We Are The Void

[Defiance]

I bought Dream Evil's new album. The limited edition is a digi-book with a nice patch.

I ordered the WATV combo from cmdistro. I dont think the so-called Deluxe Edition is a digipack, but the combo is worth the money.

Ha even worse . But I thought the ad for the combo said 'deluxe edition'?

I have the same feeling. I dont like the beginning part of that song.

Well I didn't mean that I don't like that part, 'weird' does not automatically have a 'bad' connotation. It's just strange, but I love it. When I heard it I thought 'When did I change to an 80s punk CD?' . I really like it, it shows that the band hasn't stagnated and still has the urge to expand their musical horizons.

Yeah, the thing is, when I listen to it and it gets to that awesome stereo riff, I'm not thinking chorus, but the the next bit (where he says "I am the void") has to be the chorus. In between that section and the next time he says the lyric, one guitar returns to playing its part of the stereo riff. Making the stereo riff the beginning of the chorus.

DT occasionally writes a song that cycles unconventionally through sections. I'm not sure off the top of my head what the exact structure is, or if it's even weird, but Format C: for Cortex always seemed to just cycle oddly. Part of what makes it so wonderful.

Surface the Infinite: is this song guaranteed for the live set or what?

Yeah that definitely is the chorus. The song indeed is very 'asymmetric', and I love it because of that. D.T.'s weirdest song? Without question. Is it excellent? Certainly.

 

[Zach.Zhang]

Ha even worse . But I thought the ad for the combo said 'deluxe edition'?

The combo includes CD+DVD.
I mean the deluxe edition is not tagged as imported, so it's printed in the US and the discs are housed in a jewel case.

The ad also said first 500 include an autographed booklet. I wish I could be lucky.

 

[Defiance]

The combo includes CD+DVD.
I mean the deluxe edition is not tagged as imported, so it's printed in the US and the discs are housed in a jewel case.

The ad also said first 500 include an autographed booklet. I wish I could be lucky.

Maybe you will!

Ah even if it was still from the U.S. I thought it was going to be a digi. That's a pity, since the digi is very nice.

I haven't seen the DVD, what does it include?

 

[Magrathean]

Like everyone else here, i can't honestly say that i'm a fan of the cover of We are the void. However, the other day i was reflecting on it and something came to my attention. This is an attempt to make everyone here (including myself) appreciate the album cover a little more:

The cover references the bit of Surface the infinite where Mikael says "we stretch our skin around to cover the abyss". The person on the cover is tearing a hole in his skin in order to stretch it around and cover himself --the emptiness, the "void", the "abyss"-- with it, ironically exposing the void inside him in the process. He is left naked, defenseless, alone against everything. This is reflected on the album itself, which is far more introspective than previous albums --in particular Character and Fiction, though i could argue that no album since Projector has been this introspective-- and shows us a much more vulnerable Mikael than said previous albums do. So yes, the cover is odd and unconventional, but maybe it's not as bad as we initially thought it was.

 

[stizzleomnibus]

@Magrathean: I said that a few posts earlier! Did you notice the inverted building at the bottom? Listen through the lyrics for references to buildings and parts thereof ("your name on the door", "you have always been between another set of walls", "things beyond these windows" and so on).

Frankly, I prefer the powerful abstractions of Niklas' work. Namely, the cover of Damage Done: what is that? Maybe a smashed jar? The strange shapes and textures just convey "Damage" beautifully, without showing me a concrete, damaged object. But this cover does take a lot of cues from the album.

 

[Magrathean]

The cover of Damage done is a crouching Mikael with blood fountaining out of his head and the colors all changed to different shades of red:

Sorry for the part about the void and the WATV cover, though; i completely missed it the first time, and now that i read it i see we said just about the same thing.

 

[Defiance]

The cover of Damage done is a crouching Mikael with blood fountaining out of his head and the colors all changed to different shades of red:

Sorry for the part about the void and the WATV cover, though; i completely missed it the first time, and now that i read it i see we said just about the same thing.

I didn't know that! Now my girl is laughing because I didn't see that before hehe.

 

[stizzleomnibus]

TBH, I liked my (incomplete) viewing of the cover better. At any rate, the colors and "energy" of the composition get the point across in either interpretation.

I can't believe I never saw Mikael, though. Seeing the two pics that way makes it incredibly obvious.

 

[Zach.Zhang]

I didnt know the secret of Damage Done's cover, either.
I thought it's a heart on it.

I haven't seen the DVD, what does it include?

How about telling us what's exactly in that DVD.
Some people (like me) haven't received it yet.

 

[Defiance]

TBH, I liked my (incomplete) viewing of the cover better. At any rate, the colors and "energy" of the composition get the point across in either interpretation.

I can't believe I never saw Mikael, though. Seeing the two pics that way makes it incredibly obvious.

Yeah I liked it more when I didn't see Mikael, I though it was someone's brains exploding. And I saw it in a flat left to right perspective, but now I see the hands and stuff. It's still a pretty good cover, and interestingly enough the only one with a band member in it.

I didnt know the secret of Damage Done's cover, either.
I thought it's a heart on it.

How about telling us what's exactly in that DVD.
Some people (like me) haven't received it yet.

Haha OK. I just saw it (all because of youuuuu), and it has:
- Making of Wir sind das Nichts (We Are the Void )
- Making of Shadow in Our Blood video:
This is a real treat, it shows how Mikael never returns from the Finnish forest…. Even if it's quite short and constantly interrupted by propaganda rolleyes, it's quite hilarious.
- Therein and another video (live in Milano).

It would've been nice to have some digital extras like wallpapers and stuff, but I don't see that anywhere.

Can Herr Caotico please make that available to the fans?

 

[Zach.Zhang]

Haha OK. I just saw it (all because of youuuuu), and it has:
...

