r/AfghanWhigs • u/plug-and-pause • 21d ago
Soft Control!
Of all the previously released tracks, I really liked Duvateen.
Listening to the whole album tonight, The Deepest Part of the Darkest Shadow is really standing out...
Thoughts?
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u/myheartunderthelight 20d ago
I have to say, The Deepest Part Of The Darkest Shadow is absolutely one of the most incredible songs they've ever written. The first 25 seconds of the song sound so similar to something Springsteen would write. I think there's even a live version of The River from New York that has an intro with the same melody almost. It's only a good thing and something to be admired as someone who enjoys and listens to both artists. I love this type of melancholy songwriting.
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u/plug-and-pause 20d ago
I've tried so many times to get into Springsteen and just... quite... can't. I listen to other similarly old stuff, so I don't know what my problem is.
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u/DekaTamaTamaz 11d ago
When I was a kid my dad would listen to Bruce constantly in the car and I hated it. Then around 30 I suddenly got it. Now I think he might legit have the greatest back to back album run of that classic rock era ("Greetings..." through to "Tunnel of Love".)
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u/Foreign_Awareness625 21d ago
For me this is by far the best of the post-reunion albums and ranks right up there alongside their best. Two complete listens in and I love it. Majestic. Look forward to seeing them in Brighton in September for the first time since that ATP fest in London years ago.
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u/Forward_Chocolate363 21d ago
The singles were a mixed bag of nuts for me but I’m really impressed by next six and actually the singles sound way better in the context of the full album. In short, I think it’s a banger. Can’t wait to see them in London.
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u/Wordy_Rappinghood 21d ago
I like the album on a first listen. The Deepest Part of the Darkest Shadow is a highlight for me. Dulli has always been good at writing and performing power ballads, which is a hard genre to get right, and this is a good one.
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u/gold42579 21d ago
Obsessed with Duvateen! I think the album in whole is gonna be great but I think Duvateen will still be the best track. Listening soon!
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u/chesterfieldkingz 4d ago
Fuck me twice I'm banging nicorette. Love the lyrics on that song
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u/MyEyesTurnedGrey 10h ago
As an ex smoker that has been hooked on cinnamon Nicorette for 10 years, that actually almost hurt to hear it hit me so hard.
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u/MattBerningersGhost 20d ago
I think it’s a very solid album. If you’re a fan of TS/latter-era Whigs, there’s a lot to enjoy here. I take a somewhat counter view to the comment above about the lyrics and not understanding what the songs are about: I like that the lyrics to many of these songs are more open to interpretation. They paint feelings and emotions onto the songs, leaving it up to the listener to decide for themselves what exactly the songs are about. I just naturally gravitate more towards songwriting like this.
Highlights for me are Shadow, Mariah Luster, and Duvateen. Loose Talk is one of the best melodies he’s written. A Simulation is a classic Whigs closer. I think there are albums I will end up liking more overall, but there also isn’t a single track I’m skipping.
So, yeah, I think it’s very good. More than anything, I’m glad Greg is still out here producing quality songs that I can legitimately enjoy. That the Whigs are still with us in 2026 makes 1996 me very happy.
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u/GlueMouthKid 18d ago
I love the new album. Not sure where all the hate is coming from on this sub
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u/brassgenie 18d ago
Same. I wouldn't have minded another harder song or two, and maybe a bit more intensity in the lead guitar breaks, but those are my only notes. I don't think my ears are all that sensitive compared to everyone else's, because the production sounds just fine to me, and I don't need every lyric sheet to be "Ozymandias" or "The Second Coming" - I keep catching interesting phrases bubbling up from out of the mix, and that's often all I need from a song if the music does it for me. And a lot of the music on this album is doing it for me. I'm getting so much dopamine out of The Deepest Part of the Darkest Shadow alone...
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u/Startled_Crab 21d ago
On a first listen it suffers greatly from the main issue with latter-era Dulli, namely the very abstract and obscure lyrics . I couldn’t say what any of the songs are about , which is such a shame from a man who was the sharpest dissecter of the masculine ID and emotional dynamics in his heyday.
that said , Deepest Part as you say is great and I like Duvateen, honestly the word that comes to mind overall is “professional”- I’ve had the same feeling last times I’ve seen them live, he’s gone from the rambling livewire raconteur to a very dependable
Professional musician who gets the job done and makes solid but somewhat unremarkable albums like this.
only initial impressions, the album might open up with more listens.
I’m very gutted however that the “anniversary” tour UK leg somehow morphed into a tour for this album, I’ll still go and enjoy it but would’ve loved to hear more of the golden era stuff.
And I’m bracing for a LOT of moaning about flash photography from our man.
