Angels and Airwaves Release ‘Chasing Shadows’ EP

Oh boy. I wish I could get excited about his output anymore. He just seems like a parody of himself nowadays. Regardless, I will check this out haha.....thus is his reach I suppose.

 

Streaming on YouTube.

 

Okay I'll bite! How is it?

 

I just listened to it. First song is alright and I didn't overtly hate listening to it, but I don't think it's something I will return to.

 

How does it stack up to Dream Walker?

 

It's different. Reminds me of a hybrid Dream Walker/ I-Empire.

 

Wow, I can't believe I'm saying this but I'm impressed.

The mixing on this is worlds better than Dream Walker, it has that crisp AVA sound. Also, Tom's vocals on the fourth track are pretty great and it feels like what I expect when listening to this band.

Definitely feel like the first track would have fit in nicely with blink, but all in all this is better than what I expected.

 

Not terrible and that may be shortest intro to an opening track on an AVA album.

 

Actually really like that first song a lot. Came into this wholly expecting to hate every second of it. Might be the only song by them I've liked since I-Empire.

Edit: Second song sounds like a mediocre I-Empire b-side. Third song isn't that interesting. Fourth song is alright, pretty much what I expect from the band at this point.

 

Expecting to really like this based on the comments. I've enjoyed AVAs releases. So hearing that it's a mix of Dream Walker and I-Empire is good news.

 

surprisingly not bad

 

My problem with everything he puts out now is I listen to it, enjoy it for a day or two, and then never come back to it. Replay value is a struggle for AVA.

 

I feel the lack of promotion post release also contributes to the lack of replaying it. After its released he immediately just shifts all focus onto his next big passion project. It's like the EPs are a school project, just finish them, hand them in and forget about them.

 

I think he just releases too much shit and doesn't focus on the quality of the songs. He's pumping out mediocre stuff every couple months so it's all just washed together for me. It sounds decent to me but like others are saying I won't be revisiting.

 

The thing with Tom that bothers me is that his music is very catchy upon first listen, but what fails to hit the mark (no pun intended) are his lyrics. For me they just aren't relate-able like they used to be. All of his songs have some form of: going to the unknown, atom bombs exploding, kids marching/rising up against 'something' (we never know what), or just anything and everything dreaming and dream related.

 

Well after the first listen, I actually enjoyed it. We will see how the replay value is later on.

 

Aren't these supposed to correlate with his books? I guess I'm not really seeing the relationship to the book and these songs, just knowing what the book is about (I haven't read it.)

Dream Walker had some good stuff on it, but this is forgettable. That's a shame. When he does hit the mark, it's usually great but when he misses, he really misses.

Edit: <<insert age>> and a <<insert object or feeling>> on the 3rd song. He uses that formula quite a bit.

 

production is shaky. the snare on the third track sounds especially annoying. i loved critter's polished work.

the verses of the fourth song were my favorite part, seeing as it's the only time Tom doesn't go for high notes on the whole thing.

overall, a much better first listen than his sorry excuse of a solo album and also better than that other recent AVA EP. i'll keep listening to see if anything clicks but don't think i'll like this nearly as much as i liked the Love era. (WDNTW and I-Empire will never come close to being touched by anything he ever does)

 

I don't know what I was expecting but it wasn't that. I think I actually like this. It's got the most energy an AVA project has had since Love Part 1.

Also, ditto on the production comments, though I didn't think Dream Walker was THAT bad.

 

This wasn't bad. But it also wasn't anything good. It just... is. Nothing exciting stands out, I've already forgotten the first couple songs completely. I think that's the problem with Toms stuff lately. It isn't a single bit exciting. It's just THERE. I don't know how else to describe it. But I definitely won't be coming back to this anytime soon. I don't feel a need for it whatsoever. A good 15 minute long EP should make you want to listen to it at least twice in a row. When this ended, I just put on the new Face to Face album and went on with my day.

 

"Voyager" is so Box Car Racer.

 

This was so much better than what I was expecting. After how horrible "...of nightmares" was and how uninteresting the snippets Tom was sharing I had extremely low expectations.

The only iffy part (for me) is that last song, but even that song isn't bad compared to some of the bad stuff Tom put out before. That being said though I do like how when Tom gets into the dirty guitar (still talking about the fourth/last song) it reminds me so much of self-titled/untitled blink.

 

"Watch me as I break the television. Talk me off the ledge I can envision. Take me to the hole to throw a wish in. I am on my way unstoppable. Lock the doors and warn the federation. Bright and bold here comes the revolution. My oh my the king is on a mission. I am on my way unstoppable. Pure at heart a king infallible. Great big fucking time so powerful I."

?

 

Tom posted this review of the EP on his facebook.

"ANGELS CHASING SHADOWS EP REVIEW FROM SYFFAL.COM: My bro Moses sent over this link for Angels & Airwaves and I hit play because I trust him, even though he's American, and dude, I HAVE LISTENED TO NOTHING ELSE SINCE IT SHOWED UP ALL UP IN MY BOX HOLE.
Speaking only for the track I've had on repeat, "Overload", this shit sounds like I'm 17 years old, bouncing on my bed, playing the most gorgeous air guitar I can afford on my salary of gum wrappers and discount cigarettes. It's so fucking rare that I immediately flip any work I was supposed to do off my desk, pick up a pair of mismatched pens, and just start BEATING THE EVER LOVING SHIT OUT OF MY WORKSPACE. I'm serious when I tell you this song has completely fucking kicked my ass..."

17 years old, bouncing on my bed, playing the most gorgeous air guitar I can afford on my salary of gum wrappers and discount cigarettes.

Maybe he will steal this quote as a lyric for the next EP.