Fiction [New Album Spoilers Highly Likely. Read At Own Risk]

And just one more note before sleep, so far I've noticed alot of lyrics about fire/flames, and defenses/walls/shields. I'm intrigued as to why those would necessarily be such strong themes on an album titled "Fiction".

~kov.
 
I've never been particularly good at understanding death/black vocals if I do not know what is said beforehand, and it doesn't help that I can only use some crappy headphones to listen to the songs with right now, but here are some possible corrections:

Nothing To No One

Force it to begin, spark the/spark of flame,
True fire burns with sin,
doctrine is denied - over and over again
Keep me deaf... of all things private... expose this failed creation

What is done is dead, what is done is dead.
To be content - an abomination,
Are you satisfied? Are you done with this?

The ultimate rebellion - the sacrifice is endless.
The ultimate rebellion - be nothing to no one.

What's in a true life, behind the crumbling walls?
A dream - an infant illusion.
Action without movement, desire without heart.
It is over and done, it's over and done.
To crave ... for objects, and fathom without eyes,
...of all things personal, that no one sees.

The ultimate rebellion - the sacrifice is endless.
The ultimate rebellion - be nothing to no one.

Waken to the screams of unresolve,
Denounce the accusations, words are free.

These are the outer symptoms of inner detonation
That will force us to inaction, bleed us of resolve,
Take the burden off me, lead me to my grave.

The ultimate rebellion - the sacrifice is endless.
The ultimate rebellion - be nothing to no one.

The Lesser Faith

Dreamt up a new word today,
In my ignorance, I gave it meaning.
Who was I to know?

To say it is to know it, to hear it is to believe - is to believe.
I dreamt a world would end,
I was not wrong to doubt, to discredit
The other words I learned before.
From inside a shell protecting.

It's all you've shown your faith, and what you've always known.
So lay your trust in me and think up how to start to justify your lesser faith(????)(Note: to me it sounds like Stanne says something really quickly before "start" and I thought it might be "to" and thus I came up with this. Probably not it, but thought I would put this out there for others to examine anyway...)

It's all your faith has ever shown, and all you've ever known.
How could you marry your InsignifiCunt?
How do you justify your lesser faith?

To know it is to fear it - to feel it is to say "no", is to say "no".
To the blazing hearts and lungs(?)...
I now unveil, to break, to cast it down
You take your need from a staff that must be broken in two.

It's all your faith has ever shown, and all you've ever known.
How could you marry your InsignifiCunt?
How do you justify your lesser faith?

............................................

Hopefully a few of those changes are accurate. And with that I'm off to bed.
 
Yea that's totally it. Im typically german like that

It would be interesting to see whether people like the new album significantly more or less than the other ones based on their country. The survey should be conducted among DT fans only, otherwise you'd risk confusing different categories (i.e., metallers in the Netherlands are more into Blind Guardian, while the Germans are all for, say, Manowar).
 
That survey would lean heavily to one side, since criticism obviously confuses you

Criticism of what? I don't want to express opinions about Fiction (yet, or maybe ever, I'm not sure), but you seem very keen to reiterate yours in many one-liners. It's actually quite ok to do so, if you're disappointed I imagine it's normal to want people to know and notice.

I'm puzzled as to why I would - I presume that's what you meant - imply that German fans as a whole don't like Fiction much. However, many often express the feeling that certain albums are very friendly to a specific sound that listeners like overseas or, on the contrary, more enjoyable by the Scandinavian crowds. I wonder if there's any truth to these statements.
 
I'm really looking forward to it now. I hope to be in the same long boat as mardy.

When I first heard character I was biiiiig into it, but it's not stood the test of time aswell as other DT albums. It's the only album other than projector that I don't get all Nostalgic about.

I wont tempt you to have a listen to it, but Im sure youll like it. In my previous post I was all over it, but I hope you understand that its not perfect, so please dont base your expectations on anything else than your own feelings when you hear it. I didnt turn a blind eye on the flaws of this piece, but these are really unimportant compared with the pros. For example, I think DT had a problem with the endings of some of the songs, because they are almost the same in like 4 songs, and most of them are pretty dull. Some of the songs contain really unnecessary sort-of-laid-back intermezzos that really were all heard before (to do justice to Taliesin), the last three songs somehow dont go well with the rest of the album (just to make myself clear - the songs themselves are great, but they just dont seem to fit - mostly because of the sisters-of-mercy allusions - why on earth that? EVERYONE has already done that, and Focus Shift is simply different, although good enough to be there), and the last thing is that had this record been made without keys I wouldnt have had anything against it. BUT the songs work really really well, the riffs are excellent, BASS - hey they have an awesome bass player, good to be reminded of that, Mikael S. is superb and Anders has never played as fast as on this one - the blastbeats bring a tear to my grind core third eye. :)
 
My only song specific complaint so far, is that the "What ever happened..." lines in Terminus have a very similar lead in as "What can you tell me..." from Final Resistance, so I keep getting the two confused.

