The Shattered Fortress discussion thread

[TAC]

This is still the sopngs that's been the toughest to get my hands around. It feels a little choppy, but I absolutely love the verses.

[faemir]

This is still the sopngs that's been the toughest to get my hands around. It feels a little choppy, but I absolutely love the verses.

and next you play all AA suite songs together.

[ariich]

The combination of the three glass prison riffs (i think) under JR's solo is the most bad ass thing this band has ever done.

GOD I LOVE THAT BIT!

Seriously, every time I hear the song, as soon as the first chuggy riff comes in straight after "Not self-righteous hate." I can't stop myself from commencing the headbanging!

I really hope I get to hear this song live!

well going to PN09 is a good way to make sure you don't.

That doesn't make any sense

[Miyazaki74]

Love this song. Best of the 12 step saga. I love the way they took all the riffs from all the songs and made it into one absolutely BADASS song 

[faemir]

Love this song. Best of the 12 step saga. I love the way they took all the riffs from all the songs and made it into one absolutely BADASS song 

You forgot to mention the extra solos and lyrics... so that makes the whole song I guess 

[bosk1]

While I know The Mirror is not part of the 12-step suite, I was secretly hoping they'd throw in a short Puppies On Acid reprise somewhere.  Unless it's hidden somewhere (which, if it is, is probably more apparent on the stem mix disk), they didn't. 

[CrimsonSunrise]

Except for a couple of weird transitions, it's really good. On first listen it sounded like a straight-up medley, but it overcomes that. Most of the transitions actually work well, and the old riffs and lyrics are reworked enough that they dont feel like rehashes. The slowed-down, more groovin TDS riff is lovely. The original content is cool too.

Im about ready for my 2nd listen.  First listen was a bit dissapointing to me.  I wasn't expecting that straight up medley.  Yes, it's re-arranged fairly creatively, so hopefully it will grow on me.  Overall after the first listen to the entire disc.... I'll put it at #5

[faemir]

Except for a couple of weird transitions, it's really good. On first listen it sounded like a straight-up medley, but it overcomes that. Most of the transitions actually work well, and the old riffs and lyrics are reworked enough that they dont feel like rehashes. The slowed-down, more groovin TDS riff is lovely. The original content is cool too.

Im about ready for my 2nd listen.  First listen was a bit dissapointing to me.  I wasn't expecting that straight up medley.  Yes, it's re-arranged fairly creatively, so hopefully it will grow on me.  Overall after the first listen to the entire disc.... I'll put it at #5

This, TBOT and ANTR took far longer to grow on me than the others. Try listening to it with the other sections >=)

[The Letter M]

Using the tracktimes of the regular album version, I believe:

X. Restraint - 00:00-05:23
XI. Receive - 05:23-09:20
XII. Responsible - 09:20-12:49

"XI. Receive" begins with the same chord and similar riff as "II. Restoration" and "V. Release", which are both similar to "The Mirror", specifically the "Puppies On Acid" riff, especially more so in TGP and TDS where the riff shifts like in "The Mirror" with MP changing the feel through his drumming.

"XII. Responsible" starting at TROAE riff makes great sense and mirrors the beginning of "VI. Ready", which is quite nice!

The whole song seems to bring together all the other songs nicely. In "X. Restraint" we get back riffs and melodies from TGP and TDS, then in "XI. Receive" we get parts similar to "Repentance". Finally in "XII. Responsible" we revisit the TROAE riff at the beginning of this step and end with TROAE's opening sounds at the end, mixed in with the opening static of TGP, closing out the 12th step AND the whole suite at the same time.

-Marc.

[tri.ad]

This song is awesome (well, apart from that strange transition in to the TROAE section). The keyboard solo is pretty cool, especially the beginning of it (when there's only the keyboard and nothing else). Really nice groove JR has going on there.

Edit: Holy hell, I forgot about the mellow part. So good.

[CrimsonSunrise]

Nice post Marc... I'll have to dissect it following your guide a bit.

[KevShmev]

With all of the discussion going on, I feel that Petrucci's solo at the end is being overlooked way too much.  The first part of it (that sounds like his guitar is crying or something) is pretty bad ass. 

Overall, this song is slowly growing on me.  Still not a favorite, but I like it a lot more than I did at first.

[antigoon]

With all of the discussion going on, I feel that Petrucci's solo at the end is being overlooked way too much.  The first part of it (that sounds like his guitar is crying or something) is pretty bad ass. 

Overall, this song is slowly growing on me.  Still not a favorite, but I like it a lot more than I did at first.

The solo is a beast. It strongly reminds me of the Trial of Tears solo with all the whammy bar usage and chromatic notes.

[bosk1]

At shows this tour when the band doesn't play the entire suite, it would make an awesome mini-suite if they played TGP with a little transition into TSF.  I would love to see something like that.

[The Letter M]

At shows this tour when the band doesn't play the entire suite, it would make an awesome mini-suite if they played TGP with a little transition into TSF.  I would love to see something like that.

