Dream Theater - A View From The Top Of The World - New Album October 22nd

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by craigobau, Jul 28, 2021.

  1. ytserush

    ytserush Forum Resident

    Location:
    Northeast US
    I think that was my main criticism with Distance Over Time. Much better live.
     
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  2. ytserush

    ytserush Forum Resident

    Location:
    Northeast US
    Nice!


    I think I'm going to try this. I'll pull out Live in Seattle as the appetizer.

    Can't say I would have thought of that.
     
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  3. ytserush

    ytserush Forum Resident

    Location:
    Northeast US
    That is very unfortunate. I was really hoping that was not the case. That makes for very difficult repeated listenings in my case.
     
  4. ytserush

    ytserush Forum Resident

    Location:
    Northeast US
    Thanks.

    I'm going to check this out once my artbook arrives.
     
  5. alakulju

    alakulju Music is the best! - FZ

    Location:
    Finland
    Yesterday I picked up this new DT album and the new Coltrane ALS Seattle album in my local record store.
    I checked the Coltrane disc first and DT after that. That would have never happened when DT used to be my #1 band roughly from '99 to '09.
    Every new album was eagerly anticipated and then played over and over again.

    After first listen I'm not in a hurry to repeat it. It all sounded like every album of the Mangini era (except The Astonishing, of course).
    Many moments made me feel like I've heard that before. But the sad thing is that I don't even feel the need to go back and find out where and on what song / album that was.

    But right now my listening time for DT is limited, because I'm getting ready to see Van Der Graaf Generator live first time in my home town tonight!! Life is good:wiggle:
     
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  6. oneway23

    oneway23 Forum Resident

    Location:
    NY, US
    It's interesting, while watching the livestream, something caught my ear that clicked: During the Q&A, Petrucci and LaBrie, when talking about Andy Sneap's mix and how blown away they were, mentioned more than once that he just "juiced the energy", and "pushed it all forward."

    I think pushing everything to the same level had the unfortunate side effect of taking the natural energy out of the performances.
    The last album breathed a lot more, and had a crackling live energy to it, but sounded organic.

    I'd love to hear these new songs in a better context, because I get the feeling that they're amazing. It's just such a fatiguing listen.
     
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  7. George Co-Stanza

    George Co-Stanza Forum Resident

    Location:
    America
    I think they have honestly forgotten how to make an album sound great. If albums like Awake and Images and Words, ones that sound fantastic in their original form, were written and released today, I shudder to think of how they would have them mixed. And to reiterate, I do think the new album sounds good (but not great). Seeing DT fans in other places online talking about how this is their best sounding album ever makes me wonder what they are smoking. LOL
     
  8. JCRW

    JCRW Forum Resident

    It's the same old problem, the band is getting older and the hearing is fading away. It does not surprise me one bit that the band want the distorted and heavily compressed sound on the final mix, all you have to do is see the continuing trend of John Petrucci's guitar gear to know what they want. Every iteration of his Mesa Boogie amps and Ernie Ball guitars (The Majesty) ask for more and more compression and gain in the overall design, what Petrucci likes to call "rich chocolate cake". To me this all but confirms that the dynamic mix we got on the Distance Over Time Blu Ray was an accident and the band didn't want to see that happen again. I'm still waiting for the Canadian release of the new album and am undecided whether to risk opting for the vinyl option when it is available. I'll probably just buy the hi res download for cheap and call it a day.
     
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  9. Marko K

    Marko K Forum Resident

    Location:
    EU, Estonia
    I played this about 5-6 times while doing home renovation this weekend, via bluetooth earbuds this album sounds as good as Awake or even better. This is how music is mixed and mastered nowadays unfortunately. I was a huge Dream Theater fan from around 2001 until 2009 - UK fan club member, bootlegs, practicing guitar riffs etc. I havent played the last 3 albums religiously (The Astonishing I have only played once), but this one got my attention and I must say that it has got to be their most cohesive one since SFAM.

