I really wish Not what it seems would've been fully realized. Reminds me of fragile version of help me I'm in hell.
I really wish Not what it seems would've been fully realized. Reminds me of fragile version of help me I'm in hell.
Am I the only one having issues with getting this to work on an iPhone? I converted it to MP3, and finished tagging everything and it just says "waiting on iCloud status"
It's great, everything I'd hoped for. I heard people say they hoped he didn't add anything to these tracks recently. As far as I can tell, definitely not. All the sounds are from the same sound palette from the original. Lots of distorted guitars playing those fragile-y riffs.
Some are very drum and bassy. As perfect as it is, you can sort hear why he fleshed out and finished certain songs over others. It's a real treat though. I'm still in shock. I would kill for a part 2.
Couldn't agree more, both the new ones as well as the remastered ones sound amazing.
By the way, I heard back from Firebrand after 8 hours and sending them one message at night (well, for them it was 1 am PST, I ordered from France in the US store). Finally, I've received the correct DL for my FLAC files.
Was It Worth It? makes me wish Trent gave us his breakbeat-esque-industrial-IDM album and continued where The Perfect Drug brought us.
Alrighty folks - I want to separate the Firebrand issues into this thread and clear this one up for reviews and reactions to Deviations.
For Firebrand issues and complaints, go here - http://www.echoingthesound.org/commu...Support-Thread
Thank you!
Kinda strange Trent let that live Kiss sample at the end of Starfuckers go on for so long, especially with the crowd chanting "We want kiss!" The original version of Starfuckers on the TDTWWA single didn't go on for as long. Plus the sample itself is a vocal (voice) on an instrumental album.
Two and a half hours later and I'm finally done listening to Deviations 1 from front to back.
Now I just have to listen to The Fragile in full and I'll be complete. Already listened the EP, Broken, and The Downward Spiral yesterday.
So teaser for Feeders we could hear already as an intro to No, You Don't.
From the new ones Not What It Seems is probably my favourite. Can't wait to hear it with vocals, along with Was It Worth It?.
One Way to Get There sounds to me, as if Charlie Clouser had some input in it.
And the weirdest one will have to be Taken. Sounds so out of place between No, You Don't and La Mer, that I don't know what to think of it.
Well, I'm still listening to this but just got through the last of the new bits, so I may as well type up one of those track-by-track impressions posts which I nearly always end up skipping over when other people write them. Good use of my time, yes?
tl;dr - I'm quite fond of this release, looking forward to more listens!
Missing Places - Pretty short little sketch, but leads very nicely into WITT.
The March - This was included on The Fragile Instrumentals earlier; not sure if it's changed since then (I didn't actually end up listening to that version much, despite being excited about it). If you hadn't heard, it's basically an instrumental version of Saul Williams' Skin of a Drum from Niggy Tardust, or at least what Skin of a Drum was based on. Good, though I found I missed Saul's great vocals on there.
One Way To Get There - Very crunchy and ravey. Interesting, and I'm glad to have it, but it wasn't really a good fit for the record, so it's a good call that they cut it, IMO.
Taken - Unsettling, strange, and constantly shifting around. Quite good, and makes for a great transition to La Mer.
Not What It Seems Like - Unusual groove on this one, and I found the guitar line a lot perkier than I was expecting given the initial drum pattern. It'd have been interesting to hear this with vocals; it sounds to me like there's been a lot of room left in for verses/choruses, so it's maybe a bit repetetive occasionally, but still nice to have.
White Mask - Very interesting groove, again, and probably one of the most "different" sounding tracks. Easy to see how it got cut, but fun.
The Mark Has Been Made - Maybe this is the same as the instrumentals released earlier, but it was cool to not have the heavy drums, and leave the focus more on the guitar work. Some crazy highly-processed vocals at the end, too.
Was It Worth It - Pretty synthpoppy, with a twinkly broken-glass sort of rhythm behind it. Another one that's great to have, but probably a good call on TR's part to cut it from the album.
Can I Stay Here - This one's almost jazzy. It's almost out of place in the same way that White Mask is, but I think I could see this one fitting in with the album pretty well, actually. Edit: Ha, just realized this had been included on the Instrumentals as well. I really should've spent more time with that release!
10 Miles High - I guess this one was included in the Instrumentals under a different name, but it's awesome regardless.
Feeders - Subtle and insinuating, I really liked this one. Would've fit quite well on the album, IMO.
Claustrophobia Machine (Raw) - Raw, indeed! Focuses heavily on the drums, some of which sound live. Some supporting bass/synth stuff, but it's definitely all about the drums. Another one wisely cut from the release just from a "fit" perspective.
