Project 86 Best Albums

I only have Wait for the Siren. I like it enough… 

I’ve known about P86 since the beginning, but the music never appealed to me. I thought they were the Christian alternative to RATM (not my cup of tea).

I like the Celtic instruments used on Wait for the Siren. It gives a huge epic feeling.

I need to catch up on these guys' discography.  I listened to the s/t and Drawing Black Lines a lot back when they came out.  Then I literally fell asleep watching them live at Cornerstone in 2000 or 2002.  It was like midnight or later and I had been watching shows non-stop for days and since 10am that morning, so not their fault...I was just exhausted.  But I didn't really listen to them much after that.  I *thought* I had listened to their albums since then at least once each, but seeing how many there are I'm sure I missed a few.  Time to check them out and pay more attention....will come back with my opinions later.

strangerhoncho wrote:I need to catch up on these guys' discography.  I listened to the s/t and Drawing Black Lines a lot back when they came out.  Then I literally fell asleep watching them live at Cornerstone in 2000

I was at that show.  It was at the indie tent, which was still a really big tent, and Project 86 was hardly indie by then.

Story time:

I was exhausted from all the other shows including P.O.D. (where I went all out in the mosh pit).  I had nothing left and had a screaming headache.  There were tons of kids there though, all going crazy and they had three pits going at once.  But all I could do was watch the crowd and the show. 

Then I witnessed the craziest thing I've ever seen in a mosh pit.  I noticed there was a solitary figure moving amongst the crowd.  He was moving very slowly, so he stood out, and wasn't even moshing.  He was wearing a black trench coat about medium height, probably early 20's.  I first noticed him from the back and he walked from one pit to the next, sometimes someone would run into him.  But, then I noticed him walking very slowly on the way back and... he had his eyes closed...  And one by one the moshers would occasionally slam into him and he'd get knocked back, he'd regain his balance and keep coming back to the edge of the pit, but never saw him get cremated. Thus the dude was walking through three violent mosh pits blinded without seeing what was coming for him for some kinda esoteric kick.

Superjuice wrote:

strangerhoncho wrote:I need to catch up on these guys' discography.  I listened to the s/t and Drawing Black Lines a lot back when they came out.  Then I literally fell asleep watching them live at Cornerstone in 2000

I was at that show.  It was at the indie tent, which was still a really big tent, and Project 86 was hardly indie by then.

Story time:

I was exhausted from all the other shows including P.O.D. (where I went all out in the mosh pit).  I had nothing left and had a screaming headache.  There were tons of kids there though, all going crazy and they had three pits going at once.  But all I could do was watch the crowd and the show. 

Then I witnessed the craziest thing I've ever seen in a mosh pit.  I noticed there was a solitary figure moving amongst the crowd.  He was moving very slowly, so he stood out, and wasn't even moshing.  He was wearing a black trench coat about medium height, probably early 20's.  I first noticed him from the back and he walked from one pit to the next, sometimes someone would run into him.  But, then I noticed him walking very slowly on the way back and... he had his eyes closed...  And one by one the moshers would occasionally slam into him and he'd get knocked back, he'd regain his balance and keep coming back to the edge of the pit, but never saw him get cremated. Thus the dude was walking through three violent mosh pits blinded without seeing what was coming for him for some kinda esoteric kick.

That's a crazy story!  Glad I wasn't the only one with my eyes closed.  I was sitting on the back of a golf cart on the side of the tent, so I could see over people's heads.  About halfway through the set, I fell asleep and woke up mid-fall off the back of the golf cart onto the grass.  Almost broke my neck!  Had to call it a night and head back to my van after that.

Went back and listened to all the albums up to the present.  Won't go into super detail because honestly most of it didn't make much of an impression on me.  Fine, but a lot of sameness.  I couldn't tell the songs apart much.  Have to say, I enjoyed the first 2 the least, though!  I noticed and liked how the vocals and delivery changed from And the Rest Will Follow onward.  Rival Factions was good. 

But I actually like the Christmas album the best by far!  The last 3 singles they've released are super heavy and I like them a lot too.  Metatropolis is prob my favorite song by them so far.  Almost sounds like a latter day Living Sacrifice track.

strangerhoncho wrote:Went back and listened to all the albums up to the present.  Won't go into super detail because honestly most of it didn't make much of an impression on me.  Fine, but a lot of sameness.  I couldn't tell the songs apart much.  Have to say, I enjoyed the first 2 the least, though!  I noticed and liked how the vocals and delivery changed from And the Rest Will Follow onward.  Rival Factions was good. 

But I actually like the Christmas album the best by far!  The last 3 singles they've released are super heavy and I like them a lot too.  Metatropolis is prob my favorite song by them so far.  Almost sounds like a latter day Living Sacrifice track.

Wow, you have a lot of self control! If this was me I would have probably written 3 or 4 pages of my detailed analysis, which in the end could have been concluded as succintly as yours. 

Thanks for this, I'm going to listen to the Christmas album and the most recent singles. Rival Factions is my favourite so far, but it may be b/c there was much more singing and came across as more melodic.

Sevenoneself wrote:

strangerhoncho wrote:Went back and listened to all the albums up to the present.  Won't go into super detail because honestly most of it didn't make much of an impression on me.  Fine, but a lot of sameness.  I couldn't tell the songs apart much.  Have to say, I enjoyed the first 2 the least, though!  I noticed and liked how the vocals and delivery changed from And the Rest Will Follow onward.  Rival Factions was good. 

But I actually like the Christmas album the best by far!  The last 3 singles they've released are super heavy and I like them a lot too.  Metatropolis is prob my favorite song by them so far.  Almost sounds like a latter day Living Sacrifice track.

