ESCAPE [AKA: E5C4P3]

Fitting that my first one-star review was from Journey, one of the biggest AOR bands in history. But in all seriousness, just to keep myself from punching my computer repeatedly and passionately until it breaks, this review will be short. I will try to keep my anger in check as best as I can. Now to the review. This album starts with the ultra-hit 'Don't Stop Believing', which has plagued my existence ever since I first heard it. Hideous, disgusting, and vile. Following it is 'Stone in Love', with some poor musicianship, horrible panning (you can barely hear the vocal over the loud guitar tracks, maybe for the better), and more. 'Who's Crying Now' is the perfect showcase of Steve Perry's squeaky, obnoxious vocals. The music is cheap, repetitive, and utterly cheesy. "Keep On Runnin' is deeply frustrated, because it tries its best to be high-octane and fun, but is cut by the bad vocals, overly-simplistic drumming, and dumb, repetitive guitar riffs. 'Still They Ride' sounds like something that would play in the background of some B-rated romance movie. It wants to be profound, but then it realizes it's a journey song and gives up on trying to sound good. 'Escape' is horribly repetitive and goes nowhere, as the entire album is. 'Lay it Down' is Rush-reminiscent, but for the worse, since it's the same riff for four minutes straight. 'Dead or Alive' sounds okay for the first three seconds, or until Steve Perry sings and runs everything. 'Mother, Father' sounds like the poor man's Styx: arena rock that is too repetitive and just plain bad to be called anything other than 'ppbbbbbttthtthh!'. 'Open Arms, another big hit, shows Steve Perry trying to be sentimental and pretty, but it just sounds like slightly more comprehensible caterwauling. No good. This album is quite simply put, garbage, but I won't judge the people who like this music, since it can hold a lot of sentimental value for those who grew up with it. I grew up hating it when everyone else loved it, so there are no good memories here for me. So, in my eyes, irredeemable, but not that bad for everyone. Prog on, but don't Journey on.

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