Devin Townsend v. Offer Your Posts

[me7]

I like Punky Brewster

[bosk1]

Just realized part of the vocal melody in Evermore is a dead ringer for the chorus in Video Killed the Radio Star. 

[cramx3]

Music video for Spirits Will Collide

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdHJurX0yVA

song is pretty awesome

My CD should be at my house when I get home today 

[NoseofNicko]

Spirits Will Collide is one of the couple of songs on the album I don't really like. But most of the rest of the album is excellent.

[Metro]

I like Spirits Will Collide. It's probably the most straightforward song on this album, and to me it feels like an outtake from Transcendence. Might be the weakest song on the album, but I do really like it. Should have been the second single after Genesis instead of Evermore.

Also, don't ignore the bonus disc for this album(Officially titled "Tests of Manhood"). There's some real gems on that disc.

[savaytse66]

Has anyone that ordered the 2LP/CD edition from Laser's Edge got a shipping notification?  I was really hoping to have mine delivered today, as the waiting has been brutal.  The temptation to listen elsewhere has been strong, but I'd really like to listen to this for the 1st time, lossless, through headphones, as DT himself suggested.

[Buddyhunter1]

Well. Uh... that was... an album.

First impressions after one listen: it's a mess. Disjointed, incredibly goofy-sounding, and very lacking in terms of memorable hooks, riffs, or melodies. And this is coming from someone who thinks Deconstruction is his best album. It feels like on each song he just sat down to write it, and never stopped until he literally could not fit in any more weird transitions, silly sound effects, and brief musical detours that come out of nowhere and don't add anything to the song.

Hear Me was pretty good.

[me7]

I discovered Devin when he released Deconstruction/Ghost. I enjoyed his back catalog but all of the new stuff he put out since hasn't intrigued me like Terria or Ziltoid...until Empath

[Nic35]

Well. Uh... that was... an album.

First impressions after one listen: it's a mess. Disjointed, incredibly goofy-sounding, and very lacking in terms of memorable hooks, riffs, or melodies. And this is coming from someone who thinks Deconstruction is his best album. It feels like on each song he just sat down to write it, and never stopped until he literally could not fit in any more weird transitions, silly sound effects, and brief musical detours that come out of nowhere and don't add anything to the song.

Hear Me was pretty good.

I thought the same after my first listen. It will grow on you. The album is amazing.

[LordCost]

First two listens today at work and I like it. I only know Ocean Machine, Deconstruction and Addicted of his previous albums, and this can easily be my second favourite behind Ocean Machine.
It's not as too much constantly heavy like Deconstruction, and when it gets full heavy like in some Singularity sections or in Hear Me I really enjoy it.

[Crow]

on first listen i dug it a lot, though it is kinda incohesive overall, but i feel like that's the point

[PixelDream]

Just two listens in and this just has to be his greatest accomplishment yet as far as I'm concerned. Looking forward to his acoustic show at the St. Bavo church in Haarlem.

[Buddyhunter1]

If you're like me and you prefer having Devin's bonus track discs as separate albums with separate album art, here's something that should work well for ya. I couldn't find a good quality image of this on the internet so I had to photoshop a couple images together myself.

[Metro]

I had somebody on the Dev subreddit photoshop the single artwork for Evermore for me to use. It kinda reminds me of a modern version of the Infinity artwork.

[Nel_Annette]

Thank you both. As soon as I looked at the back of the album and saw the second disc had its own title like Holding Patterns did, I knew I'd be looking for its own artwork. I'm also using an HD-ified version of the island artwork for the main album. I much prefer that to the simple white background.

[NunoBadmintoncourt]

Sadly, I'm just not connecting with anything on this album at all.  I just saw the new video, and.... bass playing gorilla? Elephants?? Yikes.

I think of Devin as having three sides. 1. The dark and heavy side. 2. The mellow side, which is deep and contemplative. 3. The kooky side where he's trying to show he's "not taking himself too seriously."

Side 3 is the side I can't relate to.

