The Airborne Toxic Event in tier list
it’s alright but I think nothing special. The more of it I listen to, the more I feel that. I don’t dislike it at all, but I can’t justify too high a ranking. There are enough songs I don’t care about, enough songs I struggle giving a coherent identity in my brain, and no songs that do stand out to me as awesome.
Which is a shame, because I actually rather liked the first album. I even listened to the first album again after finishing my official listen, just to check and see if I did actually like that first album more or if the issue was that future albums felt too similar, too samey. My conclusion is that I do in fact like the first album more, which is a bit of a double edged sword. On the one hand, I do like it, which is awesome. On the other, it always kinda sucks when you like an artists early stuff but not the rest, when it feels like they lose something, or like they were on the cusp of something that they never were able to realize. That’s what it felt like here. I feel like there was a version of Airborne that went on to become a band I love.
But they didn’t, so I’m gonna say, overall, B-
tunafruitsandwitch 
I didn’t mind listening to this band. In fact, very often they reminded me of bands and artists I love – U2 (so often especially in the early stuff), The Killers, Sam Fender. That was probably my biggest reaction in all but the last two albums – wow, this really reminds me of someone! I don’t know if that is good or bad, but a little distracting in the path of really loving them. Yes to this comment Pod, “I feel like there was a version of Airborne that went on to become a band I love.”
I thought their sound evolved quite a bit as they went on. I heard some country vibes in the second to last album, and some minstrelly feels, which surprised me. If I could have ventured a guess from their first two albums I would have guessed their sound would evolve to heavier, but it kind of evolved to more introspective, paired down and even heartwarming/heartaching?
Honestly, I don’t know much what to do with them. I think there is something there, but I didn’t attach much to it. So The Airborne Toxic Event gets a solid C+ from me.
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