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 Post subject: MDB-Feel the Misery
PostPosted: Mon Sep 14, 2015 6:25 am 
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Ist Krieg

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traptunderice wrote:
Album is great. We should start a thread, but how loose the song structure are and the lack of big monstrous riffs are my only two faults for the album. Maybe the loose structure just kinda works, but it irks me for now. Maybe it will give the album some legs to grow on me. I think the riff in the title track is great, but even better is the string composition in it. And yeah, the vocals are straight out of Dreadful Hours and it is amazing.


I think the primary reason the song structures frustrated me was because indeed when a big riff came along it almost immediately disappeared, though sometimes it would briefly reappear. This was a pretty jarring surprise because MDB generally is known for sticking to a good riff, if not overplaying it. I was hoping for more of the arpeggios from And My Father Left Forever too, but the guitars really take a backseat overall in performance and production, providing more texture and less punch than they did on The Dreadful Hours.

I think the song structures themselves will otherwise prove to be a net positive as I'm still discovering parts I missed from To Shiver in Empty Halls, Cold New Curse, I Celebrate your Skin, and Within a Sleeping Forest the first 6/7 times I heard them. The production, structures, and some of the lyrics even all aim for a creepy, unsettling mood, and they achieve it in a tremendous way, even if part of me would prefer the huge riff-heavy doom/death sections repeated for several minutes like from the end of the Barghest or Raven and the Rose from The Dreadful Hours.

And A Thorn of Wisdom is an experiment gone very right. Someone called that Tryptykon influenced, regardless I hope they do more of that in the future.


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 Post subject: Re: MDB-Feel the Misery
PostPosted: Mon Sep 14, 2015 9:15 am 
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You guys are really hyping this up for me, looking forward to hearing it.


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 Post subject: Re: MDB-Feel the Misery
PostPosted: Mon Sep 14, 2015 7:47 pm 
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Ist Krieg

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Glad to read that Zad.

I think I've figured out my entire source of frustration on the album. The second half of To Shiver in Empty Halls: replace that with a stomping riff and double bass, or better yet, a dose of blastbeats ala Raven and the Rose and you have something every bit as good as Dreadful Hours, still more skewed towards unsettling doom rather than blistering doom/death, but a peer in every sense. Definitely curious if you guys will agree.


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 Post subject: Re: MDB-Feel the Misery
PostPosted: Tue Sep 15, 2015 3:21 am 
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Goat wrote:
You guys are really hyping this up for me, looking forward to hearing it.


+1. Can't wait to get my hands on this.

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 Post subject: Re: MDB-Feel the Misery
PostPosted: Tue Sep 15, 2015 10:42 pm 
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Ist Krieg

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SilkCrimsonMoon wrote:
Goat wrote:
You guys are really hyping this up for me, looking forward to hearing it.


+1. Can't wait to get my hands on this.


This release ends on such a massive high too. The last 5 minutes or so of Within A Sleeping Forest is probably my favorite part of the album. Every time it ends I get mad, I wanted another 20 minutes of that.


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 Post subject: Re: MDB-Feel the Misery
PostPosted: Wed Sep 16, 2015 1:41 am 
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I've truly never enjoyed a full album of theirs since first hearing Dreadful Hours and this is just from start to finish great.

That closing riff on Sleeping Forest! To Shiver in Empty Halls works towards something only to just stop, which is kinda sad. I Celebrate Your Skin is kinda boring but it almost works in the context of the rest of the album, and the echoes on God in the middle sounds kinda funny.

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 Post subject: Re: MDB-Feel the Misery
PostPosted: Wed Sep 16, 2015 3:30 am 
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Ist Krieg

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traptunderice wrote:
I've truly never enjoyed a full album of theirs since first hearing Dreadful Hours and this is just from start to finish great.

That closing riff on Sleeping Forest! To Shiver in Empty Halls works towards something only to just stop, which is kinda sad. I Celebrate Your Skin is kinda boring but it almost works in the context of the rest of the album, and the echoes on God in the middle sounds kinda funny.



I really like the vocals on Celebrate your Skin, especially the harsh vocals to that very slow pace. Some of it is goofy, but as you suggested that track oddly works in context. Placement and context matter tremendously to album: Father Left Forever had to be first leading off with something mid-paced before the slower darker stuff followed. The ending of To Shiver hurts less considering Cold New Curse attacks you very quickly. The title track following Cold New Curse fits exactly too. Can't get Thorn of Wisdom's vocals out of my head either, and the way the guitar finally comes into the track with the piano overtop. Brilliant stuff.

