Whoa, this is so heavy! And unbelievably cheesy!
#322910 by Comebacteria
Tue Oct 28, 2014 7:34 pm
Joined this forum last year in an unfortunate time when it was almost dead, so I didn't hang around here really...Came here just to say Sky Blue sounds absolutely stunning...There's a few fillers here and there, but stuff like Rain City, Fallout, A New Reign and the title song, Sky Blue...Man, pure beauty...And I do agree with the ones that said Devin should have left his vocals in the final mix of Fallout, it does sound more powerful...
#322920 by jordy666sic
Wed Oct 29, 2014 6:47 am
Got my copy today. Lolled a little when unpacking the frisbee. It flew out of my hand when unwrapping haha. Is it just mine version are non of the booklets stitched? Gonna have to improvise something myself. And yeah they could have go with a bigger type somehow.. Oh well. The artwork looks fcking amazing. This is why I still buy CD's!
#322921 by Boerbel
Wed Oct 29, 2014 6:51 am
Yeees! Mission completed. Waited so long for this day! Z2 limited clear 4-vinyl, limited 3-CD digi and limited japanese 2-CD + live-DVD in all their beauty. Found my girlfriend Jazz in the credits and myself in the choir. Poozer!

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image
#322922 by jordy666sic
Wed Oct 29, 2014 7:17 am
"The audience at Utrecht Tivoli" - Buy a ticket to a show, end up contributing vocals on an upcoming album. Yay.
#322925 by Teej
Wed Oct 29, 2014 9:19 am
Listened to the records in full last night (via mp3, still waiting on my vinyl/CDs...) and I think I need some more time with the music to get a good grasp of it all. Upon first listen, I felt a bit lukewarm about both disks.

Sky Blue definitely has some excellent moments, but I found it difficult to pick out more than 3 or 4 songs that I really enjoyed all the way through. I also think there was a bit of an Anneke overload for my taste. As NamasteLikeBender said in his review earlier, Devin mentioned being sick of hearing his own voice, and I think that has a lot to do with the vocal part choices. I also think that Anneke didn't have the same opportunities to really showcase her vocal ability as she did on Addicted! or Epicloud. A lot of her parts all kinda sounded the same to me. As far as the Fallout argument goes, I've heard both versions and enjoy both. The Anneke version makes more sense for the record as a whole piece, but the Devin one is badass on its own. There were also a few tracks that had just a bit too much dance club influence for my palate, but nothing unbearable. All this being said, there were some great moments on this record and I certainly would not discourage anyone from giving it a listen. I'm sure it will grow on me more with time, just as Epicloud did.

I went into Dark Matters with an open mind, as I knew that it was going to sound very little like the first Ziltoid record. Dev just does not write that kind of stuff anymore, and that's totally cool with me. One of the things that I noticed upon completing this one was that I had a harder time discerning the songs from one another. I think this was written in a truer "musical" style than ZTO, which would create that effect. There is a lot of dialogue, but it wasn't quite as distracting to me as some people have made it out to be. That being said, I still am glad that a non-dialogue disk was made so that the songs can still be enjoyed when one is not in a "listen to people talk" mood. Referencing NamasteLikeBender's review again, Chris Jericho does, in fact, sound like Numbah 1 from KND on this record, which was odd. I always pictured Captain Spectacular as Zapp Brannigan from Futurama. When it was mentioned that Dark Matters is better at a lower volume, I wasn't sure what that meant until I listened. I can say now that I agree. The record is just sensory overload a lot of the time if its turned up. I think some of that comes from the very heavy use of layered choir vocals throughout the entire album. I had a tough time hearing lyrics and an even tougher time picking out the instruments from one another. Devin has amazing guitar tone, but it seems to get buried on his more recent records. He still plays heavy, palm-muted, chuggy riffs, but they become subdued under the weight of the rest of the mix. All that negativity on my part aside, I will say that when this record wants to be epic it is indeed EPIC. A good example is the Universal Choir part in Z2; it just sounds massive. I was pleased to hear the beginning of From Sleep Awake, since I loved that part on the menu on The Retinal Circus BluRay. I think I liked Dark Matters over Sky Blue by a bit, and I think its going to grow on me as well.

