How many calories are in dust?


AH CRAP, I POSTED IN THIS THREAD!!!

Now that, my friends, is clever. I stand in awe. I didn't get this until Goat spelled it out.

My thoughts of the album:

Yes, I have a copy of the new Synchestra album, don't ask how I got it because I won't tell you.

First, some background: I am a huge Devin Townsend fan. I own or have every album in one form or another (I'm still missing a few in my collection, but someday it will be complete.) In my regular song playlist, I have about 50 DTB and SYL favorites that are contantly in rotation.

The new album is certainly a work of art and you can tell that Devin poured his heart and soul into it... which makes it so hard for me to give it a less than stellar rating.

Of the 14 tracks, I'd say 6 of them are truly excellent, the rest could be labeled as filler or too artistic for my tastes. I'm not a huge fan of instrumental works and prefer to have good lyrics and vocals than complex guitar work. For those of you who are really heavy into the instrumental side of DTB, this will quickly become your favorite album.

When I first got Alien (by SYL) I hated it and, at the time, regreted buying it. But after listening to it multiple times, it grew on me and is now my absolute favorite of the SYL albums. I have a feeling that Synchestra is going to be the same. Right now it's not amongst my top picks, but it's getting better with repeat visits.

Just a warning... This will be the first time I have ever reviewed an album before. This is more of a description of the songs and my personal feelings towards them. If you don't like it, nobody's forcing you to read it!

HUGE SPOILER WARNING:
I'm going to go through each track on the album and give my opinion of them. If you do not wish to have any of the experience ruined for you... well, you shouldn't be reading this thread in the first place now should you?


1. Let it Roll (2:51)
Starts out very slow and has a smooth melody and rythm. Good vocals and it sets the mood of the album. It's a bit slow for my taste, but is the perfect opening track.

2. Hypergeek (2:19)
Standard DTB fair here. It's all instrumental (with Devin screaming in the background.) Lots of good stuff in here for those who love the complex guitar work of DTB and the creative mixing, but I found it a bit boring. It feels like it's more of an opening to Triumph.

3. Triumph (7:07)
Excellent song, easily one of my favorites on the album.. The lyrics are perfect; you'll be singing in your head "and they said it was this, and they said it was that, and they said it was this, and they said... it was" for hours afterwards. There are alot of interesting instruments at play here (including what sounds like banjos at one point) and it all fits in perfectly with the vocals. The song goes through various movements and each tie in together very well. Each is different enough to be unique and yet similar enough to still be part of the same song.
And of course, the famous Vai solo. Not much to say here, it's very otherworldly, I'm not a huge fan of Vai's work and I would have liked to see it integrated with the song a little better, but it's instantly recognizable when it hits.

4. Babysong (5:29)
Ugh... my least favorite song. My wife and I hate children and get disgusted by the thought of having a baby of our own. So of course, a song that says "why don't you have a baby? Why don't you have a child?" really rubs me the wrong way. It's also very light, fluffy, and happy. I'm sure someone out there will enjoy it, but I can't stomach listening to the first minute or so.

5. Vampolka (1:35)
This is a lead in track to Vampira. It's definatly a polka song for vampires, I wouldn't voluntarily listen to it without immediatly playing Vampira afterwards.

6. Vampira (3:26)
Probably the most unique song (that isn't filler) on the album. The closest I can come to describing it is imaging Love, only if DTB sung it and with an organ playing. The lyrics are great and the guitar work is awesome. It plays like an upbeat Type O Negative song! It's a little too odd for me to put as a favorite, but it's a good song none-the-less.

7. Mental Tan (2:14)
It's a little more mellow than the rest of the album, and it's a good wind-down after the insanity that is Vampira. It's more of an instrumental song with light vocals. At the end it has a hard lead-in to Gaia.

8. Gaia (6:02)
Guitars and vocals a plenty! The vocals felt a bit monotonous after a bit and there isn't much feeling in them until the end of the song. There's a nice long guitar and drum peice during the last half that is very moving. This guitar/drum duet is what makes this song a winner with me. The drumwork is excellent here and combined with some soft lyrics it's definatly a great song.

9. Pixillate (8:15)
My favorite song on the album. The female vocals on this track are a great addition, I hope Devin utilizes this alot more in his work. It adds a nice feminine touch to the song.
The first bit of the song almost sounds like it's a Russian tune with arabian singing in the background (very strange.) But then the band picks up speed and the vocals kick in. The female vocals are a nice alternative to the harsh screaming of Devin, it almost feels like they are having some strange conversation in song. The instrument work is top notch and compliments the lyrical portion of the song perfectly. The ending portion of the song is great and Devin sings his soul out!

