A PERFECT SONG // The Human Abstract - Polaris // Composer Reaction & Analysis

[@Joseph-R]

Love this band. When I was a kid, I kinda knew I liked music way more than my peers, but I met a friend in middle school who was a guitarist and he started showing me all these genres I never even heard of and really opened the musical door for me. He got me so much more involved with music and helped light this fire in me. He looked up to this band so much and this was our favorite band. We'd just argue all the time about which song was the best and he put sooo much time into learning most of this album on guitar. We'd sit in the back of math class and share a pair of ear buds while he showed me all the guitar cover videos on youtube, I mean we literally watched every single video on YT. Unfortunately he passed away a few years ago in the worst way, so every time I hear this album I get nostalgic and emotional, but also happy because I feel like whenever I listen to this album he's still here in a way. Sorry for the sob story, just wanted to share an important memory.

[@Darkstarex2]

I miss this band. So much.

[@muskett00]

Thanks for sharing your feelings and deep diving into this song. When a song resonates with you and has an impact on you, it will sit with you forever. I love that you have such an emotional connection to this song, and what an honour it must be to be The Human Abstract!

[@tokin42]

Hey man out of all the reactors I’ve seen on KZbin you have BY FAR and consistently the best song choice. The music you review just hits me right in the feels. Never stop putting these videos out. There was a good 3 to 4 year period, maybe 2010ish, where I had a 6 disc changer in my car stereo but it was really a 4 disc changer, bc this album and fortress by protest the hero literally never left. PS. I saw born of Osiris, as blood runs black, and the human abstract in one show during THA’s digital veil tour cycle. Every member of the human abstract joined the crowd after their set, I got all of their autographs on the shirt I was literally wearing, but I had to find a marker quickly and I wasn’t prepared and could only find a blue highlighter. Like 2 years later I moved home for summer break from college. I had been displaying the shirt never wearing or washing it up until that point. One day right after I moved home my sweet mother happy to have her youngest child back in the house for a few months said, I did your laundry for you…. The shirt was fine. The signatures were gone. Sad day lol.

[@CriticalReactions]

Daaaang dude. That sucks about the shirt. I keep hearing good stuff about Fortress and Kezia though so I guess I should give PtH a run sometime.

[@divided123]

Still a band I often play on guitar. Also saw them a handful of times live starting when they had Nick, their singer before Nathan. A.J.’s progression on the guitar was wild. I had never seen someone improve so much in so little time.

[@5jd1]

that bridge man, "the struggle to get by" epic!

[@janeg6759]

I just listened to Digital Veil again and I just absolutely love it. I can’t pick a favorite. I really like this pick of yours too and have more appreciation for it knowing the meaning behind it. I haven’t really delved deep into their lyrics. I liked that you picked your pick for the theme and did analysis also.

[@CriticalReactions]

Nathan Ells is a wonderful poet and the lyrics in the first two albums are fantastic, with the second album being the highlight for me. Digital Veil took a small dip but I still enjoy some lines here and there -- though it made up for it with the musicality and composition. If I had to pick a favorite from Digital Veil it would most likely be Antebellum -- the sonnet format is utilized well here and the entire bridge is amazing!

[@janeg6759]

@@CriticalReactions I agree with antebellum and Digital Veil was my first exposure and holds a special place for me nostalgia wise. I definitely am going to revisit Nocturne and listen to Midheaven as I have not yet. Thanks for sharing. I’m really glad you finally had them on the channel.

[@leandrometfan]

Love the more relaxed approach you gave to this video Bryan. I guess i'd like more videos where you know the song and just want to show some interesting stuff.

[@CriticalReactions]

Thanks. I'll keep that in mind moving forward and might revisit this concept.

[@cheeser164]

Nocturne and Colors were formative albums for me in my teens. Really opened me up into different styles of metal. So glad I got to see the Human Abstract live before they broke up (with Periphery, no less!)

[@Artmos]

Same for me and I would include the albums Kezia and Fortress by Protest The Hero, just so much good metal around that time

[@cheeser164]

@Artmos absolutely, PTH was huge as well

[@CriticalReactions]

Holy cow! THA plus Periphery is a killer show! I had tickets to see THA with Dir en Grey (promoting Midheaven and Ouroboros, respectfully) but contracted Mono that week and lied in bed on the brink of death instead.... That was the last time THA came anywhere near my town unfortunately.

[@cheeser164]

@CriticalReactions that's tragic, man. Those guys didn't miss a note live, incredible musicians. Contortionist was there as well. Very awesome show

[@alexdennison3136]

One of my all time favorite songs ever. Reminds me of junior year highschool Halloween lol

[@kevinfitz1712]

Digital veil was such an amazing album, but most of us found THA with Crossing the Rubicon due to them having a music video on a compilation album from hot topic back in the day. That was my intro to them, at least. Those were the days.

[@CriticalReactions]

I discovered them being played on the 1 hour of metal that my local radio station did each week. It was 11pm on a Saturday and I just happened to have the radio on coming home from work and I had to pull over and really listen because that opening blew my socks off. I think randomly finding them on a compilation disk would be just as mind blowing :)

[@CargoManshark]

One of the first songs i NEEDED to learn on guitar. This is my favorite human abstract song as well.

[@CriticalReactions]

EXACTLY! I was never much of a technical guitarist but I did end up leaning the opening, verse, and some of the chorus for this track. It was super sloppy but I was still proud of it.

[@5jd1]

I usually play crossing the rubicon, but this album is incredible!

[@gabrielmoraesnieto4520]

The Human Abstract is one of the bests bands I've ever listened to. Fact. Protest the Hero too! It would be sick to hear a new album by THA.

[@metalhead2536]

This band's albums and Corelia's Nostalgia were ones that I just randomly found and was blown away by not having heard of them. If THA had more albums they'd be 100% my favourite overalll, it's really too bad.

[@jonathanhenderson9422]

Heard of this band but never heard them. This was definitely rad. Even for a genre like metalcore I got burnt out on I still thoroughly enjoyed this... probably the combination of vocal hooks, memorable riffs, and enough variety to keep my attention. Will definitely be putting them high on the bands to check out list. I will say that it's always awesome to hear about songs (or films, books, etc.) that had a profound impact on someone. I think those are always "right place, right time, right mindset" type of things and it's impossible to replicate unless someone else was in that same situation. For me it was the anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion. I found that series at a very dark, depressed time in my life and that series really captured what it's like to feel like you're up against a world that's crushing you while surrounded by people who don't really get you and don't care--at least not how you want them to. It appropriately ends with an apocalypse in which the only thing left to do is to find a way to live and change. It's a pretty harrowing experience if you really sympathize with the protagonists, but I also understand people for whom it completely bounces off of. I don't know if any music has ever really hit me in the same way. Music has always been more of my comforting home, and the music that's inspired me has usually just been stuff that got me out of my comfort zone like Opeth did with learning to appreciate growls and different vocal styles. Once I got past them I found it so much easier to approach any other kind of music, no matter how avant-garde or different and find the positive qualities in it. Without Opeth I don't know if I'd ever have gotten into free jazz or a lot of modern, experimental classical. I guess I could say on an abstract level that really affected how I approach a lot of things in life, more with a curious, open mind that seeks to understand rather than a closed mind that's afraid and judgmental of what's different and not understood. That theme also brings to mind 2001: A Space Odyssey, which was another formative artistic experience for me. The whole "reaching out to the monolith" (that fathomless unknown) always seemed the perfect metaphor for that theme.

[@CriticalReactions]

Totally agree wit the "triple right" concept. I know for a fact that I wouldn't have latched onto that first THA album the way I did had I found it a year or two earlier and the same is true if somehow I didn't discover it until today. In fact, the more I think about this idea of yours the more it seems accurate for most of the albums I hold closest to my heart. Evangelion is one of those cultural landmark artworks that somehow I've never watched despite knowing that I *should* and that I'll most likely enjoy it. I need to get around to it one of these days though.

[@jonathanhenderson9422]

@@CriticalReactions The whole "triple right" thing is another aspect that makes art so incredibly subjective. I could name so many works that I think I found either too early to really appreciate or too late to really love. I do know there's some science on this subject about how the art you find in your teens tends to make a much bigger impression due a combination of various developmental psychological factors. It's why most people's favorite music is usually stuff they discovered in their teens. As for Evangelion, if you do ever watch it let me know. I spent a few years obsessively analyzing and discussing that series and I dare say I'm one of the top dozen-or-so experts on it in the US at least.

[@flippypwa978]

this, is faust 0.5 ahah. Faust is my go to showing ppl the human abstract. this makes sence to me since i didnt get to heard early stuff b4 digital veil :)

[@musiclover01ization]

This song was nice to listen to. I knew of The Human Abstract but I had never listened to a song until now. It's a cool song. Not what I normally listen to but it's good.

[@moodmusic4life]

I just listened to your darkest hour deliver us analysis and you saying it was heavier than your normal listens for two years ago, sheesh. Hope you listen to more darkest hour especially ethereal drain, fire in the skies, these fevered times

[@5jd1]

holy fuck man, you just mentioned hail the sun too?? mannnn, what a band, and to perform vocals while drumming? obv course that's changed now but still!!

[@dc.8049]

You should do Born of Osiris - Abstract Art

[@hedlund]

Fuck me I wish these dudes had kept musicing.

[@CriticalReactions]

I'm totally on board with both the wish and the use of music as a verb :)

[@tylerbox7867]

The Human Abstract is one of my favorite bands wish they had a better run.

[@CriticalReactions]

It's such a shame that things turned out the way they did. 3 amazing albums with 3 totally different line-ups across 3 different genres is no small feat. I'll always wish they had a chance to keep going but I'm also happy knowing they had a near flawless run and ended on a high note (if you ignore the Moonlight Sonata single).

[@ignoblesavage5559]

Why do people forget that Kobe was less efficient because he played in what was the toughest era to score all-time? Nevermind the fact that by age 26 his shooting hand was mangled all to hell (& he refused to get surgery bc he didnt want to miss games). He fractured and refractured the hand & fingers, had multiple dislocations, and all kinds of torn ligaments. But mostly, he just played in the tougher era for longer than LBJ. It's why i dont compare numbers straight across the board. Same with scoring numbers. Kobe's 35.4 ppg season was 35.6% of his team's points, and 36.5% of the league average for teams. Only Wilt ever surpassed that. So, Kobe scored more points vs. tougher defense, but we're going to squabble over the difference in field goal % of a forward vs. a true shooting guard? OF COURSE KBB will have the lower fg%. His position in the triangle offense pretty much dictated that he take shots from further out. He also had Shaq clogging up tge lane for the first 8 years of his career. Lastly, Kobe 100% was the only player on his teams from 99-13 who could create and make a tough shot with time running out (or when down late in games), so yes, he took tougher shots more often. IF we were to compare LBJ on that aspect, since he left Cleveland the 1st time, he has always had other players who can do the same, as well or better than he could. Doesnt .ake him a lesser player, just allows him to be choosier abt hos shots.

[@deathbyvideo1620]

I love this band. Such a shame that they disbanded so early

[@CriticalReactions]

Totally agree. All 3 albums are perfect, albeit for different moods. I can't imagine what they would have went on to create had they not fallen apart.

[@evergreen_monster]

A band I couldn't quite get 20 years ago, and still can't, but funnily enough, for completely different, almost opposite, reasons (too mathy/technical back then, too simple/cringey now). Interesting how perspectives change, but the end result is unfortunately the same: this song/band is not made for me, and the ending was not spectacular in the slightest (again, for my taste). Also interesting you brought Deliverance up: that ending is just sweet, sweet candy for my ears though hahaha Guess we'll have to agree to disagree lol I love your enthusiasm about it though. But at the end of the day this is what happens with formative -anything (in this case music)-, in the sense that we attribute way more to it that it genuinely (possibly) has, and we just let the emotional/nostalgic side of us take the front seat for a while. It feels so good too haha

[@localwizard8704]

please react to pg.lost! Super awesome post rock band

[@ryanschindler923]

Always loved the musicianship in this band but the vocals weren't my cup of tea. But it's easy to see how you seen similarities between these guys and some early BTBAM. I think i just liked the heavier edge to BTBAM.

[@CriticalReactions]

You might want to revisit them with their last album, Digital Veil. They got a new vocalists who does better harshes than this vocalist did and they shifted to death metal as a base rather than metalcore.

[@calabothegrt]

no one knows this song? pfft kids

[@5jd1]

also man, you've talked a lot about being a writer in this vid, your a music writer, i'm a music writer, add me and DM and lets do an online jam some time! get a groove on!!

[@CriticalReactions]

Hey dude! I checked out Armageddon - 123BPM and enjoyed that. You have a knack for strong production and there were some interesting ideas in there like the skipping beat/groove.

[@musiclover01ization]

This song was nice to listen to. I knew of The Human Abstract but I had never listened to a song until now. It's a cool song. Not what I normally listen to but it's good.