Album Rating: 4.0
Aside from a few run-on sentences this review was very well written and provided significant evidence to back up your claims. I do disagree with a few comments you made and feel, though you disliked the album, you should have given it at least a 2.5 just for talent and effort. I doubt you’ll disagree Devin is a very talented artist. A 1.5 seems like a score that should be given to a pop artist who has no idea what they’re singing and provided no other contributions to the album besides their stainless steel voice. I would like to pick on a few of your comments in particular. First, “…he tries to fancy himself a progressive”. Isn’t the very definition of progressive doing something different? Whether you like it or not, is this album not different than most? Does it not blend genres? I think whether it’s good or not and you like it or not it succeeds at being progressive. Second, you say this album is not memorable. You wrote a review about it, therefore is it not inherently memorable? It left a lasting impression on you, whether bad or good. His lyrics, whether kooky, deranged, serious, or pretentious I believe are always memorable. You also say at parts the music loses its attentiveness. Isn’t that more a fault of your own? His songs are very long, and that alone could be evidence enough for you to say this. But I can say attentiveness is lost 2 minutes into a song that hasn’t changed a damn thing yet. I do agree with your remark about the tempo not changing much, but he does at least change vocal styles, instrumentation, and tone enough to keep things dynamic. I think you’re losing attentiveness at this point because you just can’t follow or don’t like what you’re hearing. This leads me to your comment about “lack of structural or dynamic enthusiasm”. I feel like this is almost a contradiction. Does enthusiasm have to be structured? Remember, Devin is slightly insane. He has bipolar disorder and most likely a few other mental disorders. Unpredictability is inherent in him. As far as dynamic, I believe there is plenty of change—anger, silliness, sarcasm, humor, introspection. Again, remember this guy is slightly insane. His lyrical style is often very tongue-in-cheek. But his genius is that on the surface his lyrics are almost incomprehensible and seem actually insane, but they do spawn from something serious. Somehow you’ve read into this more than on his other albums you’ve given better scores, I think. He has his personal conflictions. They come out in these songs as unstructured vomit. We’re not meant to necessarily comprehend them and, in part, are a result of his mental instability, and other parts, intended.
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Album Rating: 5.0
Personally, while it isn't as good as Ki and I wish to god I could cut the first ten seconds of Sumeria out, this record is even more than I was hoping it to. I must have listened to "Praise the Lowered" and "Stand" a hundred times by now. "Praise the Lowered", "TMM" and "Decon" at least 40 each.
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Album Rating: 4.0
You don't like the first 10 seconds of Sumeria? Crazy talk. That shit is what gets your blood pumping/is pretty badass (which is often the point of a downbeat opening, just like if you took out the first drum hit in Deadbolt by Thrice, it would deaden the song)
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Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Off
Hahahah Spag. And yeah deffff in need of Avatar assistance. And i thought the intro to Sumaria was pretty kickass. Whole song feels like a dark, evil, and awesome carnival ride. m/ and then dat epic intro into The Mighty Masturbator unitl like 8 minutes in is soooo fucking epic till it goes to the Matrix Reloaded dance party that is probably the weakest part of the cd but i still dig it. My first listen was like, ummm what the fuck is this Dev? lol
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