I just listened to the entire album for the first time. And I basically agree with a lot you say.

Nightmare- It is indeed classic A7X

Welcome to the Family- I guess it's a good thing I don't listen to Saliva because I don't know what song you are talking about therefore this song doesn't remind me of any. Hahahaha

Buried Alive- Megadeth was exactly the band I was thinking of during that song. I think one thing I would have personally done different was during the second half of the song to scream the last line in every trio or quartet of lines. It sounds like he is doing everything possible to not scream those lines. That's just me though. It's still a good song regardless.

Natural Born Killers- I agree. Meh. Did anybody else notice that the second part of their "main riff" sounds a lot like the Almost Easy riff?

God Hates Us- It basically is Vigil at the beginning. I'm not sure if I agree with the placement of "Total Nightmare" after the Vigil intro if at all in the song. I think their problem was that instead of trying to go Old School A7X in regards to screaming, they almost went a deathcore route. And it just doesn't fit.

Fiction- It is arguably the best song on the album. It is straight up eerie beautifulness. I can't find any other way to put it.

Chris you are a genius. Keep it going!!!

Ps. Let me know when you do a Shadows Fall blog!! I FUCKING LOVE THEM!!!

I'm bowing down to you for finding the words to describe this album. However my car test has shown that God Hates Us isn't all that bad! Rocking out in the car at 8am going to work is always a great way to test a song! Any songs that make me function above auto pilot at that time are winners by my standards.....p.s. Yours manage it aswell!

@RockyPetty: O_O . . . awesome!

@This Godless Endeavor: me and john petrucci have the same birthday =0

@JayDumas: Ahaha we have, He knows I greatly dislike A7X, so I give him shit for it.Haha yes i have met him and I am very aware of his music analysis towards different bands. god if only you read our messages on facebook about the different Arsis albums, you can see how we're both that way. It just goes on and on.

What I meant by him spending too much time analyzing A7X was that he devoted all that time towards A7X instead of some other band haha. Not that there is anything wrong with liking a7X i don't want to offend anyone, they're just not for me. But i like to joke about it that's all :)

@This Godless Endeavor: You obviously have never met Chris and discussed music with him. Or rather him discuss music to you, haha.

Well, that surely was a thought out process, im a bit curious if you just sat there and listened and wrote out your response for an hour or two, or if all this was just built up over the day or something while you were driving around or something like that.

Great reply to the album, and i think as a fellow musician and you really nailed your point for every song perfectly.

Thumbs up for mentioning : Testament, Maiden, Iced Earth, Arsis, Paul Gilbert, John Petrucci, Alice in Chains, AND for quoting Chuck Palahniuk.

But you just spent way too much time analyzing A7X :p