The Prog Rock Album Club

Carpe Mortem · 07-07-2014, 11:35 PM

Dušan Jevtovič: Am I Walking Wrong? (2013)

1. You Can't Sing, You Can't Dance- Right up my alley! I gotta admit, I've heard this basic song structure like a million times through my vast stoner fandom but it never ****in gets old, and there were some excellent nuances here. This first
track made it clear to me I made the right choice for which album to review. 10/10

2. Am I Walking Wrong?- Sort of New Yorkish with a southern vibe, if that makes any sense. Made me think of old school gangsters on the edge of town where industry meets desert. The last minute or so had some drum variations that brought it to an awesome close. 10/10

3. Drummer's Dance- Cracked a bit of a smile when I saw the title considering the outro of the last song. This started off just trudgy as ****, but not repetetive, it was in a good way. The title fits it perfectly. Then you get less of the rock and more of a slight jazzy vibe towards the middle, with them drums still dancing the night away, and it ends in a related flourish. 10/10

4. One on One- This was good and all, I totally didn't mind listening to it and would probably be like 'hey who is this band?' if someone was playing it, but not as good as the rest of the songs so far. Got kinda boring for me. 6/10

5. In the Last Moment II- Excellent opening! Kinda foreboding and creepy. The whole song is like that, really atmospheric and jilted. Enjoyable listen. 8/10

6. Embracing Simplicity- Guitar nerds... such a guitar nerd song. Again, title fit the track perfectly. Awesome ****in track, to put it simply. Just expect a showcase of strings, moreso than other songs. 10/10

7. Third Life- I was a sucker for the intro at first... but then I got really sick of it. Do somethin, fool! Finally, fool did something, and it was screechy and weird and oddly kinda enjoyable. 7/10

8. Tra-Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta- I kinda failed to understand the point of this short transition song, wasn't particularly interesting. Meh. 3/10

9. Bluesracho- Holy hell of sexy blues right off the bat! I'm just a total sucker for this kind of thing. Total sucker, never ceases to entertain me. And this was a very bouncy feel good sort of blues with a drumtastic outro. 9/10

10. If You See Me Again- Pretty as **** acoustic atmopheric that has a somber, good memories gone by beauty to it. Excellent, and I mean ****ing excellent, final track for this album. 10/10

Technical Total: 8.3/10

However..... I felt like the flow of this album was very well balanced, and there was a decent amount of effort put forth to keep it together. Slight things that were pleasantly discreet, and a broader lack of cacophony. This easily bumps the album, for me, to a

8.8/10

I checked out the other reviews on this, and I gotta disagree with you guys! I really enjoyed this one, enough that I will recommend it to others highly. Different strokes I guess.

Anteater · 07-17-2014, 10:40 AM

Nobody likes a shitty cup of coffee...but if Starbucks gave you a dud, would you destroy the whole planet in retaliation? That's the moral dilemma given to us by monsieur Townsend in this epic, epic album about one alien and his quest to drink the best cup of coffee in the universe. And as far as solo albums go, its definitely one of the best you'll ever hear from anyone. Vocals, instrumentation, production...everything's done by Devy himself without much help. I'd probably go crazy after four months in a studio trying to painstakingly piece together something even half as cohesive & interesting as Ziltoid The Omniscient, but maybe that's just me.

Sonically, this sucker lies somewhere between Strapping Young Lad and the more strident, symphonic direction that Devin tends to take with his solo material or poppier Project excursions like Addicted! and Epicloud. Fun ride all the way through too: 'By Your Command' takes us through the opening act of the narrative like some sort of marching anthem as the Drumkit From Hell blasts from behind before segueing into some gorgeous harmonies by the mid-point, and that's just the start! Other highlights include the endemically wonderful 'Hyperdrive' with its monster hook, the Floydian 'Color Your World' and the fist-pumping 'Planet Smasher', but even the interludes do their part just fine. There's a lot of narration interspersed throughout the album that makes this sound more like a "musical" than a concept record, but they're integrated so well that as far as rock operas go, you can't help but feel invested in Townsend's B-Movie invasion musical scenery as it flows by. That's normally very difficult to map out on paper, and even harder to implement as a singular vision of some kind...but Devin pulls it off like it's the most natural thing in the world.

I'll finish this little review by saying that honest-to-God GREAT concept records are really hard to come by, prog or metal or otherwise. There's a reason people still talk about Operation: Mindcrime nearly three decades later while others have fallen to the wayside. While every once in awhile a concept album gets absorbed into pop culture due to accompanying visual material rather than the strength of its overall musical vision (like Pink Floyd's The Wall), Ziltoid is undoubtedly a masterpiece of focused, unbridled genius in melodic metal that would succeed even without a movie adaptation. It even comes with a sense of humor!

