MR

I'd give it a 7 out of 10.

Musically pretty solid effort. However I can't get past Arnels " thin" voice. The new Journey sound that is rockier is pretty awesome, but his voice just doesn't fit in 100%. It almost seems like they wrote these songs for Soto's voice.
Overall a great effort but not even close to how Drew describes this. Then again , his taste of music ....
Sorry Andrew but the vocals aren't as fantastic as you said they were.

So how did you get the album a week before it's release?

3 words : RipRokken Anderson BitTorrent

Behshad wrote:I'd give it a 7 out of 10.

Musically pretty solid effort. However I can't get past Arnels " thin" voice. The new Journey sound that is rockier is pretty awesome, but his voice just doesn't fit in 100%. It almost seems like they wrote these songs for Soto's voice.
Overall a great effort but not even close to how Drew describes this. Then again , his taste of music ....
Sorry Andrew but the vocals aren't as fantastic as you said they were.

I honestly don't get what you mean at all when you describe Arnel's voice as 'thin'. His is by far the fullest voice of all the Journey singers. Different than previous singers, but they're the 'thin'-voiced ones.

Overall though, you're certainly entitled to your opinion on the album itself.

I get that. When Arnel isn't emulating someone, his natural voice is a different beast altogether. For some, this album is an instrumentalist's dream. The lyrics and vocals are definitely in the back seat here. I'd say the vocals, while loud are actually a bit deadened, not sure if that is from some type of layering effect or what. Still, a very good record. Much better than Revelation for those of us who have already reached our quota on Journey ballads and wanted something that rocked a bit more.

Not a masterpiece but you will get your ten dollars worth, for sure.

Don wrote:I get that. When Arnel isn't emulating someone, his natural voice is a different beast altogether. For some, this album is an instrumentalist's dream. The lyrics and vocals are definitely in the back seat here. Still, a very good record. Much better than Revelation for those of us who have already reached our quota on Journey ballads and wanted something that rocked a bit more.

Not a masterpiece but you will get your ten dollars worth, for sure.

Exactly !
Arnel is a great singer , but the wrong choice for these songs. When you hear the music , you expect a little heavier & fuller voice.

Behshad wrote:

Don wrote:I get that. When Arnel isn't emulating someone, his natural voice is a different beast altogether. For some, this album is an instrumentalist's dream. The lyrics and vocals are definitely in the back seat here. Still, a very good record. Much better than Revelation for those of us who have already reached our quota on Journey ballads and wanted something that rocked a bit more.

Not a masterpiece but you will get your ten dollars worth, for sure.

Exactly !
Arnel is a great singer , but the wrong choice for these songs. When you hear the music , you expect a little heavier & fuller voice.

Hmm. I consider Arnel's voice to be rather full in comparison to Perry or Augeri. But from what it sounds like, the music seems to be more built for JSS?

VirgilTheart wrote:

Behshad wrote:

Don wrote:I get that. When Arnel isn't emulating someone, his natural voice is a different beast altogether. For some, this album is an instrumentalist's dream. The lyrics and vocals are definitely in the back seat here. Still, a very good record. Much better than Revelation for those of us who have already reached our quota on Journey ballads and wanted something that rocked a bit more.

Not a masterpiece but you will get your ten dollars worth, for sure.

Exactly !
Arnel is a great singer , but the wrong choice for these songs. When you hear the music , you expect a little heavier & fuller voice.

Hmm. I consider Arnel's voice to be rather full in comparison to Perry or Augeri. But from what it sounds like, the music seems to be more built for JSS?

I've had farts sounding fuller than Perrys voice

Arnel's voice is defiantly fuller than Perry & Augeri. Just not heavy enough for the songs.
Still a solid album.

Behshad wrote:I'd give it a 7 out of 10.

Musically pretty solid effort. However I can't get past Arnels " thin" voice. The new Journey sound that is rockier is pretty awesome, but his voice just doesn't fit in 100%. It almost seems like they wrote these songs for Soto's voice.
Overall a great effort but not even close to how Drew describes this. Then again , his taste of music ....
Sorry Andrew but the vocals aren't as fantastic as you said they were.

Buy a new stereo. What are you listening to...a fucking walkman?
I got this tuned up pretty good with my EQ and pulled the vocals and the drums up a bit. It's good, really good!
Since I like most of the songs I'm gonna get the LPs and play them on my old tube gear.

Behshad wrote:I've had farts sounding fuller than Perrys voice

You sir just won the Internet.

Arnel's voice is defiantly fuller than Perry & Augeri. Just not heavy enough for the songs.
Still a solid album.

