Wouldst thou post favorites for SYL?

Ocean Machine:
Bastard or Funeral

Infinity:
Truth

Terria:
Mountain

Physicist:
Namaste or Kingdom

AE:
Deadhead

Synchestra:
Pixillate

Ziltoid:
By Your Command or Color Your Wold/ The Greys

Ki:
Ki

Addicted:
? too new...like it all currently.

Strange... Everything besides Terria/mountain I completely agree with. Mountain is one the least favourite songs from terria, do earth day or deep peace come close to it Devin?

[The Dev]

Actually Mountain is one of my prouder moments, might be a technical thing more though...

SYL:

Heavy:
In The Rainy Season

City:
All Hail

SYL:
Aftermath

Alien:
Skeksis

TNB:
Almost Again

Thanks, Devin, for the SYL list. Interesting.

As for asking about "mellow" SYL...it's all relative, isn't it? I guess by "mellow" I mean "a little easier on the head" - more "Aftermath"/"Almost Again" and less "Rape Song"/"Shitstorm"/"You Suck".

Maybe I am just getting old, but to really enjoy the more aggressive parts of the SYL catalogue, I've got to be really fucking mad and I just don't get that angry very often anymore. My SYL disc was bloody handy this past spring, though. Went through something rather awful and it was nice to have a healthy way to vent some of the anger. To write it all off under less strained circumstances and miss out on stuff like "Almost Again" would be sad, though. Hence my question.

[The Dev]

No, I hear ya...

The past little bit while putting together the new show, I've really examined my past music...

In general, there was a lot of meandering on both sides of the spectrum, I think each album as a whole work really well at conveying the overall feeling of the time they were written, but there's less SONGS than I remember...out of 12 albums or so, I've found that there's enough stuff to make a kickass set, but really room for the future...I really find the lack of drugs makes it easier for me now to focus on SONGS as opposed to vibes.

And SYL is like Doritos 'Sweet Chili Heat' taco chips... Super Addictive but not that good for you. Hard to break the habit...but again, there's only a handful of songs I love...

It's a new time for me!

I'd say that as a whole, Dev's albums are all very complete albums in a sense that it might be hard to distinguish one song in particular. I've noticed that most of them that you picked were in the "Climax" section of each album. For example, Ki (the song) would be very much less rewarding of a musical experience (although an incredible one nonetheless) without Lady Helen and Quiet Riot surrounding it don't you think? Same can be said for the whole Funeral-Bastard-Death of Music sequence from Ocean Machine. Do you write the specific song and enjoy it so much that you keep it in mind as a climax to the album and then build a foundation around it? Or I could just ask, do you put much thought into your track orders on each album at all (and live for that matter...)?

You're right. The past is great and all, but what lies ahead is pretty exciting. While I certainly did more than my fair share of "partying" when it wasn't an issue, I think I've been lucky at skirting the whole addiction thing by nature of my chosen profession (illicit anything plus nursing does not equal a long and healthy career). I wouldn't trade any of the experiences of the past, though, as that is what makes us who we are. I think, though, that there are a lot of us in your age group, Dev, who really get what you mean about this being a new time with new direction. I'm really excited to hear what you come up with as time moves on. Ki was really such an elegant recording and Addicted sounds as though it will be so much fun. We're lucky that you want to take us on the journey with you.

[The Dev]

Yup, I tended to write around climaxes (so to speak) ... thats changed a little now though I think, lots of Addicted feels like 'last song of the record' unto themselves...

Deconstruction has a definite climax, but it's so colorful throughout that it kind of builds from moment one at 88%...

When I get a great riff, it's hard to not be stoked on it.

4th album has just lots of good songs.

Yeah, I'm stoked you guys listen! It's cool to chat with y'all as well.

[/quote]Strange... Everything besides Terria/mountain I completely agree with. Mountain is one the least favourite songs from terria, do earth day or deep peace come close to it Devin?[/quote]

MOUNTAIN ended up being my favorite on Terria, but after years! It was somewhat recently I realized it was my favorite!

