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I’m excited to delve into everyone’s thoughts and reactions concerning this album! Here are some of my instant thoughts after listening and don't forget to listen to the official concept album versions now so the cast can get their royalties!

Suffering

Ok, so was anyone else thinking of that boat scene from Anastasia when you heard this song lol?

After the last song in The Underworld Saga, this was kind of a whiplash for me because it ends so seriously in the last song then it feels kind of beachy here? 😂

That quickly changes in the next song

I wonder what those clacks in the background are and if they represent anything?

At the end, I definitely imagine Odysseus beckoning the siren pretending to be Penelope onto the ship then turning against her. I can’t wait to see if there are any animations that represent this or whether they had a different visual scene playing out 

Different Beast

It’s interesting how this could be a villain song and sounds like one, especially when the sirens begin begging to be spared and we get a description of what Odysseus does to them

YIKES TO WHAT HE DOES TO THEM

It’s a dark kind of irony that he gives out orders to make sure they drown like they do to sailors

I think the sound mixing for the sirens once they start getting killed is really good because it’s horrifying, but it’s not too much. The sirens also sound very highly-pitched and unearthly 

It’s ironic to me that what allows Odysseus to get out with all his men safely in that situation with Circe is mercy but the trip to the underworld kind of made him forget that? Understandably because there have been so many situations where being merciful was not a great choice (the Polyphemus one I think haunts Odysseus the most because it wasn’t just Polyphemus killing his crew, but also Poseidon later on)

Scylla

This was the song I was most excited for and I love how this also begins as this kind of siren song where Scylla sounds so lovely then she starts killing and reveals her true form

“Bleed till you’ve run out of years” is probably my favorite line in this song

Scylla singing directly to Odysseus at the end is a haunting acknowledgement between two monsters

Mutiny

Eurylochus dies because of hunger, something he brought concerns about to Odysseus in the very first saga (“We’ve run out of supplies to eat”), but there’s such futility in it because he feels damned if he does by offending Helios and damned if he doesn’t since they’ll starve anyways

The combo of melodies (no idea if this is the right term 😂) from Luck Runs Out and Polyphemus is a fantastic way to bring Eurylochus full circle and also to warn us of the danger ahead (I bet that Polyphemus reminder added to the feeling of dread as the song progresses)

Odysseus screaming, “I can’t” in response to Eurylochus demanding to know if he knew Scylla would kill his men is such a good way to test how fleshed out the characters are and what we think their motivations are. From Odysseus’s perspective, I don’t think he can say anything because there is no justification he could give for paying that toll and from Eurylochus’s perspective, this is another instant of Odysseus turning away from all the loss and not even apologizing for it

That little “I’m just a man” at the end of Eurylochus’s part oof

The callback to Full Speed Ahead is also chef’s kiss

Thunder Bringer

I love the beginning of this song so much. The cheers in particular in the background or whatever that backing vocal track is is my favorite part because of course the god of thunder, Zeus, would have people cheering/backing him up when he sings

I’m super curious to go back to Zeus in The Horse and the Infant to see if there was anything carried over from that (I do remember the sound of thunder being used to introduce Zeus in that song that’s also in Thunder Bringer)

As people were pointing out when clips of Thunder Bringer were first uploaded, the choice to have Zeus use this euphemism of saving a “damsel” and “undressing her” feels accurate to the original stories of his treatment of women

Once again, Odysseus is caught between a rock and a hard place with Zeus and begs the god, “Please don’t make me do this.” Like in The Horse and the Infant, Zeus makes him choose. This whole terrible road trip has been nothing but Odysseus making hard choices and having to live with them, but Odysseus still had his crew and the hope that he would return to his family the same as he was. Now he loses his crew and has also accepted that he’s not coming home as the man that left