Too many syllables. Shit’s never allowed to breath.

Preceded Lightning Bolt and Backspacer.

Depending on the day, the sequencing. As much as I am impressed by each song, the end on the wrong day can be like Return of the King (this must be the end, nope THIS must be the end, oh c’mon man!) which is to me 100% because each of the last 4 songs is mid to slower tempo. Had that been the middle section with some tweaks I think it overcomes that.

An unthought out attempt to re-sequence to fix that:

Alright, Who Ever Said, Superblood Wolfmoon, Dance of the Clairvoyants, Buckle Up, Comes Then Goes, Quick Escape, Seven O’Clock, Never Destination, Take the Long Way, Retrograde, River Cross

Retrograde

I could agree with this on some level, but i actually think this is one of the best sequences they have, and its very strong. I would like more uptempo songs for sure, but this is still super good.

Gigaton's flaws are minor and nothing more.

peoples’ delusions that this is somehow a 5-star album

I guess the closest I come to a complaint is this: most of the band’s initial strengths..the things that first drew me to the band as a young man....are totally absent. But that’s mostly true on albums as early as Binaural, as well. Certainly on everything since.

Every album post-Yield has showcased a different aspect of the strengths they have as older musicians. But it’s clear now that they needed someone who appreciated those strengths as strengths to help them consolidate them, because their instinct and producer advice was to use them to prop up a collapsed system.*

*except on Binaural

All of these make sense to me.

This is a fair point. I think Josh Evans suggested as much in one of his interviews. It came across to me like the intention at some point was to have Retrograde close out the album but then they had to find a spot for River Cross

Its not a 5 star album...but its significantly better than the last two (and IMO their best since at least Binaural), which at this point is good enough for me.

Agreed.

Also, I think I’m the only one around here that actually doesn’t mind self titled. it’s not outstanding, but not as bad as most make it out to be.

I love self titled! I think its an incredibly solid album top to bottom whos flaw is that there is no real high end standouts.

Gigaton is equally consistent but has those high enders.

Really well said here.

Excuse me? It is not delusional to have an opinion that is different from yours, and this is absolutely a 5-star album for me.

It blows my mind that folks don't like Retrograde.

I think some folks were turned off by the little cameo in the video. I wasn't a fan of this song or alright at first, but they grew on me. There is absolutely no need to have a song like buckle up on this record. It doesn't work at all and doesn't have place really on this record.

I don't think I ever saw the video?

Buckle Up is a top three song on the album.

Buckle Up is an interesting song but I agree that it doesn't totally work on the record. Never Destination is a lesser song, in my opinion, but fits better (ditto TTLW). Buckle Up as a b-side or a Stone single would have worked much better. I really wish Stone did the vocals on it, too.