Another Cool Try review.

Only fixed a spelling mistake and separated two paragraphs.

This one is rough. I don’t think I went into the details of the album enough.
It’s another review that reads more like a list than it does a review.

Even though it’s one of the ones I wrote in the first few months of writing for Cool Try, I think that there were better reviews I wrote than this one.

Oh well.

My colleague and I are working on growing Culture Eater so we can have more things covered whilst taking the pressure of continually putting out content off of ourselves. Hence our going onto Patreon.

We’re looking at what we can give to supporters as we don’t want to set up a one way relationship, so suggestions are welcome. Please consider supporting, or at least sharing the Patreon page with others.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

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Artreyu have had a much-needed break.
Now that they’re releasing new music, has the rest paid off?

There’s a lot of interplay between melodic and intense sections in the first half.
A good part of it follows a mid-tempo pace, but it feels as though it is building up to something large and chaotic.
The progression of the songs sound natural and whilst there are times a little less screaming could have paid off, there’s nothing that can be described as being out of place.

Unfortunately much of the album loses it’s momentum from the bombastic “Revival” through to “Moments Before Dawn” before picking up again.
It goes far more into the melodic side and at one point almost veers entirely into straightforward hard rock.
As this breaks the ebb and flow that was in the first half, the songs in that section don’t fit as well as they should with the rest of the album.

Having “Do You Know Who You Are?” as a breather works, but the problem is that it’s followed by (“Heartbeats And Flatlines” aside) too many more after.
Had the songs been interspersed better, then the momentum of the first half probably would have kept building.
With that being said, they are well-written and well-performed.

It’s fair to say that the break Artreyu had has paid off.
Maybe it could have gained from having two or three less songs.
However, despite some songs feeling a bit off compared to the rest of the album, it’s hard to say if removing them would make the album better or not, as they could have worked in a slightly rearranged tracklist.
It definitely could use a little less polish.
Still, Long Live is a strong album that shows the band can still deliver.