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I've been rediscovering Devin Townsend lately. A few years back I wasn't really into his stuff and Addicted was too poppy for my taste. I should probably listen to it again and pick this up in the meantime.

Ghost? A dip in quality? What!? You're talking crazy.

Yeah, this album is cool and all, but honestly what Addicted had going for it was how it pretended to be a stripped down album. This lacks that fake straight-forwardness. What makes Addicted a modern classic isn't present on this album.

And the fact that you list Effervescent as a killing track is a joke. It's a 43 second choir tuning their voices. What the fuck.

Oh, and don't get me wrong I do like this album. Kingdom, More, Lucky Animals are all amazing. And some other tracks I don't remember off the top of my head hit it out of the park as well. Lucky Animals is great due to the last third of that track being absolutely sick, before the chorus kicks back in. The lighter affairs like Where We Belong and Save Our Now are top notch Devy and Anneke.

Good review. My opinion of this album has grown stronger with repeat listens. Best song in my mind is Grace. Just an amazing anthem for being alive.

+1

what a great track

Yes, I get that a lot.



Fwah, I call foul on this claim and volley it on account of it being, in turn, a joke!!

As for the Wtf which I interpret as a question even without the standard punctuation:

(1) I am a complete sucker fanboy when it comes to well made choir/acapella music.

(2) From the first time I heard Effervescent I was just struck by awesomesauce, thinking that "Oh gheesh if the intro is this brilliant with the catchy melody line and uplifting mood, how good will the full songs be" and I still get this feeling, even putting it on repeat on my mp3-player. To me, all that becomes that much more impressive when considering that it is only 43 seconds long! How often do tracks like that come along? Almost never.

(3) I am a complete sucker fanboy when it comes to well made choir/acapella music.

Beyond that, can't help ya beyond asserting that said listing is anything but a joke.

Obv you don't grind much. And I guess if you're a huge a capella fan than maybe it would be something, but to me it's an intro as unnecessary as most others.

I'm sorry but I thought this album tries way to hard to be another Addicted. Kingdom and More! were good songs but the rest...meh. Plus Addicted is the only album out of the lot I liked, but then again I'm more in the SYL camp when it comes to Devin.

I really like the intro as well and found I tend to skip it a lot less than the usual instrumental/symphonic fare. To be honest I had it stuck in my head since watching the pre-release trailer . I was actually a bit disappointed that it did not segue to Liberation.

Great review on the album, which I'd rate a solid 80. Also, for just "demos", the bonus CD is awesome as well (and the album version to get IMO). It's a bit closer to Ki in atmosphere, with some songs flirting with Deconstruction, like Socialized and Woah No!. The songs are surprisingly well fleshed out IMO and it would have been a shame not to release them.

Didn't really like this much. I want more Ki and Ghost, not more Addicted :-(

I hate the way this album starts. I almost didn't get to the good stuff. The "I love you, I need you" crap is almost unbearable and I listen to Anathema. There is some good stuff though, but Kingdom is a remake and I only like maybe four other songs on this CD. I agree that Addicted was a classic because of the stripped down aspect. I think, as I usually do, that Devin way overproduces things and would do himself some good to tone it down a little on occasion. It is a grower though and it's worth a listen if you like Devin. I am more looking forward to the new Ziltoid now though. Anneke is amazing as usual. Too bad her solo stuff doesn't touch the new Gathering material. I think the review was good, but I'm just not into the same things. DTP material has always been hit or miss for me and I usually end up only liking about half the album.

^ what he said

I, too am looking forward to the new Ziltoid. I have a rather hard time sitting through an entire DTP album.

I love this album, but I am also looking foward to Ziltoid. I think Devy is ready to switch gears a bit and get back to heavier (and stranger) material.

This album is brilliant. Made even more brilliant by the bonus CD full of so-called "demos." Just an outstanding collection of tunes.

Does anyone have the vinyl bonus track, "Epicloud?" If so, hook a brotha up! I'm not buying an expensive record for one track. Haha. Especially when it's apparently just a meandering instrumental.

So the bonus tracks are good? I just picked up the special edition yesterday (didnt even know it existed) and haven't listened to them yet. Got my original copy as a part of the VIP package for Dallas, otherwise I would have went straight for that.

Yeah, it's really good. It's kind of a wide range of styles, which may turn some people off. "Believe" is all nice and folky; "Quietus" and "Heatwave" are in the vein of Ki; "Whoa No!" and "Socialization" are more like SYL stuff.

But I'd say most of the tracks are reminiscent of Ki in some way. As they're demo, I think most are just stripped down and have that vibe. Of course, Devin's demos sound better than most bands' albums, so...

If you dig all his solo stuff, like a lot of his fans do, then you should totally love it. ITunes also have two bonus demo tracks—"Cry Forever" and "Take My Ego"—that are well work grabbing for the $2.