[quote="Aplaca"]Well of all the new songs, Limp Tomorrow is definitely my favorite.[/quote]

After first impressions, I definitely agree with this. My take on the rest of the tracks will come after I give the album a thorough listen.

tl;dr: This is the best mix of familiar and new that they've made so far, really great album.

God tier:
Limp Tomorrow - Fantastic opener, really sets the mood for the album. It takes us somewhere different than we've been lately sonically, and then brings in classic pillows elements to the mix, reminiscent of classic My Foot-era rock tracks like Degeneration.

Nobody Knows What Blooms - This may be a defining track in the pillows' career as time goes on; it's just epic in every sense of the word. The extras truly fit the song rather than sounding like they were just thrown in a la Foxes. It seems like he took parts of the overall idea he had in the best parts of Deep Story and perfected it for this song.

Emerald City - Another Last Dinosaur-level epic rock song; it's pure emotion and power Sawao-style. Awesome verses, I always love that sort of ringing overdriven lead guitar.

Great tier:
Give Me Up - High energy rock and roll, reminiscent of Rock'n'Roll Sinners but without the Engrish verses. This would be badass live.

Movement - We already knew this was a very solid track. Its style makes more sense hearing the whole album, I still really dig the New Animal/Century Creepers sound in those chords and overdrive. As mentioned before, solo could have been a bit longer, but there are some really great solos on the album that are longer, and the lead on the chorus is pretty sick.

Lily, My Sun - Really great poppy love song, especially the verse vocals. Pretty standard Sawao ronery love lyrics, sung with really earnest emotion, and a really good solo.

Biography - Funky cool song reminiscent of stuff life Private Kingdom, very fun, and a cool "doesn't matter what anybody else thinks" chorus.

Sad Fad Love - I've already mentioned that I think this song is brilliant, and it sounds great on this album, with its playful tone. Having this in a little higher bitrate is nice.

Brilliant Crown - Tender and beautiful at parts, powerful at others. I love the classic Japanese rock style (think stuff like Southern All-Stars and Mr. Children) and the strings sections.

Good tier:
Doggie Howl - A fun track in and of itself, could have been a sort of poppier Terminal Heaven's Rock were it not for the totally butchered English. Incomprehensibility sets it back to just a fun, decent track.

First impressions:

1. "Limp Tomorrow." Decent intro. Mediocre verse. Mediocre chorus (although it starts okay enough, it only gets halfway there). Excellent lead guitar, especially the tone.

2. "Give Me Up!" Pretty filler...but cool solo.

3. "Movement." Sounds better in the context of the album. Still nothing special, especially with its boilerplate chorus (and boilerplate everything else, really), but it has its cool moments. Short and sweet solo.

4. "Lily, My Sun." Nothing special here, but a solid song nonetheless. Garden-variety. Decent lead work, but nothing to show for it in the break.

5. "Biography." Cool song turned boilerplate by the time the chorus rolls around. Very cool lead guitar. Cool solo.

6. "Sad Fad Love." Sawao's unfortunate vocal line overshadows Manabe's cool guitar work in the verse. Chorus almost gets me excited before it just plain doesn't. The solo is pretty good, but starts to get hackneyed.

7. "Nobody Knows What Blooms." [i]What.[/i] This is awesome. This is where it's at, Beck.

8. "Emerald City." Cool. Rock solid, once it gets into it (i.e., after the first fifteen seconds, which were just sort of out-of-place).

9. "Brilliant Crown." Pretty classic. Very good, although not great. Pretty immemorable chorus in the classic style. Loved the classic solo.

10. "Doggie Howl." It is what it is. Doggie Howl. Good stuff.

Overall: Manabe really saves the first six tracks on the album, which are otherwise rife with mediocrity. However, the album really kicks it into higher gear at NKWB.

Not as good as [i]My Foot[/i]. As an album, it's better than everything else since, although none of the tracks are as good as "Scarecrow" or "Ladybird Girl." Better than [i]Ooparts[/i] in every way.

Holy shit, since when do the pillows' albums leak? Thanks for the upload man. Will post thoughts tomorrow.

Well this album far exceeded my expectations. The Movement single was great, but after Doggie Howl I just wasn't sure if Horn, Again would be as good. All the instruments sound wonderful, including Sawao's voice. In my opinion this is the best he's sounded on any album. I enjoyed all the songs (except DH. Yeah, fun song i guess, but his engrish is the worst to date). The whole vibe of the album felt really good, I hope their future work is like this.

And did anyone else immediately think of The Air Resistor when Lily, My Sun came on?

As my expectations were kinda low, I thought it was a great album. If I could only understand a word that the man is saying. But besides that:

[i]Limp tomorrow[/i] is definitely a keeper. Love that intro.
[i]Give me Up![/i] is really fun. Like Rock'n'Roll Sinners and Posion Rock'n'Roll.
[i]Lily, My Sun[/i] is another keeper. Love the chorus
[i]Biography[/i] has a awesome lead guitar. Pretty good.
[i]Nobody Knows What Blows[/i] has a kinda jazzy-bass. Really awesome chorus. Love it. And that bridge and ending really blows.
[i]Emerald City[/i] is kinda White Ash or Sad Sad Kiddie or even Stalker. At least that chorus.
[i]Brilliant Crown[/i] is supposed to be the ballad in the album, right? It's nice. Cool chorus. The vocals is really cool. Awesome ending. I kinda missed the "Aw Yeah"'s thing.

It's really the best album since My Foot. Can't wait to hear the songs live.

Limp Tomorrow : Eh, It's ok.
Give Me Up: Eh, okay
Movement: I am actually liking it a bit more than before.
Lily, My Sun: OKAY
Biography: I actually liked this one. I was hopping for an "Advice" kind of song
SADFADLOVE: i love it
Nobody knows what blooms: Okay,
Emerald city: AWESOME
Brilliant Clown: Oh how I miss your oh yeah's
Doggie Howl: Nice

Overall, it was a far better album than expected. I'll give it a C.

[quote="Jono"]And did anyone else immediately think of The Air Resistor when Lily, My Sun came on?[/quote]

Yep, I thought the exact same thing.

Oh man! I thought you guys were trolling and making fake reviews before the album came out. Downloading right now.

[quote="Jono"]And did anyone else immediately think of The Air Resistor when Lily, My Sun came on?[/quote]
Yeah. Same here.

[quote="Spike"][quote="Jono"]And did anyone else immediately think of The Air Resistor when Lily, My Sun came on?[/quote]

Yep, I thought the exact same thing.[/quote]

Of course. They start almost exactly the same - sounds just like I'd expect "The Air Resistor" to sound, say, if the lead channel were disabled.

Album sounds fucking amazing!
So fucking happy this turned out great!

[quote="Brye916"]Album sounds fucking amazing!
So fucking happy this turned out great![/quote]

We already know what [i]you[/i] think of the album.

(Just kidding. Sort of.)

Nobody Knows What Blooms... WHERE DID THAT COME FROM!?

This is a very good release. Aside from the songs we are familiar with, my favorites on here are Limp Tomorrow, Give Me Up!, Biography, and Nobody Knows What Blooms.

More thoughts as time goes on, need sleep for work etc.

Finally.

Sounds like they're using all the things they didn't do well from the last two albums (Horns, strings, music etc.) and doing something better with them. Horn again, string again, music again, etc.

Just wished they didn't use English again.