    Here are my observations which I think havent been mentioned yet:
    - more than half of the album is played on a 7-string or 8-string guitar, on the last Petrucci solo album (also recorded last year) only 1 song was on a 7-string for example. This also goes for most of the previous albums, maybe except Train of Thought which I think used a downtuned 6-string mostly;
    - I think with that new recording engineer they are using, Petrucci is now more of a creative producer, not an actual producer-producer, and that really shows in the music in a good way. As I understood from the virtual release party the recording engineer is a lot more active than in the past - choosing the right sounds for Jordan while Petrucci was away, taking part of every single step in the recording process etc.
    - on the virtual album release show the mixer of the album said that he really isnt into the 5.1 and atmos mixes, but yet he did mix this one in 5.1. From his comments he sounded like he doesnt know how to really approach 5.1 mixing. Not a good sign if you buy the 5.1 mix, IMO.
    - while this album is not audiophile quality, Petrucci is bigger in the guitar world than ever because of his signature sound and gear, if I understand correctly his signature Music Man guitars are currently one the best selling guitars in the world right now. His sound on this album is really better than ever.
    - and my main conclusion: I think with addition of Mike Mangini, Dream Theater have become a lot more niche band than in the past - the emphasis is on playing chops and great musicianship more than ever. Yes, we still have the songs and melodies, but it seems that 90% of their resource is put on the technical side of things for fans who want to digest these songs riff-by-riff and solo by solo. Yes, it was like this in the past too, but now its the only goal and focus. If I compare this album to the LTE 3, I have to say that this new album is probably three times as complex as the LTE 3 or the previous LTE albums which were mostly about crazy musicianship to begin with.

    With all that said, I still think the best Dream Theater related albums from this century are the two John Petrucci solo albums, this album will get a B+ from me. definitely.
     
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  10. Finch Platte

    Finch Platte Lettme Rundatt Bayou

    Location:
    NorCal
    Dang, that snare sounds like gunshots.
     
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  11. George Co-Stanza

    George Co-Stanza Forum Resident

    Location:
    America
    I have given up hope that Mangini will ever get a great drum sound in the studio (this album is probably as good as it will get), but I am coming around the album a little bit. Awaken the Master and Sleeping Giant are both sounding quite nice now. Not sure about the epic, though.
     
  12. JakeKlas

    JakeKlas Impatiently waiting for an 8-track revival

    Location:
    United States
    I was surprised to find I like this album a lot.

    I parted company with DT when Portnoy left. Even before he left I wasn’t enjoying the new albums as much.

    The albums with Mangini haven’t done much for me either. Not because of him... just wasn’t connecting with the music for some reason.

    But I just streamed this new one and found myself enjoying it. And I loved that bit of ragtime(?) piano at 6:50 in Sleeping Giant.
     
  13. Kai Roen

    Kai Roen Forum Resident

    Location:
    Norway
    Yeah, it totally get you on this. But again, I really like that Dream Theater is more advanced that the plain and simple songs.
    I love to hear the technical side and instruments, and this is why I pay attension to the band and their albums. I have just accepted Mike Mangini as a drummer in DT, and I think he is a great musician. I also hear that he is a very nice person, and that keep the band together. Dream Theater deserves that, and it's great that they envolve and make some new stuff, even you can hear this is a typical Dream Theater sound and melody. I am not a fan of James LaBrie, I think this voice sound out-of-breathe and sometimes anoying, especially live.

    I think the new album is even stronger than Distance Over Time, and look forward to hear it on physical format. I can't judge the sound quality based on Spotify... Spotify is only good at podcasts, not music.
     
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  14. jay.dee

    jay.dee Forum Resident

    Location:
    Barcelona, Spain
    I'll be getting a physical copy too - my first purchase of a DT studio album since Six Degrees!
     
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  15. Catcher10

    Catcher10 I like records, and Prog...duh

    This is a lot of how I feel about DT, especially Mangini and his dbl bass pedal slamming in my face on every other song. Rudess is an exceptional keyboard player and piano player as well, does not mean what he is doing compositionally works on these past several albums. I just don't like his keyboard soloing and all that theremin sounding stuff, I always snse when it is coming up in a song and I dread it now.
    I do miss Kevin Moore, those records from a keys/synth perspective are excellent.....Space Dye-Vest is brilliant.

    I listened to a lot of the album, it will end up being another DT album that I don't pay much attention to in the future, I guess I too have to relinquish myself that I'm not going to get anymore creativity from the band in the future, the album is just fine.
     
