DominikMayr.COM

All of a sudden the light i was looking for has reached me with enormous power. A power i’ve not experienced in the past, if ever. Things make sense, this light definitely helps me to understand things better, enjoy them, and move on with evergrowing power. (No, i am not talking about a drug trip)

Apart from these very big moments i am also enjoying the fact that a new A is on the way. Something i saved for for quite a while.

Win, win, win. i tell you.

 Wait, whats the third win? Time will tell. I can’t wait to kick asses.

And now i have to run again, luckily i am not running away anymore. I found a comfortable place to settle.

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I’ve been an avid fan of Depeche Mode since they launched Ultra. It even was one of my first longplayers aswell. Once i’ve grown older i also digged into their older stuff. After some years going more into the Rock and Metal department i realized that their music really was bringing me down, or lets say, when i was down and listened to Depeche Mode it didn’t help me, however i enjoyed that very disturbing state of mind sometimes.

Now, the year is 2009 and we’re in April of said year. Depeche Mode’s everlasting career that already spans over 25 years is about to continue with their latest record entititled “Sounds of the Universe”. This is a personal review so bare in mind the date of the discovery for my love for Depeche Mode which was when Ultra (1998, i was 12 at that time) was released. I don’t want to go into any of their personal issues that emerged over the years, but “Exciter” was a total downpoint for me and i thought Dave Gahan better had sticked to his drugs. Apparently, my thoughts and opinions where worth nothing as they’ve managed to get “back on track” with “Playing the Angel”, their last longplayer from 2006. “Back on track”, a very fitting describition for their impatiently awaited “rescue mission” after Exciter which was released in 2000.

With “Playing the Angel” being the album getting them back on track i find that “Sounds of the Universe” sounds like them being on track again completely! I haven’t digged into any previous interviews about the release of the album. I have to admit that i even forgot a little bit about DM. I rather listened to “Everything Counts, Enjoy the Silence, Never let me down again etc.” rather than to wait for other new explosive sounds/songs like that.

The departure of Alan Wilder left a huge gap in the sound universe (yeah, quite fitting) of Depeche Mode and i am 100% sure that this gap will never be filled again. Then again i see Martine Gore as a mastermind of what he is doing. He is one of the best songwriters on the planet and his sounds are different, but not less impressive than Wilders’. I was very impressed by the sounds of the new album. While “In Chains” pretty much let me down in the beginning it developed and interesting feel within me that kinda makes me able to get started for something, so i guess, mission accomplished?

The “release your power track”, Hole to Feed is a traditional Depeche Mode song to me with a very exciting end.

Lets move on to Wrong, the first single of the album. I truly love it. I love the combination of the sounds with the lyrics and it’s definitely the best track for the first single. “Barrel of a Gun” came to my mind when i heard it first.

Fragile Tension. I am in love with that song alot, maily due to its sound structure, i am not that confident with the refrain though. This track definitely shows the love for detail within the new record and the end…. is fantastic, at least to my ears.

Lets move on with another track i began to understand and enjoy when i listened to it more often. It reminds me of the better tracks on Exciter or even some very old stuff.

“In Sympathy” is a pretty standard DM track to me and i can’t find many highlights in it.

Piece is quite intense, both in sound and lyrics to me and i love to listen to it. It delivers a feel of freedom, piece and war to me.

I don’t like “Come Back” for many reasons and the following “Spacewalker” is an interlude, and thats what it is.

“Perfect” is quite a decent track while nothing special either while “Miles Away/The truth is” is one of my fav. tracks on Sounds of the Universe. I love the sounds of it, it sounds like a mix of new and old stuff combined, at least to me.

“Jezebel”, a song sang by Martin Gore and i like any songs sang by him.

The closing track “Corrupt” has some interesting sound shemas again, but it sounds alot like a track that could easiely be placed on Exciter. Generally i find the album has some good openers, but lacks innovation towards the end, still its a better album than Exciter or Playing the Angel to me. Please bare in mind that this review consits of personal tastes mainly:

Innovation: 5/10

Technical: 7/10

Singing: 8/10

Lyrics: 8/10

Replayability: 6/10

Longetivity: 6/10

My overall rating for Depeche Mode’s “Sounds of the Universe”: 7/10

The latest issue of german magazine GameStar contained an interesting preview of Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising.

