?'s 50 favorite pieces of music by DT v. We have a winner, goodbye to your liver

[MoraWintersoul]

I'd say strike Octavarium from that, and add in Eve, and I'd be down for that.

Yup. Also, you haven't had SDV yet?

[?]

Also, you haven't had SDV yet?

You should've looked more carefully

48. Overture 1928/Strange Deja Vu

Anyway, here's 10 songs that almost made it to my list, you could call these honorable mentions (in chronological order):

Don't Look Past Me
Peruvian Skies
Hollow Years
One Last Time
Misunderstood
As I Am
Endless Sacrifice
Wither
Lost Not Forgotten
Outcry

[countoftuscany42]

^thinking he meant space dye vest

[?]

^Thinking you meant "she"

[countoftuscany42]

touche  too early in the morning for me to think straight. well 1 pm, but whatever 

[Unlegit]

Crazy update. I would rank all those songs pretty highly as well.

[Ben_Jamin]

I also listed AMBI as one...its #12 on my list.

[?]

I also listed AMBI as one...its #12 on my list.

Well, it's been a while since you posted your list so I couldn't remember. Anyway, for that - I'm surprised more people haven't listed it as one.

We're entering my top 5 and some of your guesses were right indeed, I'm so predictable! Blob's gonna love these picks so don't forget your drinks:

5. Scarred

Scarred is another diverse song: there's a striking contrast between the jazzy intro and the heavy part that starts after 2 minutes, and the song goes through many twists and turns after that as well. Not everyone likes it because of that but I enjoy the wide dynamics and it also fits the varying moods of the lyrics. Scarred is one of James' strongest vocal performances, he manages to sound aggressive but also very smooth. The climax of the song is the instrumental section, thanks to the excellent solos by Kevin and JP, and the outro with the nice string melody is a worthy closure for this awesome tune.

4. Eve

What to write about this song? Eve is about as ambient as DT ever got and its relaxing peacefulness is pretty different from anything else they've done. I just love the otherworldly and beautiful atmosphere this song creates - DT haters should listen to it before calling their music soulless wankery.

3. A Change of Seasons

This masterpiece needs no introduction: A Change of Seasons is a fan-favorite for a good reason. Despite its 23-minute length it manages to feel like one song, which is something a few of DT's later epics have failed at. MP's lyrics are heartfelt and Derek made some great contributions to this song musically. The absolute climax is Another World: the "I'm sick of all you hypocrites..." part and the following solo are some of the most emotionally intense music I've ever heard! ACOS is simply wonderful - you can hear that they spent a lot of time honing it and I think it deserved to be a release of its own. TBH I don't listen to the whole thing that often but everytime I do I'm blown away so it's definitely worth a top 3 spot on my list.

2. Wait for Sleep/Learning to Live

Wait for Sleep is one of the most beautiful songs of all time: in 2½ minutes it manages to evoke more emotions in me than some songs can do in dozens of minutes. Kevin's beautiful piano playing and James' emotional delivery make this song stand out and it would be in my top 10 even on its own. However, the listening experience is even more amazing when you listen to Learning to Live afterwards. Not a lot needs to be said about that song, I'm sure 99% of you understand its awesomeness already. Basically any moment could be the best one in another song, but the biggest highlight has to be the legendary F#5 and the following solo... or maybe the final verse and the outro? I CAN'T DECIDE! All in all, WFS and LTL are pure perfection and they're beaten by just one song which is...










1. Gangnam Wither (feat. PSY)

Nah, just kidding - I'll reveal my actual #1 tomorrow so stay tuned!



Also, in addition to the honorable mentions that I revealed yesterday, I can tell you that ITPOE1 would make my top 20 on its own but in the end I decided against splitting ITPOE into two.

[BlobVanDam]

Oh yeah, you know me well. I wouldn't rank any of those close to my top 50.


Except for Gangnam Wither.





j/k I've never even heard Gangnam Style.

[?]

Well, it's good that I'm not the only predictable person!

You're lucky if you haven't heard Gangnam Style - I managed to avoid it for surprisingly long but I guess it was inevitable that I would end up hearing it...

[Lolzeez]

Six Degrees. Nuff said.

[Zydar]

Learning To Live

[wasteland]

Love

Number one will be entropy times an infinitesimal element of volume

[?]

Number one will be entropy times an infinitesimal element of volume

Reading that sentence made my head hurt!

[wasteland]

Number one will be entropy times an infinitesimal element of volume

Reading that sentence made my head hurt!

And misreading this sentence made me think I had somehow turned your head into a heart 

[MoraWintersoul]

Ville, your top is so close to mine, it's scary.

[Unlegit]

AMAZING batch. Great to see Eve get some love.

[?]

Number one will be entropy times an infinitesimal element of volume

Reading that sentence made my head hurt!

And misreading this sentence made me think I had somehow turned your head into a heart 

Ville, your top is so close to mine, it's scary.

