This album starts off with “We Are The Seagullmen”, and right off the bat you have to praise these guys for going all out with this nautical theme. Half of me feels like this is something Primus would be all over, but very wordy Progressive metal is what these guys are all practically known for. However, for an intro, this one is a little too straightforward for my liking. Halfway through this track is dangerously underwrite and repetitive. I feel like there are some good ideas here and there, and this atmosphere is incredible, but Legend of the Seagullmen don’t capitalize on it enough. I do have to say though the playing is on point, this intro is just a missed opportunity all around. Now “The Fogger” on the other hand is even grimmer in feel and has some even heavier playing. But a minute in and it’s obvious that there’s just so much more thought and care going into this one. I love the more rugged and dangerous vocals here from Brent, and I love just how sludgy this one is. Hell, there’s even a really catchy, memorable chorus that sticks with you wonderfully. Overall, “The Fogger” sounds so much more like the sound like they should be going for. It’s got a whole lot more elements of the bands that these guys came from, and that’s a huge plus. But more importantly, I feel like this one just has seemingly tons of chemistry from these guys. It’s not too wordy, it can handle its 6-minute runtime, and overall I’m just so happy with this. Now, “Shipsreck” is honestly exactly the sound I want to hear. The playing here is determined and certainly epic. But there’s also a certain campiness to this that shows the band really not taking themselves too seriously, which is really what they should be aiming for. But they don’t let that get in the way of them telling their bizarre story though, and Legend of the Seagullmen end up keeping their cool. In so many ways, this is a nightmarish version of Ween’s “The Mollusk”. It’s bizarre, but it’s also crushing and brutal, of course, one of the minds behind Dethklok is behind this supergroup. On the other hand, “Curse of the Red Tide” brings in a whole lot of the progressive elements that have been absent so far. And honestly, it comes off great. I love just how delicate and beautiful this intro is. There’s such an epic feel to this one that I can’t tell you enough how happy I am to hear. And as ridiculous as the narrative to this album is, I can totally get with it. It’s not completely losing me as I feared it would. “Curse of the Red Tide” picks up nicely into this very grimy, gigantic metal tune that absolutely has me hooked. I love Brent’s almost wacky performance here as well, he sounds fantastic in character. For a 7-minute epic, this is fantastic.
Legend of the Seagullmen trample on with “Legend of the Seagullmen”, which is a lot of ways sounds very much like a Mastodon track from their glory years. There are certainly a LOT of really cheesy lines that I feel like I can barely take seriously. But their determination and just how seriously they take it, make it work for me. It’s bizarre, and it clearly doesn’t make nearly as much sense as they think it does. But here’s a good question, when was the last time you heard any of these guys having this much fun? It’s been a long time. The instrumentals are brilliant, and the performances are commendable, this one is all gravy. However, with “The Orca” the group begins to once again lose me. The more progressive elements are becoming less tolerable by the minute, and I’m starting to get the feeling that way too much of this maybe they take a little too seriously. The driving riffs are gone and are replaced by these sort of awkward, more technical instrumentals. Nothing about “The Orca” actually ends up grabbing me, and the chemistry they had earlier I almost completely gone. But I think what makes me detest this song the most, is just how much this sounds like it was a chore for them to record this. Earlier they sounded like they were having a blast, but this isn’t fun by any means. But “Rise Of the Giant” however does seem to bring back some of the campiness of earlier tracks, especially in those over-the-top synths that are so cheesy but I love so much. But I’m sorry, but there is no chance of me taking these vocals seriously. I know these are supposed to be “The Giants” vocals, but there had to have been a better way of showing this off. This is all just so cheesy, and make me feel like more than anything that Legend of the Seagullmen have to rely a little too much on narrative to make this ridiculous story flow. I’m not sure what the hell happened to the determination of this album. Earlier tracks were so goofy and likable, but tracks like the finale, “Ballad of the Deep Sea Diver” just take themselves dangerously seriously. Brent doesn’t sound like himself, he sounds like a wannabe Les Claypool, and these gasps and little details around everything are sort of goofy. This album started so strong but very quickly derailed itself. As a finale, “Ballad of the Deep Sea Diver” is a joke. This isn’t some slow burning epic, this is Legend of the Seagullmen attempting to hastily wrap up an album that was barely started. Honestly, this album needed to be longer and more focused. I will say though, the last two minutes of instrumentals here are a little redeeming.
Rating: 6.7/10
Give A Listen To: "The Fogger", "Shipswreck", "Curse of The Red Tide", "Legend of the Seagullmen"
Genre: Sludge Metal / Progressive Metal
Overall Thoughts: This is a real puzzling one. This album really starts off with a pretty big bang, and leads to the members having some serious fun with the outrageous concept behind this album. Honestly, I had fun with a lot of this album too, mostly because I feel like a good chunk of tracks here show Legend of the Seagullmen letting loose and not taking anything too seriously. But the second half of this album shows the supergroup rushing to finished a very bloated storyline that to be honest was sort of just getting going. There are some really great moments here, but way too much of this album takes itself a little too seriously, especially in the second half. If this album was longer and gave me some looser moments, we would be having a totally different conversation.
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