Story of the Year Band • Page 34

I need moooooore

 

Love how Ryan has always been open to sharing his SOTY demos. Will never forget the months before they went to record Black Swan and he was posting a handful off the riffs that'd be on the album

 

I remember him playing the “Dr. Doomsuit” riff which ended up being “Tell Me.” So sick. He is a truly underrated guitarist.

 

That's right lol! He used to have the most ridiculous names for his demos ahaha.

Yeah i was obsessed with him back in high school cause of all the backflips and spins him and Phil would do live. Then i really studied his playing on In The Wake and would spend countless hours playing along to that album, eventually playing a few of the songs off that album at my school's end of year talent show. The best thing was winning the show and then getting to see them play live the very next day and letting him know we won :)

 

From the scene, I think Ryan / Phil and Fred / Eddie were the most influential on my guitar playing.

 

I remember I useed to play Angel In The Swamp and The Black Swan a lot when that album came out, and they were super fun. The main riff in AitS is gnarly. I haven't played either for years though, since I stopped tuning down a half step.

 

Black Swan is easily one of their best songs. Phil absolutely kills it on vocals and the way he harmonises the "what we'll never anticipate" during the final chorus is ridiculous due to how high he sings lol

 

I loved Phil's harmonies with SotY and I'm gonna miss that on the next album.

 

Black Swan is their opus. So far at least. Angel in the Swamp is probably their best song.

 

I'm definitely disagreeing on that, lol. Black Swan is maybe their third best and I don't even recognize that song haha

 

In The Wake of Determination is so much better than Black Swan. Remember being hugely dissappointed when Black Swan came out because it was super tame compared to the album before it.

 

I’m also of the opinion that The Black Swan is the best, but it’s definitely close between that and In the Wake.

 

The Black Swan is their best. In the Wake is 2nd to last for me. The Constant is last.

 

Correct on all accounts, Wake was exciting and Swan played it extremely safe

 

Page Avenue is their best to me. You can tell they matured with later releases but that album just feels classic.

 

Black Swan's best songs being relegated to bsides hurt it a lot. It felt like a slight backtrack from the metal oriented direction of In The Wake Of Determination. Kind of like they were trying to blend the latter with Page Avenue.

 

We’re ranking now eh?

Black Swan
Wolves
Page
In The Wake
Constant

 

I still dig Wolves a lot. Not sure if it's their best, but definitely my most listened to as of late.

 

Wolves
Black Swan
Page Avenue
The Constant
In The Wake

 

We have the exact same ranking.

 

Wolves
Black Swan
In The Wake
Page Avenue
The Constant

They're all great, imo

 

Black Swan
In The Wake...
Page Avenue
The Constant
Wolves

Obligatory disclaimer: I like them all

 

Wake
Page

The rest are all kinda the same

 

I just... didn't really think The Black Swan was a step back in aggression at all?
The opener and closer are two of their heaviest songs ever. Angel in the Swamp's chorus rips as hard as anything on In The Wake. I'd say Take Me Back is poppier than pretty much anything on Black Swan. It's interesting that the 'pale blue dot' theme running through Black Swan has just recently become topical again too.
If anything I just thought Black Swan was an ideal mix of Page Avenue's hooks and In the Wake's aggression.
The Constant was definitely where I felt like they were short on aggression and short on new ideas.