Don't worry, I can't read other people's minds... yet.

[Nekov]

Eve is kind of a surprise there. The others while I may not agree with the position in the list I understand them being top 10.

[Ben_Jamin]

I see you also paired WFS and LTL, awesome.

[GasparXR]

I suppose you could say it's a ? as to what the #1 could be.

[Ruba]

Scarred is abs...

*sees Blob and runs*

Numbers 3 and 2 are DT at their best. Definately.

[?]

WARNING: The following writeup is extremely long but I just wanted to tell you why I think the following song is the best piece of music DT have ever put out.

1. Space-Dye Vest

Not the most typical favorite DT song but at least a few of you could see this coming. Why is Space-Dye Vest my #1? Well, the thing is, my love for atmospheric and dark music has grown bigger and bigger in the past couple of years - I do still love DT but progginess and technicality aren't the most important things to me anymore and I've gained more appreciation for songs like this and Eve. Space-Dye Vest has all the aspects I love in music, there's darkness, sadness and atmosphere but also a LOT of power: just listen to 2.39 and 4.33 and tell me those moments aren't climactic! The whole song is also very piano-driven and I the sound of piano, 3.55 is one of the most beautiful piano melodies I've ever heard.

SDV has divided opinions because of the samples but, as said on this board before, they're supposed to represent the loneliness of the protagonist who is just flipping through channels on TV with nothing else to do. Even the Conan sample can be justified - my interpretation is that it makes the main character think that everyone else is happy and having fun except him. Replacing or removing even one of these samples would be absolute blasphemy IMO! The darkness may also be another reason why this song causes such diverse reactions: SDV is the gloomiest DT song ever. I've always thought DT write more optimistic music than many of their peers, just take a look at the final lines of the last couple of songs in my list: "I'm learning to live", "I will live on", "I'm inspired and content" - there's often a feeling of fulfillment or hope at the end of DT songs and "I'll never be open again" is pretty different in that regard. But as I mentioned earlier, I love darkness and gloom so sad endings are never a bad thing in my eyes.

Space-Dye Vest is an unbelievably emotional and dark masterpiece with some of the most open (you read that right) and honest lyrics I've ever known - sorry if this is a cliché thing to say, but Kevin truly poured his heart and soul into this song. I love his demo version as well but I'm eternally grateful that MP thought DT could record this song, as the buildup in the DT version is one of the best ones I've ever heard. Had I not liked SDV I don't think I would've ever given OSI a chance and discovered Chroma Key after that - I would've missed some of the best music I've ever heard as a result! Anyway, I think I've rambled enough! Just put Space-Dye Vest on and let its perfection grace your ears, and don't forget to check out Kevin's post-DT works!



Thanks to everyone who followed this list and especially those who were patient enough to read the writeup above in full! And no, your eyes aren't lying - Octavarium, Six Degrees and The Spirit Carries On are not in my top 60 but 7/8 of WDADU is! I bet many of you find that weird but didn't that only make this list more interesting?

[MoraWintersoul]

I'm not alone

[Scorpion]

I knew that that had to be there. Great write-up and a great song.

[?]

I'm not alone

I knew that that had to be there. Great write-up and a great song.

Thanks!

And for those interested, here you can see how the albums were represented in my top 50 - it's pretty clear which ones are my favorites:

WDADU: 7
I&W: 7 (WFS and LTL as one)
Awake: 8 (The Mirror and Lie as one, AMBI as one)
FII: 2 (HK and LITS as one)
Scenes: 5 (O28 and SDV as one)
6D: 3
TOT: 3
8V: 3
SC: 1
BC&SL: 2
ADTOE: 5 (FFH and BAI as one)
B-sides: 3
+ACOS

bold=full album

[Nekov]

Wow! Surprising pic for number one. I like that song but not THAT much.

I'm pretty sure Blob killed himself 

[BlobVanDam]

Wow! Surprising pic for number one. I like that song but not THAT much.

I'm pretty sure Blob killed himself 

Nah, it's not like I actually listened to the song or anything. THEN I might have killed myself.

[wasteland]

A masterpiece deserving its position. Which doesn't mean I will award it the highest spot of my own top 50. Great song, great writeups, and great list overall. My compliments. 

[?]

One thing I forgot from my overlong rambling: JP's E-Bow I wish he'd use it more often, Anathema have it in many of their songs and it sounds awesome.

[Destiny Of Chaos]

This list went by quickly. Great job!

[Onno]

SDV is a masterpiece.

[Ben_Jamin]

Nice and pleasant top song.

Haha both of our top songs are probably Blob's top 2 disliked DT songs, nice coincidence.

[Lolzeez]

Excellent pick.

[?]

This list went by quickly. Great job!

Thanks! I wanted to get this done fast due to the circumstances I am in right now and I thought others would appreciate it too - I remember how annoying it was when some people were so slow to update their lists.