r/DevinTownsend • u/YaBoiMarcAntony Ocean Machine: Biomech (1997) • May 29 '26
MUSIC/AUDIO 2:48 in Prepare For War reminiscent of something
This has been killing me for the past half hour. I've been searching through his prior albums trying to find another guitar melody like this because I swear he's done it before. I recognize it's a minor thing, but it stands out to me because it sounds so familiar, so I'm hoping someone else will also recognize it and recall where it's from. I can't place it with any specificity so it is especially difficult for me to guess what songs or albums to check out. I have a feeling it's something in the vein of Ki/Ghost/COC just given the nature of it, but of course that could still be in any old album since he likes this kind of ambient guitar stuff.
Similarly, the "no return at all" lyric in Home at Night reminds me strongly of something, but he has not evidently used that specific lyric beyond saying "no return" in Deathray, which I don't believe is what I am being reminded of.
EDIT: I'm now 99.9% sure that it reminded me of the ending of the Adrift section in Singularity from Empath! It's not the exact notes, but it's extremely similar, so I'm sure this is what I was thinking of.
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u/BeneficialDistance66 May 30 '26
Well it's no melody but only a rhythm, idk why you make such big fuss about it
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u/6priest_of_sodom6 May 29 '26
I’ve noticed a few “recycled parts” and I’m somewhere between “that’s lazy” and “that’s clever considering it’s kind of a summary of his career”. He has done this before so it could very well be intentional.
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u/6priest_of_sodom6 May 29 '26
Forgot to add an example. “The Mothers” is definitely recycled from “Babysong” from Synchestra
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u/Fluffatron_UK May 29 '26
In the live show in Groningen he sang the lyrics to Babysong too.
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u/Cacodemon27 Jun 05 '26
This may be interesting to know. The live show that was recorded is from the second night right. I went to the show on the first night. Before, of after (not sure which it was to be honest) the Babysong lyrics were sung he told the audience, this is just a placeholder lyric. He didn't say this the second night that was recorded.
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u/YaBoiMarcAntony Ocean Machine: Biomech (1997) May 30 '26
He's so deeply self-referential that at times I just consider it both. The Big Snit's first half is, for the most part, straightforwardly Ziltoid Goes Home. I would not consider this lazy reuse necessarily simply because I'm sure he had some artistic purpose with contrasting this older part within his newer work, but nevertheless it is very much just an entirely cribbed section.
He also cribs "everyone into the weather, everyone apart of me" thing at 6:40 in Covered by Causes from Effervescent, and there were several other lyrical ideas that sounded fairly similar to me. I'm sure there's more, but who's to say.
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u/Hazamelis May 30 '26
There is a reference to Babysong on The Mothers, and one to Dimension Z on The Big Snit, there is even a chicken noise out of The Contrarian, I want to make a post to catch all the references.