Toggling between a juxtaposition of emotions, I guess you really are human then. Ha Ha.
I've always loved metal albums that can still offer deep mellow interludes, (Black Sabbath did it with ultra style), diversity, that's a selling point.
Good to know your aware enough not to burn yourself out, or go stale. You must have a cool record label manager, lol.

I've been curious of what guitars Devin is using for each song... Like on Ki, the guitar(s) playing the arpeggios sound very... steely/slidy, sounds awesome.

Hey guys, please dont get mad for asking this random question in this section...(i just figured dev and everyone else is probably looking in here more than the other sections) so it'd be a good place to ask...)
This is totally off topic but...

Hey Dev, I was wondering have you heard the "Animals As Leaders" album yet? This guy Tosin Abasi plays freakin 8 string guitars! The album is incredible!!! Its a completly instrumental album with all sorts of sometimes heavy, sometimes gentle, ambient awesomeness! I figured I'd ask, (as a fellow music lover) its always nice to hear about awesome new music out there! If you have heard it, I wonder what ya think? I ask mostly because its pretty clear throughout the album that your music probably influenced a lot of it!

(Of course this question goes for all of you on the forum too)

P.S. - Dev, Ki is amazing all the way through. Im obsessed with it. Im so excited to hear the rest of the 4 albums its killing me. Keep up the amazing work! Your without a doubt my favorite musician on the planet! I remember seeing you and the DTB play a short set @ the Webster Theatre in Hartford, CT on the Opeth Tour not too long ago. Watching you guys play that little tiny set was probably my favorite concert experience of all time (and ive been to a LOT of shows). As I recall, you guys played Truth, Vampolka/Vampira, Gaia, & Regulator. Amazing.

-Dustin (CT, USA)

I randomly checked out Animals As Leaders, and I must just say: THANK YOU! I fucking love it on the first listen. Love the Meshuggah-style riffing, and all the other stuff.

Yeah, just checked it out myself, pretty damn good.

[The Dev]

Yeah, we toured with Reflux. Tosin is a maniac! ...and a heck of a nice dude as well.

Even though everyone else seems to love them, I've always felt Infinity and Alien to be incredibly unfocused. They both have their spurts of brilliance (Colonial Boy, Shitstorm), but I never got a feeling from them like I got from City, Terria, or the last few songs of Ocean Machine. If Deconstructed turns out to be a focused version of either of those two albums, it will be a motherfucking sight to behold.

[The Dev]

Hell yeah man, thanks SO much for that observation.

Infinity is so big, wouldn't you have to keep it unfocused to even have a chance of covering any ground of it?
Of course, if you wanted to cover any ground of infinity, it would be impossible.
Maybe, the theme was that it was unfocused. However I think Alien
is a little more focused then Infinity. Love both albums...

Deconstruction could be a reissue of Punky for all I care.
I will still be dumbfounded by your music.
Sorry, not much of a critic.

Hmm... Yeah I can see where you are coming from actually.

But I like random varied-ness, and I think if I ever made an album, it would sound like a schzophrenic made it.
Which I think is why Infinity is probably one of my favourites.

I mean that as in, because its varied. I'm not saying it's schiz.

I'll stop digging a hole now.

Yeah, we toured with Reflux. Tosin is a maniac! ...and a heck of a nice dude as well.

I love how I was the first one to mention Animals As Leaders in general discussion, yet get no credit for it...This is why I said before, all you people who only post here, THERE ARE OTHER SUB FORUMS!

Plus the dude talking about 8 string guitars, what's the big deal? I have one. Meshuggah have been playing them for years. People like Tosin and the band After The Burial are just the ones who really showed that it can be used in so many different ways.

My 2 cents..

Infinity was my favorite DT record, and Alien was my favorite SYL by a long shot. I agree with TheBruce's comment about them not having that same feel as some of the other gems, but.. I just really dig them both oddly.

Infinity is my favorite footbag record (hackey sack). It really helps get the blood pumping.

Alien is one of my favorite places to go when I'm feeling distressed and confused. It almost helps to amplify. Alien scares me tbh. It's very violent sounding to start with Imperial, Skeksis and Shitstorm. Anger, and chaos. In the middle I feel a very tongue in cheek vibe, some dark comedy in Love, We Ride, and Shine Then it glows softly towards the end with Two Weeks and Thalamus. Zen has always felt like a post script sign off... an expansion to the previous contraction. And to be honest, I've only listened to Info Dump all the way through once. I was high, yeah, and it was great. I can't do that track w/o.

Possessions is my favorite track on the disc, for every reason you could imagine. It fits perfectly right where it is.

One mans trash is another mans treasure, etc.

[The Dev]

Oh man...not trash...

I LOVE those two albums, put more effort into them than almost all the others...but they missed the ideal point by losing my shit towards the end...

Please don't get me wrong, they are 2 of my absolute favorites, I was just distressed that they could have been stronger.

I could have been stronger while making them, and that is reflected in my listening experience, most people may not notice.


Sorry to add typical Dev confusion.

Infodump, and even moreso the crescendo from Ki, are the only things to give me a feeling of "how the hell did he humanly write this?" In the case of Ki it's probably just quality shock, I suppose the voices and layering doesn't seem that impossible to come up with from someone with enough creativity, but Infodump still confuses me. Oh and if I'd heard it the first time in public, that would have been embarassing. I don't know why, but it distressed me. I did notice, albiet in a mess of incoherent thoughts, that it had the same rhythm as the end of Colour Your World at points.

There's been rumors around here from time to time about Dev going back and retouching Infinity to make it the way he had intended. Any truth to that?

I have to make my first post (though long time fan) by saying how unbelievable a thought could be that infinity and alien can be any stronger. If deconstruction can somehow bring that across i will be glad ive lived this long to hear such music. While i totally dig (and pre-ordered )Ki, I too love the chaos. As a listener, a musician, and wannabe studio engineer, I am always amazed at what those 2 albums can do, sonically and musically. No one else makes music like this. Dev, keep up the flawless work!