Theocracy: The Gift of Music

I put Theocracy in the euro camp too but they manage to have less cheese then many others in the style.

I know this is a really old thread, but I’ve gotta defend this song. It is probably my third favorite track from As the World Bleeds, after the title track and I Am. Love the buildup, how it starts soft and gradually gets “heavier” until the ending instrumental part, which wouldn’t be out of place in a death metal song

seth wrote:I know this is a really old thread, but I’ve gotta defend this song. It is probably my third favorite track from As the World Bleeds, after the title track and I Am. Love the buildup, how it starts soft and gradually gets “heavier” until the ending instrumental part, which wouldn’t be out of place in a death metal song

Pethead, take note!

Mirror of Souls is a better song than The Gift of Music.

Seven, take note.

Pethead wrote:Mirror of Souls is a better song than The Gift of Music.

Seven, take note.

Comparing other songs to Mirror of Souls is simply unfair, that song is in a class all by itself.

Yeah, but Sevenoneself hates that song.

While I like Gift of Music, I sort of get why it might not be everyone’s cup of tea. However, I literally cannot fathom how anybody could hate Mirror of Souls. I genuinely consider it the greatest Christian (or any) metal song ever written

I cannot fathom it, myself.

MoS is a great song but it's objective fact that Laying The Demon To Rest is their best song.

You misspelled Absolution Day.

Looks like we can at least agree what their best album is

Pethead wrote:You misspelled Absolution Day.

Second best.

Actually, Ghost Ship is my favorite album. But MoS is awesome.

I’m really hoping the last track on the upcoming album will be at least close to the level of Mirror, it will be their longest track since Mirror

Black Rider wrote:MoS is a great song but its objective fact that Laying The Demon To Rest is their best song.

I absolutionly agree BR!

That's two. Our numbers swell.

Laying the Demon to Rest is an epic song, my only complaint is that the instrumental part in the middle could have been a bit more melodic (like the amazing solo in The Serpent’s Kiss). Probably the best song to listen to when struggling with temptation though

Black Rider wrote:That's two. Our numbers swell.

I'm on Team Absolution Day.  

Mirror of Souls is their weakest song. It is a run-on song that never progresses anywhere.

However, 2 of my 4 children think this song is one of their best.

This means I have failed as a parent.

The only true part of this post is that Mirror of Souls is their weakest song.

Sevenoneself wrote:Mirror of Souls is their weakest song. It is a run-on song that never progresses anywhere.

However, 2 of my 4 children think this song is one of their best.

This means I have failed as a parent.

The only true part of this post is that Mirror of Souls is their weakest song.

Never progresses anywhere? It’s literally the most well-crafted “story” song I’ve ever heard. The music fits perfectly with the story, especially the climax (when he looks in the mirror). And the story itself is an extremely well-written poetic description of the path to salvation. Yeah it’s long, but for a song of this magnitude to be any shorter it would have turned out very rushed and much lower quality.

Black Rider wrote:MoS is a great song but it's objective fact that Laying The Demon To Rest is their best song.

I wish they did more songs like LtDTR, that song is a beast. The best.

seth wrote:

Sevenoneself wrote:Mirror of Souls is their weakest song. It is a run-on song that never progresses anywhere.

However, 2 of my 4 children think this song is one of their best.

This means I have failed as a parent.

The only true part of this post is that Mirror of Souls is their weakest song.

Never progresses anywhere? It’s literally the most well-crafted “story” song I’ve ever heard. The music fits perfectly with the story, especially the climax (when he looks in the mirror). And the story itself is an extremely well-written poetic description of the path to salvation. Yeah it’s long, but for a song of this magnitude to be any shorter it would have turned out very rushed and much lower quality.

This.

I'd take Mirror of Souls over The Gift of Music any day, but I think that a 20 minute song is an inherently bad idea. Parts of it are good, parts of it are not, imo.

^ I'd hope you'd think that if you think it's their best song!

I feel a bit bad not liking the song b/c in an interview Matt Smith said it was either his favourite song (or best work, something like that) he'd written.

I also do like the lyrics. The story and poetry and spiritual devotional quality is awesome.

I may need to listen to it again--maybe I'd like it. But from my memory, it's the same basic chord progressions and melodies for 22 minutes. They are sometimes played soft, then medium, then hard, but the musical feel doesn't really change. And so I get bored.

Different strokes for different folks. I'm not really a long song kinda guy. I'm not really into the doom and black metal albums where the songs seem to go on forever. I'm more of a pop metal sort of guy. Even though I'm a big fan of Neal Morse and Dream Theater there's many of their albums/songs that I think are too long. So my musical preference has something to do with this as well.

Sevenoneself wrote:^ I'd hope you'd think that if you think it's their best song!

I feel a bit bad not liking the song b/c in an interview Matt Smith said it was either his favourite song (or best work, something like that) he'd written.

I also do like the lyrics. The story and poetry and spiritual devotional quality is awesome.

I may need to listen to it again--maybe I'd like it. But from my memory, it's the same basic chord progressions and melodies for 22 minutes. They are sometimes played soft, then medium, then hard, but the musical feel doesn't really change. And so I get  bored.

Different strokes for different folks. I'm not really a long song kinda guy. I'm not really into the doom and black metal albums where the songs seem to go on forever. I'm more of a pop metal sort of guy. Even though I'm a big fan of Neal Morse and Dream Theater there's many of their albums/songs that I think are too long. So my musical preference has something to do with this as well.

Fair enough. I have always liked long metal songs in general, which may be one reason I like Mirror so much. And yes there are several melodies which are repeated at different times throughout the song. This is actually one of the things I like about it, as it gives the song consistency throughout. Some longer songs lack consistency and cohesion, and are more like several different songs mashed together end to end in the same track, and I like that MoS avoids that