But do touch the album once you buy it
Having been in the music scene since 1999, Thomas Giles Rogers is releasing his fifth solo album, Don’t Touch The Outside. Under Thomas Giles, his last two albums have been produced by Sumerian Records who also produced the last two albums for his band, Between the Buried and Me. Being the founding member, lead vocalist and keyboardist of the progressive metal band, it’s not surprising that the same record label was used. Even though Between the Buried and Me is a popular band and shows no signs of slowing down, producing albums under Thomas Giles allows him to be experimental and branch out.
Pulse, his first solo album aired in 2011, was alternative/experimental rock composition. Looking at each project produced as Thomas Giles and in his band, it appears that he balances practicing and cultivating his electronic style and metal.
As revealed in Shock Magazine, Thomas said that Don’t Touch The Outside is supposed to be a journey for the listener and that he “wanted to structure the album to make [fans] very comfortable and uneasy within a few minutes of each other… the battle between beauty and noise.” Ultimately, it’s clear to see this battle come alive with the switch from “Everyone is Everywhere” (feat. Einar Solberg) to “I Win” (feat. Carley Coma) to “Awake from Death,” which appear on the album respectively. In one song, the vibe feels softer whereas the next jars listener and makes them blatantly notice the change. Thomas Giles accomplishes what he set out to do.
In the end, the one fault of the album is that the beginning is a little slow. Even though none of the first three tracks exceed four minutes, each song feels a little drawn out because of the repetitive composition of the tracks. Each song is distinct from one another, but it’s within the songs themselves that the instrumental elements feel long.
Overall, however, the album gets more engaging the deeper you get into it. As stated before, the shift between “beauty and noise” really packs a jolt that demands listeners undivided attention and will pull them in if they start to drift.
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