That'd be pretty neat! Although I think it's a bit more likely that they'll place "Repentance/The Shattered Fortress" as they rarely played "Repentance" on the last tour, and it'll be a good way for them to work out the transition between the two songs live, and get the flow of playing them back to back (as they've done with TGP/TDS many times in the past). Then all they'd have to do is stick TROAE in the middle!

-Marc.

[hefdaddy42]

With all of the discussion going on, I feel that Petrucci's solo at the end is being overlooked way too much.  The first part of it (that sounds like his guitar is crying or something) is pretty bad ass. 

Overall, this song is slowly growing on me.  Still not a favorite, but I like it a lot more than I did at first.

I did mention the solo earlier.  Very tasty.

[Scrub206]

i absolutly LOVE the ending to the song 

Time to Listen to the entire AA saga none stop

[Ben_Jamin]

A great conclusion of the whole AA Suite. I like the way they took riff's from each song, and combined them into a summary. Reminds me of the Metropolis pt.2 demo.
Makes me laugh, though, how some people don't get why they made it this way.

[Jamesman42]

I also want to mention how much I love the song name itself:

I love the name of the song itself very much.

[Pound4aBrown]

I agree, worst song on the album, but that being said its still great even though its basically just a reprise.  Horrible stand alone song, awesome closer to the 12 step suite.

Yeah, I think this sums this song up wonderfully.
Nicely stated.

[BlobVanDam]

With all of the discussion going on, I feel that Petrucci's solo at the end is being overlooked way too much.  The first part of it (that sounds like his guitar is crying or something) is pretty bad ass. 

Overall, this song is slowly growing on me.  Still not a favorite, but I like it a lot more than I did at first.

I guess that's Petrucci's fault for being too damn good. Seems that TBOT and TCOT's solos are getting all the attention.
I don't think the TSF one is as good as the TCOT one, but it would be close to the TBOT one for me. The sweep picking in the TBOT solo brings it down for me, although the slower parts are perfect. That crying part you are talking about I think is the bit that sounds spacey to me. Really good.

[staveoffzombies]

Am I the only one that shouted out "SERENITY NOW!" Seinfeld style when they heard that line?

[BlobVanDam]

Am I the only one that shouted out "SERENITY NOW!" Seinfeld style when they heard that line?

Hell no, first time I heard it, that's what I thought, and I know a friend who thought the same thing

[Progmetty]

Am I the only one that shouted out "SERENITY NOW!" Seinfeld style when they heard that line?

TWWWWIIIIIIIIIXXXXXXX

[Tick]

It is well put together but in a sense, it almost feels like it cuts the album down to 5 songs cause its got some many parts of already written songs. Still cool though.

[perfey]

I think this song is awesome as a standalone song and is a good finish of the saga, tied with TGP as my favourite AA song. Havent heard together with the other AA songs yet though.

[Progmetty]

I still think the deep voice spoken words section during the mellow TDS reprise part would have been much more touching and emotional if it was just done in Portnoy's normal speaking voice, the deep voice thing is very distracting and misplaced..

[toao]

I LOVE the first minute or so!
The part with the This Dying Soul Riff and all...great stuff..

[Crow]

I just love the way they reprised all the riffs. Even if there's not much new material, there's enough to keep me satisfied. Great way to end the suite, especially.

[Logical Nightmare]

It felt really weird that I could sing along to a song I had never ever heard before.

[Ruesap]

This is one of the best songs on the album IMO.  Although it's less than 50% new material, the new material that is added is great.  The verses are great, especially LaBrie's high singing on "calls my name, keeps me sane" etc.  Then the pre-chorus also features great singing; Labrie sounds deliciously evil on "look in the mirror".  The chorus is fantastic, even if it is somewhat of a reprise of The Glass Prison (notice the keyboard arpeggios in the background?)  The second verse is even better than the first, and LaBrie again shines with "you're smart enough for me to trust".  And of course, "Fly now be free" is amazing.  Repentance reprise is even better than Repentance itself, and I like the effect used on vocals in this section, whatever it is.  The subsequent keyboard solo is decent, but I can't say I'm a huge fan of Rudess' synth soloing.  The This Dying Soul reprise section is great.  LaBrie's only shaky moment in this song is in the first part of the TRoAE reprise: "Keep all of me, the desires that once burned me deep inside (?)".  But after this, the song is fabulous.  Petrucci's solo is the second-best on the album, right behind The Best of Times, and ranks right up there with Lie and Under a Glass Moon in terms of "shred solos".  The "I am responsible" part is great all-around, but LaBrie really carries the rest of the song.

Fantastic song.

[Progmetty]

It felt really weird that I could sing along to a song I had never ever heard before.

same here, especially the "Now that you can see all you have done" section.

[Buckethead]

It'd be interesting to hear what somebody who's never heard the AA saga before thinks of this song.

[hefdaddy42]

Am I the only one that shouted out "SERENITY NOW!" Seinfeld style when they heard that line?

I also did that. 

[CrimsonSunrise]

It'd be interesting to hear what somebody who's never heard the AA saga before thinks of this song.

Interesting....  some might find it a bit jumbled...but it would be a different perspective than ours.