Ah, thanks for the clarification.

So who would've been a better fit on the album in your opinion, vocal-wise?

steveo777 wrote:

Behshad wrote:I'd give it a 7 out of 10.

Musically pretty solid effort. However I can't get past Arnels " thin" voice. The new Journey sound that is rockier is pretty awesome, but his voice just doesn't fit in 100%. It almost seems like they wrote these songs for Soto's voice.
Overall a great effort but not even close to how Drew describes this. Then again , his taste of music ....
Sorry Andrew but the vocals aren't as fantastic as you said they were.

Buy a new stereo. What are you listening to...a fucking walkman?
I got this tuned up pretty good with my EQ and pulled the vocals and the drums up a bit. It's good, really good!

Shove your EQ up your ass.
EQ doesn't magically make the voice fit the sound , dickbag.

To Whom It May Concern sounds like Arnel has a governor on his voice box. You are waiting for the big voice to blow out of the gate and it doesn't quite do that. The Equalizer doesn't fix that. The highs aren't clipped, they're just not there. Perry, even with his broken voice comes through more distinctly on most of the Trial By Fire tracks. On Eclipse, I'm not sure if the elimination of the highs is by design or not.

From my viewpoint, this album was always going to be about Neal anyway, not the singer. In that perspective, it excels.

Someone fits Arnel's voice better than most of the tracks. Seeing as it's really an uptempo pop song, it's definitely in his wheel house.

VirgilTheart wrote:
Hmm. I consider Arnel's voice to be rather full in comparison to Perry .

Are you on coke? Steve Perry has by far the strongest/heaviest/huskiest voice of all the past singers and the current one. Go listen to him speak at the HOF ceromony in Hollywood. Just talking you can tell how powerful it is. I dare you to throw any Pineda recording/song up against any song off Frontiers. It would pale considerably. When are you Tards going to ever learn- Pineda will never be as good as Perry in anything singing whatsoever. Nothing.

Notice I never challenged you on your Pineda v Augeri argument? Hell, I have a much stronger voice than that fucking clown.

Rockindeano wrote:

VirgilTheart wrote:
Hmm. I consider Arnel's voice to be rather full in comparison to Perry .

Are you on coke? Steve Perry has by far the strongest/heaviest/huskiest voice of all the past singers and the current one. Go listen to him speak at the HOF ceromony in Hollywood. Just talking you can tell how powerful it is. I dare you to throw any Pineda recording/song up against any song off Frontiers. It would pale considerably. When are you Tards going to ever learn- Pineda will never be as good as Perry in anything singing whatsoever. Nothing.

Notice I never challenged you on your Pineda v Augeri argument? Hell, I have a much stronger voice than that fucking clown.

Nope. In fact, the only drug I take is a little old pill called Ritalin.

And while Perry had the best range when he was at his prime, he was by no means the fullest sounding singer. He's nicknamed "Nostrildamus" for good reason, sir.

How is Arnel's accent this one? It drove me insane on Revelation, couldn't understand half the lyrics.

ebake02 wrote:How is Arnel's accent this one? It drove me insane on Revelation, couldn't understand half the lyrics.

Much better !

ebake02 wrote:How is Arnel's accent this one? It drove me insane on Revelation, couldn't understand half the lyrics.

There really isn't anything noticeable. The vocals aren't distinct enough in the mix to notice things like that.

ebake02 wrote:How is Arnel's accent this one? It drove me insane on Revelation, couldn't understand half the lyrics.

Listening to the album myself at the moment, and so far, I have to say it's better this go around IMO.

But then again, I understood Revelation's lyrics on the most part quite well, so who knows? I guess you'll have to listen to the album and decide for yourself.

Like I said in my initial review a few weeks ago, the clarity concerning the vocals isn't there . I mean, we understand what he is singing but using TBF as a barometer, the cracking or intake of breath you could hear on that record is missing on Eclipse. The vocal isn't center stage where you would catch those things here that we noticed quite clearly on Revelation.

Behshad wrote:3 words : RipRokken Anderson BitTorrent

ROFL... Ok, this would need to be clarified!

Behshad took Rip's Tips, got a CD from an Anderson employee, then proceeded to upload his copy to BitTorrent, BearShare, Kazaa, LymeWire, and quite possibly leaked it to Al Jazeera (with the best of intentions, of course).

ebake02 wrote:How is Arnel's accent this one? It drove me insane on Revelation, couldn't understand half the lyrics.

I can promise you there is no discernible accent at all on any of the lyrics, or at least the ones I've read so far out of the booklet.

