Can I survive you, Astoria? Yes. But just barely.
Okay I am going to try to pull myself together and do a quick overview of the album.
The opening track is called Astoria. It is is what you would expect format wise from the opening track but it is nothing that you could prepare yourself for.
Burning Up and Yesterday bring the mood back up and are very fun and I've been dancing around to them. Then One Love comes up to hit you right in the feels. August Burns Red is instrumental, giving you a little bit of breather to gather your thoughts.
This Means War is so much fun. It's probably one of my favourites. Hospital Bells is another instrumental that prepares you for Dearly Departed. This song has a different feel than the rest of the album, at least to me. There is one set of lyrics that will be my wedding vows. They completely caught me off guard. (There is screen shot above that shares my reaction.) And then Hollywood Renaissance is another instrumental.Shut Up And Kiss Me
lightens the mood and eases up on the feels a little bit. I have been dancing around to this song because you just can't help it. It's fun but the lyrics still hit home. Who Do You Love is the perfect follow up. It's a little more intense but still fairly light compared to some of the other songs on this album. Never Say Die is another instrumental reprieve that leads into Wildfire, another of my favourites.
While We're Young makes me feel some sort of way. It makes my soul hurt. That is followed up by Forget Me Not, which continues to squeeze my soul. I just want to hug Josh until everything is okay again.
Straight On Til Morning is the final instrumental break before the End Of An Era. You know how you had an idea of what to expect with Astoria, but were not prepared? That is what End Of An Era is. It ties the entire album together while taking you on a final rollercoaster of feels. It brings up old emotions and reworks them into new ones.
Verdict: Really? It's amazing. If you haven't been able to gather that from my long fangirling rant, let me be very clear. This album is my everything. Listen to it and support my favourite band.