Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.
- 109
- 1
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
Apparently The Protomen released Act III: This City Made Us earlier this year and I wasn't aware. Upon listening to the album, my first reaction is that it's good, but I'm not sure that it rises to the heights of Act II.
In case anyone isn't familiar (why would you be) The Protomen are a band whose main works are inspired by Megaman, the beloved video game franchise. In their main albums, The Protomen, Act II: The Father of Death, and Act III: This City Made Us collectively tell the tale of the dystopian city and the fight to end the reign of the evil Dr. Wiley. However, instead of the bright colors and fun atmosphere of the Megaman games, the albums are fairly dark, with fairly downer endings.
While the band was fresh, with a new sound and premise in 2005, in 2026, the entire concept is almost quaint. Another dark remake of a previously fun and lighthearted children's videogame. While the premise is no longer as fresh as it was in the aughts, the band is still worth a listen to. Act I leaned into its concept much more, with a deliberate lo-fi sound representing the decrepit state of the city (this is the post-hoc justification for why the first album sounds so horrible compared to Acts II and III). Act II is a complete change of pace, going from a western-inspired sound to an 80s rock album. Act III continues the trend of Act II, with deliberate callbacks to earlier songs.
Like I said before, I believe that Act II is definitely The Protomen's magnum opus. The story is quite clear from the music itself, and the songs are the best out of all three albums in my opinion. Even without the theming and context of Act I, Act II is still worth listening to just because the songs are so good. To be honest, if Act II wasn't so good, I probably wouldn't even have bothered listening to Act III after 16 years. Act III is much more akin to Act II than Act I, and while I don't think there are as many stand out songs as there were in Act II, the songs themselves are still good, with one or two that I will definitely come back to by themselves.
My ranking of the three albums are:
Act I: 7.5/10 Fresh for when it was released. The songs themselves are fairly good with a few standouts. "The Stand (Man or Machine)" and "The Sons of Fate" are definitely my favorites. The lo-fi nature of the album is an artistic choice as opposed to incompetence, so I don't dock it too much for that, but it does grate on my ears toward the end. The album itself tells a good, emotional story that was legitimately interesting for the time it was released. Maybe nowadays it's nothing special, but when it first came out, it was legitimately a breath of fresh air for me.
Act II: 9/10 Coming out 4 years after Act I, it was a complete change of pace. Act II sounds almost completely different from Act I, and it's a welcome change. It's much cleaner and in a completely different style from Act I. The album is full of songs that just good to listen to. "Light Up the Night," "The Hounds," and "Father of Death" are probably my favorites, but the I'd say that more than half of the album are songs I listen to individually. The story is also good, being a prequel to Act I. Overall, it's one of my favorite albums. There's a reason that I still return to it 16 years later.
Act III: 8/10 Coming out 16 years after Act III, it finishes the original trilogy. Act III sounds very similar to Act II. It's a continuation of Act I in terms of plot, and generally ties the story together. So far, "This City Made Us" is my stand out song from this album. I don't know how I feel about how Act III ends the story. I know that the story can't have a happy ending since it's at its core a rock opera story, but it seems that there was much more focus on finishing Act II's story than Act I's. I'm sure my reactions will change as I listen to the album over the next couple of weeks as I give the album a couple more listens.
Overall, If you've never heard of The Protomen, I'd suggest giving all three albums a listen in release order (Act I then Act II then Act III). If you're a returning fan who hasn't gotten to Act III yet, it's definitely worth listening to just for the nostalgia factor alone.
Also, what has everyone else been listening to?
I've been listening to the new Boards of Canada album Inferno, which released just two days ago. My expectations for this one were high, given they were a seminal electronic artist of the 90s, and Inferno breaks a massive thirteen-year hiatus where they all but went radio silent and left the entire fanbase twisting in the wind. It's all too easy for artists to fumble a comeback after an extended hiatus (looking at you, James Murphy, American Dream has all of your worst music), but I'm glad to say that this is one of their best albums. It also doesn't feel at all like a cheap attempt at nostalgia-bait where an artist tries and fails to capture the sounds of their heyday; in fact they go in a completely fresh sonic direction that couldn't contrast more with the fuzzy, warm, childhood tape sounds of their first two albums.
The tracks here are extremely dark in tone, as well as sharp-edged and unmistakably electronic in their sound. They also draw from a far more eclectic range of inspirations than any of the tracks on their other albums - most of their other albums had a far more clear source of inspiration; Music Has The Right To Children and Geogaddi are clearly based off the music and sounds on old educational tapes and Parks Canada ads, whereas Tomorrow's Harvest is obviously a pastiche of 70s/80s apocalypse film soundtracks. The Campfire Headphase is a bit less cohesive and incorporates aspects of acoustic folk into its sound, but still relies on the more pastoral and sweet atmospheres of their early days. Inferno, however, is... not that. In spite of the music on here bearing superficial hallmarks of their earlier work such as ambiguous transposed chords and extensive samples ranging from Hare Krishna chanting, televangelists, educational docs and so on, their sound is now unexpectedly jagged and hi-fidelity. The production is absolutely immaculate, which is not a typical approach for Boards of Canada.
So many highlights. Prophecy at 1420 MHz, The Word Becomes Flesh, Into The Magic Land, Deep Time and All Reason Departs are fantastic tracks that really epitomise what the album has to offer. The second Prophecy comes in you know you're going to be in for a ride, the onslaught of hard-hitting drums and the electronic synth textures are infectious. But probably the biggest surprise on the album is the penultimate track You Retreat In Time And Space, which is placed on the album after a whole onslaught of increasingly ominous and evil tracks; it acts as a climax to the album with an absolutely blissful slow synth-funk ballad featuring a whole lot of guitars, bells and warbly synths that almost appear to sparkle. It's so out of left field for them that if you hadn't told me who had made it, I may honestly have guessed this was a Daft Punk live track I wasn't aware of beforehand, albeit on a second look it's not all too difficult to see their DNA all over the track.
The fact that a band this old and this heralded is still putting out quality works this late in the game is great. Fantastic album. 8.7/10.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link