Best DT ballad?

DGR XVI

DGR XVI

Strange poetic squirrel
Apr 14, 2005
54
0
6
In an old tree
Well I will start with this one, because King Chaos wanted it, and King Chaos is an intelligent person ;)

More seriously, I thought it would be an original thread too. Of course, there are very few DT "ballads" but all are interesting songs. This doesn't mean I like them all.

I consider for example Day to End like one of the worst DT songs. Stanne's almost a cappella beginning with only these "electonic" sounds in the background never made it for me, and overall I find the song just boring. But it was worth trying something completly different, right?

On the contrary Emptier Still has always been one of my favourite songs, though I was first derouted by the electronic intro. The use of both growls and clean vocals is perfect, without this pop-ish ( :p ) vibe we find in some Projector songs. And above all, the lyrics are great too... first, they are UNDERSTANDABLE, and after these love-song-like lyrics... DON'T SPEAK 'CAUSE YOU ARE ME !

Auctionned could have been as great if Stanne had used growls in the chorus instead of clean vocals. I think the verses are great, but the chorus almost ruins the song...

Maybe there are other songs which could be considered as "ballads"... but these three are obvious

This is of course my humble opinion, and I wait for your feelings... :)
 
:lol: I'm really not very intelligent.

I reckon my negation is a ballad. On the first listen that's what I thought anyway. Ill spin it again and ponder over it.

I'll have to revisit a few of the tracks, but generally the boundaries, between what is and isn't a ballad with dt are quite blurred. Any song which doesn't have high tempo's for them is probably considerable as a ballad.

A bolt of blazing gold and through ebony archways I always considered as ballads; and really good ones at that. I guess I define the ballad by what instrumental forces are in use, and if it's primarily clean guitar playing or acoustic in the verses, and maybe a pick me up in the chorus'.

Especially with the haven album I think it's hard to decipher what is and isnt a ballad... and that's one of the reasons its so good. There are these immense balladic (dont know if that's a word) passages, like in Not built to last (which, I'm currently listening to)... but whether or not it's a 'ballad', I dunno. It's be interesting to know what DT consider their ballads to be.

But yeah, enough rambelling, When I think 'dt Ballad' I think Emptier still, and I love it.

If we can find away to pick out all the ballads I'd love to make a play list of them. I have a playlist of the Song survivor starting form about 4 rounds ago and it's the best thing ever :p.
 
I love Day To End.. Mikael's vocals are so perfect in that song. The way he sings it gives me the creeps... So deep and so emotional. Of course that this variable (the way we experience someone's singing) depends on person listening to a song, that's nothing to me pointed out as everyone knows it, but still his performance on that particular song was amazing. Like he gave every single emotion in his body to do it. And the minimalism soundwise was a perfect pair to the extremely beaitiful vocal parts. It feels like I'm in someone's head... like I'm someone's inner voice and that someone just wants this day to end. Someone is trapped in a misery one day brought and the feeling of a overwhelming relief would come only with the end of that day.
So, that song is PERFECT from where I'm standing.

As for Emptier Still.. I ADORED it since the moment I heard it. Lyrically it's one of the DT's top gems. It's not very complicated, all the things, emotions, thoughts are said simply and genuinly, BUT still it reflects a situation so perfectly and gets to the core of a emotion. You DGR XVI extracted the very last part of the song and I ALWAYS do the same too. That's the main thing, the phrase that says it all when it comes to real love.

Hehe, I guess you picked all the songs I REALLY REALLY love and it's the same with Auctioned - that one couldn't be more beautiful. I love the chorus for instance. And I think it's great he sang it with clean vocals cos his voice (especially clean vocals) has a power of making everything sound so perfect. So the chorus for me has a great impact, expresses the sentiment so strongly. I cannot elaborate better, it's something I feel when listening to him.

Hah, too many "perfect"s in this post :)
 
King Chaos said:
I'll have to revisit a few of the tracks, but generally the boundaries, between what is and isn't a ballad with dt are quite blurred. Any song which doesn't have high tempo's for them is probably considerable as a ballad.

There are these immense balladic (dont know if that's a word) passages, like in Not built to last (which, I'm currently listening to)... but whether or not it's a 'ballad', I dunno.
Click to expand...

I totally agree! It is kinda difficult to say whether a song is a ballad or not when it comes to DT. And I think you picked a perfect example of a song that is, let's say, not a ballad but has a strong "balladic" (I'll re-use the word, cos it makes sense ;) ) part.
 
You're right KC you're not very intelligent.......ups ...... you're right KC it's hard to say what is a DT "ballad", but personnaly I will never consider Not Built to Last as a ballad, because my favourite part is the ending, which is not "balladic" at all..... Not Built to Last is in my top 10 DT songs anyway.

I didn't think about the Skydancer songs because I don't listen very much to this album, but you're right about Shadow Duet especially...

Indeed, here are some more "balladic" songs (I also like this word): Haven and... Insanity's Crescendo

and KC's posts are intelligent ;)
 
Let's say that "Lethe" is a ballad... It's definitely no. 1 to me! I love this song and could kiss Martin H. that he wrote it. It's one of these songs I've been listening to for many times and still can't get enough of it.