10. Judgement (5:54)
Opens very nicely with hard guitar and gentle lyrics. Devin quickly ramps up though and sets the mood as a hard song with an underlying gentleness. The song is a bit slower in tempo than the rest of the album and at the same time it's probably the 'prettiest' song with a good feel to it. It alternates between screaming and softer lyrics with an instrumental peice at the end. There's even a "I'm so sorry" that seems familiar and should be recognized by most DTB fans. (Hint: Planet Rain)

11. A Simple Lullaby (7:08)
The whole song has a 'live audience' background noise playing. The song is a bit boring and is mostly instrumental with some soft lyrics towards the middle/end. It does end with some satisfying screaming of "FIRE FIRE FIRE!"
What kind of lullaby has screaming in it?

12. Sunset (2:30)
Light and upbeat with some piano work mixed in. For some reason it reminds me of a combination of an 80's Steve Vai-esque song mixed with the Sims. A few soft lyrics are in there, but overall it feels like another lead-in.

13. Notes From Africa (7:41)
Another good song. It has some great guitar work in it. I've always had a hard time hearing the bass guitar in songs, but this one it's very pronounced. Devin flexes some good lyrical muscle in here and hits plenty of high notes that add some good depth to it. This song reminds me alot of Traveller from the AE album. It has a nice foreign feel to it.
Again, there's another reminant from the past in here "OH WHAT A FEELING!" I can't remember off hand what other song had this verse in it, but the nastalgia effect set in and made this a favorite song. The ending of the song felt a bit long with some of it's nonensical lyrics all mixed in, but I suppose it's the end of the album in addition to the end of a song, so it's justifyable.

(Hiden Track) Sunshine And Happiness (2:34)
This almost has a 50's feel to it. It sounds similar to Slow Me Down from the AE album. It's very upbeat (almost annoyingly so.) I can easily see the Blue's Brothers cutting a rug with this song.


The album overall is great. There are alot of filler/lead-in tracks, but it has about the same amount of content that AE does. The entire thing does have an epic scope to it and this is definatly a must have for all DTB fans. This wouldn't make a very good DTB beginner's album (for that, I'd recommend AE or Physicist.) I'd rate this just a notch below Alien, but higher than Physicist. Ocean Machine is still my favorite, but after a couple of dozen play-throughs, Synchestra might surpass it.

Hopefully this was insightful for some of you. I had alot of fun writing it and I actually got a better understanding of the album by doing so. It's also about 10 times longer than was expected and took about 20 times longer than I had anticipated!

4. Babysong (5:29)
Ugh... my least favorite song. My wife and I hate children and get disgusted by the thought of having a baby of our own. So of course, a song that says "why don't you have a baby? Why don't you have a child?" really rubs me the wrong way. It's also very light, fluffy, and happy. I'm sure someone out there will enjoy it, but I can't stomach listening to the first minute or so.

"Hate" children? Fine, you don't want to have any of your own. But, you "hate" them? That's too bad, really. You must have been really hurt by some children some time in your life. Not having heard the song, I'm betting Devin's not suggesting *you* have children (and, let's face it, with your attitude, you shouldn't be having children, may I recommend sterilization?) but rather contemplating it himself. But, then I haven't heard the song and you have, so I could be wrong.

Aw, fuck, this is completely off topic. Right?

Came off a tad aggressive there, gurp...

Came off a tad aggressive there, gurp...

Sorry, I don't mean to. But, isn't hating children kinda aggressive, too? Anyway, I love my kids. I love being a Dad. I love when my daughter looks up at me with all the trust that can be stored in two year old eyes and says, "You're the best, Dad. You're my best friend." I hate changing diapers, but that fucking rules, right there. To know that her life is better because I was in it is, well, it's hard to know unless you've been there. I didn't get it until I stood over her, when she was two minutes old and held her hand and she quit crying a minute when she heard my voice and I was overwhelmed with the feeling that every thing I do from then on would make her life better or worse. Looking at her there, I knew I had to do everything I could to make it better.

And, since I'm a teacher and spend my days dealing with kids and the mess that some parents create, I have a strong opinion about this. So, again, apologies. Sort of. Not for the message but for the aggression. I was listening to Physicist at the time. It's not my fault.

Ok... I admit... "hate" is an aweful strong word.

