If you follow me on Twitter (@big_red01027) you're probably aware that I use the hashtag #NP to indicate what I'm listening to.
I try to keep these unique. That usually means that when I return to something (which I do more often than my feed would suggest), I don't use the hashtag and instead offer up some kind of commentary about the record in question.
I don't pretend that I'm going to feel a certain way about an album for all time. Sure, my judgments are swift and cutting, but they're not always lasting.
Two bands that I've reconsidered in the last couple of days are Agalloch and Yellow Eyes.
In the case of Agalloch, I listened to their new one, The Serpent & the Sphere, and the previous Faustian Echoes EP. The former surprised me by being so enthralling and just damn enjoyable. The latter is shorter, but no less fiery.
These two releases led me to wonder aloud, where was that fire on Marrow of the Spirit? No matter where I looked, I saw people extolling its virtues incessantly back in 2010. It topped lists all over the internet.
I wouldn't call myself an Agalloch fan at this point. I have no intention of revisiting their other albums (especially Marrow of the Spirit), because honestly I don't really have enough time for it.
But I wouldn't be surprised to see The Serpent & the Sphere on my best of 2014 list. That album does something that very few have done this year: it is intriguing and maintains throughout.
Yellow Eyes is a band that comes highly recommended from various corners of the internet. As usual, I didn't quite get it. Their debut LP, Hammer of Night, seemed like an uninteresting (aside from the last track) Krallice-esque slice of USBM.
I gave it another try earlier and was pleasantly surprised. I was still listening through the Bandcamp player, so it sounded the same (no EQ option generally means that albums sound flat, no matter how well they're produced), but I reacted to it differently.
I guess that's the point of reevaluating releases. It gives you the chance to react to the album differently. After all, the music didn't change, but apparently I did.
One other thing I should note: I've closed down the comment section, mostly out of spite due to inactivity. Nothing Has Changed gets plenty of views for my taste; I've said this before, but it bears repeating that the blog has performed in excess of any expectation I might have placed on it, especially in 2014 when I've not been riding anyone else's coattails.
So, dear reader, if you like this piece and want to discuss it (or anything else, really), feel free to drop me a line on Twitter. You can find it at the top of this post.
