Fair enough then. I have to say I'm relieved. You would have broken my heart if you became a Bible-thumping born-again right before releasing your purportedly heaviest album. =]

But even if he had, why would that stop you from enjoying the music? If I decided to not enjoy music because the lyrical theme didn't fit into my beliefs somehow, I wouldn't listen to a lot of music. However, I've found that you don't need to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Maybe I don't like a certain lyric or can't relate, but if the riff is awesome and it has a great beat, then I'm still going to enjoy the song. I've never done drugs of any sort, but if I took offence at all the songs written on drugs or about drugs, I'd own, like, two CD's.

I'm an atheist, but even if 'Deconstruction' really was Devin preaching up a storm and thumping a bible, it wouldn't change the way I felt about the music. It's the music that matters most to me.

Now I'm preaching. lol

Wow, right on. That religious guilt is given to so many of us as our sole philosophical birthright, the shame of being human even though we could never have been anything else. It's a huge reason that first-world culture fucked moral priorities up so bad (any extreme of violence being fine, but sex and nudity being somehow unnatural). I agree completely that deconstruction of all beliefs is key to being to confidently and correctly reconstructing them. When you do this, you realize that the way modern religions go about constructing morality is fundamentally flawed and can't actually account for why things are "wrong." The appeal to the intrinsic moral nature of abstract actions is epistemological garbage. An action is "wrong" if and only if it incurs pejorative consequences, but this simple fact has eluded theology for millennia. It's difficult to let yourself subscribe to pure utilitarianism... but there's nothing else that's actually consistent with most people's extant moral code in the first place.

Rock on Dev. I feel like I understand the album a lot more now. The Mighty Masturbator is amazing.

Amen.

I believe that I am fortunate to be a part of an infinite mosaic in which I am no more or less important than anything else. I'm humbled to be involved, and thrilled to not understand.

Be careful saying that kind of thing, before you know it you'll be getting misquoted all over the internet

[The Dev]

For 5 years, I've been telling people that SYL ended because it meant a lot to me, and that I had changed. And the reaction was often:
'Nah, you haven't...do it again'

Deconstruction adresses that as well. This is what heavy sounds like to me right now. I. Have. Changed.

The things that are heavy to me are responsibility and stability etc. SYL Aggression was a by-product of my youth. I'm almost 40 now ferchristsakes

It seems like very few people actually believed that. (nor still) ...

Anyways, I'll just keep saying it. I'm pretty patient.

And in terms of my whole 'piss off elitist assholes' trip, I'm being a little hyperbolic there. The truth is that I don't consider myself a 'composer' ...(or in a lot of ways a musician tbh), but again... I really like making these ideas come to light and perhaps some musicians will get a little bent about me just going ahead and doing it. The point of this album is to celebrate my connection with heavy music... and maybe a view that to me, it can be more than what it seems limited to sometimes, however, I'd be totally fine to not be considered a 'heavy metal musician' if the music doesn't fit the parameters. However, that shouldn't deter the actualization of it I don't believe.

Fair enough then. I have to say I'm relieved. You would have broken my heart if you became a Bible-thumping born-again right before releasing your purportedly heaviest album. =]

But even if he had, why would that stop you from enjoying the music? If I decided to not enjoy music because the lyrical theme didn't fit into my beliefs somehow, I wouldn't listen to a lot of music. However, I've found that you don't need to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Maybe I don't like a certain lyric or can't relate, but if the riff is awesome and it has a great beat, then I'm still going to enjoy the song. I've never done drugs of any sort, but if I took offence at all the songs written on drugs or about drugs, I'd own, like, two CD's.

I'm an atheist, but even if 'Deconstruction' really was Devin preaching up a storm and thumping a bible, it wouldn't change the way I felt about the music. It's the music that matters most to me.

Now I'm preaching. lol

It's not necessarily that I enjoy music less if I don't agree with the message, just that I enjoy music more if I do. My favorite albums like HAARHT, Ki, Addicted, AE, and Ayreon's Human Equation, and As Tall as Lions' eponymous, are the ones that I identify with 100% and understand completely.

Beyond that, I'm deluded enough to say I enjoy the message of an album more than the actual music if the theme is good enough. Mood is everything to me. Obviously instrumentation and writing is a huge part of that, but good instrumentation and writing isn't enough for me to get involved in an album.

I never understood metal "elitism" at all. You get people who say Subgenre X is more "true" than Subgenre Y as if their subjective opinions are objective truths. I remember at the turn of the millenium, metalitists, as like i to call them, were foaming at the mouth over the rise of nu-metal/rap rock/grunge metal and saying it wasn't "true" metal. They were almost threatened by it, as if "true" metal was going the way of the dinosaurs. To them, the metal genre is defined by a tiny, rigid criteria that by it's nature, limits that creative freedom.