[cramx3]

This is a lot to digest.  I've had a couple listens, the first I was just kind of like wtf am I listening to at times, but there's just so much going on and a lot of it is interesting, I just have not been able to "get it" I guess.  Having said that, after a couple listens, I do feel like I am starting to enjoy this a lot more.  Kind of similar to the Astonishing in that regard, the music is very dense and there's not a lot of hooks that make you come back to or really remember after a listen (besides Genesis, maybe because I've heard that song the most as the first single but that chorus has become very catchy to me) but I'm getting there.  I think it's pretty good so far, not my album of the year but maybe after a bunch more listens this thing will blossom even more for me. 

[Adami]

Just bought the album but haven't listened to it yet. DID however listen to that new song he released with the weird video.


Video was VERY cool. No idea why I was so behind things like a Gorilla playing bass or elephants playing drums, but damn did it work. Even tricked me into thinking the song was just as good. However, looking back, the song is just okay. When the choir people are singing it's very cool, but I am very very sick of Dev doing the insanely layered extremely ethereal vocals on his part. I know he doesn't do them ALL the time these days, but he does them so much and they end up sounding so similar. I just am done with them. He used to do interesting vocal rhythms and cool notes, now he's just low register/screams/falsetto layers of longer notes. It's boring. I hope the rest of the album isn't quite as filled with those types of vocals as the last few albums have been.

[cramx3]

I don't know what the concept of this album is, but there's definitely animals involved, and monsters, so these music videos with all the animals kind of just feel part of it now.  Harambe playing bass, well yea it's Empath 

[Metro]

Just noticed this wonderful coincidence in my iTunes library

[twosuitsluke]

'Why?' followed by 'Borderlands' is just great. Not sure where I stand with this album yet, I'm just on my third listen, definitely enjoying it though!

[jakepriest]

'Why?' followed by 'Borderlands' is just great.

That's definitely the best part of the album for me. The rest can be hit or miss.

[cramx3]

touch me

[Elite]

Got the vinyl in the mail yesterday. Haven't taken the time to spin it, but I will do so tonight.

[twosuitsluke]

Got the vinyl in the mail yesterday. Haven't taken the time to spin it, but I will do so tonight.

Same dude. I'm going to properly experience it with the lyrics and all 

[savaytse66]

Got the vinyl in the mail yesterday. Haven't taken the time to spin it, but I will do so tonight.

Same dude. I'm going to properly experience it with the lyrics and all 

Where did you guys order from? I have the regular black version on order from Laser's Edge, but haven't even got a shipping notification.

[KevShmev]

After one listen, there are a few songs I like, but overall it sounds like a mess.  I am sure it will get better with more listens, but I haven't had this poor of a reaction to a new Devin album after listen 1 in a long time.

I am not even going to try and tackle the bonus disc yet.

[twosuitsluke]

Got the vinyl in the mail yesterday. Haven't taken the time to spin it, but I will do so tonight.

Same dude. I'm going to properly experience it with the lyrics and all 

Where did you guys order from? I have the regular black version on order from Laser's Edge, but haven't even got a shipping notification.

Mine was through Music Glue. It arrived on Saturday morning.

[DTA]

After one listen, there are a few songs I like, but overall it sounds like a mess.  I am sure it will get better with more listens, but I haven't had this poor of a reaction to a new Devin album after listen 1 in a long time.

I am not even going to try and tackle the bonus disc yet.

I think Dev is the type of musician (like Neal Morse and Steven Wilson) where is fans honestly don't care about quality and deem every thing he does as a masterpiece just because he's a cool, approachable guy. I ran through the first disc and there is literally nothing that screams masterpiece and most of it sounds like a hot pile of mishmashed garbage. I don't know how anyone can listen to this and feel any kind of emotional connection or affinity towards it. I know it's tough to critique and album after only one listen so maybe I'll rethink it after more listens (if I'm able to even make it through another play-through), but seriously, do the hardcore Devin fans really honestly like this album or does he get leeway because he's an awesome dude?