I summarized the most important facts:

- The game is “feature complete” which means all planned elements are now in the game: interface, graphics, AI, vehicles, weapons, mission design. However all these features are not connected togheter properly yet says GameStar.

- The biggest building site is the AI and the representation of landscapes which suffer from streaming.

- There are hit zones all over the bodies of the soldiers which makes the game very tactical.

- OF2 has two campaigns: You can choose between a marine or a Spec Ops.

- Codemasters only offered 1 PC where the game was running stable. The GameStar team experienced AI failures, sound bugs and re-starts.

- OF 2 will contain 15 missions divided by the two campaigns. Different difficulty levels will attract both experts and new players.

- Multiplayer focus will be on the Co-op mode which was designed for 4 persons. You will also be able to play team deathmatch, attack and defense and area conquest from the beginning.

- GameStar doesn’t think that Codemasters can clean out all issues until the estimated release date which is set for June 21st 2009.

Mastodon, a band i discovered thanks to Danny Carey of Tool giving them alot of praise on a hosted by show here in Austria.

Their 2006 breakthrough album Blood Mountain, part 3 of their 4 album concept described earth and now we have Crack the Skye completing the journey where  “we kinda strapped on our aeroshells and departed from Earth for a while, and then captained to the ethereal element of the universe and kind of slept on the roof of the world for a while to get a perspective on this record. … Basically we’re exploring the ethereal world. We’re dissecting the dark matter that dominates the universe, in a nutshell.” ~ Troy Sanders (vocals, bass guitar)

I saw Mastodon live once when they where supporting Tool in germany and i have been a fan ever since. While Blood Mountain was a superb metal album in my eyes, Crack the Skye goes over the top and resulted in the most interesting Progressive Metal album i’ve heard in a long time. Erie, creeping, evolving; this is an album that makes me sweat even when i feel cold, an album that makes me want to open a beer as soon as i hit play, an album to listen to clearly over months, and even an album to bang your head to . It contains everything that makes this an album for the true Hall of Fame for me.

The opener Oblivion has been chosen wisely and indicates the wall of sound that will fall on to you the next 50 minutes. The sound strucutre is impressive, different and still does sound good, and i LOVE the refrain of this song. Without being on substances this song always takes me on a journey above the clouds. The second half of it consists of a creepy sounding guitar riff, while nothing special, it shows the diversity of the guitarist Brent Hinds who brings the song to a peaceful end.

Lets move on to Divinations, the first single of the album. A very powerfull start where drummer Brann Dailor hits his drums like there’s no tomorrow.  Divinations is the shortest song with only 3:33 which makes it a perfect single to show off the new power of Mastodon.

Quintessence i hated when i first heard it, and now i slowly begin to love it. Thats a sign of a very special song that needs to grow to fit well for my ears. It took a few listens to learn to love the schizophren element of the song. This one definitely needs time to grow.

The Czar is one of my favourite tracks on Crack the Skye. It has a slow and frightening intro to introduce this beast of a song. And just when you expect hell to break loose they continue the song with some groovy beats. I enjoy the guitar work in it and love all the breaks and the evolving outro with some great, unique guitar work again. Its one of the less heavier tracks and shows that Mastodon excels in this form of music aswell.

We continue our journey through the “skye” with a track called Ghost of Karelia. Light and intriguing beginning with a heavy middle part and even more heavy continuum.

The title track Crack the Skye is quite forward pushing and electrifying, i especially love the part starting at 3:50, plus Brann’s work on the drums is breathtaking.

Mastodon says goodbye with the 13:00 minute epic The Last Baron which offers an untypically slow/soft beginning that slowly builds up to a wall of sound starting right at 3:13. The song continues on a very high level of technical perfection. Brann’s drum work in this one once again is pretty impressive and drives the song to its limits. A few intriguing guitar riffs later at 6:00 they loose themselves completely in a total mess of sound and continue to do this amazing “thing” for another 6 minutes, but hey, of course there are more surprises in this. A true epic progressive metal masterpiece just like the whole record.

Innovation: 8/10

Technical: 9/10

Singing: 7/10

Lyrics: 8/10

Replayability: 9/10

Longetivity: 9/10

My overall rating for Mastodon’s “Crack the Skye”: 8.5/10

Something has been signed today. A contract. For one site. Maybe more.

Many changes are coming along within the next weeks and months.

I am not sure when i will drop the bomb. Soon though.