I really loved them in that period. The last few minutes of that song especially had such emotional resonance. It feels like what Porcupine Tree tried to go for at times, but couldn't fully pull off because Wilson just isn't a very dynamic vocalist, whereas Gildenlow absolutely is. But for some reason the newer material isn't connecting with me so much. Maybe they've changed, maybe I have, or perhaps I just need more time with it.

To me the riffs are still great after this because they've kept the same two guitarists for almost 20 years now, with Molbjerg being underrated as a rhythm player and Buus as a soloist, but it was the vocals that started to suffer. Mikkel and Kral's dynamic is what makes 11D their strongest album. The Hours That Remain is Mikkel trying to do it all himself (with a couple guests here and there), and he's brilliant, but there's only so much one guy can do alone when their sound is heavily dependent upon vocal layering and interplay. Architect of Lies adds Pedersen, which helps, but he's a step down from Kral. And then after Mikkel left it's just been Pedersen, and while it's impressive how much of their vocal attack in-studio he's been able to mimic by himself, it's just not the same, not even withstanding the stylistic shift musically and the departure of their drummer and keyboardist.

Bullet For My Valentine - The Poison

Better than I thought it'd be but I'm not in love with it sadly. Shout out to everyone in the "Band Misconceptions" thread who told me to finally check this out though.

Yeah I find Porcupine Tree really boring and Steven Wilson sorta condescending for the most part.

Alice Cooper - House of Fire

A hit after hit, is what the Trash album is. This song (too) was pretty much spoiled for me by the hellish radioplay.