still really like those songs and the mix does not kill it for me but I feel like those "big" songs could be even bigger if they were mixed slightly different. Those songs do open up a bit in the outro but I just whish maybe they could open up like that with the chorus while still having Halsey's vocals out in front. I will say I think the album and song lengths are perfect. I also think the way that different parts of each song's composition sort of build, there may not be those modern "anthems" but the way the songs are built around the verse and chorus are pretty dynamic and groovy and interesting. I think it is actually a good "album" expierence. Every song isn't trying to be hummed or sung right away, and again, I'm not saying that makes it good or original or even musically interesting. But I think gives each song a space on the album as a whole. And finally, I don't think Darling is totally out of place, but it could probably use some other slight texture that ties it a little more compisitonally. I think it works fine though in the middle and breaks up what is a pretty specific sound palette.
RA-MEN ROPPAI
Given that Ashley and TRATATICUS are credited for every track, I would learn towards a portion of "potentials" were pushed TR+AR's way, and they did what they did. I am not intimately aware of the (technical) crediting process, but it seems like a good majority of these existed as Ashley Frigiapane and John Cunningham tracks, and then were "translated" to current day.
Flaccid Member
Does anyone have the instrumentals that are floating around already?
This Cannot Continue
I'm...really enjoying this, like ALOT!
Stubby Member
This is really cool! I dig how the album has the sounds of NIN, modern pop, and a bit of punk all melded together. The frenetic punk atmosphere in Easier Than Lying is fantastic, and Halsey's vocals and the polished pop synths in I am not a woman, I am a god are awesome. Girl is a Gun and Lilith are further highlights in the record for me too. The grooves in those tracks are so good, especially those twitchy drum and bass rhythms in Girl is Gun.
This Cannot Continue
Easier Then Lying is an absolute BANGER!
Active Member
I hope not. Her nipple might though.
Squeal like a pig.
Gonna be writing a full review at some point, but jesus wow. I think I had an initial problem with (don't read if you're worried you might never unhear this) Spoiler: some of the very clear (yet understandable re covid) separation of produced vocal and music but now I'm sinking into it and yessssss, I love this.
'Easier Than Lying' has one of the best bridges, and I cannot believe those drums are programmed and not real. Wow.
Throbbing Member
I'm guessing that's Lindsey Buckingham.
Active Member
LOVE it after one listen. I was always partial to her through the years, but now I would go see this chick live if she is gonna focus on this material.
Most NIN-influenced songs:
Bells in Santa Fe (even her vocals toward the beginning remind me of Trent's style as well as the "all of this is temporary" refrain at the end; production is heavily in their soundtrack vein)
I Am Not A Woman, I'm A God (could easily be on Watchmen)
1121 (take her vocals out and you could put this on practically any of their soundtrack releases)
Whispers (I'm assuming the "You Do Not Want This" line is not an accident)
Girl Is A Gun (sure the drum pattern is pure MBM goodness, but you can hear the Atticus influence on those basslines, synths & stabs)
The Tradition (that piano)
You Asked For This (that wall of sound guitar)
Bangers:
Easier Than Lying
Lilith (that 90's boom bap/Portishead style is a major head nod)
Honey (yer two-steppin')....I can see this getting alot of airplay on alternative radio
I Am Not A Woman, I'm A God
The Lighthouse (sludgy, durgy goodness...picture this live with a full band)
There was a long well written criticism of the record a page back that got me thinking about Halsey's vocals here though. I feel like she could have & should have pushed herself vocally more if she was going to make such an outside the box album for a mainstream pop artist. Her vocals are good, I'm just thinking that some Ross Robinson-type pushing in the vocal booth could have elicited some real emotional heft if she was taken out of her comfort zone more. Would have been nice to really hear her belt it out/let it all out emotionally at some point (maybe the bonus tracks). But I assume it doesn't work like that when recording pop star vocals, especially when the vast majority of this albums vocals were recorded in what must be an absolutely gorgeous spot called Jagger (as in Mick???) Studios in Turks & fucking Caicos. Must be nice haha! Plus the proper lyrics have to be there to make that happen as well.
7/10. For a modern pop singer with full major label backing and a very young fanbase: 9/10. Making an album like this takes balls from her position. Would Halsey again.
Active Member
I will prolly skip Darling most of the time going forward, but Buckingham's guitar playing there is some dope stuff take on its own. It's just that the song overall is so bare, and her lyrics there aren't anything memorable enough to keep bringing me back.
I really would love to see the label execs faces when they heard this thing. It's clear that Trent was given free reign to do anything/bring in anyone he needed for the project. So that's cool.
Stubby Member
I liked most of it! After first listen my fav tracks are:
Bells in Santa Fe
Lilith
You Asked for This
I am not a woman, I’m a god
Easier than Lying
Kudos to all involved and I hope TR and AR get to do more stuff like this in the future. I've actually always liked Halsey's voice but never digged the music enough to check out their albums.
Stubby Member
Why isn’t the album in dolby atmos on apple music?
pretty FART machine
Goddamn, this album sounds sexy as fuck! Wasn't planning on buying anything physical, but the IMAX vinyl felt like the best option.
Is there an official PDF with the liner notes?
Active Member
This is a nice collision between two worlds. I wouldn't call it groundbreaking, but it's definitely a good listen!
EDIT: Okay, finished it. I think my main issue is that most of the songs are too short. They don't need to be ten minutes long or anything, but I think they would linger longer in my mind if they were a bit extended. Also, I feel like this album could really use more of Alan Moulder's touch (he's only credited on a couple tracks). And yeah, it could definitely be weirder, but they're not about to turn in a three disc noise album as a pop release. They know the arena they're working in.
Last edited by BRoswell; 08-27-2021 at 08:44 AM.
House Always Wins
Everyone else is doing it so why not? Much like a few I didn't give a flying fuck about this artist whatsoever. I figured I'd join in on the discussion.
I skimmed it a moment ago. Listened a huge chunk of most of the album's songs and basically came to the conclusion that if you wanted an alternate reality of where Nine Inch Nails were a pop band and had some woman singing over the compositions other than Trent on it then this is what you'd get. Honestly none of these songs feel cohesive to me as a unified group of musicians, they all sound like instrumentals NIN threw together and she wrote lyrics and sang vocal melodies to fit the song tempo and rhythm.
Musically some stuff was neat and The Lighthouse had a great sound but overall great production and music composition won't make me overcome insipid vocals that you can hear on any mainstream artist's vocal takes. I like pop music and some recent women's voices (Dua Lipa, Lady GaGa) so it's totally not that. Just don't care for this one. TR and AR being involved won't make me take anymore to her than normal. Whatever. If you're in love with this, good for you. It hit its audience.
Active Member
Lyrics and credits here:
http://www.cmgcredits.com/artist/hal...e-i-want-power
Stubby Member
i removed darling from it and it makes it significantly more cohesive and makes a better impression on me. agreed the vocals sound sterile sometimes and sometimes really good and that some songs are missing the proverbial drop, but overall pretty nice album!
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