Devin Townsend's Z2

[Union 5-3992]

http://www.metalsucks.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Devin-Townsend-Z2-Small.jpg

 

Anyone else excited for this? I discovered Devin earlier this year and I've fallen in love with his music. Can't wait for the new Z² album. I already ordered the bundle with the Ziltoid t-shirt and bonus disc without the diologue. It'll be a great closer before his year off. He officially released the first song off the Dark Matters album. Though some much lower quality stuff is out there if you look hard enough ;) .

 

[adace1]

Got my promo copy two weeks ago and it's great. Not sure exactly where I'd rank it but it's definitely in my top 5 list of Devy albums.

[PolarizeMe]

Pretty good song. The whole Z² album is likely to contend with Casualties or (Opeth's) Pale Communion for album of the year.

[Union 5-3992]

Casualties of Cool is my favorite so far. I think after Z², it may still remain number one or two. Devin seemed so inspired for that record compared to Ziltoid, but that doesn't kill my hype for the new album. Especially a sequel to the gorgeous Epicloud

[adace1]

And here's my review: http://lunarcaverns.blogspot.com/2014/10/devin-townsend-z2-2014-sky-blue-side-1.html Edited October 7, 2014 by adace1

[Union 5-3992]

And here's my review: http://lunarcaverns....lue-side-1.html

 

Great review. A lot less hero-worshiping than others I've heard. They were totally kissing ass because they got the advance copy. But you seem a lot more honest in it. And based on what you wrote, it looks like a hell of an album to leave us with during his year break

[adace1]

And here's my review: http://lunarcaverns....lue-side-1.html

 

Great review. A lot less hero-worshiping than others I've heard. They were totally kissing ass because they got the advance copy. But you seem a lot more honest in it. And based on what you wrote, it looks like a hell of an album to leave us with during his year break

Thanks so much, glad you like it!

[Union 5-3992]

Well it leaked and I'm almost done with Sky Blue. So far it's quite fun. Quite a lot to digest. Since this isn't even the final mix and pretty meh quality, I'm probably only going to listen to this the one time then listen to the official when it arrives in 10 days

[greyfriar]

WOW. The last days I dived into Sky Blue. :haz: My long runner at the moment. Beautiful melodies, great riffing and songs like hymns. The two-part singing of Anneke van Giersbergen and Devy is just wonderful.

All I can say is, folks, go get this melancholy hammer.

[Segue Myles]

Devy is a beast.

 

I have yet to immerse myself in his work, but everything i have heard so far has blown me away!

[PolarizeMe]

I've said it before on the Albums You've Listened To Today thread, and I'll say it again...

 

 

Z² is my pick for album of the year and I don't think whatever remaining releases I'm looking forward to is going to come remotely close to topping it.

[Union 5-3992]

Sky Blue was great, yet Dark Matters kind of is lacking Edited November 3, 2014 by Union 5-3992

[PolarizeMe]

I think Sky Blue is my favorite of the two discs, perhaps Devy's most emotional sounding album IMO in terms of the vocals. I found Dark Matters to be a bit more enjoyable in its raw version.

[Union 5-3992]

After a couple of listens so far, I'm really digging Sky Blue over a lot of his other albums. It may just be the honeymoon phase but I think it's probably one his best. It has the awesome grandiosity I loved from Epicloud but lots more sad, beautiful moments. And that speaks to me much more than happy music, even though I adore Kingdom. And now I'm regretting not trying out for the Universal Choir because it sounds so powerful in Before We Die

 

Dark Matters feels like a tiny bit of a let down compared to the original, but with Sky Blue added on, it's worth the purchase. The first half is worthy of being a sequel, but to me it falls flat near the end until Dimension Z. The dialogue pulls it down a bit and like everyone else, I prefer it without it.

 

Probably my album of the year too, other than maybe Universe by the Truckfighters and Casualties of Cool by Casualties of Cool.

[PolarizeMe]

I tried out for the Universal Choir with a shitty Apple earbud mic and Garage Band thinking that they probably wouldn't accept the recording but to my surprise they did cause I saw my name under the people who were part of the Universal Choir.

[Union 5-3992]

I tried out for the Universal Choir with a shitty Apple earbud mic and Garage Band thinking that they probably wouldn't accept the recording but to my surprise they did cause I saw my name under the people who were part of the Universal Choir.

Well with 2000 entries, I'm sure a crappy mic wouldn't disrupt it much

[greyfriar]

After a few days of enchantment with Sky Blue, I must say that it's really the album of 2014. It's a great, f**in' moody album, almost perfectly designed for my autumn mood. The only forthcoming release that will possibly top it for me, is the new PF.

From the whole feeling I get from it, it reminds me a bit of 1999, when I first discovered Judgement from Anathema and World Coming Down from Type O Negative.

 

Congrats PM. I can hear you there in the choir. :madra:

That's the spirit.

