My take on the album for anyone who wishes to get a tiny bit of a bearing on how it sounds/feels:
1. No One Needs to Know - Still kicks ass, but doesn't have the same feel as DDD, less Jewish sound. Less music, they make some instrumental parts shorter
2. Barriers - I don't know, I just can't get much into this song..reminds me too much of late Yes Dear which I didn't care for much. It's alright though.
3. Eponine - Nice remake, a lot more polished, but lacks a little of the feeling, yet they do play the more emotional chorus at the beginning instead of waiting till towards the end, and Ryen's badass solo at the end is cut a lot shorter.
4. Fight the Darkness - I think this song is cheesy. Again, not bad...just probably my least favorite.
5. Heartache vs. Heartbreak [Booklet says: AKA Should Have Been Love, AKA Perceptions of love (And Heartbreak Leading To A Catastrophic Wave of Emotional Destruction)] - Nice integration of the female vocals, has some real delicious hooks in there, pretty edgey/catchy Oh and nice overlapping of voices towards the end
6. Incarnation Blues - Starts out with negative seconds with Star, Dan and Ryen doing a little intro where they talk (Haha, oh and Ryen totally nabbed the solo from Yes Dear's "Orion" at about 0:55, but I guess it's okay, cause I'm sure it's his licks anyway..kind of badass though dual guitars, sounds Iron Maiden-y)
7. Lunchbreak (Cobras Theme) - Haha this is cute. Good job Ryen. I really like this song, it starts out with a "Chopsticks"-esque piano thing, and then the distorted guitars come, and it kind of makes you wish the whole song was simpler without the electric guitars, but it's still good. Album title is mentioned.
8. Motorology 3:39 AKA Commuter Music (No. 2) Not a fan of the DJ-ish esque beginning of slowing it down and throwing in weird-timing drumbeats, but I do absolutely love at about 1:25 how the song changes and it gets reeally catchy. Eery guitar effect after that, it's nice.
9. I Wonder Multi-layering of Dan vocals, very nice..Sounds like a futuristic sounding Weezer's "Butterfly" haha, but not really, a helluva lot better, does have the crickets-sound in the background, ha. The harmonies are very solid. Kind of a spanish rythm in parts.
10. Underneath My Tree (D-Song) - Pasadena's "Imaginary Wheels" Ryen's great contribution to this cd. Easily my favorite song on the album, I've always loved D-Song, and it's even better than before, what with clear lyrics and more polished. Something I liked better in the original demo though was the 2nd "Whoa" from Dan after Ryen at the very end being later than this version. He comes in like a second earlier, and it kind of bugs me. Still good, but a lot more powerful in the demo. Oh and a total Satisfaction's "Nothing, Oh Nothing" moment at 2:53 with the walking up the neck with the bass notes. Amazing song.
11. Straight Flush - I like the Kenn's drums in this; very solid. Dan has some very powerful moments in this song. Very heartfelt at times. My favorite part is the dual metal guitar Jose/Ryen sounding parts, amazing.
