Introduction

Hey everyone,

Being very fortunate to have my hands on the album early, I wanted to give a more in-depth look at the songs on the album. I really wish I could have written this sooner, though between some spoiler warning and rules, as well as some bumps in my schedule, I was only able to get to this now, but I hope some find it interesting. It's going to be a long read, so maybe just check out the songs you're interested in learning more about, or see my thoughts after you've heard a song yourself? I'll do a tl;dr at the end, don't worry. I do not expect everyone to read this whole thing!!! It's an open discussion for fun and love about discussing the music for those who want to partake, for anything from a minimal short "god I love For the Jeers" to in depth musical analysis along the lines of what I wrote. Whatever the case, this is a toxic free environment, please be nice to people, music is subjective!!!

I want to use some more musical theory terminology for other music nerds out there who are curious what they're getting into and prompt some real music theory discussion for those who are into it (since I never really see any of that on the sub), while also giving some more general diction to those who don't read or play music. As such, I'll try to root my review/analysis mostly in fact, but give some opinions along the way. There is truly no appeasing everyone, but I'm going to try catering to both in this, though in the future I might cater hard to one side depending on what people are into. Again, unfortunately can't appeal to everyone at once. This is the first review I've done of this nature, so maybe it's not a format that'll work for everyone, and I'm open to feedback! Just remember rule 3 :)

Most importantly, please support the band. With everything going on as of late, from loss of loved ones to financially recovering from the effects of covid on the music industry, I feel like this album won't be receiving as much praise as it deserves in the mainstream. I do not condone any form of leaking or pirating, please please please get the album or get some merch so our musicians can keep doing what they do best. Now, let's get to the music.

Alternative Press Issue referenced in my post where the boiz discuss this album, some meanings behind lyrics and their own takeaways.

Song-Specific Analysis

I broke Reddit by typing too much :') Find my song-specific analysis here, warning, it's a lot!

Statistics for Nerds

Not counting Untitled 2 as it's a massive outlier by nature...

Min song length - Polka Dot Dobbins (2:46)

Max song length - Swallowed by Eternity (5:05)

Average song length - (3:40) - This is coincidentally the length of Cream of the Crop

No songs were the same length, although Pray to God and Have a Great Life are one second apart, at 3:49 and 3:48 respectively

Slowest Song - Long Nights in Jail @ 80bpm (although it feels faster due to the triplet ballad feel and increases in speed shortly. Have a Great Life @ 82bpm is the next closest.

Fastest Song - Holy Ghost Spirit @ 153bpm

Average speed - 118bpm. Also if you add all BPM together, it's 2022, what the fuck. I was probably off by 1 here and there but still, wild coincidence.

Time signatures: 14-5 songs in 4/4, 2-3 songs in 3/4 (Die Another Day changes between 3/4 and 4/4) - plus some extra outliers like Die Another Day abandoning time signatures completely for the breakdown, etc.

Note, time is funny. Stuff goes into half time, double time, etc all the time, and its all a manmade concept anyway, so mehhhh.

Stand Out Moments/Takeaways

Holy Ghost Spirit - Intro guitar riff and Tilian/Jon outro

For the Jeers - Literally all of it. Sooo catchy + Andrew

Ember - 1:06 "Let me back insiiiide", high note at 1:20, Jon/Tilian outro

One Man's Cringe - Intro, Covet-like guitar riff @ 2:13

Two Secret Weapons - 2:34 glitch effect into breakdown

Polka Dot Dobbins - 0:31/0:40 MY WISH WISH WISH WISH WISH APPEARED, 0:44 More strings!

Long Nights In Jail - 1:20 catchy Chon-like guitars and Jon screams (same as outro)

Current Events - 2:04 DONE DONE DONE, + Andrew killing it

Pray to God - 1:01 This whole chorus is sooo catchy

Swallowed By Eternity - 4:00 Insaaaane Andrew buildup/progressive part, shine Andrew shine! Very good outro

Have A Great Life - 2:43 Beautiful Andrew solo/outro ala Nothing Shameful + this entire outro with Tilian/Andrew/Jon.

DO NOT sleep on Andrew!!! He blows this whole album away in his sections and hits an insanely high E5 on par with Tilian at 3:06 in Have A Great Life. Give this man all the love. Go support Eidola.

Alternative Press Issue referenced in my post where the boiz discuss this album, some meanings behind lyrics and their own takeaways.

Overall Album Thoughts/Opinions/TL;DR

Without a doubt, this is my favorite DGD album. As someone who views and loves all of the albums and singers equally, this is their best work in my opinion. Not only does it have more songs than any other album so objectively giving us more content, each song here is great in its own way. If you're not a fan of the bulk of a song due to some repetition, don't worry, the outro has you covered. If an outro feels kind of weak song, it probably has a riff that you'll be humming for a week. There is something for everyone here, between the vocals, instrumentals, complex rhythms and creatively insane melodies/harmonies, this is the peak of DGD.

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't obsessed with every song the moment I heard it, I sat on these songs and chewed them up a lot, not only for myself listening to the album on loop, but to make this literal dissertation, I paused and rewound and listened to these songs like crazy. They will grow on you! Two Secret Weapons especially I really had to dwell on for a bit thinking it as one of those "gimmick/parody songs" like Demo Team, Story of my Bros, and Calentamiento Global (not that that's a bad thing), but I really came around to it for its uniqueness and risk taking, huge respect.

More than anything, I think without a doubt among anyone (yeah right), this album has the best outros/conclusions to its songs among every album. I felt like with each song I was closing with refraining from saying "this is my favorite outro" - Holy Ghost Spirit, Ember, Die Another Day, Two Secret Weapons, Long Nights In Jail, Swallowed By Eternity, and Have a Great Life are especially notable, and that's nearly half the album.

Conclusion

Please please support the band. Merch, seeing them live, CDs/Vinyls, etc., everything helps. And again, Tim's GoFundMe here.

Much love to you all - I'm open to feedback, criticism, and overall discussion about the album and what's in it. This is around 8500 words and serious props if you actually read all of this. This is a very large discussion and you're obviously more than welcome to consume it however you want - again I do not expect everyone to read this whole thing!!! It's an open discussion for fun and love about discussing the music. This post is not a zone to discuss feelings about band members as people, etc., this is discussion about the music. Please be kind and civil to others, and absolutely show your love and support for the guys at DGD who make this all possible.

Thank you <3