on youtube someone posted that pendulum track and save our now playing and sync'd at the same time. its pretty interesting.

sooooo, I take it. Take my Ego and Cry Forever are iTunes only. Now. Call me old (which I'm not, I'm still young and sexy), oldfashioned or retarded but I have never used iTunes. How does that stuff work? Do you download regular mp3s or just shit that you can only use on an iPod/Pad/Fuck/Whatever and can't burn onto a CD? Do you need a credit card? Because I do not own one and am not about to get me one either.

You can use a PayPal to purchase songs, and you can play them on iTunes. However, the songs you purchase on iTunes default to .m4a format, which is restricted to computers authorized with your account. You can convert the songs to normal MP3s from within the program, though, so you can use them everywhere else. I hate Apple with a passion, but the songs are totally worth it. Buy the songs, and never use iTunes again. WinAmp all the way.

There are different policies for the iTunes store in different countries. However, in the U.S., at least, the tracks do not have and DRM on them. The are in the .m4a or AAC format, but you can either convert that to mp3 or play them on any digital player that can play AAC files, which must be almost any made in the last three to five years, I would think. If you convert them, be aware that you will, possibly, lose some fidelity as AAC and mp3 are lossy formats. You may not be able to hear the loss of fidelity, however unless your equipment is good and/or your ear very discriminating. In any case, I am not aware of any restrictions on using the files on other devices and I think that is the case world wide, so I think quakegod is wrong there.

If you can buy an iTunes gift card at the store, you can use that to pay for your songs, as well, without a credit card. I love Apple with a passion and I think you will be happy you bought the songs.

Holy crap! Cry Forever sounds like Sonata Arctica and Take My Ego sounds like ABBA. Do like.

"Take My Ego" makes me think of this:

[youtube]4sag2z3PzaU[/youtube]

[EphelDuath666]

oh I do wanna buy them, hell...I'd pay 10 bucks for 'Take my Ego' alone.

Does the solo for "Where We Belong" remind anyone else of Type O Negative?

Yeah, totally. I always thought that Devin's stuff had a slight Type O vibe in places but I think it's really noticeable on this record.

I'm so glad I wasn't alone on thinking this. I mean it's obviously not on every song, but there's a whole lot of World Coming Down/Life is Killing Me on this one to me.

Epicloud definitely has a life is killing me feel to it.

I actually discovered Devin through Type O. Someone told me that Terria was a nerdy version of October Rust so of course I had to check it out . I really miss TON but Dev helps to fill the void.

So, that being said, I very much appreciate Epicloud and Epiclouder for being the songs he wanted to make and I know they were honestly written and recorded, not cynically just to sell albums and tickets. Dev is, I think, one of the most honest artists I have come across and I love him for that. That is true independence. For the reason, I must say that it kinda pisses me off that there are people with the nerve to suggest the album is somehow not good or something. It may not be to your liking, but it is very fucking far from not being good. It is good because it is what Dev intended to make from first note to last. This isn't, in my opinion, music as a commodity, but music as true artistic expression and I would like people to respect that for the anomaly that it is.

/rant

Much love to all. Really. This album oozes positivity and I like that. So, forget all the bullshit and let's rock!

Honesty isn't everything

If I intend to smear walls with my own regurgitated feces and do so, does that make it a bold artistic expression or does it just make a shitty wall?

Not that I'm comparing Epicloud with my own poop or anything like that, there are only a handful of parts that I really take issue with

Kind sir, your analogy is very bad. It is a strawman argument. I never said honesty was the sole reason to enjoy Epicloud. My argument is that one may not like it, as it is not their cup of tea or whatever but to say it is not good as if that is an objective statement is wholly unfair and, I think, uncalled for. You're taking the most extreme stance possible and then knocking it down. But, you have to do that, because you realize I have a pretty good point, that Dev's music is honest, that he works hard on it, that is never thrown together, and that Epicloud is not a bad album. It just isn't an album you like. This isn't an argument about what constitutes artist expression as you're trying to make it. It is about taste. You don't like some of the songs. That's okay. But, don't suggest it's because there is something wrong with them and that's why you don't like them.

Further, if you don't mean to compare Epicloud to your own poop, you should try not using that as your analogy since you are drawing a parallel between the two as if there were one. I think you had to say that because you realized how intellectually dishonest your analogy is.

Have a good one!

To make the obvious claim that taste is completely subjective but then say that the album is by default good because it achieves what Dev planned on doing (even though from what I've gathered, it was written while attempting to write Z2 which kind of means it wasn't what he attempted to do in the first place) is a tad hypocritical, is it not? You have to admit there is no good or bad when dealing in solely instinctual matters such as these. Moreover, it shouldn't be a requirement to tack on 'IMO' or any such additions to a post, because I do not believe, and never meant to infer that it was an objectively, definitively bad album, as that is not the sentiments I hold at all, my feelings towards it are at worst, indifferent.

