Pre-order now 'Mosaic', the new album from Theocracy

jusma wrote:

Fundy wrote:One of the things I notice about Theocracy (for me) is that the songs grow on me over time.  I never liked Mirror Of Souls (the song) or Laying The Demon to Rest.  But after a few months I loved them both.  I think it's because you have to dedicate a lot of time to listening to the songs and really getting in to them to appreciate what they're like.
I'm finding that with the Mozaic album.  I've listened to all the songs once or twice, and think they're great, but I know I'll love them more if I have repeated listens.  I actually really love the ballad (and that's because it's the most accessible because it's a short song).

I have listened the album now once. Like with every other albums, I need to give this more spins to get an idea if I really like it or not. 

Not a lot of hooks or catchy melodies really at first listening except Return to Dust. It all sounds good and it’s Theocracy for sure, but time will tell if this will be great. Mirror of Souls is still their strongest imo.

The hooks on this one are a little more subtle but after a couple listens they really sunk in for me.

Never though I'd say this, but this album is very likely to be in my Top albums for 2023.  I've never been much of a fan of their sound and style aside from a few songs on "As The World Bleeds."  But this album has strong riffs, more variety and less of those huge Queen-style choruses (which I don't generally care for).  I have been pleasantly surprised by this one.

Friendly warning though:  My anti-malware software is alerting me of major trojan issues with the theocracymusic.com site.  Proceed with caution....

Their website is theocracymusic.com, not theocracy .com

Here is my oldest son's review:

Flicker: didn't like it at first, but it grew on me. Like the phaser on the line, "out of phase"

Anonymous: Standard Theocracy fare. Chorus is top-notch

Mosaic: Great song. Good choice for the title track.

Sinsidious (Dogs of War): Really like the voice used for the poison well lines. I think the darkest piece on display.

Return to Dust: Suprisingly uplifting given its message. The bridge is the standout part.

The Sixth Great Extinction: This is the one I forget about. Good song, but not as memorable as others.

Deified: Sane situation as the prior song. Still good though. Need to listen to both more.

The Greatest Hope: This is the saddest song I've heard from Theocracy. I feel on the verge of tears whenever it plays. I'd say it's too short, but I would struggle to stoic my way through more.

Liar, Fool or Messiah: This is probably my favorite, which is funny since I originally didn't add it to my favorites (I didn't get the message of the bat).

Red Sea: Good song, but lacks cohesion musically (not lyrically). Each of the four sections has different musical material that is never repeated after first introduced. Maybe that's standard, but it hurt the composition. Sure didn't ruin it though! Great song.

I think Anonymous has one of the weaker choruses on the album, but I agree with a lot of his points.

seth wrote:Their website is theocracymusic.com, not theocracy .com

Yes, my error., I corrected that.  But every time I hover my cursor near that site, my anti-malware goes nuts.  
Says there is phishing and trojan danger on that site.  Best to note that if you do not have anti-malware to warn you.

This is the most solid Theocracy album to date for me. There are hooks on every song. There is no track that just absolutely lights the world on fire for me but I really like every track in a notable way.

Frozen Fire wrote:This is the most solid Theocracy album to date for me. There are hooks on every song. There is no track that just absolutely lights the world on fire for me but I really like every track in a notable way.

While it is a very good album, I tend to agree with your statement that no individual track “lights the world on fire.” Which is why I personally can’t rank it as high as most of the other Theo albums, since all but Ghost Ship had at least two tracks that absolutely lit the world on fire. And even Ghost Ship had The Wonder of it All

Ghost Ship had 10 tracks that lit the world on fire, so that’s that.

I don’t dislike Ghost Ship, and it does have a few great songs (The wonder of it all, Wishing well, Easter) but a good portion of it didn’t hold my attention the way the previous albums did

You’re not alone. I’ve just never understood that position. That album has to me their biggest hooks, tightest songwriting, and—until possibly Mosaic—their best riffs.

Ghost Ship does seem to have a more happy, uplifting vibe overall than the others, so I do have to give it that. It’s a good one to play in your car while driving in the country on a sunny day

I've listened to Mosaic a few times now and can confidently say it easily beats Ghost Ship and As The World Bleeds for me.  Great stuff!  My listens have been a bit interrupted and distracted so it'll take a while yet before I'm able to really familiarize myself with it, but my initial reaction is that it's an excellent album and I look forward to digging into it more.

It’s better than As the World Bleeds for sure.

Kerrick wrote:I've listened to Mosaic a few times now and can confidently say it easily beats Ghost Ship and As The World Bleeds for me.  Great stuff!  My listens have been a bit interrupted and distracted so it'll take a while yet before I'm able to really familiarize myself with it, but my initial reaction is that it's an excellent album and I look forward to digging into it more.

