Album Rating: 3.0

"first three paragraphs are about his entire catalogue - can easily start review with introducing the musicians"



Not really. On either front.

Album Rating: 3.0

"I don't agree with the 3.0 rating. Maybe it's because we have come to have high expectations from Devin, or maybe it's nostalgia from the SYL era. Take it for what it is : a superior, ambient, excellently-produced/played album from one of today's great musician."

It's cool to disagree. I think the musicianship is great and I can appreciate the technicality of it, but I don't find the album memorable and I think a lot of the spirit of songwriting is lost on it.

I think it's one thing to respect a musician's technical skills and another to review their creative output as a finished product. Dev is one of my favorite musicians, but competent and technical musicianship doesn't always make an album interesting. I can appreciate how others would enjoy this album, though.

Album Rating: 3.5

I hate that summary. These guys were GOAT live.

Album Rating: 4.0

Musicianship is top notch. Ryan's performance is superb throughout

Album Rating: 3.0

"I hate that summary. These guys were GOAT live."

Yeah, they're awesome live. It's all from an album perspective, but honestly this stage of the Project really seems like it's focused around maintaining a tight live sound/performance, so I get that, but it doesn't really help the album.

Album Rating: 4.0

i can agree that the songwriting could be a bit better by devy's standards. honestly not sure how this will grow

Every one of his albums barring ghosts has been a self-indulgent wankfest

^there we go again lol

Album Rating: 3.5

More Devin/Anneke please.

^this

Calc are you following me?

Album Rating: 2.0 | Sound Off

"Every one of his albums barring ghosts has been a self-indulgent wankfest"



trolling?

Nah

I definitely agree with the assessment that the DTP burnt out after Ghost. The points where I disagree: I didn't find ANYTHING about Z2 enjoyable, and this is definitely a step up from that. But the only track that I REALLY like is the one the reviewer rags on most - Higher! It's got a great arc to it and the dense production of his older work is back just for the middle section of that song. Aside from that song, none of this stuck with me at all, despite being pretty listenable most of the time. Better than all the other post-Ghost DTP outings for sure, but not a great record.

The irony of it all is that Addicted was a pretty uneven album to begin with. Not as uneven as Ki, but it didn't manage to maintain interest for even 46min for me, so you can imagine how I feel about Epicloud and Sky Blue...

Album Rating: 4.5

Epicloud and Sky Blue had basically no replay value to me. This just continues to grow, only track I don't really go back to is Stars because it sounds like something off of those albums.

Also, the fact that EVERY record he's released since the original quartet has been a double record, even if it's just 'demos' on the 2nd disc (his demos often sound more polished than most bands' final products), seems to indicate that he's just cranking out material without much quality control. Oddly, he says he scraps quite a lot of stuff, so I guess he's just insanely prolific, but he seems to be relying on production and hooks a lot more than good songwriting. And since the production isn't anywhere near as interesting as it used to be (why did he get Nolly and that awful bedroom drum sound on this record?), that isn't enough.

Album Rating: 4.5

I can agree with some that, especially about the songwriting part. He used to make insanely good compositions, and while I think this is a step in the right direction, its not on the level of his older stuff. He's definitely sacrificed interesting song structure for hooks a lot in DTP.



Disagree on the production though unless you mean since the DTP stuff, I think this is the best sounding DTP record. Doesn't beat Terria or some of the others though.

I don't know - I'd say Addicted, Deconstruction and Ghost had some pretty awesome production. Everything since then has felt less detailed and overwhelming and using layers more for bombast and to cover up a lack of ideas. Especially Z2, which was quite muddy.

But yeah, Terria, Alien, Biomech, Infinity, City... those were some really incredibly sonic landscapes that transported me to other places, which is something he hasn't done in a while. It's all started to sound quite digital. Only a couple DTP songs really harken back to that (Universe in a Ball, Deconstruction, Higher, etc.)

Album Rating: 4.5

every time i listen to this it gets better



i think the devin townsend project really needed a defining album that took all the elements together and this is definitely it



it's the first devin record in a while that doesn't have a track on it i dislike, either, and every possible criticism i could have for this album has me second guessing or understanding why they did the album like that

Album Rating: 2.5

"More Devin/Anneke"



Exact opposite for me. I've hated her presence on all of these albums lol.

Album Rating: 3.5

she ruled on addicted u crazy