Maniac Ramblings of an Antimai Enjoyer
Hi hihHhii okay so. I (one of the ops of this account) did a sin called going on Twitter and doom scrolled for around 3 hours because I didn’t want to do my essay in like December last year. I have been seething for a month now with the Twitter’s cruelness to Antimai so I am now going to crucify myself in the name of Antimai. Or… here is my opinion/review of Antimai. BY NO MEANS IS THIS AN OFFICAL REVIEW!! (it's also barely peer read, it really is ramblings)
Basic rankings:
C - LoTown.
B - Poverty, Industry, Luxury and Nature.
A - Middle Class and Patrol.
S- Tower.
The whole album opinion
Love this album. I’m one of the newbies to The Dear Hunter, so this was the first full album I listened to (maybe Act V first? I don’t remember). I thought it was incredibly groovy and I love the concert/brass instruments when done correctly - which it definitely was here! I love a mixture of genres, pace and themes in music too, Antimai hitting all of those boxes very nicely. One of my favourite things to think about for this album is the pronoun usage, but that is because I’m incredibly excited for Sunya and like to look to see what narrative could be transferred over to the next album. My overall rating? Like 9/10, I would never do my dishes without Antimai. It only loses one point because I can never escape Patrol.
Ring 8 - Poverty
Preface for all the other songs, Imma say they all SLAP me real good, love them, 10/10. Poverty, while I don’t find any absolute melting love for the lyrics alone, the way they are set up is honestly brain melting. I highly enjoy how the song flows, especially the chorus with the instrumental, some gnarly music mixin’ there and I tip the hat to the funny dear men for that one. The music alone however, is something to appreciate fully. I always thought the tone of the music did not match the tone of the lyrics and that was odd to me - am I mad about it? No :). I love how jazzy and involuntarily dancy the music is and I can’t help but do a lil boogie… even if I’m on the edge of a mental breakdown from having to read my fourth short story in 3 days!
Ring 7 - Industry
Pretty whacky boy here. It gives a good idea of how important technology is to Antimai though - since there is a whole ring dedicated to industrial business. I am incredibly neutral on the actual sound of this song? I can say I do enjoy it when I listen to it, but I don’t always pull an experience from it like I do with some of the other tracks on this album. One thing I always remember is how much I love the delivery of the line “you were up in the pantheon,” it brings me joy and I don’t know why, let me live in brain rot I beg. This song lore wise is very important for setting up the rest of the album. Middle class, Patrol and Luxury wouldn’t have the same level of understanding if we lacked Industry. In conclusion on this one since my thoughts on it is clearly a disorganised mess, I think it has a very nice sound to it, still down to get funky with the sound and it’s a doormat for the rest of the album to welcome you in.
Ring 6 - LoTown
My least favourite out of the whole album. Doesn’t mean I hate it, just kinda?? Wow?? Farm people?? Epic?? Slammin trumpets though and the held note at the end is executed immaculately. I am obviously a biassed person and I’ll admit I have a slight bias against slower songs - that could be why it is marked so low in my mind. One kudo I will give to this song is the build-up and release between verses-chorus, always makes a song so much more enjoyable when some dynamic spice is added.
Ring 5 - Middle Class
I love this song to death, I have one gripe with it. It scares the ever living shit out of me whenever it randomly comes on when I have shuffle on. This song is a fresh ass gold mine when it comes to analysing lyrics. Almost all of the lyrics in this song have double meanings and important shards of lore that we need to put together to truly uncover what Antimai is. For literal, in world meanings, the Middle Class lets us see into the culture of Antimai directly; we get insight on how the religion functions in practice, the exploitation of it and the labour of all the people below Ring 5. For the double meaning and reflection on the real world, it can apply to a lot of the middle class people who are living in some form of comfortable privilege. The music to the song is also just a full jam session so it’s always a funky little time when that part comes around, love the grooves!!
