Originally posted :
Aug 2005
01 A pain that I'm used to
The synth in the beginning reminds a little to Dead of night. It's a very dark song, quite
uptempo and with a little NIN feel. It will be a single. Actually, is the kind of song
we'd normally expect as a DM comeback single. I bet it will be the first song on the tour.
Great one!
02 John the Revelator
Strange song. Ět starts with an Ultra feel loop, but much faster than any other song in
that album. Lots of heavy synths and Dave singing is strong and agressive. The strange
thing is the american-rockabilly touch of the vocal melody, but it works contrasting with
the darkness of the production. Possibly a single too.
03 Suffer Well
Nice guitars and very dark and quite fast again. The chorus is specially nice.
04 The sinner in me
Great song. Once again, very very dark, but this time is a slow one. Dave voice is deep
and low, really emotive, fitting perfectly with the analog synths and the electronic
drums. The chorus is awsome, and, in the middle of the song everything stops and then an
amazing long instrumental part starts, finishing with a final chorus once again.
05 Precious
The same version as the leaked one. Don't expect anything different. Though the video clip
one was a rough mix, there are no noticeable changes on levels or additional parts. Of
course, it grows as this is the final mastered version and sounds 1000 times better than
the mp3. The most accessible song by far, maybe the only one. Nothing to do with the rest
of the album.
06 Macro
Mid-tempo track. Back to the dark sounds, specially the drums. Martin sings really good,
sounds powerful and clear. The melody is rather strange, though the chorus is brilliant.
Nice nice one.
07 I want it all
Slow drums, somehow similar to the Exciter sound or to Bjork's All is full of love. Lots
of synth arrangement. One of the weakest in this first listening, but will possibly grow.
08 Nothing's impossible
Mid-tempo dark (very very dark) song. Dave voice is really moving, once again in his
classical low tone. In some parts the voice has some kind of vocoder (or other similar fx)
which sounds cool. The synth parts are really great. One of my favourites (by now).
09 Introspectre
Wayne's possible favourite. A 1:30 long instrumental interlude! Very Happy Simple but
nice. I think it works. Sounds like a mix between Ultra and pre-86 period. The future
intro of the tour?
10 Damaged people
The other song with Martin on vocals. This is really beautiful, with a very
classical-retro vocal melody (don't really know how to describe it) over a strange harmony
and synth arrangements. GREAT song.
11 Lillian
Very different from the rest. Uptempo song, Dave's voice has been filtered and sounds
exactly like The Bravery singer in Honest Mistake. Don't know if I liked it or not, but I
see it as a potential single.
12 The darkest star
I may be wrong, but I'd say this is the song that Martin told Fletch it was the best he'd
ever written. It's very soon to make such a judgement, but after 2 listenings this is the
one I liked more by far. It starts like an Exciter song, but then a piano appears,
everything turns incredibly dark, Dave sings brilliantly and really moves you. The backing
vocals by Martin are simply unbelievable!!! I'm very shocked at this time with darkest
star. It has the "Playing the angel" words in the lyrics.
