This has to be the album where I went from "meh/it's just ok/will grow on me/I have a feeling about this one but..." to "I freaking love this song" the fastest. Less than a couple of listens on most songs and bam! and every time I listen, I appreciate them more. In the past (post TD) if I didn't care about a song after a few listens it didn't matter how many times I tried, I'd only get used to it/tolerate it but I'd never get the need to listen to that song to see if it had gotten better. In fact I don't remember more than a couple of songs in the past 15 years that have grown on me after an initial underwhelming impression.

This time happened with New Years Day, Knockout, BAT, Scars, Ghost, God Bless this Mess. Specially Ghost and Scars which went from "it's a shame that such perfect lyrics get wasted on an average song" hearing the live versions to "I can't live without them". The biggest surprise though was God Bless this Mess. Never in a million years I'd thought I'd love it, some may remember how I bitched and moaned when it was supposed to be the first single and the funny thing is that it's exactly the song I thought it would be! But I just love it. The attitude, the pain behind the optimistic lyrics, the defiance. It sums up the album perfectly and it's the first time I've believed the "that's who I am and screw what others think" attitude since the 90s. Also very surprised about Come On Up to Our House which I liked since the first listen when it's the type of song I'd skip. It's basically ILTT but this time feels very sincere and I'm really looking forward to see how it goes on a show.

I think it boils down to really feeling the songs this time. They mean something to me. It's not just a collection of good lyrics/nice melodies, there have always been that kind of songs in the past, this is a band that rarely make a shit song. But over and over the songs have left me feeling nothing, they were just an expensive wrapping paper over a nice but impersonal gift. You couldn't scratch the surface, there was nothing else, they didn't have staying power.

The worst part is that I always knew they had it in them to make this kind of album which is why I gave up for a while, I felt cheated. I want to smack Jon so hard, was it really necessary all the drama to make good songs again? I know some things are out of their control, but they had many chances to do this before and they (ie Jon) didn't bother.

Which begs the question, will the next album be another WAN since the order has been restored?