Right now this is my ranking:

Mirror of Souls
Mosaic
Ghost Ship
Theocracy
As the World Bleeds

Right on.  My list looks pretty similar though for now the s/t is still #2.  GS and ATWB fluctuate for last place for me; I like the other three albums quite a bit more than them.

Kerrick wrote:I've listened to Mosaic a few times now and can confidently say it easily beats Ghost Ship and As The World Bleeds for me.  Great stuff!  My listens have been a bit interrupted and distracted so it'll take a while yet before I'm able to really familiarize myself with it, but my initial reaction is that it's an excellent album and I look forward to digging into it more.

You really need to deal with those distractions.

Easier said than done! 

My youngest son and I had an indepth listen of the last 2 songs yesterday on our way to hockey practice and back.

Lord, Liar or Messiah: we stand with my oldest son's review that this is one of our favourites of the album. It's pretty brilliant how uses biblical storytelling to develop this classic apologetics argument.

Red Sea: there's lots of cool parts, but there doesn't seem to be any musical cohesion. Musical themes are used once and never returned to. Because I'm not a fan of the song MoS, my conclusion would be that Theocracy should stick with songs under 10 minutes!

A question, especially for the theologically minded. Is the drowning of the Egyptians in the Red Sea ever used, biblically, as an illustration of baptism and/or washing of sins away? Without having looked deeper, my understanding was that it's only used as a symbol of judgement. I was a little surprised yesterday going through the lyrics that Matt used the whole second 1/2 of the song to illustrate this connection. Which I don't think is there. 

Having said all this, please don't think I dislike this album or Theocracy. They're in my top 10 bands of all time, secular or Christian, metal or not metal! This just happens to be a forum where people who love this genre dig a little deeper.

I’m not aware of the judgement on Pharaoh ever being used that way in Scripture.

See, I think Mirror of Souls has fantastic musical cohesion with repeated themes and a compelling structure. I agree that Red Sea isn’t as cohesive.

Pethead wrote:I’m not aware of the judgement on Pharaoh ever being used that way in Scripture.

See, I think Mirror of Souls has fantastic musical cohesion with repeated themes and a compelling structure. I agree that Red Sea isn’t as cohesive.

Agreed. Although I do like long songs in general, that tends to be a problem in a lot of them, especially 15+ minute songs. They’re often more like multiple songs combined together than one cohesive unit (Neal Morse’s The Door is the prime example of such a song). That’s one of the many reasons Mirror stands out about the rest

Sevenoneself wrote:A question, especially for the theologically minded. Is the drowning of the Egyptians in the Red Sea ever used, biblically, as an illustration of baptism and/or washing of sins away? Without having looked deeper, my understanding was that it's only used as a symbol of judgement. I was a little surprised yesterday going through the lyrics that Matt used the whole second 1/2 of the song to illustrate this connection. Which I don't think is there. 

If I remember correctly, one of the arguments used to defend sprinkling vs immersion baptisms is that apparently the same word used for baptism in the NT is what's used in Exodus as the Israelites passed through the Red Sea (and were obviously not immersed, though presumably the winds brought some "sprinkling" of water...).  Someone should fact-check me here, as my memory is a bit foggy.  I'm not sure about Pharaoh though; Matt may just be drawing parallels in an artistic compare/contrast sorta way.

1 Corinthians 10:2 is the only place I know of where any comparison between baptism and the parting of the Red Sea is made.

^^ right, but that’s the Israelites passing through rather than the destruction of the Egyptians.

Kerrick wrote:

Sevenoneself wrote:A question, especially for the theologically minded. Is the drowning of the Egyptians in the Red Sea ever used, biblically, as an illustration of baptism and/or washing of sins away? Without having looked deeper, my understanding was that it's only used as a symbol of judgement. I was a little surprised yesterday going through the lyrics that Matt used the whole second 1/2 of the song to illustrate this connection. Which I don't think is there. 

If I remember correctly, one of the arguments used to defend sprinkling vs immersion baptisms is that apparently the same word used for baptism in the NT is what's used in Exodus as the Israelites passed through the Red Sea (and were obviously not immersed, though presumably the winds brought some "sprinkling" of water...).  Someone should fact-check me here, as my memory is a bit foggy.  I'm not sure about Pharaoh though; Matt may just be drawing parallels in an artistic compare/contrast sorta way.

I’ve never heard that myself, although I’m not saying that argument hasn’t been made. I usually go to Rom 6:1–4 to defend baptism by immersion, myself.