I hadn't been listening to Dev long when Terria came out, and right away Earth Day was far and away my favorite. But slowly Deep Peace, Canada, and Tiny Tears surpassed it. My brother and I wouldn't even mention Mountain as being a possibility for the best song - more like a "strange" intro-ish track. But after all this time growing with Dev's music in my head, Mountain ended up being one of his best, I think. I always think of the layers with Happy the dog. And I think it's a really deep song. It's one of those that makes me feel either "one with the universe" or "comfortable with death" - maybe that's the same feeling?

On a side note, I just pulled the lyrics up and I see it's one of those that has a lot of lyrics written that don't appear to be in the song. I wonder, are they layered in the backgroud anywhere? I doubt it, or I'd've noticed. I wonder how they exist.

It's funny, I always thought that Deep Peace was the obvious best song from Terria (it is my favourtite song of all time) but Mountain is such an underrated song that really grows on me over the years. I know love it just as much as Deep Peace.

Why is it I seem to be alone in feeling that I don't at all need to be angry to enjoy SYL?

Metal in general is never cathartic for me, I don't listen to it to vent anger or frustration, and I don't write it to do so either. I'm a pretty calm and overall happy person, always have been. I love metal for its energy, I listen to it and write it because I find it to be a really fun form of music, and I've always found it extremely puzzling why so many people seem to view it as something that you can only genuinely enjoy when you yourself are stressed or angry all the time. It really bugs me.

Yup, I tended to write around climaxes (so to speak) ... thats changed a little now though I think, lots of Addicted feels like 'last song of the record' unto themselves...

Deconstruction has a definite climax, but it's so colorful throughout that it kind of builds from moment one at 88%...

When I get a great riff, it's hard to not be stoked on it.

4th album has just lots of good songs.

Yeah, I'm stoked you guys listen! It's cool to chat with y'all as well.

Your SYL faves are killer as well....I feel the same, but...."Monument" for The New Black

I always seem to center around your more lydian, major, or extremely melodic tunes...dunno why.

88%?

It is ALWAYS cool to chat with you as well!!

My SYL list would match almost exactly. I'd have to pick Shitstorm over Skeksis just because it's the most authentic "extreme" metal song that I've ever heard. I know exactly what it is about, at least I think I do, just form my own personal DX; and yes alcohol and drugs just make everything worse. Whether it is about what I think it is is not the point. The point is that it is very real and personal. It's not like "Dead by Dawn" or "Fucked with a Knife". Those are angry songs yes, but they are just like horror movies. They are fictional stories. Violent and brutal just for the sake of being violent and brutal, and nothing more. I still love those other bands though. Death metal (Deicide, Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel) peaked during my formative years and I was so blown away at that time.

As for Mountain, I can definitely understand that. Although the vocals in the last verse of Canada give me involuntary muscle spasms (in addition to chills), Mountain is an incredible achievement. The twisted and heavy odd-meter riffing contrasting with the beautiful vocal melodies is so unique and amazing.

Aw man Devin, I remember the first time I heard Skeksis...I had just been blown away by the beast you call "Imperial" and was craving more in that same vein. Leave it to the amazing "Skeksis" to have made me realize two tracks into my first SYL album that I was going to love that band. Man...that thing is...heavy like a really heavy thing. (I get it now ^_^)

Why is it I seem to be alone in feeling that I don't at all need to be angry to enjoy SYL?

Metal in general is never cathartic for me, I don't listen to it to vent anger or frustration, and I don't write it to do so either. I'm a pretty calm and overall happy person, always have been. I love metal for its energy, I listen to it and write it because I find it to be a really fun form of music, and I've always found it extremely puzzling why so many people seem to view it as something that you can only genuinely enjoy when you yourself are stressed or angry all the time. It really bugs me.

I usually listen to them when Im really happy, I love the extreme energy. Go figure.