this is an absolute banger, album shaping up to becoming another great one.
feels kinda oldschool, love it!

Decent but they can do better tbh : /

Yeah, liked the first single a lot more. This was pretty underwhelming

Really like that artwork a ton. Haven't checked out anything by this band since the one with Focus Shift on it. Will probably give it a listen. Not big on melodic death metal anymore but this sounds decent

Riff at 2:13 sounds like some good ol melodeath

Wish they did more with it

album is shaping up to be great, can't wait to fully jam it

I feel like the vocals are just...not mixed right here. Maybe that's the performance though? They sound like whispers. It's fucking strange

Well this was sadly boring

Really enjoyed the melodic undertone throughout, better than the first single for me but I enjoyed both anyway. Could really be a finely compact record

Love it, never paid much attention to these guys but I'll definitely make sure to give the album a proper listen.

Only listened on shit headphones at work but initial impressions are that this track is kind of mediocre.

Verse/Chorus/Verse/Chorus/Bridge/Chorus

Yawn. Especially when the only actual good part is the bridge.

i will listen and be back with my opinion

i really like this. i like the lyrics, the way the track ends is great and makes it super replayable. digging this brighter DT sound

"Verse/Chorus/Verse/Chorus/Bridge/Chorus Yawn."

lol, the key change on the last chorus didn't mix it up enough for you? I personally don't mind a simple song structure for DT, I don't really look to modern DT for that prog listening experience. I thought this track was prettty solid, same with the first one they released, and I'm very much looking forward to hearing this in full.

also was not expecting to be more excited about a DT single than a lana del rey coming out in the same day in 2020

i think last chorus key changes in metal are way too overdone at this point tbh, but it really works here bc of the way the song builds to it

i feel this'll fit better on the album than a standalone

criticising a song on the basis of it's simple structure alone is kinda weirdfam.

I find it super bizarre that people have a problem with DT being DT.. This isn't supposed to push any boundaries. This is what they do best. Simple and straight to the point melodeath. Its great for what it is.

Yeah its their bread and butter. They haven't done uncommon song structures consistently since the 90s.

Nothing groundbreaking but decent enough.

“Yeah its their bread and butter. They haven't done uncommon song structures consistently since the 90s.”

You’re right but they often kept it interesting bu employing dynamic rhythm changes or shifting time signatures through the song (especially in the early 2000s), last album was entirely in 4/4 and the album just cruised. Even though there are good songs it just feels really bare bones, maybe not everyone cares about the stuff I mentioned but they could really benefit from mixing it up a bit. Here’s hoping 🤞

"criticising a song on the basis of it's simple structure alone is kinda weirdfam"

ok i'll put it another way: without the bridge this song would be borderline bad and at best an amalgamation of the qualities of all of the 3/5 filler tracks on their post-fiction records. the chorus is boring, the riffs are weak in the verses, the hook is ok but doesn't carry the song well enough, the vocals aren't stanne's best in terms of emotion or sincerity. the key change in the final chorus is subjective but i personally don't care for it on this track. at least give me a weird time signature or something interesting. all of these facts together make you distinctly aware of how formulaic the structure is and highlights it in a negative way.

im the most unabashed DT fan on this site but im just getting a bit weary of what they've been doing the last 10 years. they don't need to tear it down and rebuild but give me SOMETHING to re-ignite my passion for what this band is putting out. im tired of giving their records a 3.5 and saying "solid DT yeah bois keep it going". i am hoping chris and johan breathe life into them but based on the two tracks that have been released that's kind of only a half-truth. phantom days was better than this track. this one is shallow as a puddle.

Agreed hard dude

The art and font look like they're from some indie action RPG on Steam

fair

i think the bar for melodeath as a whole has been pretty low for years tbh

not counting stuff like tech death or proggy stuff like horrendous i havent been impressed by a melodeath album since nightbringers in 2017

Listening to Phantom Days and wow that song is A LOT better

"criticising a song on the basis of it's simple structure alone is kinda weirdfam"

yeah perhaps in a vacuum but when you consider that DT rely solely on this formula and have done for about 20 years you can understand being a bit tired of it.

Now that I listened to both so far released singles again I have to agree that Phantom Days is slightly better, as it should be, its the opener.
And I can see the critique about this feeling kinda formulaic, its still a pretty nice jam though, love the bridge part.

Agreed with everything you said bird

This band needs a change

They need to bring back the tremz

Sans Mikael Stanne's vox, this sounds like it could've been written and performed by literally any other melodeath band.

"im the most unabashed DT fan on this site"

Errr quite a bold claim this.

nah he's right

he's to dt what hawks is to cof

i have two DT tattoos if that helps with the cred

Well at least you're not an IF fan

Old IF dumps on anything DT has done though

i mean the jester race is a 5 but DT have some superb records under their belt and more consistency so

I like DT but if I had to pick I'd absolutely take TJR through Clayman over any DT

I'd take the gallery and skydancer over every other melodeath album in existence

I never understood the hype for the gallery. I'm more into character through damage done era

Character and Damage Done are fucking amazing, don't get me wrong. It's just those two are something special. The guitar leads are insane. And Fiction onwards they've been releasing great albums but nothing that deserves to be next to their best.

I dont really dislike the gallery. It has some cool riffs, but I guess I like how their sound matured later on

Decent track, Phantom Days is better though.

I feel the same way about this as I do the other single - was awesome while listening to it, but I don't remember a thing about it.

Not the best

Very good songwriting. Guitar work rules.

More of the same, is kinda weak but hey, its DT, nothing has changed to much in the last 10 years or so. I like the band but man they are somehow stuck with the same sound, I don't want straight out prog from them, ofc but at least something different, some little spark here and there. Phantom days was better for sure.

They have Chris AND Johan in the band now, two amazing guitarists that can write riffs and great solo's. Listen to II=I or Chimera by Andromeda, or any of the first few Arch Enemy albums.

...where the fuck is the interesting guitar work? This was a dream team to me and I was really excited that we would all get a fantastic guitar driven album. But going by the two singles you can barely tell there's been a lineup change. Average DT song is average.