Aside from that, I love the very different song structures. It seems like they really wanted to try out a bunch of different things this time around.

Anywho - I'll finish posting lyrics and then I'll try to compile the corrections.

Just a correction or two of my own on Particle Storm - I think it's "clot" in the garden, and "bloodshed", not bloodships.

Empty Me

A light never abandoned, in shallow darkness dwell,
The evidence in pools of black, I cannot penetrate.
I cannot penetrate.

I have come for my forgiveness {There's nothing left to give.}
No response to your repentance {Please empty me.}

Be lifted from the living daze, and be bent right out of shape.
Let ... and satisfiers, who constantly (betrothed???)
... repentance, that bastard son of light (night?)
To bring meaning to it all, to bring meaning to it all

I have come for my forgiveness {There's nothing left to give.}
No response to your repentance {Please empty me.}
Take now from this body: A coward's heart. {And a soul beyond repair.}
Empty me!

Between security (of/and) reason, self deprication rise up in the end.
Out of reach but never close, ... searches for the (cup of ...?) (Lys?)
Cure for chaos.

I have come for my forgiveness {There's nothing left to give.}
No response to your repentance {Please empty me.}
[This part's a pain in the ass - any help is welcome.]

Loss of memories, lost everything,
Minutes of thought, and seconds of sleep,
I used to be, an... of note
...., and kill the light.

Misery's Crown

All has now been broken, on streets I dare not walk,
Freedom is an illusion, I've built my fences high.
If there was something out there I've learned not to expect,
There are a hundred million reasons, not to care.

Don't bring it, don't bring it, don't bring your misery down on me.
Don't bring it, don't bring it, don't bring your misery down on me.
Wear misery's crown.

As always in these matters, you broke the deal of deals,
And wasted what was given, to revel in your mess.
I gave up all for nothing, I tried my best and failed,
There is a thousand million reasons, never to share again.
This is how it begins, this is how it begins.

Don't bring it, don't bring it, don't bring your misery down on me.
Don't bring it, don't bring it, don't bring your misery down on me.
Wear misery's crown.

This is how it all begins
Go now, go now, go now
Don't bring it, don't bring it, don't bring your misery down on me.
Don't bring it, don't bring it, don't bring your misery down on me.
Wear misery's crown.

The Mundane and The Magic

Seen through these dreamless eyes, blind buildings darken the skies
Silhouettes as dividing walls, guarding an eternal secret.

Where is the flame to hold you, when you need your answer too?
My lies are always wishes,
Lies that make me see beyond the rational(e?)
Where sense feel nothing is meant to be
Be the least connected, stay true to the last original

My layers (of/to) reality, things only you can see,
Add a piece of normality, descend the core of insanity

I let my dreams cross over - to days of endless gray
If I can merge the mundane and the magic - we've forged a new unknown
I let my dreams cross over - to nothingness and back again
If I can merge the mundane and the magic - where is the dark I came to find?

With... days as time will find you,
Memories will never let you get closer
Wait for darkness and death again
In the face of ignorance and fear, I cast it right back
Some things are never there to begin with,
... denied. [I think I had more here, but it's all I wrote down.]

I let my dreams cross over - to days of endless gray
If I can merge the mundane and the magic - we've forged a new unknown
I let my dreams cross over - to nothingness and back again
If I can merge the mundane and the magic - where is the dark I came to find?


Left out Focus Shift, as we already have it elsewhere. And seriously, that end part to Empty Me is friggin rough.
~kov.
 
No prob, BAI. I work on it anyway for myself, and to become more familiar with the songs. Of course, they're not totally accurate, but they're what I could come up with. Ordinarily someone else understands the parts I don't get much better than I do. So of course suggestions are welcome.

@Moonshield - "expose this failed creation" - I'll have to take another listen, but that might fit better. For Lesser Faith, I was debating "world" as well, but I thought word fit better in context. And I like your "shell" line better than mine, but that last word definitely has an 'ick' sound in it somewhere.

~kov.
 
