CDs that surprised you

[Jmumbler]

As the title suggests CDs that you bought that were either better/worse then you thought they would be.
For me the two surprise cds (in a good way) were The Lateness of the Hour by Alex Clare and Lindsey Stirilings self titled. Both I listen to all the time at work (though everyone else hates them) and I have a lot of fun just sitting in my chair and relaxing to them.

Nightmare by Avenged Sevenfold was a let down. Not that it was bad just more of the same.

 

[socialtangent]

Korn's Path of Totality surprised me.

In that grown men in their mid 40's actually went ahead and produced a terrible dubstep album in a desperate attempt to remain relevant.

 

[PointZ3RO]

Mus's newest album Second Law surprised me in a bad way. I'm a huge Muse fan and I absolutely adore all of their previous albums (particularly Origin of Symmetry and Absolution), but their newest album just wasn't...Muse. That doesn't mean to say it's a bad album in general, it just didn't feel like a Muse album. I feel like they tried to get the right balance of different yet the same but got too much 'different' into the mix. Maybe I just hate change.

 

[Kenbo Slice]

Korn's Path of Totality surprised me.

In that grown men in their mid 40's actually went ahead and produced a terrible dubstep album in a desperate attempt to remain relevant.

I agree, Kornstep is dumb.

OT: For me I'd have to go with City of Evil by Avenged Sevenfold. It was so surprisingly terrible after the amazing album that was Waking the Fallen and they've just got progressively worse and worse.

 

[Shock and Awe]

Carolus Rex by Sabaton was a complete surprise in how good it was. I've loved Sabaton's previous albums, but Rex was just a step beyond with its subject matter and how the songs tied together.

 

[piinyouri]

Iconoclast by Symphony X.

After the monumental masterpiece that was Paradise Lost, I had crazy high hopes and expectations for the next album, and while Iconoclast wasn't really a bad album, it was a shadow of it's predecessor. Production was the same and they stuck with the heavier overall sound (which I enjoyed on both albums) but there seems to quite a bit of soul lacking on Iconoclast. The musicality of it was quite a bit simpler as well.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Had that go two ways. I bought Sixx AM's This is Gonna Hurt, based on the title song and "Lies of the Beautiful People" being totally awesome, and, expecting a lot of hard metal like that, I was more than a little put off by how oddly eclectic the actual album is. Those are almost the only two metal songs, the rest tends to be alternating hard rock, soft rock, country-esque, and even ending with a piano ballad. It also felt pretty unfocused, at times. After listening to "Deadlihood," which is either about a man ending a destructive love relationship or breaking ties with his dealer (probably the latter, knowing Nikki Sixx), I listened to the next song, "Smile" (which seems to be about two people eloping) waiting for a punchline that never came.

However, once I got used to the idea, I realized that the softer songs are actually quite good. I'm a sentimentalist at heart, so I love how "Smile" is genuinely happy, and "Skin" gets to me every time...perhaps because I can't help imagining it being sung to Hanako Ikezawa.

That said, I still can't stand "Oh My God."

 

[Total LOLige]

The awesomeness of the Smashing Pumpkins album Oceania was a suprise. It's a really great album, no matter what the Smashing Pumpkins fans that hate all the albums released after the 90s tell you.

 

[Elfgore]

Motionless in White's second album Infamous was a total disaster to me. They went from a unique, no matter how much the lead singer says they weren't, gothic metalcore band to a Marilyn Manson cover band. After listening to the masterpiece that was Creatures and I saw a second album was coming I bought it right away, didn't even listen to any of the tracks because I knew, at the time, they wouldn't let me down... I couldn't have been more wrong. I skipped half of the album, especially the title track. It would be bad for a Manson song, which pained me quite a bit. To kick me while I'm down the lead singer decided they will never return to the metalcore genre and "branch out" into new genres aka industrial metal *shutter.

Really disappointed me, taught me never to buy a band's second album just because the first was godlike. At least I can still jam to Creatures.

 

[Kenbo Slice]

Motionless in White's second album Infamous was a total disaster to me. They went from a unique, no matter how much the lead singer says they weren't, gothic metalcore band to a Marilyn Manson cover band. After listening to the masterpiece that was Creatures and I saw a second album was coming I bought it right away, didn't even listen to any of the tracks because I knew, at the time, they wouldn't let me down... I couldn't have been more wrong. I skipped half of the album, especially the title track. It would be bad for a Manson song, which pained me quite a bit. To kick me while I'm down the lead singer decided they will never return to the metalcore genre and "branch out" into new genres aka industrial metal *shutter.

Really disappointed me, taught me never to buy a band's second album just because the first was godlike. At least I can still jam to Creatures.

Infamous might be bad, but Burned At Both Ends and Puppets 2 are pretty good jams. Also, the chorus for The Divine Infection is catchy as fuck.