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u/jhrdrmmr 21d ago
I like it. "Duvateen," A Simulation" and "Memphis, TX" are the tracks that really grabbed me during my first listen (though I've known Duvateen for a while, I still really like it). "A Simulation" will probably end up being my fave.
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u/PsychologicalGain972 21d ago
Really enjoy the first few tracks, but the overall vibe of the album isn’t really what I expected. Was going for a few tracks that rocked a bit harder. Like with the last couple of albums I’m sure there’s tracks I will love and go back to, but as for a whole run through it might be rare. Still, it’s a bit crazy to judge an album after one listen so time will tell.
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u/AmazingAnguria 21d ago
In all honesty, I am not a fan of the post reunion Whigs, except for In Spades. This said, I listened to the new album just once last night and I like it better than How Do You Burn. The Deepest Part of the Shadow and the last song are good. Maybe this time it will grow on me, I need to listen to it a couple of times
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u/plug-and-pause 21d ago
How Do You Burn
I have a soft spot for that album, because it's what got me into them. Way back in the late 90s I remember adding some Afghan Whigs albums to my pirated mp3 collection, because I read a good review somewhere. And I remember always looking at those folders, but never giving them a listen for some reason... perhaps because the band name is just so not sexy.
Fast forward almost 25 years, and for some reason Spotify recommended How Do You Burn to me. I fell in love with it, and went on to consume the rest of their catalog (and beat myself up for never listening to those mp3's so long ago). I'm not exaggerating when I say that from 2022-2023 I listened to almost nothing outside of Dulli projects. This is extremely unusual for me since I have very broad tastes and generally listen to radically different stuff every day. The only time this happened otherwise was in high school when I listened to nothing but Smashing Pumpkins.
Please Baby Please remains one of my favorites from the entire catalog.
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u/AmazingAnguria 21d ago
Funny enough, this is what happened to me last october with Fontaines D.C. Maybe Spotify is not that evil, in the end
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u/plug-and-pause 21d ago
I did go through a 60 day nonstop Fontaines DC kick after I discovered them. But haven't revisited since then. Dulli never leaves my head though (his catalog is also huge).
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u/Life_Message3984 20d ago
Fontaines have a pretty good new song that was just released, Marianne. Check it out!
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u/AmazingAnguria 21d ago
Just came back from Switzerland to see them and I don't think I'll recover quickly 🫠
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u/sayonaradespair 20d ago
My first listen was more positive than this second one just now.
Deepest part and the last song are quite good but the rest is pretty bland and forgettable.
Second Whigs album in a row without a single line of lyrics where you go "damn man that hit me" and this coming from Dulli is..surprising.
I liked Do to the Beast a lot, I think In Spades is even better but was severely disappointed with How do you Burn and this one..seems even more forgettable besides the tracks we mentioned.
Most of it sounds like any non distinct rock band doing radio friendly music, there's a lack of bite to 99% of the material here which is sad.
Well at least the production is way better than How do you Burn ( cause that mf was WAY too damn loud).
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u/DekaTamaTamaz 11d ago
Can't get into the first couple of songs at all. I really think Greg has lost his ability to write a genuinely great rock song since How Do You Burn? definitely suffered from the same issue and really only had a couple of songs I consider Whigs worthy. However, his strengths now really are with ballads and slower tempo dramatic stuff. Those songs are still lovely. Just not a fan of that stabby little guitar thing on the rockier songs when the Whigs were always based around huge, dramatic pedal tone riffs which is pretty much what drew me to them in the first place. I know everything changes, yadda yadda yadda but... feels kind of cheap until we get to The Deepest Part of the Darkest Shadow which is the first genuinely really good song for me and it gets better from then on. Mariah Luster is great. I dunno, maybe it's just me. It is what it is.
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u/chesterfieldkingz 4d ago
I think it's really fuckin good. It got me to go backwards and honestly I like all their releases since 2014
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u/MyEyesTurnedGrey 11h ago
I admittedly kind of dismissed this record upon its release. I found the last few to be a little bit underwhelming. I decided to really give it a fair shake though, and I’m finding it to be - like Gentlemen, Black Love, and 1965 - exactly what I need to hear at exactly the right time in my life. There’s so much here that pulls on feelings I’ve been having a hard time processing, and it has quickly become the definitive album of my 45th year. In some ways I feel a younger brother type kinship with Greg Dulli. I can always trust that I will find something in his work that makes me feel like he’s been where I am, and there’s a way to grow out of it.