10/10

Moss · 07-18-2014, 04:32 PM

Don’t have too much to say about this one but thought I would put a few thoughts out there:

On the plus side:
Telecaster - It appears his main guitar is a Telecaster so I have to give it up for him. It’s what I play the most and he gets some great tones out of it although I’m not a fan of some of the tones he uses.
Lessons - According to his website he will provide private lessons via Skype. I’m half tempted to find out what that would cost but I know it’s going to be more than I’m willing to pay.
Chops - Clearly he has chops and knows his music theory.

As far as songs:
You can’t sing, you can’t dance - He is able to play those great whole tone or atonal or whatever the hell phrases that are hard to do correctly. Liked this one.
Am I walking wrong - Play a repeating bass line and improve over it with a fat distorted tone. Meh. Nothing Yo La Tengo has not done for years and better.
Drummers dance - The style he uses in this one is very much like John Scofield. Those short, stabbing kind of phrases. I love John Scofield. Like this one too.
One on One - String bending frenzy, I like it alright.
In the last moment II - Showing his volume swell techniques. This one leaned more towards rock than the fusion stuff up to this point. Found this one pretty boring.
Embracing Simplicity - This one bored me as well.
Third Life - Painfully long and boring
Tra ta ta ta ta - Glad things are picking back up here but still not a great track.
Bluesracho - Some nice inventive phrases here but the background music was so boring as a platform to solo over and his guitar tone kind of sucked on this one. Sounds like a filler track.
If you see me again - Boring layering of guitar parts

This is not something I can see myself revisiting. I did like the first half of the album but then it really started to drag through the second half. Certainly a good guitar player and I would take lessons from him in a second but I just don’t see that he is bringing anything new to the table musically. Jeff Beck, Eric Johnson, Steve Morse, John Scofield are way more exciting to me. This sounds like a decent mix tape from a good guitar play but there are thousands of those out there so not sure why this would stand apart.

6/10

Looking forward to Ziltoid!

Unknown Soldier · 07-20-2014, 05:06 PM

I'd only ever heard a few things by Devin Townsend in the past and had usually been a bit negative towards those listens, largely because I couldn't get into his production style. I chose the Devin Townsend album quite simply because I liked the cover and found out it was a concept album (even though most concepts don't usually cut it for me)

I found the concept here interesting, the vocals strong, the guitars loud, with some surprising melodies and yes I found the production here really great as well. After just a few songs I knew I was going to like the material on offer here a lot as well. The album is a great and heavy rock opera and that's just how it should be from a metal artist and I once read not too long ago that Devin Townsend is seen as a metal version of Frank Zappa and I can only think that comes from the comedy element in his music (we're talking sophisticated comedy here of course) Ziltoid is probably one of the best unheard of albums by me that I've heard in a while and it certainly has me now looking to explore the rest of Devin Townsend's material in a lot more detail.

4.5/5

Anteater · 07-25-2014, 10:06 AM

Good reviews guys, but I think it's about time to move on to the next person unless we got a few others wanting to take a crack at Ziltoid.

Xurtio...take a bow!

Xurtio · 07-26-2014, 10:14 AM

I just passed my comprehensive exams yesterday! I am now feeling a bit more free, but I have a gig today and need to make up time in the recording studio.

I want to do Xaal's En Chemin, but I can only find one song on youtube (Byblos). I'll do some more digging later unless someone else knows where to get it. I don't own it but I may be able to hunt it down.

Xurtio · 07-26-2014, 11:13 AM

Artist: Xaal
Album: En Chemin
Style: French Progressive Instrumental

link:

Xaal - En Chemin MP3 downloads | www.MyFreeMp3.cc

there's some associated web ad assault and possible fishing scams associated with this site, but they have the full album there and all the songs I've tried play just fine; ignore/block popups.

Moss · 07-28-2014, 11:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anteater

Good reviews guys, but I think it's about time to move on to the next person unless we got a few others wanting to take a crack at Ziltoid.

Xurtio...take a bow!

I may get a Ziltoid out yet but at some point I hope to catch up to everyone.

Carpe Mortem · 07-31-2014, 10:31 PM

Workin on it

Trollheart · 09-03-2014, 06:18 AM

Woo-hoo! I'm back baby!

Great to see you guys have continued on without me --- no, really: I'm not bitter at all. I only started the damn thing --- ungrateful bastards, think they can exist without me --- be nowhere if it wasn't for me --- mutter mutter --- see about that ....

