For All We Know - "By Design or By Disaster"

Mistakes happen when you lose sight of the bigger picture or the small details or both

For All We Know is the solo project of Within Temptation’s Ruud Jolie. He’s been WT’s lead guitarist since 2001, only having missed their first two albums — and as somebody who really loves WT, I can tell you that they didn’t really start to find their groove until their third album.

Jolie launched this project in the late aughts, with its first, self-titled album releasing in 2011. It was a solid effort, but it was also completely blown away by the project’s follow-up effort in 2017, Take Me Home. That second album is one I keep going back to,¹ largely for its polished atmospherics and layered compositions. I highly recommend giving a listen to “Colours” and “We Are the Light” (the latter of which features Anneke Van Giersbergen).

For All We Know isn’t bound to the same stylistic preferences of its parent act; the approach for the project is firmly in the realm of Progressive Rock with a healthy infusion of Prog Metal elements in a lot of its songs.

So it’s a bit weird when By Design or By Disaster kicks off with something like a 90s Alt Rock riff. The album’s opening track, “Forced to be Free”, is dominated by this riff through its verses. While it isn’t remotely “bad”, it’s very jarring for anybody who has prior experience with the band coming into the album. The style of composition I expect to hear pops through the clouds during the chorus, though, so at least I know I’m in the right place after about 90 seconds of wondering if I’ve been misled.

If any doubt remained, it was completely wiped away by tracks 4 & 5 — “The Future That Came Too Soon” and “All We Did Was Hide”. Especially for the mid-section of 5-7, which really channel that smooth ballad sound that I recall from Take Me Home. The problem here, though, is that that’s all that this three-song stretch does, with the middle one, “Hush”, being a fairly bland instrumental with female vocalizations (and I’ve seen one source state that they are “digitally-generated”; this might also apply to female backing vocals elsewhere, such as “Remind Me To Forget You”).

The album’s strengths lie with the tightness of its compositions. It frequently feels like the band moves solely as a unit. Everything works in conjunction to support vocalist Wudjik, but this also leaves the album feeling like it lacks in virtuosity, which is odd for a project led by a guitarist. Then, there are tracks like “Flaws”, which is an expansive and sweeping track at a total length of 7:39; the song moves through multiple modes, but never really leaves an impression. This isn’t the only track to fail on that front, just the most egregious. As enjoyable as all of the songs are, there’s a dearth of hooks.

A few tracks have some good ones, though. Most notably, “Guide Me in Getting Lost” and “Ghosts of Summer’s Past”, which contribute to the album’s strong finish.

I feel like, perhaps, strong hooks got lost somewhere in the ambitious scope of the compositions. On the project’s site, the promotional material inclused the following:

“For the attentive listener there are a few easter eggs to be found: There are some melodies from the first two albums that have made their way onto this one so together with the first two records this album creates a musical triptych. The same applies to the artwork.”

I have not been able to listen closely enough times to pick out specific melodic callbacks, but the visual callbacks in the album covers are much easier to pick out. Using this third album to complete a triptych is a neat concept, but I’m not convinced that it actually helped the album.

I also want to include a snippet of the album’s review from DPRP:

Although By Design Or By Disaster is not a concept album, there is a common thread in the lyrics. They tell the story of a young man making his way through life, building and losing relationships with his parents, lovers and later his children. This is reflected in the artwork, which shows three characters representing the same person at different stages of life. The blindfolded adults, symbolise our bias and clouding of vision, while the baby is still free from judgement and completely open to life. Hence, the album's title.

I would argue that this, definitively, makes By Design or By Disaster a concept album. I read the lyrics on the Bandcamp page for the album,² but didn’t spot this throughline, myself. Looking back through after finding that explainer, though, it’s very clear.³ I don’t know where DPRP found that information or if they figured it out on their own; if the latter, it’s a damn good catch. Props to them, even if they just have better sources (it’s really hard to research this group on Google, at least in the US; you try it).

If I had caught this album when it released in March, I would likely want to give it time to grow on me. Right now, though, time is up, and it isn’t convincing me that it clears the bar into “great” territory. It’s still very good, and I recommend this album to anybody who likes Prog Rock and Metal.

Rating: Green

1. LouderSound’s review criticized Take Me Home’s minute-and-a-half intro track of being “too nice” and said it could soundtrack a car commercial. But…like…it’s an intro track? And it matches the vibe of the album cover, soooooo…I don’t value that opinion. Thanks.

2. As an aside, the album’s strongest lyrical moment is on closing track “Goodbye”.

3. This also explains the weird-ass title of the album’s first track, “Forced to be Free”.

Birth. Expulsion from the womb. Ejecting the parasitic freeloader who kicks your bladder for funsies.