Dance Gavin Dance - Pantheon (September 12, 2025) • Page 14

the swancore scene can feel like an assembly line production of riffs

 

I used to be a huge DGD fan, but just can't get into this record. I discovered them during COVID and listened to their whole discography. Tilian-era was and still is my favorite era by far, sorry, not sorry. The fanbase has turned me off to them more than anything. Just the most toxic, awkward, and cringe people on earth. Their whole identity is based off what singer you like and which one you hate, and fuck you to death if you disagree.

Since the "break-up" with Tilian the band has come across as wildly immature and a bunch of assholes. I know the DGD sub-Reddit glazes Andrew with every part of their being, but he's the most sus of all. I remember him telling fans to fuck off if they don't like the band and challenging them to actual fights if they wanna "say it to his face."

I still have 6 albums to enjoy from my favorite era and honestly, bands like Hail The Sun and Royal Coda do swancore better than DGD at this point in the game.

 

free speech for me but not for thee

 

• Dance Gavin Dance - Summertime Gladness/Pussy Vultures 7” - doublemint/blue transparent split with black splatter ($15)
• Dance Gavin Dance - Tree City Sessions 2 - mint/black/gold tri color stripe ($10)

I have these 2 records for sale if anyone is interested. i can handle shipping

 

I feel like a lot of pop artist have a reputation for having a fanbase so obnoxious that they scare people off of the artist themselves, but I don't see many people talking about how it is just as much of a problem in metal. Sleep Token is one of the most me-coded bands I've ever heard, but the fans are so bad I haven't been able to dive too deep and the band itself made a diss track about their fans. And like, I could name a lot of metal-adjacent band communities that suck, but DGD has the single worst online fandom I've personally interacted with. Most of the people here are chill, but DGD fans in less niche parts of the internet like Reddit and Instagram are genuinely unbearable. Even trying to keep my head down and not interact with the band controversy and just talk about the music, I'd pretty regularly get some weirdo harassing me.

 

"used to be" fans are usually Jonny or Kurt era. If you came on board during the Tilian era that still feels really recent. Especially if you discovered them during COVID, that's when Afterburner came out which isn't long ago.

I'll have to find where Andrew challenged any fans to fights, was it on a podcast?

There are fans beyond those who are on the DGD sub-Reddit. I think most ride or die fans see Will, Matt, and Jon as the core, and feel a level of nostalgia for the Jonny/Kurt eras. Then there are those who think the Tilian era peaked with Mothership.

I think very few people "hate" any singer for what they contributed musically. Tilian's allegations and behavior beyond that really turned off a lot of fans from that era. For some of us so much so that it is still difficult to enjoy the music that features him.

 

I actually remember all that now that you mention the details.

I think framing it as "they were so out of ideas..." is wildly uncharitable hyperbole. It’s still a full length album without those 2 tracks, and most of its best material is outside them anyway (I think Prisoner is excellent, but BTF on the other hand is easily one of the lowest points in their catalogue imo).

 

Like I said earlier I hate their fans and I hate them as people but I could listen to all their music for hours on end and not get tired of it. Never felt that big of a disconnect between a bands music and their overall vibe/image/persona

 

Finally listening to this.

what the fuck is going on in Conqueror Worm

 

It’s unfortunately very good outside of will

 

Will's parts are comedic relief!

 

I haven't seen much chatter about the closer anywhere but I honestly think it's one of the best in here. the "take another shot, it's another miss, do another grift until you got nothing left to give, no reason left to live" bit is fucking incredible

on the other hand Yikes! is not doing a lot for me despite reddit going crazy over it, Andrew sounds a little bored on that one

 

Might do a deep dive into the lyrics to assess which lines may be about Tilian because there could be a lot of them.

 

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Yikes is prob my least favorite, it's funny cause in interviews they said they would've cut that and probably strawberrys daughter and I would agree with those cuts if they had to lol

 

Strawberry has grown on me a bit mostly due to Jon's weird deep crooning lol but it's def not a highlight here

this album sneaks up on you, I didn't think a lot of Shoulder to Cry on the leak for example and now I think it's one of their top 20 songs

 

Just checked out Gingivitis and it’s already one of my favorite songs from this whole album era. I understand why it didn’t make it onto the actual album but I hope it gets a proper release at some point, love that they’re doing stuff this outside of their typical sound.

 

Are we expecting this to chart? JJ hit No 8 but I know how hard it is to chart these days if you arent hitting crazy streaming.

 

I’m sure it’ll be in the Top 200, but also curious how well it’ll do compared to the past few albums.

 

I feel like it’ll chart above anything pre-Tilian, but idk if they can chart as high as they did with where their reputation has gone.

 

Jackpot Juicer charted high, and the band's reputation was at an all-time low during that time probably. Coheed had just kicked them off their tour and replaced them with Alkaline Trio.

 

Ok this album has grown a LOT on me since it's basically the only thing I've jammed to this weekend.

 

For anyone interested, I had a chat with their producer Kris Crummett on my podcast, which came out a few days ago and just before this latest record came out. We chat a bit about DGD and working with them in general.

For those unaware, Kris has worked on all of their studio albums in one way or another. 'Acceptance Speech' is the only slight exception - they recorded and produced that with someone else, though Kris still mastered it. They later had him remix and remaster it to release it a second time.

 

No 145 on Billboard

 

Glad it at least charted.

 

Wonder if the very early leak really killed their first week streaming numbers. The drop from Jackpot Juicer at #8 is pretty extreme.