I fucking love the first half of Feather. Been listening to it nonstop on repeat forever without end eternally. Can't get it out of my head, it sounds so beautiful and hopeful. I don't even know what the words are.

I think I'm still far to obsessed with Ki to begin to think about moving on to Deconstruction or Ghost. May sound weird to people but I'm still content with Ki.

I'm with you. Ki got me into Dev.

Listened to Ghost whilst doing two lifecasts today.

...and I didn't bollock it up This album clearly has magical properties that prevent me from being impatient. Well done Dev, you top banana.

Listened to Ghost whilst doing two lifecasts today.

...and I didn't bollock it up This album clearly has magical properties that prevent me from being impatient. Well done Dev, you top banana.

When you were done with the lifecasts, did you say, "Piece to you"?

Nah, I do say "You're the best model I've ever had" though. One of them was a five year old boy partial face and it came out great! THAT was nothing short of a miracle...

Decon is a little much to take in at first. A lot to listen to. But after a good listen I can hear the finer points of it. Sumeria is amazing!
Also, listening right from the last track of Decon into the first of ghost, perfect transition. gives me chills.
Blackberry is my favorite song of the 2 albums so far, and usually I tend to like the heavy stuff more!

After several listens, my favorite "movement" of Ghost is: Monsoon -> Dark Matters -> Texada

Other favorites are Heart Baby and Infinite Ocean. I absolutely love the vibe of Infinite Ocean.

The way the whole album flows is just amazing. Such a breathing feel to it. One of the most amazing albums you've made, seriously.

The way it flows from Kawaii, ghost, blackberry, monsoon, dark matters and into texada is just amazingly well done.

Ghost is also like deconstruction in the way that each song in by itself is incredible, but seen as a total piece of music it's mind blowingly good. It's definitely bigger than the sum of it's parts.

I cannot express how much I adore Infinite Ocean.

Infinite Ocean is like dreaming that you're flying. Gliding with the wind over the ocean.

One of the strongest from Devin. Absolutely freaking love it!

Ghost is my favorite album of the year so far. Ghost is possibly my favorite song of all Devin's work.

Blackberry is my favorite, so far. I always sing along the "Young Love, it's on the blackberry vine!" part.

When I listen to Heart Baby, it's impossible not to listen to Feather. Same thing with Dark Matters and Texada.

Best DTP album imo. Since nothing is perfect, I can only say that some tracks (Infinite Ocean, Monsoon, As You Were) are a bit longer than necessary. Yeah, I know this is how long Devin wants them to be. But to me, they kinda break the flow (and to such album, flow is of HUGE importance), making Ghost an almost-flawless album. It still is wonderful music, and it fits my current state of mind, which is probably the reason why I prefer Ghost over Decon.

I love Decon for what it is as much as the next poster, but I totally agree that Ghost tops it. The whole point of Decon (the way I see it) comes down to one lyric in Poltergeist - "stand for what you truly believe in!", and once the final epic "STAAAAND!!" is out of the way, it jumps right into Ghost. Devin wasn't dicking around when he made the transition like that, there's no reason to yell STAAAAND at full force and then dink around with a few more fast riffs and blast beats, especially if extreme metal music is not where you're at right now. Once you've made that choice to stick to your guns and be honest with yourself, you might as well jump right into it, no messing around. And that's where Ghost comes in. It's freakin beautiful, both the music and the portrayed concept of change. Ghost is clearly the change that the character wanted/decided to go for at the end of Decon, and quite frankly, you can absolutely hear it throughout the album. Ghost is amazing, and it's got a level of honesty that can be summed up with just a few different sounds, rather than huge choirs and orchestras and a metal band and 17min songs and whatnot. The best things in life are simple, and Ghost shows that with its simplicity & seemingly effortless beauty.

Something like that, anyway Of course neither album is perfect, but if my initial impression is "I like this", then I'm not gonna waste my time trying to find parts that I don't like, just so I can even the scales for realism's sake! I prefer to like what I like

I love Decon for what it is as much as the next poster, but I totally agree that Ghost tops it. The whole point of Decon (the way I see it) comes down to one lyric in Poltergeist - "stand for what you truly believe in!", and once the final epic "STAAAAND!!" is out of the way, it jumps right into Ghost. Devin wasn't dicking around when he made the transition like that, there's no reason to yell STAAAAND at full force and then dink around with a few more fast riffs and blast beats, especially if extreme metal music is not where you're at right now. Once you've made that choice to stick to your guns and be honest with yourself, you might as well jump right into it, no messing around. And that's where Ghost comes in. It's freakin beautiful, both the music and the portrayed concept of change. Ghost is clearly the change that the character wanted/decided to go for at the end of Decon, and quite frankly, you can absolutely hear it throughout the album. Ghost is amazing, and it's got a level of honesty that can be summed up with just a few different sounds, rather than huge choirs and orchestras and a metal band and 17min songs and whatnot. The best things in life are simple, and Ghost shows that with its simplicity & seemingly effortless beauty.

Something like that, anyway Of course neither album is perfect, but if my initial impression is "I like this", then I'm not gonna waste my time trying to find parts that I don't like, just so I can even the scales for realism's sake! I prefer to like what I like

I totally agree. While I enjoy Deconstruction for what it is, and I absolutely love Strapping Young Lad (especially City and Alien), I just feel that Devin's 'heart' just isn't into 'heavy' music anymore. Deconstruction is a great album, but it just doesn't feel right to me. I think that as he's gotten older, he's just gotten a bit tired of the heavy metal sound, and feels like albums like Ghost are more along the lines of what he wants to make. Personally, I think it's clear as day that the album he prefers is Ghost simply because, to me, it feels like it has more soul and care put into it. Now, I'm not trying to say that he just glossed over Decon, I just think that it is more of a 'This is what you wanted? Well, here it is!' to his more 'casual' fans. People just can't get past Strapping Young Lad's dissolution, and that was a time long passed. I sort of feel bad for Dev, because I know it has to get tiring having to hear 'Are you ever going to reform SYL?' and 'We want some more music like SYL!'. Now with having a kid and being older and sober, I just don't think he has it 'in him' to be pissed off at the world anymore. As an example, I think it's sort of similar to how Metallica is/was post the Black album. They seem to try and be 'heavy' just for the sake of it and to please their fans, yet I feel like once you pass a certain age/see certain things, you can't really recapture the soul of the 'early years'.

Anyway, after several listens, Ghost is definitely at the top of my favorite Devin albums. What I'd really love to see is see him do a North American tour highlighting his more subdued and restrained music rather than the heavy stuff, even though the tickets probably wouldn't sell too great unfortunately. Hey, a guy can dream though right?

...

...What I'd really love to see is see him do a North American tour highlighting his more subdued and restrained music rather than the heavy stuff, even though the tickets probably wouldn't sell too great unfortunately. Hey, a guy can dream though right?

True that! The closest show to me is in Minneapolis and that's a 9 hour drive, plus he's not even headlining, and the other bands really don't fit my style all that well (Devin's pry the loudest artist that I still listen to a lot these days...been liking my indie and psychedelic rock groups lately). Get him a slot with some more toned-down acts? I'll happily find a way to afford an all-day drive to get there!