I had a lot of complaints, but I still think Z2 is a great pair of records. Dev is so far past most musicians in many ways, and that has not changed here. I hope he takes a well-deserved break after touring for a bit and see what happens. If there is anything that I would wish for in a new record in the future, it would be less compressed/complex mixing and less choir vocals. (Obviously Casualties has none of that stuff, but I'm talking about a more standard Devy-style record).
#322926 by Huffer
Wed Oct 29, 2014 9:52 am
Great to be here!

Awesome album! Ive listened to it intently, feeling the ooziness flow through me! I tell you, it was a musical dessert! Sort of like a custard made of thunder and chorus!

I rate it to be a 10/10 experience. Both halves of the whole really do come together to make a monster of a time!
#322933 by IamaFlukeintheworld
Wed Oct 29, 2014 11:26 am
I was just so happy to find out Captain Spectacular was Chris Jericho ! Since the release of z1 I felt Jericho would fit the bill.
#322934 by BerryGirl
Wed Oct 29, 2014 12:04 pm
I always envisioned Captain Spectacular to be tall, dressed in a blue tracksuit and wearing yellow sunglasses. Weird.
#322937 by Saline
Wed Oct 29, 2014 3:01 pm
I can't stop listening to Rain City. Put on some headphones, turn up the volume...when the chorus kicks back in at 2:37 it gives such a burst of adrenaline.
#322945 by KeasbyNights
Wed Oct 29, 2014 8:14 pm
Spoiler: show
Boerbel wrote:Yeees! Mission completed. Waited so long for this day! Z2 limited clear 4-vinyl, limited 3-CD digi and limited japanese 2-CD + live-DVD in all their beauty. Found my girlfriend Jazz in the credits and myself in the choir. Poozer!

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image


Nice to see all the artwork and such, and I'm glad the choir credits are in the booklet. That made me smile. All the more excited to get my copies!
#322950 by Chris87
Thu Oct 30, 2014 1:55 am
KeasbyNights wrote:Nice to see all the artwork and such, and I'm glad the choir credits are in the booklet.


Not in the limited CD edition though. At least I can't find it in the one I bought in Germany.
#322963 by Boerbel
Thu Oct 30, 2014 8:53 am
You'll find the list in the vinyl box.
#322964 by Boerbel
Thu Oct 30, 2014 8:58 am
jordy666sic wrote:"The audience at Utrecht Tivoli" - Buy a ticket to a show, end up contributing vocals on an upcoming album. Yay.


Or my girlfriend. After the show in Berlin, drinking a beer outside the venue, Dev came up with his ipad and told her, in a few hours he has the deadline for Z2 and needs her voice for a dialogue part that ended up in EARTH..... :D
#322976 by chrisslight
Thu Oct 30, 2014 2:08 pm
I've still yet to listen to Sky Blue as I've been letting Dark Matters sink in. My god, what an amazing work. To me, there isn't really a flaw. I can't wait to see this at the Royal Albert Hall and I think it's very much a worthy follow on to the first record. Current stand out is War Princess (how amazing is that performance?!) but the whole thing is just brilliant. I've been listening to Devin for just over ten years now and he's never once let me down. Astounding! Roll on Royal Albert Hall, Ziltoid awaits!
#322977 by vaijuju
Thu Oct 30, 2014 3:13 pm
Since friday, i listen the both albums! in the begenning i was a little disapointed by "sky blue" ! Dark Matters .. after few notes ! Happy ! then the second and third listening of sky blue, i was happy! Devin "you have a secret ?" again you win the game ! THANKS Devin for the 2 greatest albums!!

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests