Originally Posted by: RaskolnikovAs a lyricist and as somebody who listens to more than the solos, I have to disagree.

By far, Are You Dead Yet? is BY FAR their most interesting work from a rhythmic perspective and I think the toned down guitar and keyboard work was necessary to complement that.

Perhaps you didn't mean this, but I've gathered the idea that you're assuming that all I care about in music are solos, which is far from true. If you really want, I can name bands that I like that don't even do guitar solos... since that's not the point of this topic I'll spare yout though.

By far, Are you dead yet is the least innovative and least creative thing they've released. Like Jolly, I too adhere to their older stuff since there was far more thought and care about the musical value involved. Now all they have is watered down, easily digested, chunky power chords. And being "interesting" doesn't mean it's good or remotely exciting and toned down guitars and keyboards (as well as every other instrument in the given band) tend to cause that as a side effect.