 

[I am only a man]

I was surprised by Daft Punk's Random Access Memories. I didn't expect to be as chill as it was. Not a bad thing by any stretch though. I found it refreshing to hear a primarily electronic duo do something much more organic. It wasn't groundbreaking, but I appreciated the deviation from the expectations with EDM being so popular as of late.

 

[staika]

I'll go with two bands after the one split into a different band. I'll start with Woe, Is Me's new album Genesi which was their first after their two vocalists (Tyler carter and Michael Bohn) left. They were replaced with Hence Alligood and Doriano Magliano who are very good in their own respects. I had high hopes for Genesi but it came down to almost every song being about their "Haters" in one way or another. All of the songs just kind of blurred together and I just hated the album.

Tyler carter went on to create the new band Issues (which michael bohn joined later) and their debut album "Black Diamonds" was much better than I thought it was going to be. There was one song that was a shot at Woe, is me but for the majority the album did things a little differently and it just kind of clicked with me. Though there was some rapping in one of the songs which I didn't like too much but overlooked it anyway.

 

[Dangit2019]

As the title suggests CDs that you bought that were either better/worse then you thought they would be.

CDs?

IN 2013?

PEOPLE BUY THOSE?

OT: Random Access Memories was a lot more, eh, I don't want to say "experimental", but I didn't expect them to go so deep into disco.

Rescue and Restore by August Burns Red surprised me in just how old-school metalcore it was. And by old-school, I mean my definition of old-school (somewhere before 2005). Good stuff

AWOLNATION's debut Megalithic Symphony held up a lot more than I expected; I was guessing so-so tracks to go with "Sail", but every song is inspired and great.

 

[Jmumbler]

As the title suggests CDs that you bought that were either better/worse then you thought they would be.

CDs?

IN 2013?

PEOPLE BUY THOSE?

OT: Random Access Memories was a lot more, eh, I don't want to say "experimental", but I didn't expect them to go so deep into disco.

Rescue and Restore by August Burns Red surprised me in just how old-school metalcore it was. And by old-school, I mean my definition of old-school (somewhere before 2005). Good stuff

AWOLNATION's debut Megalithic Symphony held up a lot more than I expected; I was guessing so-so tracks to go with "Sail", but every song is inspired and great.

I know I am such a rebel. Really I just like to have the hole Cd I usually like what I find and its rare for me to "hate" a cd.
I also had a similar experience with AWOLNATIONS CD

 

[lacktheknack]

An entire artist, really.

A friend of mine realized that he didn't have enough girls in his music, so he pirated all of Regina Spektor's work. Before I could even chastise him for it, he suddenly went out and bought all the albums. And then he started telling me to do the same.

Knowing how little our tastes really line up (we agreed on Portishead and not much else), I went and bought ONE album, "What We Saw From The Cheap Seats". I thought it would be a marginally pleasant throwaway album with an arty bent to it.

Nope... he was entirely right. Regina Spektor is the best thing to come out of Russia since Eduard Khil.

 

[DugMachine]

RAM from Daft Punk was a little underwhelming for me. I was on the hype train but when I gave it a listen the first time I "enjoyed" it and then I kept listening and I realized I was lying to myself. The whole album is a bit too experimental for my taste and overall just too unlike them (in my opinion).

The only song I enjoy is "Instant Crush", the rest are so forgettable. Disco died for a reason. But hey they're free to experiment all they want. I bought the album anyways cause I wanted to support them but it's definitely not an album I enjoy from them.

 

[Dangit2019]

I know I am such a rebel. Really I just like to have the hole Cd I usually like what I find and its rare for me to "hate" a cd.
I also had a similar experience with AWOLNATIONS CD

I don't mean it's weird to buy albums, it's weird these days to actually buy a physical CD when there's really no reason left to.

 

[Mossberg Shotty]

http://s12.postimg.org/uro7qexg9/untitled54321854.png

I expected it to be good, but it transcends 'good'. Seriously, YouTube this album immediately.

 

[Jmumbler]

I know I am such a rebel. Really I just like to have the hole Cd I usually like what I find and its rare for me to "hate" a cd.
I also had a similar experience with AWOLNATIONS CD

I don't mean it's weird to buy albums, it's weird these days to actually buy a physical CD when there's really no reason left to.

Oh, then I am a liar because I buy them virtually through amazon not the actual physical copy. Except for Lidnsey's. The live show in Minneapolis was to good for me not to buy it at the merch booth.

 

[Nazulu]

I didn't think I would love Ozzy Osbournes latest album Scream. I was put of originally because for some reason he decided to go darker than usual which feels like an annoying recurring trend these days. However, the first 5 songs are either detailed or different than what he's done before and I love 'em, and I also like the rest of the album too. Not very often I like every song on an album.