Rip Rokken wrote:

Behshad wrote:3 words : RipRokken Anderson BitTorrent

ROFL... Ok, this would need to be clarified!

Behshad took Rip's Tips, got a CD from an Anderson employee, then proceeded to upload his copy to BitTorrent, BearShare, Kazaa, LymeWire, and quite possibly leaked it to Al Jazeera (with the best of intentions, of course).

Well, seeing how Journey is an international band, those pesky trade embargos/ regional restriction policies have to be broken somehow.

Have to spread the love somehow.

Rip Rokken wrote:

Behshad wrote:3 words : RipRokken Anderson BitTorrent

ROFL... Ok, this would need to be clarified!

Behshad took Rip's Tips, got a CD from an Anderson employee, then proceeded to upload his copy to BitTorrent, BearShare, Kazaa, LymeWire, and quite possibly leaked it to Al Jazeera (with the best of intentions, of course).

Except I didn't buy a copy

Behshad wrote:

Rip Rokken wrote:

Behshad wrote:3 words : RipRokken Anderson BitTorrent

ROFL... Ok, this would need to be clarified!

Behshad took Rip's Tips, got a CD from an Anderson employee, then proceeded to upload his copy to BitTorrent, BearShare, Kazaa, LymeWire, and quite possibly leaked it to Al Jazeera (with the best of intentions, of course).

Except I didn't buy a copy

That's okay, bands make all their money from touring now days. For legacy acts, CDs are now just promotional items to remind people that tickets will be on sale soon.

Don wrote:

Behshad wrote:

Rip Rokken wrote:Behshad took Rip's Tips, got a CD from an Anderson employee, then proceeded to upload his copy to BitTorrent, BearShare, Kazaa, LymeWire, and quite possibly leaked it to Al Jazeera (with the best of intentions, of course).

Except I didn't buy a copy

That's okay, bands make all their money from touring now days. CDs are now just promotional items to remind people that tickets will be on sale soon.

Have no fear, my friends. I made a list of all the MR people least likely to pay for the product, and bought those CDs myself. Basically, I paid the price, persevering thru all the trials, tribulations, and sufferings along the way, so that you all could enjoy the music without the consequence of eternal damnation. Just like Jesus.

Rip Rokken wrote:

Don wrote:

Behshad wrote:

Rip Rokken wrote:Behshad took Rip's Tips, got a CD from an Anderson employee, then proceeded to upload his copy to BitTorrent, BearShare, Kazaa, LymeWire, and quite possibly leaked it to Al Jazeera (with the best of intentions, of course).

Except I didn't buy a copy

That's okay, bands make all their money from touring now days. CDs are now just promotional items to remind people that tickets will be on sale soon.

Have no fear, my friends. I made a list of all the MR people least likely to pay for the product, and bought those CDs myself. Basically, I paid the price, persevering thru all the trials, tribulations, and sufferings along the way, so that you all could enjoy the music without the consequence of eternal damnation. Just like Jesus.

Thanks JC, YOU DA MAN.

Rip Rokken wrote:Have no fear, my friends. I made a list of all the MR people least likely to pay for the product, and bought those CDs myself. Basically, I paid the price, persevering thru all the trials, tribulations, and sufferings along the way, so that you all could enjoy the music without the consequence of eternal damnation. Just like Jesus.

Truly, he was the Son of MR Forums...

Okay that's it. We need someone to photoshop the Don Smiley onto an image of Jesus on the cross just for moments like this.

Also, while I have the music now, I fully intend to purchase the physical album myself on Monday or Tuesday. Not only to even things, but just because I like having a physical copy.

My wife doesn't like this album. She says it rocks too hard. She asked where are Cain's
beautiful melodies and ballads? I love this album. I think we're gonna get divorced.
Thanks Journey!

Rip Rokken wrote:

Don wrote:

Behshad wrote:

Rip Rokken wrote:Behshad took Rip's Tips, got a CD from an Anderson employee, then proceeded to upload his copy to BitTorrent, BearShare, Kazaa, LymeWire, and quite possibly leaked it to Al Jazeera (with the best of intentions, of course).

Except I didn't buy a copy

That's okay, bands make all their money from touring now days. CDs are now just promotional items to remind people that tickets will be on sale soon.

Have no fear, my friends. I made a list of all the MR people least likely to pay for the product, and bought those CDs myself. Basically, I paid the price, persevering thru all the trials, tribulations, and sufferings along the way, so that you all could enjoy the music without the consequence of eternal damnation. Just like Jesus.

I was wondering what you were gonna do with all those cds lol Pretty cool move on your part Rip.