Great work Kov. Keep it up =)

Just heard the album a few days back, didn't open up with the first listen, but now that I've given it a few days I absolutely love it <3. Going straight to the top of my "To buy"-list. I just hope Stanne and all the other good fellas will be so kind to pop by in Finland this year too. It's been too long since I saw them live or had a chat with them :p
 
i dont like too much the new album either. To me, it feels like the parts of the songs dont ever go well together, it is more like totally different parts put together.
What i always liked about DT, was this kind of feeling that make you want to slightly balance yourself (with the rythm). Now there isnt any feeling like that on this album, and it sounds a bit overproduced...
The clean vocals sound kind of strange.
 
Thanks, Xvar. I try.

If anyone has suggestions for the lyrics, be sure to post them.

I agree that there are some disjointed parts of the album, but I don't ever feel that they weren't intentional. Basically, I feel that whatever I'm hearing is what they wanted to be heard. I'm still of the mind that this is one of their best albums, though it is very different. And I like the clean vox in Misery's Crown much more than in Mundane and the Magic, although the lyrics of Misery's Crown hits a little too close to home for me to really get into it.

~kov.
 
I agree that there are some disjointed parts of the album, but I don't ever feel that they weren't intentional. Basically, I feel that whatever I'm hearing is what they wanted to be heard. I'm still of the mind that this is one of their best albums, though it is very different. And I like the clean vox in Misery's Crown much more than in Mundane and the Magic, although the lyrics of Misery's Crown hits a little too close to home for me to really get into it.

Those "parts put together" are a total trademark of this record: you get some rhythm or a bridge section or just instrumental part of the song, where it takes off from into a solo or change of rhythm, but the best thing about it - you can't predict where it all is going, so those parts, I say, go very well together, as they are totally showcasing diversity and depth of dt's musicianship, - odd for some, too experimental for others, but nothing close to ordinary.

Hell, someone wants "good ole' Goteborg sound"? Tons of generic melodeath bands are waiting for you!

Cleans are excellent, I wouldn't dare to compare them to previous work - The Stanne pulls it off anew, from what my troubled mind remembers - they are so close to his talking voice, that it doesn't seem to be a problem to do Misery's Crown live.

*winkwink*
 
Actually, it's quite hard to judge whether the album is good or not from now. It's only a couple of days from it's leaking. I didn't like it much the first time I heard it except Blind At Heart ofcourse, but I'm listening to it 24/7, and it's just getting better and better!

@Dark Silence: The clean vocals are my favorite aspect of this album - after the solos ofcourse :p. However, I liked them more than the ones on Projector.
 
Oops, I snuck a peak at Terminus (Where Death is Most Alive.)
At first, I honestly thought it was about the melodic death metal scene, and I'm still not so sure it isn't.

Here is my shot at the lyrics. I read through Kov's attempt first, which I probably shouldn't have done, but this is what I got:

This is a ghost town.
We lie on the edges of failure's fled.
Lead on by shining faces, levelling extremes.
What used to be.
Our humility is gone.
Walk around, with skull and bones.
We're living just to die.
I see more moments of ??? decision,
The windows are our lights. (???)
It is the only place I know, where death is most alive.
It is where truth is turned to lie, where death is most alive.

Set flame to the ensnarers, we'll pierce their wooden shield.
Branded by what claims you.
You wear the mark of death.
In death and loss and agony, a character defined.
Stripped of all the tragedy,
What life is left to fight?
Go now, until there's nothing left.
Go now, the dying has begun.

It is the only place I know, where death is most alive.
It is where truth is turned to lie, where death is most alive.

So I flee from all that is me.
To hide behind this pale, dead face.
Whatever happened to desire, want and need?
Whatever happened to integrity?
Imagination is a cause in all of this.
Whatever happened was left behind.

This is a ghost town!
Our bodies scattered in the streets.
Go now, to never return.

I've seen more pitiful humiliation
That you could never hide.

It is the only place I know, where death is most alive.
It is where truth is turned to lie, where death is most alive.


(Now I'm deleting it and waiting until April.)
 
I like how you said 'Oops, I heard it' :p I'm sure it was all just a big misunderstanding.

Ok, for NtNO, it's definitely "Are you.." for both lines - I was wrong on that.

Still can't get enough of Particle Storm. Such an excellent excellent song.



~kov.
 
It would be even greater without that slowish intermezzo, it loses its drive there. Apropos, intermezzos. I dont really know why the guys are so fond of them. They hardly ever follow the tension-release pattern, because theres rarely any atmoshere build-up in them, they just slow the songs down, and are a pain in the ass, to be honest (and with that uber-original ringtone keyboards of Branstrom in ALL of them theyre even worse). Im actually a bit sorry about this - this album couldve been one of the best records of the decade, had it maintained the awesome awesome fury that governs the first 7 songs (minus the intermezzos). The last three songs are a minus point each, from the point of view of the whole album. Good thing is they are fine as such.