I've had many different opinions about this album since its release, but that's because I'm not really sure what I want to hear out of Alexisonfire anymore. As an experiment in other forms of punk rock... it fails, because it just sounds like Crisis but with less emotion and more monotonous singing. As an album that aims to provide hooks... it fails, because there's only about four memorable songs on it. And it certainly isn't artistic like their first two albums, so really, all I'm left with is an album that I can sort of appreciate, sort of enjoy, but am left depressed and wishing for the days of old.
The Bedlam In Goliath was insane, heavy, long, chaotic, and extremely ambitious. After hearing a masterpiece such as that and going to this, it's really dissapointing. For any other band, this would be a perfectly acceptable debut album, but The Mars Volta are capable of FAR more, even if they choose to be soft. In the world of Mars Volta, this should be an EP. It's way shorter than their other albums, and I really have a hard time accepting this as a proper full length album from them. More like a fun little experiment they had that they're putting out to give their fans something to listen to while they wait for the next hour-and-a-half-long epic.