[KevShmev]

After one listen, there are a few songs I like, but overall it sounds like a mess.  I am sure it will get better with more listens, but I haven't had this poor of a reaction to a new Devin album after listen 1 in a long time.

I am not even going to try and tackle the bonus disc yet.

I think Dev is the type of musician (like Neal Morse and Steven Wilson) where is fans honestly don't care about quality and deem every thing he does as a masterpiece just because he's a cool, approachable guy. I ran through the first disc and there is literally nothing that screams masterpiece and most of it sounds like a hot pile of mishmashed garbage. I don't know how anyone can listen to this and feel any kind of emotional connection or affinity towards it. I know it's tough to critique and album after only one listen so maybe I'll rethink it after more listens (if I'm able to even make it through another play-through), but seriously, do the hardcore Devin fans really honestly like this album or does he get leeway because he's an awesome dude?

I don't think fans take that "everything they release is a masterpiece" approach with those guys.  Devin, Neal and SW all make very high quality albums on a regular basis that get high praise because they really are that good, not simply because fans want to fellate them, but Devin has Ziltoid 2 and Physicist, Neal has Lifeline, and SW (PT) has The Incident.  When they make albums that are less than great, the collective fan base is never afraid to say it. Heck, I am not the only who has been a tad underwhelmed by the new Neal Morse Band album, and a lot of SW fans weren't overly wild about To the Bone.  That said, you will always have some fans liking everything just because, just like even well-loved albums will always have a few who do not like it that much.

[Adami]

Yea I'm with Kev. Even in this thread I'm not seeing a whole lot universal praise for the new album.


In fact, the only band I see here where a lot of fans have that mentality is Dream Theater.

[Stadler]

Yea I'm with Kev. Even in this thread I'm not seeing a whole lot universal praise for the new album.


In fact, the only band I see here where a lot of fans have that mentality is Dream Theater.

Agreed; I gave Distance Over Time a positive, but measured, review, and you would have thought I said it was their worst album ever. 

[Adami]

Yea I'm with Kev. Even in this thread I'm not seeing a whole lot universal praise for the new album.


In fact, the only band I see here where a lot of fans have that mentality is Dream Theater.

Agreed; I gave Distance Over Time a positive, but measured, review, and you would have thought I said it was their worst album ever.

Yea, there's a reason I don't post on the DT side anymore.

"I Like the album"
"YAY BROTHER! YOU ARE WELCOME HERE!"
"I didn't really like the album"
"....explain this. Write many paragraphs going into extreme detail going into EXACTLY what about the album you didn't like, and if we can prove that those examples are not 100% consistent across your musical tastes, you better god damn apologize!"

[Shredzorz]

After one listen, there are a few songs I like, but overall it sounds like a mess.  I am sure it will get better with more listens, but I haven't had this poor of a reaction to a new Devin album after listen 1 in a long time.

I am not even going to try and tackle the bonus disc yet.

I think Dev is the type of musician (like Neal Morse and Steven Wilson) where is fans honestly don't care about quality and deem every thing he does as a masterpiece just because he's a cool, approachable guy. I ran through the first disc and there is literally nothing that screams masterpiece and most of it sounds like a hot pile of mishmashed garbage. I don't know how anyone can listen to this and feel any kind of emotional connection or affinity towards it. I know it's tough to critique and album after only one listen so maybe I'll rethink it after more listens (if I'm able to even make it through another play-through), but seriously, do the hardcore Devin fans really honestly like this album or does he get leeway because he's an awesome dude?

That's a bit harsh. Just because you don't like it doesn't everyone else has an ulterior motive for liking it. For the record, I think Transcendence and Sky Blue are mediocre, Epicloud is pretty poor, and Dark Matters sucks. But I love this album. There's some stuff I could take or leave, like Sprite and Hear Me, but the rest is mostly great.

[Buddyhunter1]

After repeated listens my opinion has changed from "it's a mess" to "it's decent".
A lot of the problems from my first listen are still there, but there's also a good amount of qualities that were initially overshadowed by the overwhelming goofiness.