he's written less than half of this

For me, I think it's more about the fact that I can close my eyes and pretty much already hear all of Ed's contributions to this record.
Speaking as someone with admittedly no distinguishable songwriting talent, his stuff has gotten really monotonous over the past dozen years or so.

Some beautiful stuff over that time, but, let's shake it up a bit, yeah?

I don't mind the writing, but there are some songs where I wish he would put the guitar down; he just takes up so much space by thrashing open chords that it leaves a lot less real estate for other guitars to work without it turning into mush. It's why I think you see Stone most often doing a lot of high single note flourishes on Ed's stuff; anything else would just be lost in the mix entirely. There's definitely exceptions, but I'm not sure PJ is especially great at arrangements as a three-guitar band.

Yeah there really isn't much to be excited about, here, unfortunately. I think a new, more interesting approach from Ed would be if he didn't try. Just stop with the RAWK HARDD effort. Mumble in a quiet baritone. I would like that.

This is insightful. There's only but so much room within the frequency spectrum, and, if you're taking up the space where I used to sit, I can really only double you up or play in a different range, likely clashing with other, already settled elements. Not really too much room to roam

Ed has sung less true baritone in his career than most realize. Vs-Yield (his best run as a singer) has a lot of upper register stuff going on.

Yeah but he could DO IT then... Now he sounds like he's trying so damn hard and it's off putting

this band used to play a lot with space and dynamics (consider the break in the music, and the drum fill, before the first verse of "Alive"); and now, they just tend to thrash a lot, ever since S-T really... which might be fine if the guitar tone ever really had teeth anymore

these things haven't been total dealbreakers for a long time, I got over them; but at some point PJ just shifted, for me, from a riffage-and-groove band, to a jangly open-chord one much more like Counting Crows in their moderate "energy" (I used to call CC "a quieter, more country PJ"; and now that contrast is less apparent)

it's other things I've needed PJ to fix, most importantly that they get another producer who will take on the job of project manager and shake them up a bit; and I really think that has happened at this point, but to enjoy all of the effects of that, they probably need a couple more albums' time together, to really truly shake off some issues

I think they're going in a good direction

This feels more like nearing the end than heading in a direction, especially by looking at their faces in that photo. I hope Stone will be happy one day.

Yes - I think of this as his mid-range and it's where he still nails it (somewhere between SWBM and the highest parts of In Hiding). Even after his low register became nasally and his falsetto weakened, he could always sing for example Release and GTF. The mid-range parts in LB (the song) sound great, but then the very end is where he goes a little too high. The tempo of the song seems to make a difference too (slower and less wordy seems to turn out better).

You guys are sure getting worked up over a 15 second clip of a 5+ minute song.

I don't see anything but a bunch of miserable RAWK musicians because that's what you do in a RAWK photo; it feels like an attempt to remind us that they angrily RAWK

I's the RM way.

I have no idea how to play guitar, but this is similar to my take away the past decade. This is the guy who wrote "I Got Shit". That opening is so fucking good. It's like he lost his sense of nuance and tension. Now a song comes on and it's like, "Oh, here's Ed again."

Spoiler: show

Hoping Gigaton mixes it up a bit.

That RAWK look should be strong, determined, a no-bullshit state of mind. Not lethargic depression.

but honestly, if this album is their Swansong, I think it'll be a solid one, if not the best thing ever

I don't think I understand the difference

It's a feeling you get from looking at it.

no *you*

Stop fucking around and listen to Clutch

FYI - great post above re: dynamics