Sky Blue is a great DTP album, and songs like Universal Flame, Silent Militia and Forever are simply amazing. Needs to grow a bit on me but I am certain that it will.
Dark Matters was a hell of a ride. I really, really enjoyed the whole story and the way it is done. I still need to get a bit more into the music itself, but I still need to listen to the Raw version, and I'm sure that'll help in that regard.

All in all, an awesome release and I'm still feeling excited about it.

Made some revisions to my first impression review now that I got the special edition and have listened to it a bunch of times.

http://overtheseize.wordpress.com/2014/ ... roject-z2/

I haven't had time to sit down and listen to Dark Matters in full yet, but Sky Blue...Holy shieeet!

For me, it's a very honest album. Not too OTT but there's a certain sound/format to it that I can't quite put my finger on which makes it feel so familiar already, with the dreamy and 'watery' elements from OM. Added to it is a bit of a melancholic undertone, which I love as it's lost the Epicloud IN YOUR FACE POPPY DANCE LOVE STUFF...But replaced it with a less balls-out, slight restraint. Silent Militia though, all I can hear is Dead or Alive's 'You Spin Me Round'...Not that it's a problem

Anyway, yeah. I really am digging this. I have the feeling that in time it'll be right up there as one of the top DTP releases IMHO. An emotionally solid, expansive, occasionally crushing yet beautiful listening experience.

I'm crap at putting thoughts into words. -_-

I dunno, that was pretty good!

I dunno, that was pretty good!

Haha cheers. I just can't accurately describe how it 'feels' though. Dem feels!

After a couple of listens now, I have to be honest and say my impressions so far have been of slight disappointment.

With Sky Blue, hardly any song has stood out as memorable so far, except Silent Militia. As a whole, it feels like a continuation of exactly those select aspects I liked the least on Epicloud. Gotta give it more listens, I think it'll grown on me more.
Dark Matters has been the better half of the release for me so far, though I gotta admit I found myself missing the juxtaposition of fast, insane & quirky, and atmospheric, calmer elements found in the first one. Dark Matters seems to have cut back significantly on the variety, not having nearly as much variety. Also, I found the much more prominent dialogue segments to detract from the actual songs somewhat - the dialogueless bonus disc has initially seemed like a much tighter, more coherent package than the full version.

I've listened through it all now, and I have to say, I'm satisfied. I really enjoyed Dark Matters a lot! I'm not having the problems with the dialogue that others have expressed. I didn't find myself distracted from the music because of it. Though you do have to keep your attention solely on it in order to get the story (duh). Stand outs on Dark Matters for me are definitely Ziltoidian Empire, March of the Poozers, Earth, Ziltoid Goes Home, and Dimension Z. I think those especially might have some application in this upcoming tour. Especially Ziltoid Goes Home and Dimension Z. I'm excited to hear the album without the dialogue to see how I react to it then.

Sky Blue is nice too. It's mellow and an easy listen, despite having it's rocking moments. I loved Anneke on Fallout. Plus it still has a good amount of Dev on the chorus and the last bridge. Rain City was a calming song to me, though I was expecting something ruckus because of the Bastard reference people talked about. (I didn't see it?) I can't really pick any stand outs right now because they all really flowed well together. I've yet to listen with headphones in, and in the car, so the total spectrum and little details I can't yet comment on.

Overall, I'm very pleased with this release. I'll surely have some criticism at some point, but I'm happy with this effort by Dev and the boys. Ryan did an awesome job with the drums for having such a short time to record them all!

[swervedriver]

Sky Blue I found... inoffensive, perhaps for lack of a better word. It's a nice listen, but there are very few moments that honestly stand out to me. Like, something I would tell my friends "dude, listen to THIS!"; I haven't found that (yet?). Rain City is the most interesting track for me, as it deviates in atmosphere from the rest of the album. Fallout has a nice hook to it, and Anneke singing on the verses indeed fits the overall tone of the album better. In turn however, that makes it more same-y to me so IMHO it doesn't really benefit the track by itself. Fallout's fadeout riff does make amends though. Universal Flame could be taken straight to the Eurovision Songcontest. I am undecided as to whether that is a good or bad thing.

Haven't heard Dark Matters in anything beyond youtube-leak-quality so I'll hold off commenting on that.

Sky Blue I loved, Dark Matters I loved a little bit more. While I may go back and forth later on, this is my opinion as it presently stands.

Dark Matters is my favourite, by far. In my opinion it's just such an enjoyable (and fun!) listen. I've been hanging out for Ziltoid 2 since the first one. My standout tracks so far are Ziltoidian Empire, War Princess and Earth.

I'm also a casual WWE fan so I found the tie in to that interest via Chris Jericho rather amusing. I'm not a fan of him musically though. I'm glad he didn't sing on it.