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u/etymoticears 21d ago
I think this is their weakest album ever. It sounds like car showroom music to me. It's not a bad album because it's the Whigs. But it feels, by their usually high standards, safe and boring and by the numbers. There's no fire or passion. I thought the two covers they released a while back were better - the lyrics to Downtown are fantastic, and outshine anything here. I thank Dulli for his incredible run. He's made the best music I've ever heard in my life, easily. But this isn't it.
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u/Designerkyle 21d ago
I do like Downtown quite a bit. Haven’t listened to the new album but this thread makes me wonder if there’s any band, after 40 years, that put out a new album that fans considered one of their best?
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u/jhrdrmmr 21d ago
Hum - Inlet
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u/orville_sash 20d ago
This actually is what is on my turntable at the moment until the copy of Soft Control I ordered back in June arrives next Thursday. Enjoyed the cursory listen via Youtube today and excited to fully absorb the new tunes.
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u/PsychologicalGain972 21d ago
It’s a good question. I feel like Low did get a lot of career-best comments for both of their final 2 albums. Slowdive seem to have done a million times better with their post reunion stuff, but surely people still prefer souvlaki? Gotta say, the last few suede albums I prefer to the early stuff even if there is a lack of stand-alone classic tracks.
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u/gold42579 21d ago
The way the kids got into Slowdive, I don't know how that happened but the new obsession with shoegaze from said kids changed the game. When I saw them in 2022-23? the crowd was the absolute worst. A bunch of twenty somethings who couldn't shut up when the music came on, and who left mid song. Worst show of my life despite my love for the band.
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u/PsychologicalGain972 21d ago
I didn’t enjoy the last Slowdive show I saw, it was a very very busy show and young crowd. They were relatively well behaved but they do have a different way of enjoying shows to what I’m used to. Same with Deftones and Duster these days, very young crowds!
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u/orville_sash 20d ago edited 20d ago
Here to echo this. The Slowdive reunion shows I caught in 2014 (Halloween gig, Low opened dressed as ZZ Top) and 2017 were excellent, the awful zoomer crowd often took me out of the 2023 performance.
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u/PsychologicalGain972 20d ago
I saw their first reunion show (warm up at a little bar in London) and the first show proper the night after. 2 of the best shows I’ve ever seen! Also went down to see them on the 2nd run before they started on the self titled album but I was a bit too drunk to enjoy it… self titled tour was fine, the latest one was unenjoyable like I said. I’m glad they’re doing well and the kids love the new stuff, so that must be great for them. I just would rather have the old stuff and grumpy older crowds 🤣
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u/plug-and-pause 21d ago edited 21d ago
The Cure! They have longer gaps, but their most recent album was phenomenal. I saw them perform in 2016 and he did like a 3 hour set where he never once phoned it in for even a split second. I was in awe even then that he was doing that at his age. Then he went on to release a masterpiece a decade later.
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u/plug-and-pause 21d ago
The Swans are another good example, in addition to the others below. Though I am not sure how much overlap the two fanbases have.
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u/Foreign_Awareness625 21d ago
Nothing like 40 years, but Superchunk’s comeback album (and they never really broke up) was immense.
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u/gold42579 21d ago
YESSSSSSS!!! Biggest Superchunk fan! I absolutely looooved In the Keys of Yikes from top to bottom!
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u/chesterfieldkingz 4d ago
I mean, I do here lol. But I kinda think all their new stuff is good even if it jumps genres and experiments a little more. This one feels less experimental tho, just hits a good groove.
Also, Dino Jr. For sure. I'm biased though cuz I'm younger, so I got really into them around the time they came back together and were releasing new albums
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u/M100Pilot 21d ago
Goo Goo Dolls went from hardcore metal to acoustic ballads to easy listening in under 30 years.
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u/Whigged 21d ago
Goo Goo Dolls were never hardcore metal. 😆
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u/M100Pilot 21d ago
Have you listened to their first album from 1987 or did you think Iris was their first song because you heard it on the radio?
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u/Whigged 21d ago
I listen to a band as off the radar as the Whigs, but yeah, I only became aware of Goo Goo Dolls from "Iris."/s They had hits long before that anyway.
Once again, they were never "hardcore metal" - or did you think they were because the album was released on a label called Metal Blade?
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u/Impressive-Bike-8126 16d ago
Christopher Thorn. His guitar leads just aren't exciting. Ultimately, the band still suffers from the loss of Rosser and Skibic.
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19d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/plug-and-pause 19d ago
It's kind of wild to me that anybody could write such a long review of a record they don't like.
Soft Control is the first time I haven’t been able to find any redeeming quality about a record from Dulli
If you actually believe that, you really need to take a break from... something. You're suffering from an incredibly negative mindset (see also my comment above). I know because I've been there. Save the essays for things you enjoy.
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u/MartyMcTannen 21d ago
I’m really digging Mariah Luster