Album Rating: 3.0

Why? Most bands do the same stuff for the length of a career and their fan base is happy with it. I'm not saying that's the way it's supposed to be, but that's pretty obvious.



Edit: And I already regret even answering to that load of nothing of a comment.

Album Rating: 3.5

Really my only issue with the track was that some parts seemed a little disjointed, and the production is flat and muffled sounding. But overall I really enjoyed what they presented with it. Sure, it pales in comparison to the likes of Vinushka and Diabolos, but its still a worthwhile song in its own right. I do feel like a lot of the criticism they've been getting lately has been in relation to their older work, and in that regard I totally agree that their work nowadays isnt quite up to par with what they were putting out 5 years ago. But that doesn't mean that just because it isn't as good that its total garbage, yknow? I dunno, im sure im gonna get shit for saying this but Im just gonna stand by my opinion, I really enjoyed the new single ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Album Rating: 2.0

The World Of Mercy is a decent song if not for the horrible production, but it's just a step up from TIW, not a return to form. If they got a decent producer I'd be far more forgiving in general honestly.



@Rik It's not about it repeating their past songs as much as it not being as good as they are, especially production wise.

Album Rating: 3.5

Yea the production is pretty bad, they need to get Tue back, but I dont see that happening anytime soon :/

Album Rating: 2.5 | Sound Off

"Most bands do the same stuff for the length of a career and their fan base is happy with it."



what about people who aren't big fans or fans who would indeed like a band to really go for it once in a while?

Album Rating: 3.0

Production can make or break a song/album being tolerable to listen to long term but if the songwriting is great, then I'd consider it good regardless of the former.



For example, if Uroboros had the production of TIW and vice versa would my opinion on those two change much? Not really. Cause songwriting wise, I think Uroboros ranks high as one of the band's best they've ever done and TIW being more of a major hit and miss than my then least favorite album which was Macabre. Not to mention, Uroboros was plagued by subpar production until Tue remastered it for the Remastered & Expanded version. If Tue remastered TIW, I'd still think it'd be average at best.



As for The World Of Mercy, I've given it a few more listens since my first comment on it and while I do agree with some of you in that it doesn't reach the highs of Vinushka and Diabolos, I do think it's a pretty good track. Better than TIW's better moments IMO. I'd rate it a 3.5.

Album Rating: 3.0

"For example, if Uroboros had the production of TIW and vice versa would my opinion on those two change much? Not really."



exactly. the bottom line is that the songwriting isnt there these days. i cant believe how hard the riffs have suffered the last couple of years.



and theres a difference between sounding really tired and utilising your sounds with some efficiency -- to sound exciting. TIW and this single lack that massively.

Album Rating: 3.0

"@Rik It's not about it repeating their past songs as much as it not being as good as they are, especially production wise."

Well, the aforementioned epics are top tier tracks on two of my 5s while this, as I said, would get a 3.5, so obviously I agree that there's a huge gap (and I cincerely hope it doesn't come across as anything else). I mentioned the production as an issue two pages before, but I agree with Amok that it isn't necessarily a game breaker



@Jasdevi: I think you're being way too sensitive about my liberal use of "noone"

Album Rating: 2.5 | Sound Off

i think you're goofin ahrd

Album Rating: 2.0

I more or less agree that production is secondary to songwriting but it can make a mediocre album sound pretty horrible (TIW) or a decent song sound dodgy (The World Of Mercy). Obviously if it was as good as Vinushka it would be less significant but still annoying.

Album Rating: 3.5

The live bluray from the world of mercy is pretty good, definitely an improvement when compared to the insulated world

Album Rating: 3.0

^ That I can believe cause IIRC it’s usually DEG’s live engineers who mix their live BluRays. The Mode Of... series were mixed by them too.

The live cuts from TIW BluRay sounded pretty good compared to the album & even the remakes on the bonus disc sounded good cause Jens Bogren of Katatonia/Opeth/Devin Townsend fame mixed them. He also did the Hageshisa single and to this day I still think it’s the best sounding DEG release even if Tue did a great job remastering Uroboros and mixing DSS (sans Hageshisa), The Unraveling, Arche and the Utafumi single.

Album Rating: 3.5

I’ve always preferred the single version of “Hageshisa To...” over the album version...

Album Rating: 2.0

@Acme Their studio recording production is even more inexcusable in that case. They actually have a good producer available...

Album Rating: 3.0

I think most of us do Uzumaki. The guitars on the album version sounds too digitized and overly metallic sounding for lack of a better description.

@Irony If the album is recorded like shit, it’s probably gonna still sound like shit after the mixing process regardless of how good of a mixer you are. Unfortunately, the only thing Jens could do was make the remakes sound slightly less shitty than the album proper cause Dan Lancaster mixed the album proper and he just added more hot trash to the already under par recording conditions. Both Jens and Tue are great engineers/mixers (their resume says it all) but the album’s production was dead on arrival the moment their in-house sound engineer (who happens to be the same person who records & mixes their live albums/videos) hit record.

Someone on Reddit said it pretty well: TIW sounds like the band had excellent recording gear but they plugged their instruments into the cheapest and shittiest preamps.

Album Rating: 2.0

@Acme Sounds right. Do you have any idea why the recording conditions were so bad, other than the album being rushed?

Some of their older albums are kind of underrated here. Albums like Kisou have excellent songs, very emotive and heart-wrenching work on that album.

Album Rating: 2.5 | Sound Off

tbf Kisou is kind of a mess as there's some hot garbage on it too

For me since it has the songs ''Mushi'' and ''Undecided'', two of the saddest songs, lyrically, and instrumentally that I've ever heard. (Have you heard the live version of the song Mushi? it's extremely sad and disturbing) it's a noteworthy album for those two songs alone.

I recommend everyone here go watch the live version of Mushi from Blitz Five Days festival.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JNsYqlIvzE

Album Rating: 4.0

"Mushi" has always been one of my favourite pre-Uroboros tracks. The Kisou day from Blitz5 has some top tier live moments.