Lets just say I have a very strong dislike of children and have no plans of having my own. I'm all for the repopulation of the earth, but I don't want to take any part in it!

I live in Utah... and the primary mindset of the state is that you have to have children as soon as you are married or you will burn in hell for not doing so. So we are constantly bombarded with "Why don't you have kids yet?" and "Why do you hate children, you obviously do because you don't have any!"

So to hear the same thing from one of Devin's songs rubbed me wrong. Yes, I know it's supposed to be Devin's thoughts on the future and having an 'heir' is a concern of his... but I've taken something personally from each of his songs and I have my own interpretations of them... so why can't I have my own opinion of this one?

I must just say that I absolutely love the 80's-popish-rush vibe on Sunset. That tinkling bit prior to the piano bit is just madness...its so WOAAAAAAA

I fucking love the song "Pixillate"!
Possibly the best track on the whole album (at this point...).

Mr. Drumdude, where's the snare?

OK, I started downloading "Synchestra" while reading Devin's *sigh*-thread, felt sorry, decided to stop the downloads and deleted the already finished files from my PC.

Prior deleting the files, I listened to the first couple of songs for once and one of the first things I noticed was something unusual concerning a Devin production/mix:

Where is the snare?
On Accelerated Evolution the snare is very upfront, so maybe The Dev and Drumdude decided to mix it not as loud this time.
Besides being relatively low in the mix the snare itself sounds quite thin, actually I think it's the "weakest" or least powerful snare on any Devin Townsend (DTB) album and it is drowned out by the massive wall of sound quite often.

Was that intentional? Or is it just the subpar quality of a compressed 192 kbps sound file played on WinAmp (but with my PC plugged into a very good amplifier)? Maybe the snare will be more upfront on the later tracks?

Anyway; after just one listen to the first part of "Synchestra", I know what to expect production-wise on January 27th. Musically, luckily I forgot everything apart from the fact that the album starts off with a "mono" sounding acoustic piece that sonically unfoldes step by step. This opus will take some time to really sink into, no doubt about that.

But the mix of the snare - I find a bit odd. Let's see how the final and complete product will sound on January 27th. And it will be a quasi-first listen of the album; the whole way through, in CD quality. Can't wait

À propos final product:

[Tracy]

I do hope that while you all "couldn't resist" downloading the album that you are at least keeping your own copies out of your shared music folder?

Could we at least keep it a little harder to find and not increase the availability exponentially?

May you give us the number of copies sold after 1 month ? We'll hit only downloaders ass !

By the way, I promise Falk and me will buy 2 copies, with and without the DVD !

PS Tracy : thanks for the autograph with my name (Jerome) when I bought my last order

Devin said Synchestra was supposed to be an album which is comfortable to listen to, unlike the other albums he has made. In fact during the Babysong I felt a bit disturbed for the first time when listening to Dev. It's just, ehm, spooky to hear Devin doing something like that. Which I guess it's all planned.

Yep', I listened to it for the first time alone in the dark in my room with my MP3 player, and this album is really easy to listen to, I didn't see the time pass, and it's made of differents styles, but always Dev' styles.

And yes, I felt disturbed for Vampolka, that I didn't expect to hear in Dev's record ! I think this album is a confirmation of DTB's work, with an awesome Ryan (double kicks rocks), with all instruments odibled, and a super prod !

I'll continue after a lot of listens, but it will be only good

"You're fantastic fabulous, indeed, fabuloso !"

The album overall is great.

Don't get me wrong, but you contadicted yourself about 50 times in that review. An album with 14 songs, 6 being great and most of the others pretty much being filler is not an overall great albums.

"Hypergeek" is not standard DTB fare. It sounds nothing like DTB has done, there is just one other DTB album. It's sounds like a Infinity meets Physicist song, two VASTLY different albums. Just for the record.

You seemed to shit on quite a bit of the album, but apparently don't want to insult Devin or fans or whatever, so you call it a great album at the end. I think you should make up your mind and stick with it.

I do hope that while you all "couldn't resist" downloading the album that you are at least keeping your own copies out of your shared music folder?

Could we at least keep it a little harder to find and not increase the availability exponentially?

I don't share anything. I hardly ever download anything. If I do log onto Soulseek I have only my Misc folder shared and that has about 20 random songs in it. I usually tend to get banned from downloading from other people because, according to them, I'm a selfish asshole who won't share. I always try and remind them it's called stealing, but that generally gets me a "Wot? fUck U AsSh0le!" response! Hahaha.