"Apex" is a truly fantastic album, one that certainly didn't need AI to be as great as it was. Same goes for "Abyss". Two of the best modern-day power metal albums, imo.

This is part of the reason I'm so disappointed in them right now - they have the ability to make great music all on their own, they don't need fucking ChatGPT and Midjourney.

From the looks of it they only used ChatGPT for "inspiration" when it came to the lyrics, with the other AI tools being used in music videos and artwork. I don't think that's a sin on its own, but it would be a different story if they were using AI to generate musical ideas.

Yeah I don't think it necessarily makes them irredeemable, but I don't really have an interest in making it a priority to listen to this now. Just seems lame and weak to me.

As a writer using ChatGPT for anything artistic just seems like such weak fucking shit to me. It's especially insulting because I've personally seen small fiction publishers close because of a deluge of shitty garbage AI submissions. It's new tech, yeah, we get it, doesn't mean you have to use it for everything.

The album feels like a watered-down, less interesting version of themselves, with a lot of unnecessary, forgettable fluff. A perfect representation of AI!

Don't get me wrong, Unleash the Archers are (or perhaps were?) good - 'Faster Than Light' and 'Awakenings' are incredible tracks - but I do find myself turning to more to bands like Ancient Bards and Frozen Crown and even Seven Kingdoms when I'm in the mood for this kind of power metal. They each only have a fraction of the audience of UTA, but their good songs seem to hit me a lot harder.

Entirely agree.

Before hearing any of the singles I was thinking "oh yes, judging by Apex and Abyss, this will be top ten 2024 easy"... the singles had me a bit meh, but having listened a couple of times to the album they work so much better in context of the whole thing. Is it a top 10? Not sure, but it feels like a grower.

I feel it should just be handled how they handle bands with unacceptable material. Even if this album is unacceptable due to AI use, UTA still has plenty of material that *is*, so they remain and this album remains listed. Same way a, say, deathcore band with only one acceptable album still gets listed with their whole discography. Entirely AI "bands" should not be allowed unless they make something without AI.

But ugh, man. Now that I know AI was used I can tell in the album art, it's got that incoherent smeary look in the trees/foilage in the bottom. Hideous.

I've had a couple of listens to the album and I really like it. I'd put it above Apex but below Abyss for now.

The pacing of the record is somewhat strange. It feels like the faster, more power metal songs are on the first half, while the second half is a bit more relaxed and melodic. With most bands, I'd prefer the first sound, but I think UTA does the second one better, so most of my initial favourites are from the second half of the album. Abyss had a similar mix of songs, but they felt a bit more evenly spread throughout the record.

In any case, this is going to be getting a ton of listens. Even amongst fans, I haven't seen a lot of appreciation for this record, and to be fair, they were coming off some really incredible records, but I think this is a great follow-up.

Great pop rock album. Her voice is even better when they don't layer it with shitty effects and have her screaming like a slaughtered pig for 1:15 hrs. It's not Apex, and I doubt they'll ever reach that level again, but is not as abysmal as Abyss.

Yeah, sure. I thought Burzum's punk rock albums were great too.

I mean, do some of you guys even have ears or are you just trying to be funny?

I don't think I can rate this yet, but it's a bit too much FX bells and whistles with the actual songwriting being worse than on the previous two. I loved "Abyss" but this is not quite there (yet?).

Almost finished with my first listen and I think like it. Definitely seems like a grower but I'm confident I'll like it a lot after a few listens. The fact that the lyrics are AI-assisted is kind of a bummer and was totally unnecessary because I actually think Brittney is one of the best lyrics writers in the game. But, if that foreword is accurate, then it sounds like that is where the AI influence ends musically and everything else is still Unleash the Archers writing and playing on their own.

I bought the earbook with bonus 7" vinyl and thought I was getting gouged because it was $60, which is outrageous. But it's two discs, the 7" vinyl, and a massive 11x11 inch (28x28 cm) 60-page storybook. I guess I didn't read the description very well when I preordered, because I was NOT expecting it to be this large. Granted the art is AI-generated and the story possibly/likely is too, but I still think this is a really cool collection piece.

People who think Abyss is bad really make me laugh.