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  16. alakulju

    alakulju Music is the best! - FZ

    Location:
    Finland
    Reading this comment brought a wild (and ridiculous) idea into my mind.
    I have long ago accepted the fact that Portnoy left DT for good, but what if he came back and brought Neal Morse with him?:yikes:
    We all know that Neal has a huge talent of writing memorable vocal melodies, a lot more than all DT camp put together.
    Just a crazy idea, that will never happen!
     
  17. spacedyed

    spacedyed Forum Resident

    Location:
    Washington DC
    As long as Neal does't touch the lyrics...
     
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  18. walrus

    walrus Staring into nothing

    Location:
    Nashville
    As @spacedyed says, if his contributions were solely musical and not lyrical, sure.

    Obviously this would never happen. And I'm not at all suggesting DT pull a U2 and work with trendy modern committee songwriters, god no, but I wouldn't mind if they were more open to working with sympathetic outside collaborators, both as contributing writers or producers that fit their style and had made music that influenced DT, that might help push them out of their stylistic rut. Trevor Rabin, Steve Lillywhite, Brian May, Nick D'Virgillio, Steve Rothery, Adrian Belew, Roger Manning Jr/Jason Falkner...I don't know, just throwing out names whose work I know the band admires. I know those names lean on the more song-oriented/less-prog side, but I think we know DT can write 20-minute epics in their sleep...but could they write a 5-6 minute piece like "Brighton Rock" or "Shoot High Aim Low"? I think that'd be a fun challenge for them. (And I don't feel like there's a ton of acts bridging the gap between pop and prog at the moment).


    Anyway, I've listened to the album a couple of times. I don't think it's terrible by any means but I'm not that excited about a show heavy on this (or Mangini-era) material in general, so I may get the refund when they reschedule the tour and put that money towards the just-announced Steve Hackett show instead. :sigh: Not that I wouldn't enjoy DT, but $120 is a lot for a show you're kinda "eh" about, y'know?
     
  19. jay.dee

    jay.dee Forum Resident

    Location:
    Barcelona, Spain
    I have checked a few local stores today only to find that all the CD copies sold out. Amazon Spain has also run out of stock and more copies are supposed to arrive in November.

    It looks like all the merchants had underestimated the demand for the new album. :)
     
    Last edited: Oct 26, 2021
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  20. progmog

    progmog Senior Member

    Location:
    United Kingdom
    I’m surprised at the plaudits that this album is receiving; I find it mediocre at best. ‘Transcending Time’ is the only redeeming track. To my ears, everything else just sounds rehashed and recycled.
     
  21. Rufus rag

    Rufus rag Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Another good review!

     
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  22. jay.dee

    jay.dee Forum Resident

    Location:
    Barcelona, Spain
    Here's an amusing approximation of how Mike Portnoy could have sounded on the album. :)

     
    Last edited: Oct 26, 2021
  23. George Co-Stanza

    George Co-Stanza Forum Resident

    Location:
    America
    I think DT has written a lot of good 5-6 minute (type) songs over the years, but I would love to see them work with an outside producer again, if for no other reason than that person might get them to think outside the box and try some radically different things. I like the new album (cannot say I love it), but it sounds like Dream Theater in essence painting by numbers. I would love to get a new DT album with a song or two that makes you think, "Damn, I didn't see that coming." Everything on the new album sounds pretty familiar (stylistically). I do like that they went for a really dark mood tonally, ala Awake and Train of Thought, but it just feels like an album where they focused more on the playing than the songs.
     
  24. alakulju

    alakulju Music is the best! - FZ

    Location:
    Finland
    I totally agree, I would also like to be surprised by a new DT album. But I'm afraid that the well has run dry.
    Anyway, they made a conscious attempt to surprise everybody with The Astonishing, and the result was a disappointment for most fans.
    I think they could try one more trick and make Metropolis Pt. III. That could result in triumph or failure.
     
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  25. Phanerothyme

    Phanerothyme Forum Resident

    Location:
    Copenhagen
    Enjoyable album, but Distance over Time was far better IMO. Nice instrumental bits and pieces all over the place, but the vocals and vocal melodies almost seems like an afterthought most of the time. The exception is Transcending Time which I think is a great song. Wish they would do more uplifting major key songs like this (The Looking Glass and Our New World are other recent examples).
     

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