Rank the Believer Albums!

Eagles police and u2...  The trinity of NORMSVILLE!!!

Dustofyears wrote:Eagles police and u2...  The trinity of NORMSVILLE!!!

Normal is the opposite of weirdo. I’ll take it!

seth wrote:The Eagles show that it’s possible to be mellow but not boring. U2 and the Police should take notes

While I like half of the Eagles catalog, the other half is BORING! 

I just give them credit for the good stuff. 

“The New Kid in Town” is lame! Same with the dorky song “James Dean”! I can’t push the skip button fast enough on those two!

I’m gonna request my dentist play this on loop…

Seems like most here ignored the demo, which is a really strong demo.  And I'm sure a lot of folks would prefer it over the more recent work.

Here it is for reference:

I don’t usually count demos, live albums/eps, or cover albums/eps in my rankings.

But I'm telling ya Gabriel and Transhuman are really great albums!!! Give peace a chance...

Dustofyears wrote:But I'm telling ya Gabriel and Transhuman are really great albums!!! Give peace a chance...

I already like Gabriel! 

I need to find my copy of Transhuman and give it a fresh spin.

Superjuice wrote:Seems like most here ignored the demo, which is a really strong demo.  And I'm sure a lot of folks would prefer it over the more recent work.

Here it is for reference:

Indeed, it’s a good demo! 

Those songs are included on the new Extraction from Mortality remaster that just was released.

Dustofyears wrote:But I'm telling ya Gabriel and Transhuman are really great albums!!! Give peace a chance...

I don't mind either album. They just aren't as good as the first three. I thought Transhuman went in a really neat direction, found it a generally solid release, but it still didn't capture me like the other 4.

I ordered the first 3 remasters yesterday. I'm interested in how the sound quality will fair. I've never minded the production but I'm excited to hear what they may have been able to do.

TZ75 wrote:
I need to find my copy of Transhuman and give it a fresh spin.

You should! It's not a bad album. Some of the songs are in fact very good.

It might be Believer's most melodic album. The opening track, Lie Awake, has a very catchy chorus that reminds me of bands like 30 Seconds to Mars, but heavier and clearly more rooted in metal. That song could've been a modern pop metal hit but it has this weird "quirky" middle part that is more annoying than fun to listen. Yeah, I know it has some trademark Believer dissonant disharmonic solos, but it makes the song drag a lot. As a three and a half minute song it would've been excellent. Now with over 5 minute length it's "only" good.

The second track, G.U.T, is good too. I love the groove and how the bass jumps out.
Just a while ago I claimed the album has zero connection to the Bible, but I was wrong! I had forgotten that it has the line "eat me, drink me" that clearly comes from the Bible, but the context in the song goes way over my head.
It's a catchy song, mostly slow / mid-paced, but it has a part that has a bit more speed, but it's still relatively slow. This was the first single of the album.

The album continues with a melodic and atmospheric track, Multiverse, that again reminds me of 30 Seconds to Mars and similar modern pop alternative metal bands, but again with clear metal roots. It's a moody and somewhat catchy track but not as good as the previous two songs.

The next song, End of Infinity, is another slow and moody melodic track. It's an ok song. Not anything I would deliberately want to came back to but it's an ok listen when going through the album.

Transfection has a few very short faster moments but more than anything it doubles or triples down on the atmospheric/moody stuff. As a song I don't think it's really much better than the previous couple of tracks but I absolutely LOVE the synths on this one. They make the song stand out. If there is a genre called space metal this would be it.

Ok, the next song, Clean Room, gets back to the older Believer with thrashy guitar riffs and fast thrash drums here and there. It's mostly a slower song but it's the thrashiest one so far.

Currents is a short super moody mostly electronic instrumental track. It could easily be in a sci-fi movie or a video game. Very melodic.

Traveler reminds me a bit of the Dimensions era, maybe Sanity Obscure a bit too, but it's still clearly a Transhuman track. It kinda goes back and forth from Dimensions to Transhuman through the song. It's an ok track. Nothing great but there are parts that sound much more Believer than most of the other tracks.

Ok, now we're talking! Ego Machine is a more clear Believer thrash track with a bit of the melodic sensibilities that this album has been all about. It gets very fast a few times and it's heavy.

Being No One opens with fast thrash, and gets back to being fast later in the song for a short moment. But mostly it's like the usual track in this album. Melodic, moody, but it's not as catchy as the best songs in the album.

Entanglement is another ok track, not more, not less. Perhaps a bit too "proggy math metal" track for its own good. I could live without this track in the album but it's an ok listen.