And the poop was hyperbole, and I have already expressed why I saw your post as stating that the albums intention is enough to justify its existence. And it's not that I don't agree with you that Devin does work hard and not just try to cash in for easy album sales, but that's not what I've stated at all. Saying something IS thrown together and saying something SOUNDS thrown together are too completely different things, and although I may be in the minority here, I don't think I'm alone in thinking that Devin's penchant for recycling older ideas has gone one step too far this time.

And same to you!

... Devin's penchant for recycling older ideas has gone one step too far this time.

I think most of us understand that everyone has their own opinions and are entitled to such. That being said, the man (Dev) pumps out music at an incredible rate, and of a quality that seems almost inhuman. Very few musicians, or artists of any medium are capable of this feat. He is machine.

So a bit of recycling is bound to happen and I do not, in any way see this as a negative thing. If anything, I enjoy hearing bits of the past cropping up in new albums. I think it's quite the treat when done well. I look at it like this...Devin has an entire dimension, all his own, of a sound that is unlike many. And I'm sure, during the creative process of writing his many songs, that he may get a "flash" so to speak, of previous work, that he feels may bridge a certain gap of something new hes working on.
Just want to say that I'm very tired at the moment so my point may not come across the way I have it in my mind...Basically, to put it a bit simpler, I look at Devin the way I do some of my favorite painters...A painter may need to mix certain colors to create something unique, but the original colors still shine through, and on a later painting, he may have part of the canvas that looks as if it "needs" something unique, a touch of something the artist used in the past, but doesnt always feel the need to include on every canvas. So the artist dips into his past catalogue and borrows a small bit of his past work.

I hope my point is evident as I am exhausted but have wanted to throw my two cents in about this subject for some time. Again, to each their own But it is hard for me to understand how a fan of his work, especially fans on this forum, seem, and emphasize, seem irritated by this. Again, to each their own but with as much material as this guy puts out, and how unique his sound is, its bound to happen, in my opinion anyhow, I see it as inevitable.

My 3 cents

... Devin's penchant for recycling older ideas has gone one step too far this time.

I hope my point is evident as I am exhausted but have wanted to throw my two cents in about this subject for some time. Again, to each their own But it is hard for me to understand how a fan of his work, especially fans on this forum, seem, and emphasize, seem irritated by this. Again, to each their own but with as much material as this guy puts out, and how unique his sound is, its bound to happen, in my opinion anyhow, I see it as inevitable.

My 3 cents

I just want to point out that the quote above attributed to me is not what I said. I don't think Dev recycles ideas.

[Octillus]

Epicloud finally clicked a little better. Still prefer the second disk, but ehhh due to some personal stuff going on, I can see how something more uplifting like that can be really good when it clicks with you at the right moment.

So I guess, I don't know, it's probably a lower-middle of the pack album for me, somewhere above Synchestra but below Accelerated Evolution.

Epiclouder is still holding on strong as like... I don't know, 4th? Ranking the albums can be hard when Ocean Machine and Terria never budge.

on youtube someone posted that pendulum track and save our now playing and sync'd at the same time. its pretty interesting.

This is awesome. I'd love to hear a proper polished mash-up.

no second disk on mine just got it today an no breaks inbetween also EPICLOUD!!!! and i heared the dude thing lol

[youtube]9ElYtY2My-E[/youtube]

Got my copy last friday and both discs have received some serious spinning. What to say... I'm thinking that loud yes, but epic...? Not so much. Somehow this feels bit forced and not so strong as whole, say... like Deconstruction. Like new version of Kingdom, also heavier stuff like Socialization on Epiclouder is great. Lucky Animals also is strangely catchy as it first sounded bit simple and irritating, but now it's right there with some other funny stuff like Bad Devil or Vampira.

But this really doesn't make me want to listen these discs over and over like when Addicted or Deconstruction came out, they really received some power play and still go pretty strong. If I put it this way, when I got my hands on new Threshold album I was like "WOW! let's spin that again", and even after second spin "let's play those particular songs once more". That kind of impact I was looking from Epicloud and sadly it just doesn't do that for me. It's still good album but not great.

But hey, they can't all be masterpieces. There's need for basic stuff so that true gems stand out, right?

A bit off-topic here, but has anyone who ordered the Bandstores.uk bundle gotten their Sun shirt yet? I ordered from The Omega Order and it says that the shirt is still a pre-order even though I got the email that the shirt had shipped 15 days ago.

[Octillus]

A bit off-topic here, but has anyone who ordered the Bandstores.uk bundle gotten their Sun shirt yet? I ordered from The Omega Order and it says that the shirt is still a pre-order even though I got the email that the shirt had shipped 15 days ago.

I got my shirt two days after that email from the omega order.