One of ToT flaws are some sections on the instrumental sections on some songs...like the ragtime piano thing on Endless Sacrifice, the endless instrumental incoherent section on This Dying Soul, and some of the instrumental parts on In the name of God. I believe if those sections on ToT were trimmed and/or made more coherent, the album would have been perfect. I love the heavyness of ToT, balls to the wall, non-stop riffing...but those instrumental parts just feel wrong and out of place, they drag, and are just awfully distracting.
I can't help but agree with these statements. They were the weakest parts on ToT.
I find Train of Thought to be one of DT's most boring albums, to be honest. Lots of filler, the solos are mostly all just noodling and it's basically just heavy all the way through (I realize this was the band's intent.)
I am honestly surprised that the article states there is no excessive noodling. That's basically what all the instrumental sections (and most of SOC for that matter) are to me on this album. I'll take the often disliked instrumental section in Outcry over any of the stuff on here any day.
Now, I will say ITNOG is excellent; by far the best track on the album and it has a lot of impact. I also do like ES although if it was up to me the song would be shortened considerably.
I can see what you're saying. In ways, I do agree (especially with ES and parts of TDS as mentioned above). And obviously we both agree with ES. I don't feel that there's excessive noodling on ToT like you do, however. The instrumental moments on ToT feel a lot more restrained and pulled-back than in later albums. I hoped to convey that in my blog post but perhaps I failed in doing so.
Moving on to the next albums. Why must every album have a similar style throughout? I personally find that boring. Octavarium ranks somewhere in the middle for me, but that album is fairly diverse which I think is good; as a first time listener you never know what to expect.
Don't get me wrong: the albums don't need to have a similar style. It's more that I felt ToT was their last great album because it was the last album that was concise and structured. The sort order of the songs, the tightness of the performances, and the overall "feel" of the album all flowed together nicely. While certainly Octavarium and later albums showed a lot more variety (I credit ADToE for the variety and sort order), the remaining albums, in my opinion, failed at what structural magic ToT captured.
That all being said, I absolutely appreciate your take on what I said and about the songs you've listed. Ultimately there's no right or wrong answer here. Just a fun discussion with fans.
Your "analysis" confirms a thought I've had for some time. The people who are unhappy with TA are the ones who prefer the heavier, wankier side of DT. ToT in itself was highly controversial in the fan base when it was released, and it was a kind of watershed moment for DT - it gained a lot of new fans (the metal heads who enjoy extended sections of "wank") but lost a lot of older fans (the prog heads). Your analysis as to which songs after ToT were "okay" for you shows that you expected DT to be more ToT-like - because everything that is not "that" is "filler" to you. The fact that 3-4 minute long songs don't count as songs to you (TA) is telling. But I guess that's also a lack of experience with the actual "musical" format that the TA is using - it's very similar to how Les Miserables or Jesus Christ Superstar is built up.
For me, the strength of DT has always been their ability to do be very multifaceted - my fav DT songs aren't the technical songs - they're usually the more melodic ones.
You're totally right about ToT's release. That's something I probably should have mentioned when establishing the article as it obviously is an important note to make.
I wasn't expecting post-ToT albums to be "ToT" like as in heaviness. I applaud The Looking Glass, This is the Life, Far From Heaven, Beneath the Surface, Vacant, Trial of Tears, the beauty at the end of The Count of Tuscany, and even say that if DT made an album of ballads I'd buy it. I also slam Dark Eternal, Outcry, and other heavier songs. My take was that ToT as an album is stronger than any other album DT released after it. I feel that the songs off of ToT, while sure are heavier, are at least more precise than the rest of the songs.
Regarding The Astonishing: comparing it to something Jesus Christ Superstar would be correct. However, I'd leave writing that to the pros like Pain of Salvation. DT did it and sure, it makes sense. It was as bold to do as releasing ToT. But as a progressive metal band, releasing an album ToT made sense. As a progressive metal band, releasing The Astonishing does not. I feel it shows in their writing (and oh my goodness, dat story tho). I don't dislike the idea of The Astonishing.
Topic: UPDATED w/Distance Over Time- Train of Thought: Dream Theater's Last Great Album (Read 15701 times)