Ring 4 - Patrol
If I could meet God face to face, full eye contact I would ask one thing only. To be freed of the beginning riff of this accursed song. I could be in full meltdown sobbing time and this stupid song comes on and I feel the scraps of amusement I can muster taking over my body in the form of the happiest disappointment. Most people feel it is a very “slap you in the face” type of song. The lyrical meanings are literally thrown at your feet, and it’s not much of a analytical exercise in regards to theme, but I forgive it because I feel as though I’m in a 80s-90s mall and the damn mall cop is following me around because I have the audacity to wear a backpack into Winners or something. The song does however finally introduce one of the biggest themes of Antimai - which is p o w e r !!!! and subsequently, the power of power (in regards to corruption). I think using an officer going down this path as the literary tool to display this is a smart move - especially in the language switch between choruses. While this individual has gained power, they also lost their identity, only referring to themself as “we” towards the end. Great song, love that stupid melody even if it does haunt me when I’m trying to focus in my grown up college classes.
Ring 3 - Luxury
The absolute unit of this song. The power it holds in single handedly parting this fandom like its the red sea. I am on the side of … it’s alright? I can slightly agree with a lot of the people not enjoying the first part of luxury (Hall of the Guides?? I guess?). I however, think a fast paced, word vomiting verse is very fitting for the people Casey is trying to show us. These people (more like… gross “not snails or robots” things)... are horrible, they have no regard for the safety of the people below them. A rap is perfect for a type of meeting between people who plan to dilute themselves further into a greedy madness - any other type of genre would feel too slow or soft. To me the chorus of the first part also slaps hard and I wanna boogie to it. The second part is where things look up in my opinion. I love the smoothness that contrasts the first part - while still egotistical and straight discriminatory towards the lower classes, it presents itself differently; The way the lyrics are sung almost remind me of how the lyrics in Tower seem to flow into each other. Personally I have not analysed The Cream of the Crop too much lyrically, I just really love that one small part just before the outro cha-cha slide like imposter… I can’t help but feel like I have my head out of a window, moving at rapid speeds and going somewhere!! Where?? IDK!! The lyrics tell me not to!! (Add-on, also interesting at the use of very aggressive cussing?? The dear boys don’t use that language too often in the music, so it’s a little important to show how these not snail or robot things just really suck ass.)
Ring 2 - Nature
oooOOoohoh talking treeesssss,,.,. I do love this song though. It is short and sweet compared to the unit of the last song, but it tells the story it needs to tell. This one I’m focusing more on the tone of music and the thematic importance of this song. Nature definitely really fits the theme it laid down for itself. The music feels like I’m in a forest or some prairie type setting and a feeling of belonging and harmony (especially at the beginning), it’s just a cozy song! The theme is the key importance to this song however, explaining the nature of humans and how we exploit resources for unjustified reasons. I argue this song is very peaceful for the most part, but I swear this song hosts the most menacing line to ever exist. The outro is very well done, but the lyrics and how they are sung feels definitely like there is a horrible, ominous presence above them - and it will hurt you. IT IS NOT NO WORRIES AND THERE IS NO LAUGHTER. Considering what bitch we’re about to be introduced to, I say it’s a good vibe to end it on.
Ring 1 - Tower
So when I first listened to Tower on July like… fourth, I have been consumed. My immediate impression was that this lil rich kid singing to me right now was trying to be a Regina George wannabe and writing his unchecked power high in his dream diary with a pink gel pen with a fuzzy pom-pom on the end of the pen, probably owns some rare monster high collectable dolls or something. I am incredibly biassed when it comes to loving this song - I am weak in the knees to queer coded villains and this man was oozing and dripping LGBTQIA+ vibes - while simultaneously seeming like the biggest homophobe ever - I beg of you to relisten to Tower with the lens of queer, no one says power like that who isn’t into BDSM. Moving on past bashing the emperor of Antimai viciously, the song itself is important thematically - as well as the way the song sounds. Tower is already a song built off of an important motif from The Indigo Child - which already makes me think we have an argument behind the abuse of religion and the abandoning (?? in some places ??) of religion (in some people) back to either this current Emperor or others before him (I am referencing verse 3 mostly). I also see this song as a slight foil to other songs, as mentioned in a review done by another person (James Fenny) It has a very different sound than the rest of them. The other songs use brass and concert instruments as the main sound, while Tower is almost solely based in synths - excluding the outro. It could not be important to any overall story, but I do think that fact is quite neat and it makes me love Tower a little more… it stands out musically and literally.