We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank- A Second Look

Ok, Ok I might be extremely arrogant at times but I can admit when I am wrong. The new Modest Mouse is not a bad album and although I don't retract all my statements from last week I will say that after several times through I feel much different. Maybe I was just in a really bad mood on Friday but today I have a different opinion.Not every song is incredible but I will say that the album flows pretty well. It has a strong start and almost reminds you of old school Modest and then ends with the awesome, Invisible. I think that Fly Trapped in a Jar really stands out and Parting of the Sensory is definitely my favorite, pretty amazing actually. However, I still think that Missed the Boat is a huge ball of cheese and should have never been put on the album. Its almost like Issak is getting sentimental, which will never fit right for me. He must have taken a ton of happy pills while writing that shit. Several of the other songs are right around mediocre and it seems that he is struggling between the old sound and what I guess you would call the new sound, and it doesn't really fit, at least not for me. If you start out with The Blue Album and Pinkerton and then have to sit through Maladroit and Make Believe you realize where things went wrong and how Weezer's potential died a slow and cringe-worthy death. If you come in the later albums then you probably think they aren't half bad, as many do. Modest Mouse is a slightly different story. Issak may be one of the biggest ass holes in music but it doesn't seem that he has lost all the core elements that originally dictated Modest Mouse's sound. You can call it an evolution, but I rather look at it as a divergence. The Lonesome Crowded West and The Moon and Antarctica still are standout albums that I don't even want to compare them to We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank. Unlike Rivers and crew I can't loose total faith in Modest, though I might have briefly on Friday afternoon. This album isn't going to be on heavy repeat in my CD player like Arcade Fire is now but I am not going to bash it because even I can admit when I am wrong. It’s hard to say if this album is on the road to something great or to nowhere, though I would bet on the latter. I think that Modest Mouse is still giving a decent effort but their heyday has come and gone. It's good to know they can still whip out songs like Invisible but this album is not good enough to convince me they can keep going.