Seriously though, well done, and Anteater seems to be proving an able commander in my presence, so much so that I think it's only fair we leave him in charge. No point in my trying to reassert my authority (Hey Ant! You want an arm-wrestling contest? Checkers? Tic-tac-toe? Doom II?

)

However, the changing format is confusing me. The list I chose, which Rostasti was challenging I believe, was, er, suggested by him, and though eclectic I thought it worked quite well. Ant's list is fine of course, but now we're back to 200 albums as opposed to 1000. Hmm. But now the four-albums-per-member thing is really confusing me. I tried this a while back and it seemed to fall flat on its face, with everyone discussing their own album and no real interaction. Yet here you seem to be all discussing the one album, though there's still an element of choice per member ...

No, I'm at sea. Can someone explain to me what you're doing, how this works? Also, I see nobody has been keeping the league table going. Do you want that reinstated or left alone? If the former, I can take care of that since I won't be running the club now. Just let me know.

Oh and count me in for the next album of course. Which is...?

Thanks guys and it's good to be back.
TH

07-07-2014, 11:35 PM	#911 (permalink)
Carpe Mortem Crusher of tiny Nords Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Ugly Bag of Mostly Water Posts: 1,363	*Dušan Jevtovič: Am I Walking Wrong? (2013)* 1. You Can't Sing, You Can't Dance- Right up my alley! I gotta admit, I've heard this basic song structure like a million times through my vast stoner fandom but it never **in gets old, and there were some excellent nuances here. This first track made it clear to me I made the right choice for which album to review. 10/10 2. Am I Walking Wrong?- Sort of New Yorkish with a southern vibe, if that makes any sense. Made me think of old school gangsters on the edge of town where industry meets desert. The last minute or so had some drum variations that brought it to an awesome close. 10/10 3. Drummer's Dance- Cracked a bit of a smile when I saw the title considering the outro of the last song. This started off just trudgy as , but not repetetive, it was in a good way. The title fits it perfectly. Then you get less of the rock and more of a slight jazzy vibe towards the middle, with them drums still dancing the night away, and it ends in a related flourish. 10/10 4. One on One- This was good and all, I totally didn't mind listening to it and would probably be like 'hey who is this band?' if someone was playing it, but not as good as the rest of the songs so far. Got kinda boring for me. 6/10 5. In the Last Moment II- Excellent opening! Kinda foreboding and creepy. The whole song is like that, really atmospheric and jilted. Enjoyable listen. 8/10 6. Embracing Simplicity- Guitar nerds... such a guitar nerd song. Again, title fit the track perfectly. Awesome in track, to put it simply. Just expect a showcase of strings, moreso than other songs. 10/10 7. Third Life- I was a sucker for the intro at first... but then I got really sick of it. Do somethin, fool! Finally, fool did something, and it was screechy and weird and oddly kinda enjoyable. 7/10 8. Tra-Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta- I kinda failed to understand the point of this short transition song, wasn't particularly interesting. Meh. 3/10 9. Bluesracho- Holy hell of sexy blues right off the bat! I'm just a total sucker for this kind of thing. Total sucker, never ceases to entertain me. And this was a very bouncy feel good sort of blues with a drumtastic outro. 9/10 10. If You See Me Again- Pretty as acoustic atmopheric that has a somber, good memories gone by beauty to it. Excellent, and I mean *ing excellent, final track for this album. 10/10 Technical Total: 8.3/10* However..... I felt like the flow of this album was very well balanced, and there was a decent amount of effort put forth to keep it together. Slight things that were pleasantly discreet, and a broader lack of cacophony. This easily bumps the album, for me, to a 8.8/10 I checked out the other reviews on this, and I gotta disagree with you guys! I really enjoyed this one, enough that I will recommend it to others highly. Different strokes I guess. __________________ [SIG][/SIG] Mirth is King Be Loving & Open With My Emotions

07-26-2014, 10:14 AM	#916 (permalink)
Xurtio Brain Licker Join Date: Apr 2014 Posts: 1,083	I just passed my comprehensive exams yesterday! I am now feeling a bit more free, but I have a gig today and need to make up time in the recording studio. I want to do Xaal's En Chemin, but I can only find one song on youtube (Byblos). I'll do some more digging later unless someone else knows where to get it. I don't own it but I may be able to hunt it down. __________________ H̓̇̅̉yͤ͏mͬ͂ͧn͑̽̽̌ͪ̑͐͟o̴͊̈́͑̇m͛͌̓ͦ̑aͫ̽ͤ̇n̅̎͐̒ͫ͐c̆ͯͫ̋ ̔̃́eͯ͒rͬͬ̄҉

