Production/mixing on this one is absolutely fine

\[T]/

Album Rating: 3.5

Tbh I had my Spotify on low settings, sounds much better on higher quality.

Arche still has their best production job.

Album Rating: 4.5

For me it was too quiet at first, which made me curious, considering big dynamic ranges aren't their thing, but it turns out the Tidal app has been randomly turning the normalization on. Mind you, it only sounded veiled, not spacious.

Album Rating: 4.0

Production on this is good imo. The songwriting is a huge, huge step up from TIW. It keeps getting better with every listen.

Album Rating: 4.0

I review recordings and audio equipment as an actual job, this mix is definitely not fine. This isn't as bad as TIW, but it is insanely compressed and "loud", ie no dynamics, no instrumental definition, no impact, just loud. The VU meters on my amplifier were barely moving.



All that said this album is musically fantastic, a real improvement on TIW, theres some really innovative songwriting on here. This is definitely and album that is going to need lots of repeated listens, but so far I'm enjoying diving deeper on it. I don't think its up there with Uroboros/DSS/Arche, but it at least sounds like the same band that wrote those albums this time.

Album Rating: 4.5

Yup, with the Foobar plug-in the FLAC scores a DR5 average, with some tracks at DR4.

You guys still on this production obsession?

Album Rating: 4.5

Yeah honestly the production is fine, not sure what the big deal is

Because when the band has done so much better it kinda sucks when they drop the ball in that department

As for the music it’s pretty good, they’re not really reinventing themselves anymore but it’s quality, a definite step up from TIW

Album Rating: 3.5

Think those days are over, they peaked creatively with Arche, DSS and Uroboros.

this is still great, though.

Album Rating: 4.0

@Pleb, as scary as that scenario sounds, it kinda feels that way…

Album Rating: 4.0

Production is a pretty big part of recording and releasing an album, it can ruin some albums (Letlive's the Blackest Beautiful comes to mind). If you don't care what your music sounds like that's fine, but production absolutely has an effect on enjoyment. It's like seeing a great classical or jazz musician play in an acoustically great hall, vs seeing a musician play in a hall that sounds like ass with dead acoustics that suck up all life. Yeah its still a great musician but the effort and musical effects the musician is trying to convey are being limited by the environment, its like putting up a wall between the music and the listener. If you are listening on a decent DAC and headphones you can easily hear the difference between production of say this album and something like Deftones Saturday Night Wrist, or Children of Bodom's Hexed. The mix helps convey the music, rather than suppress it.

Album Rating: 4.0

@Uzumaki I think we are still left with a pretty incredible batting average. I think the only album from this band that falls below the line of enjoyment for me is Six Ugly. Marrow and TIW are ok, enjoyable but not something to come back to that often. Everything else is pretty great in its own way, and material I want to revisit often. I think that's a pretty great statement on how solid this band is across their recorded career.

Marrow has some of my favorite songs plus some of their most ferocious jams, still listen to that one a lot

Album Rating: 3.5

It's amazing how long this band has been around and all the different styles and they've had the same band members the whole time

This is a fun video that showcases that https://youtu.be/RqoxgqAuPnw

Album Rating: 4.0

@poetry, oh no, I’m not complaining at all. I almost double posted before to say that they’ve been a band for what, 25 years? If Phalaris is an indication towards however many future DEG albums we'll get, I’ll be satisfied.

Album Rating: 1.0 | Sound Off

I see that my comment about this pop rock album not belonging in a death metal list was quickly deleted by the admins. Not that it's a bad thing being a pop artist, but why create a bunch of categories in the drop down if everything gets filed under death metal? This guy sounds like David Bowie and the presentation is like a k-pop band. How is this even heavy metal??? Someone please answer honestly.