So this interview session Brian Slagel of Metal Blade Records did with John and Jim has been up for about a month, but I didn't want to watch them until I had taken in the record at least a bit, as I and many others finally have since it was released yesterday.
I have of course a lot of potential content to say about this album (not that I already have the past year before hearing it, lol), but just a few noteworthy things from this interview.
-the album was written in the order the songs were put on the album which is pretty unusual
-they likely plan to do more music down the road (although I swear that was said around the time or soon after the release of A Twist of Fate for John, but I can't be certain), so that is certainly something to look forward to, in this age it seems of bands breaking up seemingly every month if not every week; it is good to hear about an artist like John Arch, who I find as enjoyable as any musician making music now or the past 30 years, to be looking to make more music. Especially with the lack of info about his interest in music, really only when info about this came out, since 2003.
-lyrically, this album is going to have to be one to sit down, read, and digest, even with a lot of the lyrics being relate-able and personal-able
-the last song "Incense and Myrrh" being more or less a John-song, in a way makes me feel all the more fulfilled in how it is rather epic, namely the last couple of minutes. And I always wondered with the AToF EP, if a lot of the melodic and compositional ideas were John's or Jim's (or both), and somehow given I love how that track ends, it reminds me of AToF in a way. Also the fact it was included, as Jim was not thinking the album needed more after they finished "Any Given Day," the previous song. Possibly Incense and Myrrh makes this album at least 1/2-star better. I guess I need more time with it obviously to be more certain.