[Union 5-3992]

Gave Dark Matters Raw a spin in the car today. That's winning me over a lot more now. At least the first half hour of it does.

[PolarizeMe]

Gave Dark Matters Raw a spin in the car today. That's winning me over a lot more now. At least the first half hour of it does.

 

It's funny how when he first announced that the 3rd disc would be DM Raw, the general reaction was that of "Why bother?" but now that the album's out and with a majority of fans being disappointed with the DM disc, they prefer the raw version more.

[Union 5-3992]

Gave Dark Matters Raw a spin in the car today. That's winning me over a lot more now. At least the first half hour of it does.

 

It's funny how when he first announced that the 3rd disc would be DM Raw, the general reaction was that of "Why bother?" but now that the album's out and with a majority of fans being disappointed with the DM disc, they prefer the raw version more.

 

It's still worth the money I spent for it, especially with Sky Blue. I think it's a rather worthy successor to ZTO. I'm glad he tried to do something so different rather than a copy, but he may have gotten a little carried away. But the majority of the album is phenomenal. It's weird to think that Sky Blue was supposed to be half-assed so he could get away with making Dark Matters

[greyfriar]

http://youtu.be/hGwKNj5jwfA

[MarkScudder]

I am one of the thousands of people who submitted vocals for the "Universal Choir," and I have been hotly anticipating this album for six months, since Dev released the guide tracks for "Before We Die," "Z2," and "Dimension Z."

 

The "Dark Matters" disc needs to be approached with the attitude that you can't outdo the first Ziltoid album, and you can't take Ziltoid too seriously as a concept. Despite the writing and performance, Ziltoid was meant to be a joke, a shock, and a slightly childish outlet. "Sky Blue" needs to be approached with the attitude that you also can't really outdo Epicloud. Both discs are "sequels" for a guy who doesn't do sequels; his best work is when he can go off in a completely unexpected, uncharted direction. That's the catch-22 about Ziltoid; the first Ziltoid record was so shockingly unexpected and funny in a "WTF?" sort of way that you can't outdo it if only because not expecting a record like Ziltoid was part of the fun in 2007. I think Devin was under a lot of pressure to satisfy Ziltoid fans. You can't ever do truly groundbreaking work in that scenario.

 

From that point of view, Z2 is amazing. Part of Devin's personality is that he's self-effacing. So once Ziltoid gets big enough, Devin needs to poke fun at Ziltoid to keep it interesting and relevant. Knowing Devin and understanding this, I was able to attempt to manage my expectations for Z2. But it was hard even for me; the demos/guide tracks for the Universal Choir songs were so burned in my mind, it's taken some work to get used to the final versions. (I heard the leaked first mix too, and that didn't help.)

 

Parts of Z2, especially Dark Matters, feel like purpose-written bridges between disparate ideas. Like I said above, I think that's because Devin isn't a sequel guy. But there's some genuinely awesome stuff in there, and the best parts are when he's making fun of himself or the whole concept - the announcer guy, the Poozer in the wormhole, Ziltoid yelling "Oh crap!" when Captain Spectacular is shot, Ziltoid saying "oh, so lame!", the fact that Chris Jericho is Captain Spectacular in the first place, Ziltoid and the attorney, the ending, etc. It's supposed to be goofy. The fact that it's good is gravy.

 

It disappoints me that people demand anything from Devin, even with good intentions. Z2 will always sound a little forced, and in that sense fans got what they deserved, because Devin isn't a record-industry cookie cutter (that's a good thing, by the way). I have the three-disc version as well, but I rarely if ever listen to the version of Dark Matters without the dialogue. Why? The dialogue is part of the joke. It's part of the environment. There are killer riffs and excellent musicianship throughout, but the point of that stuff is that it is absurd to have this level of musicianship in something with a narrator and fart jokes. The absurdity and juxtaposition is what makes it funny, what makes it work. Anyone can riff with enough practice, and Devin has said millions of times he's a "good enough guitarist" to do what he needs to do, and most of his riffing was learned in high school because he couldn't get laid.

 

Anybody who doesn't understand this is always going to be disappointed with Devin. Me, I still laugh out loud every time I hear that stupid Poozer going through the wormhole, because it's so bad it's good, and I don't care who knows.

 

In fact I'd rather have a DVD-ROM of stems than a mix without narration. If I want to appreciate the musicianship let me listen to isolated instruments so I can really dig into what they're playing. Let me really appreciate the work that went into taking a thousand vocal submissions of varying quality (I know mine sucked!) and turning it into that monster on the record.

Edited November 29, 2014 by MarkScudder

[The Analog Grownup]

Hey Union. That gif of Devin in your signature, what concert is that from?

[The Analog Grownup]

Double post Edited November 29, 2014 by The Analog Grownup

[Union 5-3992]

No idea, just found it.