They didn't make the exact album I wanted, and the production (I think moreso than the (lack of) riffs) steals some of the punch so emphasized from Dreadful Hours, and yet I can't stop listening to this thing. LP number 13, 25 years in, is what I'd rate their 2nd or 3rd best full-length, as well as one of their more innovative releases. Few can have that sort of staying power.


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 Post subject: Re: MDB-Feel the Misery
PostPosted: Mon Sep 21, 2015 8:37 pm 
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On first listen. I'm going to be a bitch and complain about the production, I'm afraid. Sounds almost demo-like in places, could and definitely should have been better.


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 Post subject: Re: MDB-Feel the Misery
PostPosted: Tue Sep 22, 2015 1:44 am 
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Ist Krieg

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Goat wrote:
On first listen. I'm going to be a bitch and complain about the production, I'm afraid. Sounds almost demo-like in places, could and definitely should have been better.


Yeah, goes back to my original comments about the seeming lack of riffs. No, they are there, but the guitars were weirdly mixed into the background. Also got the impression that this album should have been released a few months ago, at least. Label/studio problems perhaps at hand, makes me wonder if MDB makes a change on those.


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 Post subject: Re: MDB-Feel the Misery
PostPosted: Tue Sep 22, 2015 9:17 am 
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Einherjar

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Finally got 'round to this album and I must say it's a bit disappointing. So hard to make out what's going on thanks to production. Bet those tracks would slay live and totally ruin the album.


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 Post subject: Re: MDB-Feel the Misery
PostPosted: Wed Sep 23, 2015 5:35 am 
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Ist Krieg
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Not sure what y'all are smoking. Production seemed fine to me.

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 Post subject: Re: MDB-Feel the Misery
PostPosted: Wed Sep 23, 2015 8:19 am 
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Ist Krieg

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traptunderice wrote:
Not sure what y'all are smoking. Production seemed fine to me.


Compared to Barghest, for example, it feels on the thin side. Vocals and keys seem upfront, guitars and drums more towards the back. Having the vocals forward in the mix is fine because they are so good this time round, but I would have liked more punch to the sound on the lower end. Unlike RO and apparently Zad though, I consider it a minor issue, not a dealbreaker.


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 Post subject: Re: MDB-Feel the Misery
PostPosted: Wed Sep 23, 2015 9:13 am 
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North From Here wrote:
Unlike RO and apparently Zad though, I consider it a minor issue, not a dealbreaker.


I need to give it more listens, really. It was a distraction from the songs this first time, which is never a good sign, but I'm usually capable of getting used to bad productions and enjoying the album anyway - eg Vapor Trails, Gallows Gallery...


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 Post subject: Re: MDB-Feel the Misery
PostPosted: Wed Sep 23, 2015 7:22 pm 
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Ist Krieg

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Goat wrote:
North From Here wrote:
Unlike RO and apparently Zad though, I consider it a minor issue, not a dealbreaker.


I need to give it more listens, really. It was a distraction from the songs this first time, which is never a good sign, but I'm usually capable of getting used to bad productions and enjoying the album anyway - eg Vapor Trails, Gallows Gallery...


First listen of this album was pretty disappointing to me as well. Song structures (especially on Shiver, Curse, and Forest) and production made it seem like a jumbled mess. Didn't hit the tipping point until listen 4 or 5. I'm placing it below Dreadful Hours and Turn Loose the Swans right now (and Barghest, if we are counting eps), still that places it comfortably in the upper tier of their material.


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 Post subject: Re: MDB-Feel the Misery
PostPosted: Thu Sep 24, 2015 2:11 am 
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Einherjar

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I wouldn't say dealbreaker. I'm just used to MDB having the guitars feature more prominently in the mix. It'll take a few listens for me to get a good read on what they're doing with Feel The Misery and I'm reserving my final verdict until then.


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 Post subject: Re: MDB-Feel the Misery
PostPosted: Thu Sep 24, 2015 5:59 am 
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Ist Krieg
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Yeah, I totally would have wanted the rhythm to be brought more to the fore in the production, but I think it works well given some time with it.

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