Dream Theater "Distance Over Time" (2019) album

Would be nice if Mangini stuck up for himself a bit more. He's more than earned it by now.

 

I've heard a bit of his solo stuff. I prefer when he plays on a proper piano as it just sounds more natural. As for his keyboard sounds I just can't get into them. Everything sounds horribly digital, thin and in the case of playing with Dream Theater downright cheesy. Sometimes less is more and Rudess certainly does not follow that format.

 

I cannot remember the exact quotes, but I think Petrucci all but said they wanted the new drummer to be someone who could slide in and play within their established sound, rather than rock the boat and try to change things too much.

I get the impression that Rudess holds back a lot when it comes to Dream Theater's music and does his own thing on his solo albums. The rest of the album which I have not heard yet notwithstanding, his input on the first three songs on the new album sounds mostly limited to background stuff, so I suspect it will be similar to the self-titled album in that regard where his lead stuff is kinda limited, which is probably why he did a new solo album that is coming out this spring, so he can really spread his wings.

 

...that may be, but I can't stand its voice...it's so average and boring...

 

Jordan Rudess is the Steve Vai of keyboards. And to reverse the metaphor, Dream Theater would be better served with a Joe Satriani.

 

They were better served with Kevin Moore, but that is a rabbit hole probably not worth going down at the moment...hehe.

 

I was a great admirer of the band up to Falling. To me DT is no more since Sherinian has gone . They lost a great composer (his solos albums or Planet X 's ones are better than any last DT Albums) . What i hear now is : $$$$$$$$ . No soul, no inspiration, no depth, no melodies .... So sad that such great technicians redoing the same stuff again and again . And that sound ! That big compressed sound "all in your face" without subtlety . I have the impression that i'm hearing a computer.

 

While I do not agree with this overall summation, I do agree with the sound issues. I&W, Awake and FII all sounded great, and then every album since has been a mixed bag. As great as Scenes is, it does suffer in the sound department at times, and some of their albums since definitely should have sounded a lot better.

 

Haven't heard the new one yet, but my order for the others would be:

Images & Words
Systematic Chaos
Scenes from a Memory
Train of Thought
Black Clouds
Awake
Dream & Day
Octavarium
Falling Into Infinity
Dream Theater
Six Degrees
Dramatic Turn
Astonishing

 

To be fair, though, I certainly do not expect virtually ANY modern recording by ANY prog/metal band to be blooming with dynamics and wonderful overall sound. You're going to get loud, maximized compression no matter how you slice it. I mean, Falling Into Infinity was made 22 years ago. I'm interested in the songs, the craftsmanship, the themes and how the group functions and operates in these modern times and how all of this is interpreted through their most current music. If people think that all they're doing is recycling stuff they've already done, acting as "robots", becoming parodies of themselves, etc. whatever... That's a totally valid opinion, but I'm not really seeing or hearing that. The changes that are made will be subtle. Little nuances here and there. An example on this new release might be the idea of creating epic prog masterpieces within the span of 5 minutes! If anybody can pull it off, Dream Theater probably can. I think the fans that take the time to really listen and absorb what they're doing will be rewarded. Well, I always am anyway.

 

I like this attitude!

This is their 14th album. Most bands never make it to 14 albums or are sucking swamp water by then, so if Dream Theater gives us an album that is merely "good," I won't be complaining too much. Everything I am reading tells me it will be a pretty safe record, but what bands are reinventing the wheel on Album # 14?

 

At this pace, they could release 14 other "good" albums .

 

Got the vinyl today. Side 4 is pressed SUPER OFF CENTER. So disappointing.

 

Not holding my breath, but how's the hi-res? I know the hi-res versions of some of their recent efforts (but not the last one) were different/less-compressed masters.

 

Listening to it now on streaming and, yes, it's good: “return to form” good even. It's heavier than the last three, with at last some weight in the drums. There seem to be fewer flights of fancy from Rudess as well although the whole thing sounds exactly like modern Dream Theater so that can be overstated.

 

Unfortunately brick walled... really a shame as I thought they would go against the trend when they released Hi Res versions of their albums from Systematic Chaos through to the S/T which were better than expected. Here is the DR logs if anyone is interested: Album details - Dynamic Range Database

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Analyzed folder: /Users/jeremywilson/Downloads/Dream Theater/Distance Over Time (Bonus track version)
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DR Peak RMS Filename
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DR6 -0.50 dB -7.93 dB Dream Theater - 10. Viper King (Bonus track).wav
DR6 -0.21 dB -8.25 dB Dream Theater - 09. Pale Blue Dot.wav
DR6 -0.52 dB -7.81 dB Dream Theater - 02. Paralyzed.wav
DR6 -0.41 dB -8.05 dB Dream Theater - 04. Barstool Warrior.wav
DR6 -0.22 dB -8.15 dB Dream Theater - 01. Untethered Angel.wav
DR6 -0.58 dB -7.92 dB Dream Theater - 06. S2N.wav
DR7 -0.49 dB -10.34 dB Dream Theater - 07. At Wit's End.wav
DR6 -0.49 dB -8.51 dB Dream Theater - 03. Fall into the Light.wav
DR6 -0.54 dB -10.18 dB Dream Theater - 08. Out of Reach.wav
DR6 -0.47 dB -7.28 dB Dream Theater - 05. Room 137.wav
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Number of files: 10
Official DR value: DR6

==============================================================================================

 

On the wave of the band's return to form I have been recently sampling their live releases with Jordan Rudess to see whether this way I can warm up to their post-Moore/Sherinian material. Especially that the old stuff is revisited there too and the new stuff gets sometimes unusual or less studio-manicured treatment.

So out of those six live releases (Live Scenes from New York, Live at Budokan, Score, Chaos in Motion, Live at Luna Park and Breaking the Fourth Wall), which one do you consider the tour de force performance of the Rudess lineups so far, from the purely audio track's perspective?

 

Personally, I'd go with Budokan and/or Score as those are easily the best from that list.

 

Awake is the last good sounding DT album. DR 9. I’m sure Petrucci is responsible for the low sound quality. Deaf like Townshend & co.

I listen to DT in my car only.

 

The music is really good but the production and mixing are rather dreadful.

 

This release literally hurt my ears on the commute to work this morning. When the mix gets really busy it ends up becoming harsh white noise and nothing is recognizable other than John Petrucci's front heavy guitars. Agreed that the music is good but the rest leaves a lot to be desired.

 

Haven't ripped mine yet to see how the hi res and 5.1 are on disc but have been spinning the CD and it sounds "okay". Definitely too compressed but doesn't sound distorted. The mix is a bit strange though. The bass drum comes through pretty well and has some kick, but the bass guitar gets lost most of the time and when it can be heard it's not exactly low and deep either.

The production on the vocals is a bit annoying too, too much echo/reverb.

Still, so far it's a solid album. Loving that most of songs are on the shorter side and not just full of constant noodling.

 

Bass guitar being lost is par for the course with Dream Theater. I don't think I have been able to hear John Myung properly since Scenes from A Memory, he truly is The Silent Man lol.

 

Just one quick listen on the way to work today, but I would venture to say that it is "very good".

 

Production in DT has gone downhill after Portnoy left the band. He and Petrucci used to produce the albums together. That's not to say past DT albums were audiophile material, but sounded much better nonetheless.