Last Heard From - More claustrophobia-inducing than Claustrophobia Machine, actually. Lots of weird effects, processed electronics which may actually be vocals, ragged synths... No drums to speak of. Highly, highly pleasant - this is probably my favorite of the new tracks. Leads well into the next track, though I wish that it didn't taper off like it does.
Ripe With Decay - I don't recall if the Instrumental from earlier in the year did this, but it's definitely a different mix from what's on The Fragile. There's quite a bit more layered on top compared to the actual album. Glad we get Decay on this, as I always miss it from the vinyl/definitive versions.
So yeah! I'm personally super happy with this release. Leaving out most of these was a good idea on the actual album, IMO, but I'm super happy to have them available in this format, and of course the instrumental tracks sound great (though I assume they're mostly unchanged from the Instrumental release earlier.)
Last edited by xolotl; 12-23-2016 at 12:09 PM.
I am about 1/2 way through and the instrumentals are beautiful. The Fragile really is a masterpiece of art. For personal reasons, I have always loved this record but now I have to say it is my number one NIN record after what I have heard on The Fragile: Deviations 1. Well worth the wait.
So the last page of the PDF booklet that comes with this says that it's halo 30. ????
One Way to Get There sounds like a wicked child of Starfuckers, The Perfect Drug and NiggyTardust.
It looks like the only track I desperately wanted to hear (a segue on the original album between Where Is Everybody and TMHBM) is not on this release... unless it's hidden somewhere deep in Last Heard From
Last edited by fillow; 12-23-2016 at 12:25 PM.
I plan on doing this for personal use, just to try it out, the first time I listen to the new Deviations stuff. I'm excited.
Also, for those who have listened, is there a ton of differences in the normal songs? Or are they all mostly just straight instrumental versions?
Kind of suprised Untitled and The new flesh version 2 aren't included, from nin.com years back. I think those are both great segues.
My two cents.
This is good, but not something I will be playing over and over. Was It Worth It? is my favorite of the "new" tracks.
I have yet to look at the pdf as I will wait to expierience that once the vinyl hits my hands. Hopefully that can put my mind at ease about spending under 100 bucks on a record.
I remember reading that excerpts from TF tracks were used in Niggy Tardust. It was cool hearing the instrumental of "Skin of a Drum" in its original form ("The March"). A lot to explore, in this album.
These extra tracks remind me of leaked team sleep demos: very raw, incomplete demos or loops. not that that's not what ERA has been begging for for years, but these are definitely pieces of tracks that basically went no where and were cut for a reason.
Nonetheless interesting for us die hards. From what I can tell its a more hip hop kind of direction that, for the most part was abandoned for the style we normally associate with the fragile.
There's a jammy kind of feel to some of them. In a few cases, you have an idea of what the jam went on to become.
All in all I would say the entertainment value here is in the forensics, rather than say, some staggering work of genius Trent left of for no apparent reason. except maybe, ironically, "Was it Worth It?"
Minor tracklisting inconsistency I noticed while going over my tags for my FLAC->mp3 conversion of this: At store.nin.com, it's "The New Flesh (Instrumental)", but the filename is "The New Flesh (Alternate Version)".
Which one to trust?!
I kinda agree, it was a little bit underwhelming. Probably more to do with Trent kinda spoiling it by releasing it on Apple Music a while ago. So it's not as fresh. I really wish he never did that and just saved it for this moment. Plus I feel the album tracks work better with vocals than as instrumentals. Perhaps with more editing and restructuring, these tracks would work better on their own and treated more like an instrumental track and ignoring the whole verse chorus verse chorus bridge chorus kinda structure. Was It Worth It? is definitely the best of the unheard tracks. As I said earlier, I do kinda wish Trent blended the tracks together more like how the album is. He's going on about the sitting down from start to finish aspect and making it an experience. It would feel more like a journey than just a collection of tracks. But the vinyl format does ruin the whole flow of a continuous album with tracks being split up between different sides and different records. So you wouldn't get a perfect flow unless he treated the blending of tracks differently between the vinyl and digital format. But the Apple Music release is the main thing ruining the surprise.
Listening to Deviations.
A part of me is absolutely sick of the Fragile.
Another part of me still considers it to be the greatest album ever made, and he can never, ever have enough of it.
Help.
Last edited by wizfan; 12-23-2016 at 05:24 PM.
Even Deeper works so well as an instrumental. Makes me appreciate the song so much more hearing it this way.