January 26, 2019

Talk about missed opportunities. The On Time jam isn’t a terrible start, but they sort of abandon what they’re doing and head straight for Tricycle at some point (seems to be a problem they’ve always had with Tricycle). I thought AC2B had potential, but again it turns into a vamped Loose Change intro, and then Brownstein telegraphs the transition back to On Time far too much for my liking. Magellan is well-played, particularly the composition. At this point I no longer care too much about the compositions themselves, but I was surprised by how well he hit everything here. Munchkin is more of the same – nothing is developed fully, then suddenly we hit the ending. The drum solo is seven minutes of throw away for me. Allen’s obviously insanely talented, but I couldn’t care less about drum solos and it’s not the reason I listen to this band. Lastly, the Story sandwich is not bad, but it’s nothing all that unique or interesting either.

Highlights: Magellan