I mean, let's face it, we all rip off Meshuggah anyway.

Metal elitism in the states is horrible. Actually, it is horrible in any genre here. American fans have certain expectations on how things should be, and if something strays from that, then they will turn against it. Everything in it's own little category, with a nice little label. I think Metallica is a great example of that. Not only did they change how they wrote their music, but "OMG, THEY CUT THEIR HAIR!!!!" I think the hair-cutting caused more fallout than the change of music from those guys. Suddenly, the mighty Metallica didn't fit the expectations of what metal fans expected.

This is what heavy sounds like to me right now. I. Have. Changed.

That problem comes about because music is timeless. The first time someone today will listen to Alien for example, and they'll associate that with today, and want tomorrow to sound the same. And the listener may not realise that although the music is set in stone in time as a release, the composer (lol, called you a composer), may change.

It's not necessarily that I enjoy music less if I don't agree with the message, just that I enjoy music more if I do. My favorite albums like HAARHT, Ki, Addicted, AE, and Ayreon's Human Equation, and As Tall as Lions' eponymous, are the ones that I identify with 100% and understand completely.

Beyond that, I'm deluded enough to say I enjoy the message of an album more than the actual music if the theme is good enough. Mood is everything to me. Obviously instrumentation and writing is a huge part of that, but good instrumentation and writing isn't enough for me to get involved in an album.

Ah, I can see that then. Thanks for the explanation.

No don't fuck off... thats perfect in a lot of ways.

However, it's not meant as an insult, at all.

It's about finding through the ego trip what metal truly has meant to me, and the answer I think was 'creative freedom'

No other genre allows this liberty I don't think.

And as much as it may not make sense to some (many), It's exactly what I wanted to hear from metal at this age. I'm sorry if that need for self expression manifested through a musical genre that has (maybe falsely) been attributed to freedom comes across as an insult, because it's ABSOLUTELY not meant to be.

I think that religion, metal, philosophy, conspiracy ... everything really, takes itself really seriously, and perhaps overlooks in some cases that manifesting artistic freedom for no other reasons than 'It feels right to go in this direction, after all the mistakes etc...' doesn't need any deep thought.

I love metal, and the reasons that I do is because it allows me a creative liberty and visceral power to say these things that other music does not.

Thanks for pointing that out. In the metal "scene" i know there are many people who are very conservative. I thought that those people may falsely understand your intentions . I'm really curious how the reviews in the more conservative magazines will turn out.
But i think everybody who read one of your interviews should know that you had other intentions than to insult the heavy genre.

[The Dev]

Also, it's heavy, but not crunchy guitars, driving bass and rigid 4/4 time heavy. Which I tend to prefer, but I'm simple like that. Probably why I prefer Addicted over this

I prefer Ghost.

And just so we don't get all religion vs. not, my view again is that 'I have no idea' ... so I guess I'm some sort of agnostic. To not spend much time talking about it makes the most sense I think.

But really, it comes down to 'I have no idea'.

I'll leave it at this tonight, sorry to talk so much shit.

My personal summary:

Ghost > Decon (prefer)
God = ?
Downloading = fine
Me = dumber every day

I'm an idiot. goodnight.

Love you Dev. Thanks for talking with us, and thanks for making two more kickass albums.

Also, it's heavy, but not crunchy guitars, driving bass and rigid 4/4 time heavy. Which I tend to prefer, but I'm simple like that. Probably why I prefer Addicted over this

I prefer Ghost.

And just so we don't get all religion vs. not, my view again is that 'I have no idea' ... so I guess I'm some sort of agnostic. To not spend much time talking about it makes the most sense I think.

But really, it comes down to 'I have no idea'.

I'll leave it at this tonight, sorry to talk so much shit.

My personal summary:

Ghost > Decon (prefer)
God = ?
Downloading = fine
Me = dumber every day

I'm an idiot. goodnight.

"I know that i know nothing" (Socrates)

I'm surprised how many people give their verdict on the album already. I need at least a week or two before I can sort out my thoughts about it. I believe the best music is the kind of music it takes time to get into. And I have never heard a album that's THIS hard to get into, ever. Sure, Deconstruction was/is instant love, but if I had gotten into it after first or second listen... I'd be worried. Give it time, it's usually worth it :]

Also, regarding heaviness... I'd say there are lots of different kinds of heaviness. I mean, orchestras are heavy! This is heavy, but obviously not SYL heavy. Which is good I think. SYL has already been done, and it did what it was set out to do. Let's look forward!

Awww man, one day I need to wake up extra-early to have a conversation like this with Devin.

I'm at work and have had a w/e free from the net (I don't go onlne much) and am absolutely full of joy at this all

downloading now, will find a way to transfer to the ipod and listen on the way home