The best overall-ballad - on a side note - I discovered a few days ago: dead wreckoning by Aborted... The last sentence this guy on the phone says has so many feeling, it shows what love is and should be. He says: "It's fun to kill a lot of people, hahahahahaha!!!" ;)

Just kidding!
 
Schwedentod said:
Let's say that "Lethe" is a ballad... It's definitely no. 1 to me! I love this song and could kiss Martin H. that he wrote it. It's one of these songs I've been listening to for many times and still can't get enough of it.
Click to expand...

true thats a great song too.....

but dont let me imagine u kissing... nah... o_O
 
well, lethe, of course. however, i love day to end. dt should have never stopped writing songs in that style. and auctioned is certainly the best acoustic-sounding track. i don't miss the growls on that one, not a bit.
 
DT are of the few DeathMetal bands who write really emotionals songs

the "real" ballads which are all on projector arent bad, but there are much more DT songs wich are 1000xmore emotional and even using deathmetal-elements like vocals and fast drumming.
like insanitys crescendo, tidal tantrum, emptier still
lethe, tidal tantrum, hedon, to a bitter halt, on your time, doberman, on your time, through ebony archways or a bolt of blazing gold
 
Schwedentod said:
You don't want to imagine me kissing or kissing Martin? There's a huge difference, but I just talked about homosexuality yesterday with some (mainly female) friends...

Just to get it right: I can't imagine to have sex with a male, not even kissing! :ill:
Click to expand...

u kissing a man that was meant... nah, men kissing men is a turn off... while I dont mind kissing girls [off topic finished] :dopey:
 
DragonLady1 said:
hm u know what, shame on me I forgot to mention this awesome gallery duo: Mine is the Grandeur... Of Melancholy Burning
Click to expand...
I would agree, but I dont think this is a ballad. It's too progressive. granted, the acoustic prelude to '...of mellancholy burning' (mine is the grandeur...), has the right atmosphere, but there needs to be vocals.

The 'stencil' for a ballad in my book is either Fade to black, by you know who, or every rose has its thorn, by you know who. Even if you look at some of the most prog bands, their ballads are always pretty simple and work along the lines of these ballads... Dream Theater - Another Day, for example :cool:
 
I agree that these songs we named are not ballads in the real sense of that word, but still.. they are different and slower and I can connect them with "ballad" word.
 
I consider Therein to be my favorite "ballad" of theirs. I dunno if you guys would consider it a ballad or not, but I find it very moving, and have done so even more after seeing it live. I don't know if its due to depressing circumstances I was in when I first heard it or not, but I've always found it very powerful.
 
Selig said:
I consider Therein to be my favorite "ballad" of theirs. I dunno if you guys would consider it a ballad or not, but I find it very moving, and have done so even more after seeing it live. I don't know if its due to depressing circumstances I was in when I first heard it or not, but I've always found it very powerful.
Click to expand...

I agree that this is a ballad.

The first time I heard it when it goes in to the build up and you get that rhythm behind the riff on the drums, starting as just single hits at the start of each bar, then it doubles the speed, I nearly died... my heart fluttered quite literally. And from then on Therein has been one of my favourite tracks... despite the cheesy video.
 
King Chaos said:
I agree that this is a ballad.

The first time I heard it when it goes in to the build up and you get that rhythm behind the riff on the drums, starting as just single hits at the start of each bar, then it doubles the speed, I nearly died... my heart fluttered quite literally. And from then on Therein has been one of my favourite tracks... despite the cheesy video.
Click to expand...

I remember I was on my way to in interview in Manchester when I first heard it. I was listening to the Exposures live disc (as I didn't have a copy of Projector at the time), and that was the first time I heard it. When the clean chorus kicked in, I remember zoning out completely, and just carried on walking. I didn't know my way around Machester, and got myself totally lost because I was so absorbed in the music. Good times.
 
My favorite would be the ever underappreciated Nether Novas. The second would be Day to End if you can consider that a ballad of course. Projector is such a beautifull and rich album i dont get why not that many people are into it...
 
ThereIn is definitely my favourite song on Projector... though the first time I heard the song was through the "cheesy video", it didn't prevent me from liking it!

But considering it like a ballad is another thing... or almost every song on Projector, and even on Haven, could be considered as a "ballad" - independently of the song's quality

Beginning this thread I had quite a narrow view of what "ballad" could be - I had in mind the 3 songs I quoted first. But well, actually it's not as easy as with power metal.... (see the "Thoughts about power metal" topic, coming soon ;) ) Big thanks for having opened my mind! :)

And what about Nether Novas? I may consider it as a "ballad" too, but this "patchwork structure song" always disturbed me and actually never made me really "feel" anything - nothing like Emptier Still did...

Edit - ups, Misanthrope just talked about it -
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

S
clean female vocals in dt
Replies
14
Views
1K
Dark Tranquillity
Siedney
S
Ormir
  • Poll
Best DT cover
Replies
7
Views
790
Dark Tranquillity
atlantis
A
S
where is in flames/ dt going?
Replies
4
Views
927
Dark Tranquillity
Misanthrope
M
S
Unknown DT songs
Replies
3
Views
427
Dark Tranquillity
SonOfOdin
S
V
old DT fans
Replies
47
Views
1K
Dark Tranquillity
Lordenlil
L
Top Bottom
Back