Overall Two thumbs up here. I'd give it an 7/8 out of 10 and I'm excited to see what a full length album would sound like.
My thoughts:
The good-
Gotta say- I am enjoying it quite a bit as well. THis is a good new direction for the band. The EP is energetic and really does feel as if the entire band is fully vested again (finally!). I think the first two songs are probably the weakest on the album. After a few days I still cant get the chorus of Cry Cry out of my head. Same On the Inside is probably my favorite new STP song since the reunion. Chester shows STP and Scott proper respect by staying true to the formula while still managing to put his own melodic touch on STP. He's a perfect fit for the new songs, yet they still sound like STP (especially Tomorrow).
Rob's bass work is FANTASTIC on the EP. Especially Cry Cry. This EP is very bass driven and it sounds amazing.
Not sure who produced it, but the production is much better than S/T.
The bad-
Unfortunately this EP continues the new STP direction of (by in large) refusing to make songs longer than 4min. I really feel STP is artificially limiting their music by trying to make overly radio friendly songs and trying to keep them from being too long. I remember them starting to make comments way back in the SLDD era about, and its been getting worse since. I'd really like to see STP just let the songs flow. If they're 3min, great. If they're 7min, thats great too. I'm not looking for Pink Floyd here, I'd just like to see them focus more on making the song as great as possible without worrying about the running time. I feel some of these songs could use an extra chorus/bridge/solo or maybe an extended outro.
Kretz keeps it a little too simple for my tastes on the new tracks. He's never been overly flashy and I like that, but I'd like to see him be a little bit more tricky/experimental with his beats. Its pretty straight up drum work on the EP.
A relatively minor complaint but Chester's vocal runs at the end of Same on the Inside are a little out of place, they sound rushed. There's a couple places there where it would have sounded better for him to hold the high note rather than go right back into the line. Still a great song, but its a missed opportunity, IMO.
Lyrics arent bad by any stretch, but Scott's lyrics are generally a step up. I suspect Chester's lyrics will continue to improve as the band works together more and has more time to work on the songs. Its a fair counterpoint that these songs from conception to release was VERY quick. For this reason though, I do have some concerns about STPs music with Chester, because LP is a very active band, and as Chester has mentioned, is his #1 priority. I worry a bit about Chester having enough time to really get in the trenches with STP and give his lyrics and melodies enough time to brew.