Mindsteps ends the album with a lot of mood. It's slow and heavy, and very melodic with a lot of synths. It has a lot of odd drumming and riffing but it's very easy to listen to. It's very good. One of my favorites in the album.


It's an unique album, with unique sound and unique mood. It has a lot of weird Dimensions style guitars, but added with whatever is likeable in alternative metal, metalcore and nu-metal, without actually sounding like any of them and removing all that is bad in them. Plus thrashy guitar riffs.

If the album would only have these tracks...
Lie Awake
G.U.T.
Transfection (not sure about this though)
Clean Room
Currents
Ego Machine
Mindsteps
...it would be almost faultless in what the album tries to be.

The rest are sort of fillers. Not bad but ok songs. But honestly I enjoy this more than Dimensions (if you don't count The Trilogy of Knowledge).

A lot of the album feels like you are either flying or floating in space. Space metal.

In short:
- If you want to get old Believer from this album you should listen Ego Machine.
- If you are wishing for more fast thrash moments, check out Clean Room.
- Lie Awake is the closest to a major radio metal hit Believer has recorded. It's very catchy. Probably the catchiest song Believer has ever recorded.
- G.U.T. is the first single and among the best tracks in the album. It's quite different from the rest too.
- Mindsteps is the peak of the new style Believer was going for. It's like they put the non Trilogy tracks from Dimensions into a blender and threw a bunch of synths and melody in, trying to make it better, and the end result was surprisingly beautiful.

Outside of those tracks you can pick and choose what to listen. But those five songs are essential.

I'm re-listening as it's been a long time.

My memory is; I like them in order of release. They got more progressive each album, which loses me.

My official assessment forthcoming.

I rank the Believer albums thusly:


Extraction from Mortality - Actual good Thrash. Good songwriting. The music and lyrics are good enough to tolerate his awful vocals... which these are the least awful version of. Back then we had to take what we could get our hands on.

Sanity Obscure - They travel further down the "progressive" road and that's why this comes in #2. Not nearly as accessible as Extraction.

Dimensions - Even with the relative dearth of Christian metal bands in this era, the progressive nature of this album and his awful vocals mean I didn't listen to it much then, and never in the last 30 years.

Maybe it’s just me, but I think his vocals improved a bit on Gabriel.

TZ75 wrote:Maybe it’s just me, but I think his vocals improved a bit on Gabriel.

Yeah I love the vocals on Gabriel. Sounds quite a bit like Destruction.

scottmitchell74 wrote:I rank the Believer albums thusly:


Extraction from Mortality - Actual good Thrash. Good songwriting. The music and lyrics are good enough to tolerate his awful vocals... which these are the least awful version of. Back then we had to take what we could get our hands on.

Sanity Obscure - They travel further down the "progressive" road and that's why this comes in #2. Not nearly as accessible as Extraction.

Dimensions - Even with the relative dearth of Christian metal bands in this era, the progressive nature of this album and his awful vocals mean I didn't listen to it much then, and never in the last 30 years.

Don’t you like Vengeance Rising???

Pethead wrote:

scottmitchell74 wrote:I rank the Believer albums thusly:


Extraction from Mortality - Actual good Thrash. Good songwriting. The music and lyrics are good enough to tolerate his awful vocals... which these are the least awful version of. Back then we had to take what we could get our hands on.

Sanity Obscure - They travel further down the "progressive" road and that's why this comes in #2. Not nearly as accessible as Extraction.

Dimensions - Even with the relative dearth of Christian metal bands in this era, the progressive nature of this album and his awful vocals mean I didn't listen to it much then, and never in the last 30 years.

Don’t you like Vengeance Rising???

Yes, but I hate the Believer vocalist's sound. Hate it. Are you the thumbs-downer!?

I am not!

Extraction has been rocking me lately, even though I think the next two are a little stronger.

I rank them in the order they came out, all though at one time sanity would rate the highest because it was the 1st one I heard. As far as his vocals they're an acquired taste but I like them, comparable to Rob of Canadian thrashers Sacrifice.

I've changed my mind

Dimensions

Extractions

Sanity

Gabriel and Transhuman are equally good in different ways.

Like Seventh Angel, Believer do not have a bad album to date!

Dustofyears wrote:I've changed my mind

Dimensions

Extractions

Sanity

Gabriel and Transhuman are equally good in different ways.

Like Seventh Angel, Believer do not have a bad album to date!

Good to see love for Dimensions. That was actually my first Believer album because it was the easiest to get a hold of when I was first digging into Christian thrash.

Yeah I'm surprised at the lack of love for this album. Guess it's just a little too abstract for some. I really dig it a whole bunch.

Same. And it’s not just The Trilogy of Knowledge, either. I like all the songs on it.