Wow, you have a lot of self control! If this was me I would have probably written 3 or 4 pages of my detailed analysis, which in the end could have been concluded as succintly as yours. 

Thanks for this, I'm going to listen to the Christmas album and the most recent singles. Rival Factions is my favourite so far, but it may be b/c there was much more singing and came across as more melodic.

Yeah, I think that's why I liked the Christmas album the most -- because of the song variety and more melody.  Also more than half of the songs weren't really Christmas carols and you can listen to them without thinking of Christmas.

My self control comes from writing reviews years ago.  They had to be limited to a certain word count, so I learned the art of brevity.

Been listening to Picket Fence Cartel over the past week (a theme of having albums rise to the top over these months). This album is outstanding! I love how metallic this is. It is definitely the most guitar-forward of the albums I have. It has a little bit of doom, a little bit of metal, and a slightly discordant sound throughout. I suppose this was supposed to be a return to their rock roots after Rival Factions. Either way, I'm loving it. 

At first it seemed a bit one dimensional and harder to get into as a result. Tracks like the The Butcher and Dark Angel Dragnet are huge, instant fist pumping hits and those got me initially but I really like it all at this point. There are quite a few hidden gems within songs (the hammond style keys in the John Hancock break, the Def Leppard High n' Dry/Pyromania era inspired riff in The Black Brigade, the doomy riff in Cyclonus). It's more diverse as I've absorbed more of it.

I've enjoyed digging into this band. There is a lot more depth than I expected.


On another note I got the stream for the new album "Omni" last Friday and have played through it a few times. I need to give it a good listen on a stereo/headphones as there is no download option yet. It sounds good but as a concept album needs a closer listen.

Basically spent three months getting into this band so it is interesting to listen to my first actual new album in Omni Pt. 1. 

As Black Rider said in the other thread here, it is a concept so its a lot bigger process to dig into this. I've listened to it 6-7 times now but it still needs more to fully come together. Having the lyrics finally with my preorder has helped. It is absolutely packed with atmosphere, has incredible production, and ultimately turns out to be by far the heaviest release I've heard from them. There are some elements of classic Project 86 but there are a lot of huge, chunky djenty riffs. It's pretty intense at times.

All that said, while some songs are absolutely fantastic others don't seem to do as much for me. Yes. They are heavy but they aren't clicking. Others are just interludes and story pieces. As it is, right now it doesn't feel like a cohesive whole. I'm hoping it pulls together with repeated listens and with the physical releases forthcoming. Different but not the best at this juncture. Obviously a crazy amount of work has gone into it. I'll definitely give it more time.

I recently listened to Wait for the Siren again for the first time in a long time, trying to ignore my qualms with Randy and Steve not being involved. I really enjoyed it more, maybe more than I ever have! I need to get to Knives to the Future soon and see if I like it as much. 

Eventually, I'll make it to Omni Pt. 1, but I don't have the money to buy albums these days.

Just finished spinning OMNI Pt 1 for the first time.

While I enjoyed it, and it is heavy, I have two qualms. Keep in mind that the album might just be a grower and I could come to love it. 

The album could really use more melody or at least some stronger hooks. What’s here is enjoyable but nothing really hooked me. This might change with subsequent listens. 

Second, the interludes are too long. I don’t doubt their importance to the story, but some are 3+ minutes of non-music. It’s too much for the listening experience.

I like it but I agree on the interludes.

I initially started this thread looking for info on the P86 albums. Wow!!! I have read through it all, but not close enough. When I get a bit more time, I'm going to re-read it all and listen to the albums along with this commentary. 

Last week I listened to this recent interview of Andrew Schwab, which inspired me to listen to some more of their music.

https://asthestorygrows.com/episodes/andrew-schwab-of-project-86

Pethead wrote:Just finished spinning OMNI Pt 1 for the first time.

While I enjoyed it, and it is heavy, I have two qualms. Keep in mind that the album might just be a grower and I could come to love it. 

The album could really use more melody or at least some stronger hooks. What’s here is enjoyable but nothing really hooked me. This might change with subsequent listens. 

Second, the interludes are too long. I don’t doubt their importance to the story, but some are 3+ minutes of non-music. It’s too much for the listening experience.

I totally agree with you Pethead. I really want to like this album, but so far I'm not enjoying it as much as I want to.

Hi folks, I've been listening to P86 music since early 2000 and an avid backer of all of them crowfound campaings, I was also a patreon of the Pioneers podcast and read some books of Schwab (Tin Soldiers is amazing). The cherry on the top was Schwab himself calling me by phone back in 2019 when I was one of the first 100 people suscribed to the patreon account, we talk about 15 minutes about random stuff (including soccer and Messi, hahaha - I'm argentinian), it's a very cool dude indeed. So, you can call me a sort of fan. 

My favourite albums are Rival Factions (the blend of goth rock + their heavier sound is amazing), Drawing Black Lines (a classic in their discography) and Songs for Burn Your Bridges by (it have the their style perfected and without the overproduction of Truthless Heroes).

But the raw sound of the self titled (plus the deep and introspective lyrics) result in a unique release. I love it too.

BTW: I miss the band fueled by Schwab, Randy Torres and Steven Dail... I feel that P86 without the original members are a kind of Schwab solo project (which isn't wrong: is different). I've nothing against OMNI but I think that's supposed to be a farewell album, and, typically when you release your last album you want to conjure your signature sound and offer something familiar to your listeners, not a last moment shift in your genre. Maybe OMNI is a "Truthless Heroes" evolution, but in stereoids... i really don't know, i'm still trying to digest it.

That's only my opinion, I can be wrong.