07-26-2014, 11:13 AM	#917 (permalink)
Xurtio Brain Licker Join Date: Apr 2014 Posts: 1,083	Artist: Xaal Album: En Chemin Style: French Progressive Instrumental link: Xaal - En Chemin MP3 downloads \| www.MyFreeMp3.cc there's some associated web ad assault and possible fishing scams associated with this site, but they have the full album there and all the songs I've tried play just fine; ignore/block popups. __________________ H̓̇̅̉yͤ͏mͬ͂ͧn͑̽̽̌ͪ̑͐͟o̴͊̈́͑̇m͛͌̓ͦ̑aͫ̽ͤ̇n̅̎͐̒ͫ͐c̆ͯͫ̋ ̔̃́eͯ͒rͬͬ̄҉

07-31-2014, 10:31 PM	#919 (permalink)
Carpe Mortem Crusher of tiny Nords Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Ugly Bag of Mostly Water Posts: 1,363	Workin on it __________________ [SIG][/SIG] Mirth is King Be Loving & Open With My Emotions Last edited by Carpe Mortem; 07-31-2014 at 10:42 PM.

09-03-2014, 06:18 AM	#920 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,992	Woo-hoo! I'm back baby! Great to see you guys have continued on without me --- no, really: I'm not bitter at all. I only started the damn thing --- ungrateful bastards, think they can exist without me --- be nowhere if it wasn't for me --- mutter mutter --- see about that .... Seriously though, well done, and Anteater seems to be proving an able commander in my presence, so much so that I think it's only fair we leave him in charge. No point in my trying to reassert my authority (Hey Ant! You want an arm-wrestling contest? Checkers? Tic-tac-toe? Doom II? ) However, the changing format is confusing me. The list I chose, which Rostasti was challenging I believe, was, er, suggested by him, and though eclectic I thought it worked quite well. Ant's list is fine of course, but now we're back to 200 albums as opposed to 1000. Hmm. But now the four-albums-per-member thing is really confusing me. I tried this a while back and it seemed to fall flat on its face, with everyone discussing their own album and no real interaction. Yet here you seem to be all discussing the one album, though there's still an element of choice per member ... No, I'm at sea. Can someone explain to me what you're doing, how this works? Also, I see nobody has been keeping the league table going. Do you want that reinstated or left alone? If the former, I can take care of that since I won't be running the club now. Just let me know. Oh and count me in for the next album of course. Which is...? Thanks guys and it's good to be back. TH __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

07-18-2014, 04:32 PM	#913 (permalink)
Moss Scuttle Buttin' Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Boulder Colorado Posts: 972	Don’t have too much to say about this one but thought I would put a few thoughts out there: On the plus side: Telecaster - It appears his main guitar is a Telecaster so I have to give it up for him. It’s what I play the most and he gets some great tones out of it although I’m not a fan of some of the tones he uses. Lessons - According to his website he will provide private lessons via Skype. I’m half tempted to find out what that would cost but I know it’s going to be more than I’m willing to pay. Chops - Clearly he has chops and knows his music theory. As far as songs: You can’t sing, you can’t dance - He is able to play those great whole tone or atonal or whatever the hell phrases that are hard to do correctly. Liked this one. Am I walking wrong - Play a repeating bass line and improve over it with a fat distorted tone. Meh. Nothing Yo La Tengo has not done for years and better. Drummers dance - The style he uses in this one is very much like John Scofield. Those short, stabbing kind of phrases. I love John Scofield. Like this one too. One on One - String bending frenzy, I like it alright. In the last moment II - Showing his volume swell techniques. This one leaned more towards rock than the fusion stuff up to this point. Found this one pretty boring. Embracing Simplicity - This one bored me as well. Third Life - Painfully long and boring Tra ta ta ta ta - Glad things are picking back up here but still not a great track. Bluesracho - Some nice inventive phrases here but the background music was so boring as a platform to solo over and his guitar tone kind of sucked on this one. Sounds like a filler track. If you see me again - Boring layering of guitar parts This is not something I can see myself revisiting. I did like the first half of the album but then it really started to drag through the second half. Certainly a good guitar player and I would take lessons from him in a second but I just don’t see that he is bringing anything new to the table musically. Jeff Beck, Eric Johnson, Steve Morse, John Scofield are way more exciting to me. This sounds like a decent mix tape from a good guitar play but there are thousands of those out there so not sure why this would stand apart. 6/10 Looking forward to Ziltoid!