Also, this was the third metal album I ever bought, and I cannot think of a better way to start.

While I do respect your opinion I whole-heartedly disagree. Are they a young and inexperienced band? Sure. Are they unprofessional? Not in the slightest bit. I think too much has been lost in this new era of progressive music. Bands such as Dream Theater and Between the Buried and Me have created such a stigma for “professional” playing that having a little bit of fun in songs is seen as “unprofessional”. Personally, I never want to listen to a band who takes themselves too seriously. I want a band who lives for their music and feels what they play. PIE exemplifies that. This is a band that enjoys what they do and wants nothing more than to create music for the masses and just plain ol’ have fun. Go ahead. Compare them to BTBAM. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind the compliment. These guys have what it takes to do great things.

On a side note, listen to BTBAM’s old stuff. It does not even compare to albums such as Alaska, Colors, and The Great Misdirect. They grew as musicians as they got older and became influenced by bands as they grew, such as Dream Theater (which the influence can easily be seen after they toured with them). So the fact that the 20-somethings from PIE are drawing comparisons to BTBAM after their EP makes me incredibly thrilled to see what they do in the future.

And one other side note. I don’t remember there being rules to progressive music. I think that is the whole beauty of it. If you want to write a song with lyrics about nothing and rap them, then go on ahead and do it. If you want to create a muddled mix of 10 second snippets of music and put it into a 9 minute song, then go for it. Progressive is the best genre because of the simple fact that it isn’t a genre. It isn’t confined to rules and regulations to abide by. Anything goes at anytime.

One last side note. I love BTBAM and Dream Theater very much so I don’t want the first point to be misconstrued that they are too professional and don’t have any fun. They obviously do.

MMMMMMMM, PIE.

Hands down.. best band i’ve heard since veil of maya

They ARE a young and inexperienced band (most or all band members are under TWENTY I believe), cut them some slack. The rap section is a bit much for my taste as well, and I think it is risky to put a “joke” at the beginning of one of your songs when you are a new band and still searching for an identity. Many people may not get “the joke,” and using the word “nigga” in your rhymes is just plain ridiculous when the entire band is composed of suburban white kids.

That aside, the band has MOUNTAINS of talent. When they focus their sound instead of just using every single cool thing they can think of per track, the result is going to be nothing short of amazing. Even now while lacking a bit of focus, they are original, creative and technically great. I’m from Long Island as well, and really looking forward to future shows from P.I.E as well as releases.

Personally joke or not, I don’t want to hear rapped lyrics that have nothing to say other than “look how funny it is to rap this stuff”. To me it seems unprofessional and something a young inexperienced band would do.

If my opinion made you guys that crazy maybe the ignorance isn’t coming from my end at all.

I simply choose not to listen to this particular band that’s my choice, if you don’t like it uh…tough luck I guess.

I hated the rap shit at the begining of skylines, but it didn’t ruin the entire band for me. I don’t care if it was a joke or not.

Other than that I’d look forward to another cd. hopefully without jokes or at least saved for an extra hidden track so I don’t have to listen to that at all.

But as a whole, their “compositions” are such dogshit. It’s as if they compiled 100 different ideas, separated them randomly into 3 piles, and then turned each pile into a “song”. PIE doesn’t have its own sound. Their music is an unfocused, incoherent mish-mash of ideas that make prior pioneers of genre-salad-surgery (Unexpect, BTBAM with their latest efforts, etc) look like pop artists by comparison.

If they held on to their better ideas and expanded on them with coherent motifs, weeding out things like excessive forced chugging sections that plague and define every ‘technical/progressive deathcore’ band out there today, perhaps they could come up with something worthwhile.

2009’s releases from Into the Moat, Starring Janet Leigh, A Textbook Tragedy, among others are examples of how to make smart technical metal/hardcore music that is progressive, but focused.

Focus–it’s what this band lacks.

P.I.E makes pretty much every big-name scene act look like a fuckin’ joke, and I’ll say that this EP is the only metal material that I’ve spun since I gotten ahold of it on its online release date. It’s smart, fresh, and exactly what we needed.

*As a final note too, if you are discarding your interest or P.I.E’s talent because of the beginning rap section of “Skylines”, then you are genuinely a critical, close-minded and elitist douchefuck