I dig the album. I also liked Ooparts and Horn Again. I just think that saying it's the "best album in years" is a huge stretch. Some great tracks are definitely on this album. I think that "Trial" is one of their best songs in a long time. However, I don't see the appeal in songs like Revival, Flashback story, Minority whisper and Ready steady go. That's half the tracks, so I can't say this is a great album.

I still do enjoy the pillows, but I think the overwhelming majority would agree that the quality of their work took a dip when they switched to AVEX. Is this a good album when compared to Ooparts, Horn Again, Wake up? I'd say so, personally. But when I compare any of these albums to even the later works with King Records, like My Foot, Good Dreams, Penalty Life (which, curiously, were all bashed to hell when I was an active member/moderator here, even though they are now considered "the good ol' days"), they all definitely get a mediocre ranking from me.

By now I understand what to expect from the pillows in this era, and I do appreciate the Trial album. It kind of has a wintery vibe to it, which is cool. I just have to strongly disagree that it is on par with My Foot, or better than their other albums with AVEX.

That said, even if I deem something "mediocre", I'd still rather have something new to listen to rather than put Lostman on repeat for eternity. But I have been a fan for too long to not voice my opinion when I know that they could have done a better job.

[quote="Mafu"]I dig the album. I also liked Ooparts and Horn Again. I just think that saying it's the "best album in years" is a huge stretch.[/quote]

From a stylistic perspective, this is the first album where they have bothered to take any risks attempting to make a semi-serious album since Wake Up came out. The album is not littered with engrish songs and throwaway songs designed to be fun in a live setting, it has a couple of those but looking at it as a whole it feels like a genuine attempt by The Pillows. If you can't see that or appretiate that then I don't know what else I can say about it.

I agree with Spike. It feels a lot more honest than their other albums that are full of engrish and Sawao's "I JUS PRRRAY MUZIK I'M A BAD MAN, SO FUCK YOU."

If I compare their new releases to their older stuff I'm going to end up hating them. No way any of this can compare to my Lostman. That era is long gone. They're not a different pillows, just a modern pillows. I have no idea what Avex has done to them, but I really appreciate this album and I GET IT.

I don't think it's new album adrenaline since I disliked Ooparts, Horn Again and Pied Piper from the get go. And as Spike said, I really think these songs were meant to be seen live. Lemon Drops was super cool in 2010 but I haaaate that song.

I think Trial's biggest flaw is that I have to be in a good mood to listen to it. If I'm not in that mood and a particular song comes up I might just skip it. Compared to other songs I'll never skip like Back Seat Dog, Tokyo Bambi, Okujyo, Trip Dancer, stuff like that.

But if you really don't think it's that great, stick to that opinion Mafu. Don't let IM get you down, in the end your relationship with the pillows is literally just you and them and none of us.

Not that it matters, but I think this is at least on par with Horn Again. I'm the type of person who straight up deletes songs that don't "stick" for me. That ended up being the majority of songs after My Foot and before Horn Again.

Let's see...I kept 2 songs from Wake Up x3, 2 from Pied Piper, 1 from Ooparts, and...half of Horn Again, which is a good sign for me. It's extremely rare for me to keep a whole album. I occasionally go back and listen through the songs I don't have, and sometimes I end up with "new" pillows songs I dismissed before. That's just how I roll.

If you can't objectively listen to this album and see how it is better than Ooparts or Horn Again (musically, at least), then I can't even have that discussion with you. Of course, liking an album on the whole is a completely subjective matter. But there is a very obvious difference in effort, I believe. And don't dismiss my joy as "new album adrenaline". That's bs. I've been listening to new albums for years, and even if this is my favorite band, I don't let that get to me. Not to the point that I call something "awesome!", unless I really do feel that way. I thought Ooparts was pretty bad when I first heard it. I thought Horn Again was extremely mediocre, but easy on the ears. This album has some difference in guitar work and a couple instances of changed structure. That alone is something worth mentioning, even if you didn't like those subtle changes. Still, I'm a very musically conscientious person. How guitar lines and vocal lines and all that intermingle are big part of how I judge music. From that standpoint alone, I can enjoy this more than the past two albums right off the bat.

I agree Mafu, it's not even close to My Foot. Probably not even Wake up!, for me. But I can appreciate the good moments for what they are. As things fall more into place, we'll see what happens. But I can tell you that "Revival", "Energia", "Trial", and perhaps one of the longer songs are already much more appreciated by me than most of what the pillows have had on their last two albums. The other tracks are in "meh" to slightly above average quality to me, but I'll have to give it more than a few days to let that solidify somewhere.

Eh I think I like Horn Again better. Revival is cool. Finally, a nice extended solo in mochinushi!

I didn't even realize the Revival was ALL Engrish:
http://www.littleoslo.com/lyj/home/2011 ... s-revival/

[quote="Sawao"]We passed each other with an owl.[/quote]

I thought he was saying "We pass eachother without note".

That's 2 english tracks. OK!

Before I continue with further with my opinions I need to see lyrics for this album.
That's what changed me hating Comic Sonic to liking it.

no way bros, it's easily better than runners high

...

It's day 2, and I'm hearing mostly good, great and awesome, with a few sprinkles of meh here and there. That's an upswing.

Pied Piper is a weird one with me, I've never had a feel on exactly what to make of it. At first I thought Pied Piper and Purple Apple and Poison Rock'N Roll were fine... I've since turned on them because they seem like precursors to some real shitpiles... I've always liked Tokyo Bambi and tried to see both sides of the conversation, Ladybird Girl has always seemed just a little underwhelming to me... and I still don't have much fondness for Last Holiday or That's a Wonderful World, despite them being pretty decent songs. At this point I'd really just prefer to lift No Surrender, New Animal and Tokyo Bambi from the heap and pretend the rest never existed.

At least with Ooparts it was more obvious which songs I would prefer to strike from memory. Horn Again was just... there. About half of it is pretty good, the other half underwhelming.

Relative to the best and worst music I can recall ever hearing, on a scale of -10 to 10, TRIAL rests at about a 4.5 overall right now. I dig it.

-10: Mary J. Blige
0: silence
10: Happy Bivouac

[u]If I only take recent pillows albums into consideration, Trial's score is going to drop.[/u]

At my third listen, Mochinushi is probably my favorite. Flashback Story is a pain to listen to.

[quote="rockman240"]-10: Mary J. Blige[/quote]
[i]wahhhh...?[/i]

[quote="Cloudy_One"][i]wahhhh...?[/i] [/quote]?

At least until I hear something worse.

[quote="Spike"][quote="Sawao"]We passed each other with an owl.[/quote]

I thought he was saying "We pass eachother without note".[/quote]


Also, Sawao is a Harry Potter fan, mmhmm.

[quote]AVEX[/quote]

pretty much this. the pillows sold out to avex, and unfortunately avex sucks. king records was a much better label for a band like this, but it didn't give them the PR and money that avex gives them.