Don’t you just hate when an artist or band you listen to really rocks your world, and you just can’t wait for that next album, and it just doesn’t compare. Really, this is no reason to hate on the album or the band, for it just means that they have set expectations of the fans so high because they are that good, so really you are just ticked at them for not increasing their songwriting and talent so exponentially that they didn’t top your favorite album, and honestly, if you like something that much, nothing will ever come close.
But anyway, let’s take a look at some albums that really disappointed me. This is sort of the opposite of my Artists Whose Talent Greatly Increased Between Albums posts.
Avenged Sevenfold
Nightmare
2010
Avenged Sevenfold was really killing it with City of Evil and their self titled album. Then their drummer died just before recording Nightmare and I don’t know, it just didn’t have the same feel to it, on top of the fact that it was missing a lot of the intense energy that usually rips through their albums. It has grown on me quite a bit over the years, however.
Sticking with this band is the follow up to Nightmare…
Avenged Sevenfold
Hail to the King
2013
The band decided to completely change their music to give the fans a really good metal album…circa the 80’s. Trouble is…no one wanted it. I don’t like 80’s metal all that much personally, so I was very saddened by this album, which lacked just about everything that I loved about the band up to this point. Again, it grew on me over the years, but it certainly is one of my least favorite by them.
Between the Buried & Me
The Great Misdirect
2009
After 3 incredible albums, I guess the charm of their mind blowing talent and unique style wore off on me. That and their songs were now consistently going over 10-15 minutes long for no reason and their bland vocalist and complete lack of rhythm and time signatures just make them a hard band to listen to.
Bleed the Dream
Killer Inside
2007
After the intense, dark, melodic face smasher that was Built By Blood, their drummer died and the singer, who had the best voice ever for their sound, quit. Thus everything changed. It’s a good album, no doubt, but, it is nothing like the masterpiece before it. Their sound is completely different and the new singer is not so good.
Eminem
Encore
2004
This album, while good overall, falls way short of his previous ones. There are some very good tracks on it, but also a number of “what the heck was he thinking?” tracks that are easily the worst, and really, his only bad songs he’s ever made for the most part. Eminem blames this on being on drugs, and you can easily believe that with some of these tracks.
Funeral For A Friend
Tales Don’t Tell Themselves
2007
This is definitely by far the worst album these guys have made. What makes it even worse is it followed up their best album (in my opinion) which also happens to be one of my favorite albums of all time. Over time, it has grown on me…sort of. It completely lacks the amazing talent and nonstop energy the band is known for.
Senses Fail
Renacer
2013
After a string of really amazing albums, they lose most of their members and change their sound to a heavier, bland hardcore/punk sound that is nothing like their old, incredible sound. The guitar tones are muddy, the songs not very creative…and on a typical garage band talent level. Though, it has grown on me over the years…but mostly because their follow up makes this one seem amazing.
Which brings us to…
Senses Fail
Pull The Thorns From Your Heart
2015
This album is truly bad. The quality is even worse than Renacer, the tones even muddier, the music is terrible, nearly every song is forgettable and/or awful and it’s just a mess, nothing at all like their former glory.
Thrice
The Alchemy Index
2007/2008
Thrice doesn’t really make good albums, save for Artist in the Ambulance and the somewhat worse Vheissu. Following the latter was this four disc, two album set that really toned down their music to a slow, melodic, technical (with synths and computer crap) style. It’s okay…but not anything special at all. They’ve only gotten worse from here.
Though they are really good live if you ever want to see them…I highly recommend it.
Underoath
Define The Great Line
2006
Following up my favorite album of all time, this had a lot to live up to…and they drop the ball completely. Their sound is nearly 100% different, and it’s just not that great. Even today, it has grown on me, but barely.
Vanna
The Few and Far Between
2013
Having lost their lead vocalist in the previous album, it took a big hit, but managed to maintain a Vanna feel to it. In this album, however, they lost their clean vocalist/guitarist, thus resulting in a brand new sound, with a relentless screamer who never shuts up and sounds like a weasel, very rare clean vocals and bland, typical metal music. In short, Vanna went from one of the best post-hardcore bands out there to an okay metalcore band. Highly disappointing. Though their sound has grown on me over time.
