Flood—Polarized or Ripped into Exile?

Which Flood album is your pick at this point?

I like them both and it's good to hear Guy and Gary again. 

While Polarized has some standout tracks, I think RiE is a more cohesive listen and it gets my vote. 

You?

Exile for me.  Polarized is brilliant, but Exile flows really well from start to finish, and I don't think there's a skipable track on it.  Loving each time I listen to it.

I will go with Exile too, more consistent overall and better highlights I think

Polarized would’ve made a great EP, but it had some filler…

Exile flows better. But it’s still hard to decide. 

I could pick Polarized, if I skip (the title track, In Remission and My Last Ride). 

I’ll just give it to Exile.

RIE but Polarized has my favorite song in Darfur.

Ripped Into Exile for me. It is so much more solid. There were only 4-5 songs I went back to regularly on Polarized but I've been going back to this whole album daily, able to cycle it on repeat.

Ripped for me

Frozen Fire wrote:Ripped Into Exile for me. It is so much more solid. There were only 4-5 songs I went back to regularly on Polarized but I've been going back to this whole album daily, able to cycle it on repeat.

Hence why Polarized would’ve made a good EP. 

There’s at least a few songs that I consider filler.

Polarized was a disappointment because it took a song that I already liked (Darfur) and recorded it again without making an improvement.

Dang, 9–0 at this point. Didn’t expect that.

Polarized for sure.  I'll take the hit!

Polarized is a brilliant album, I agree.  Just 3 instrumentals and 2 rerecords made it not as good as Exile.  I think if I rated all 21 songs, then some of the Polarized songs would be right near the top.

Fundy wrote:Polarized is a brilliant album, I agree.  Just 3 instrumentals and 2 rerecords made it not as good as Exile.  I think if I rated all 21 songs, then some of the Polarized songs would be right near the top.

It actually had 3 re-records.
Darfur and In Remission were originally songs for the 2050 project, and the third one was Stop the Bleeding which was first recorded for Gary's solo album No Time Now in 2017.

Bahana wrote:Polarized was a disappointment because it took a song that I already liked (Darfur) and recorded it again without making an improvement.

As a huge fan of the original Darfur I also sort of was initially disappointed, but I really love the fast thrash part in the new version and I REALLY love the blues ending.

What I love in the original Darfur the most is the sound. If the new version was made to sound like the original I would not look back at the original at all. But obviously they had to make the new version sound consistent with the rest of the album so it is what it is.

In any case for me both versions of Darfur are 5/5 songs. The new version doesn't sound as meaty as the original and I think part of that meat comes from Victor Macias' bass.