Thanks for that

It would've been nice to have some digital extras like wallpapers and stuff, but I don't see that anywhere.

Can Herr Caotico please make that available to the fans?

Maybe we'll get a new website with new stuff for downloading soon.

 

[Cronopio]

Bought the limited edition of We Are The Void today. I am teh Happy.

 

[Villain]

Finally! I don't know why it took so long, but today I got my combo of deluxe edition digibook + shirt, and it was well worth the wait. I've only listened the album through once, but here are my initial thoughts:

- As I suspected, WAtV is certainly much more difficult to "get into" than Fiction was; songs like In My Absence, I Am the Void and Iridium didn't "open" at all on the first play-through - which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
- Stanne's clean vocals on Her Silent Language are the best he has ever done.
- I was surprised to read that the guitar solo on At the Point of Ignition was Antonsson's doing; I think he has found his place in the band, although I still kind of miss Nicklasson's recognizable "sound" (more like "style", I suppose).
- The previously mentioned cover-image allusions aside, the digibook is awesome, especially the way the booklet can be seen through the hole in the cover; however, the mega-ugly green sticker on the cover pisses me off - on another forum someone had tried to remove it and the surface of the digibook had been damaged, so I'm not sure if I dare to try it.
- I'm not sure if I like the mixing on this album; I kind of get why they chose such a "deep" (I have no idea if I'm using the right words here) sound, but I think I prefer the "cleaner" mix of Fiction; this might, however, change upon further listening.

All in all, I think this is a very challenging album, both for the band and the listener - probably the most challenging of their releases since Projector. It's certainly a good album, but is it great? Well, I really don't think I have a coherent opinion on that yet - I quickly learned to love Fiction, but with this album it might take more than a few listens before I can come to any conclusions.

Anyways, I know for sure I'm going to enjoy digging into the Void - no matter what my eventual opinion of it is going to be. I'll check the Technical Reference thread next.

-Villain

 

[snuffcarl]

- I'm not sure if I like the mixing on this album; I kind of get why they chose such a "deep" (I have no idea if I'm using the right words here) sound, but I think I prefer the "cleaner" mix of Fiction; this might, however, change upon further listening.
.

-Villain

in my opinion:

too clean = flat
fiction = way to flat
WATV = perhaps best prod ever....
as always, subjective. But i think the trashier songs would fall flat with an even cleaner production.

 

[stizzleomnibus]

All in all, I think this is a very challenging album, both for the band and the listener - probably the most challenging of their releases since Projector. It's certainly a good album, but is it great? Well, I really don't think I have a coherent opinion on that yet - I quickly learned to love Fiction, but with this album it might take more than a few listens before I can come to any conclusions.

I've been attempting to keep it analytical so far, and not critical, but I'll share my thoughts in this regard. Subjectivity mode: Engage.

The only thing that I would say about this album is not critical of what it is, but what it could have been. I'm absolutely ecstatic about how it turned out. It's fucking brilliant. But, it could have been more brutal. Not that I would necessarily have preferred it that way, but it's so musical that it doesn't share the same raw aggression that previous releases did. I'm happy to see DT move in any direction, but anyone looking for brutal death metal with a light topping of melody will probably be disappointed. Fiction was stunning in its mix of intensity and beauty, but WATV is a lot less angry and a lot more sophisticated.

As for what it is: keep listening. I'm involved in a hardcore rewrite at the moment, because every fucking time I get a song write-up through the editing process I notice something else that's blowing me away. Seriously, can you put words to what is so goddamn elegant about The Grandest Accusation? I couldn't, but then I kept listening till I figured it out. Now, I can see the complexity of the arrangement, and talk about it, but I still can't really put the words to why it's so good. I had pretty much overlooked the technical magic of In My Absence until recently, when I noticed some of its finer points. The more you listen to this album, and the deeper you're willing to go, the more it will open for you.

Challenging is a great word. Genius works too. Also: mind-expandingly technical and heartbreakingly beautiful.

To return to my point about what this album is and is not: even if you need something heavier from time to time, you've still got a pile of DT albums. This one, even if you can't get into it all the way, will at least stand as a unique and beautiful moment in the band's career. When I say "at least", I mean, at the very, very least. It's highly unlikely that, given a few spins, you won't be absolutely in love.

 

[AncientMartin]

Has anyone else downloaded the track "The Bow and the Arrow" from iTunes? just got it yesterday, awesome track could have fitted on the album easily

 

[Matse]

however, the mega-ugly green sticker on the cover pisses me off - on another forum someone had tried to remove it and the surface of the digibook had been damaged, so I'm not sure if I dare to try it.[\QUOTE]

Mine went off without problems, I just pulled it off slowly. You could heat it up with a hairdryer before taking it off. That usually works well on stickers and weakens the glue.

 

[Defiance]

Has anyone else downloaded the track "The Bow and the Arrow" from iTunes? just got it yesterday, awesome track could have fitted on the album easily

I haven't, I'll try to download it but I don't have an iTunes account.

Mine went off without problems, I just pulled it off slowly. You could heat it up with a hairdryer before taking it off. That usually works well on stickers and weakens the glue.

Ohhhh toll! Thanks a lot, I'll try doing that. Hopefully it'll be alright…wait, I'd better ask my girl, I'm too clumsy for this sort of stuff haha .

 

[anita_job]

Just wanted to chime in that Offspring was one of the greats, from Ignition through Ixnay. I went to their shows when I was in high school.

 

[plintus]

Martin B.'s last name spelling is fucked up in the booklet.

UGH!

That's a huuuuuge eye-sore since the first thing I went on checking was credits, and encoding is fucked up; I do DTP somewhat and familiar with the issue, but it's just AARGHHH!!!