Well this is interesting....

[FlyingBIZKIT]

Sheesh guys there's nothing wrong with the cover, its very nice

[7StringedBeast]

Ghostnotes, thanks for saying what I was thinking really well.  I agree this cover is subpar as far as artwork goes.  

[SystematicThought]

My question is "why isn't EVERYONE scratching their heads, demanding more out of this artwork given the nature of the album?"

Because you don't control how I feel about album artwork

I personally love this album cover. It's a departure from the dark and gloomy album covers during the time that "The heart and soul of the band" was in the lineup

[7StringedBeast]

My question is "why isn't EVERYONE scratching their heads, demanding more out of this artwork given the nature of the album?"

cause id say youre in the minority of people who are that passionate about the art.


the audio is what matters and if a picture somehow hinders that, i feel sorry for you

I don't think anyone is saying that the art is going to hurt the audio in any way.  We just care about the art as part of the full package.  It won't hurt my listening enjoyment of the album at all.

[John94]

Exactly. If people are cool with In the Court of the Crimson King, I don't see why this cover is such an embarrassment.

This artwork was phoned in.  It's embarrassing for any artist, especially the supposed "great Hugh"

Who honestly cares? If you care about it, then you need to find better things to care about.

Oh come on, really?  You're SHOCKED that in the largest community of Dream Theater fans on the internet, there exist some who actually CARE about the artwork representing the first recorded album without not only a founding member but the person previously known as the HEART and SOUL of the band?!?

I mean who cares about the use of the stock photo. I love the album cover, think its great. I just hate the way people are saying "look at the rip off artwork." And I really don't care what was used to create the artwork where its the uncyclist, the dodgy angle of the wheel, the way the rope doesn't full stretch to the side of the cover.

To me the artwork looks good, has the representations and attachments to some fans. But, it is still a album cover and not part of some collection of art in a gallery - therefore, I would be more bothered about the music on the album and not the art.

[MasterWizard]

It is unfortunate but this kind of coincidences happen a lot.

The thunder sample in the beginning of this song should be pretty familiar...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkXqyF8BXQ0

[John94]

Yeah, just a basic thunder sample. They are commonly used. I believe its in Dr. Feelgood too.

[Ħ]

Guys, "Solitary Shell" is in 7/4.  Pink Floyd's "Money" is ALSO in 7/4.  Dream Theater STOLE it.

[ZirconBlue]

My question is "why isn't EVERYONE scratching their heads, demanding more out of this artwork given the nature of the album?"

Because it's not our place to tell DT how they should present their art?  If DT feel this artwork best represents the album they have created, who are you to demand anything else?

[jsem]

Guys, "Solitary Shell" is in 7/4.  Pink Floyd's "Money" is ALSO in 7/4.  Dream Theater STOLE it.

Lol. Whenever you mention Solitary Shell and stealing, Peter Gabriel's Solsbury Hill should be the other song mentioned.

[deadtotheworld]

Circus Maximus' use of Megadeths font bothers me more than what stock image was used for DT.

As far as the album cover goes.... When im lying down with the lights off and a decent pair of earphones cranking the new album, I wouldnt be bothered if there was a steaming plate of shit on the album cover.

Talking of Megadeth, didnt Hugh Syme do Megadeths Youthanasia? That was a great album cover!

[SystematicThought]

Guys, "Solitary Shell" is in 7/4.  Pink Floyd's "Money" is ALSO in 7/4.  Dream Theater STOLE it.

So is Solsbury Hill!!!! Oh no!

[Pinga]

I get what ghostnotes it's trying to say. It's not so much that there's a stock photo or the actual art, but more that the execution is very sloppy. It doesn't look like professional artwork at all, and in the end, only the band's image gets tarnished, since some people might not take such a hasty copy paste job seriously.

[Dublagent66]

I'd like to make an important distinction here.  My opinion of the cover art and title is pretty low, but it's their cover and title.  If that's what they want, then so be it. Here's my thing, I don't care about the cover as much as I care about the perception it puts out there.  To me, it doesn't look like a lot of thought went into it.  The artwork is basic and isn't very intricate. The title sounds like a common figure of speech or something that we've all heard before.  It seems to lack originality and that is somewhat disturbing to me.  But hey, it is what it is. That's just the way I see it.

[Aniland]

I seem to be the only person on the planet who is vehemently opposed to stock art and stock audio in media. How uncreative can one get?

[Ħ]

I seem to be the only person on the planet who is vehemently opposed to stock art and stock audio in media. How uncreative can one get?

Nah, I don't like it either.  It's lazy.  But it exists, so whatever.

[Gadough]

Geez this is embarrassing.
Even if there was no copying, it's embarrassing to think they didn't take the time to find other guys on unicycles photos on the internet.

[reo73]

I have never really been one to care much about album art.  I guess I notice it when it's really good like a lot of Yes albums, but otherwise I don't care.  But I will agree with some and say that this cover does not 'feel' like DT to me and it seems very thrown together.  Kinda like they had a rough concept for the art and then all of a sudden they wanted to release news of the new album with the cover art image in less than 24 hours and told their guy to get something put together by end of the day.  It just seems like a lame cover without much thought put into it.

[Phoenix87x]

If DT are aware of this, then I wouldn't be surprised, but if they signed off on it not knowing, then that's a shame.

  Either way, I don't really care for album art.

[Bone_Daddy]

I didn't care much for the album cover artwork on ADToE anyway.

[snapple]

I seem to be the only person on the planet who is vehemently opposed to stock art and stock audio in media. How lazy can one get?

Fixed.

[The Letter M]

Nothing is creepier than Symphony X's V: The New Mythology Suite and Spock's Beard's V coming out the same year, with VERY similar album covers/schemes, let alone similar album titles for their fifth albums.

-Marc.

[ishak540m]

I vaguely remember, in fact I don't remember at all, what the BL&SL cover/jacket looked like.  I burned it onto my iPod and never took a second glance.  Jackets are really no gauge for how I will like/dislike an album or band.  That said, upon seeing the "cover" on the youtube page for OTBoA, I was a bit underwhelmed and thought it was only temporary.   

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

I hate this thread.

[Zook]

I hate this thread.

In Soviet Russia...

[Lowdz]

And this was the guy who did the beautiful grace under pressure cover. Computers have made people lazy.

[ghostnotes]

It appears some people understood what I was getting at, even if I was rambling.  A nicer way of saying it: both the scope and execution of the cover art does not do the band, their music, THIS fan (point taken about not speaking for those who actually LIKE this art), or this artist any justice at all.

[TL]

I seem to be the only person on the planet who is vehemently opposed to stock art and stock audio in media. How uncreative can one get?

I agree with this. I've always felt that if you're creating an artistic work with the intention of releasing it to the public, it should be entirely your own creation. The only exception would be if it's something really well known that's obviously from something else, and you're using it for a very specific reason (which obviously isn't the case with this cover).

The fact that such a well known cover artist is doing this, and so lazily, is even more disappointing.

I still like the cover, and ultimately I don't even care what the cover looks like as long as the music is good, but I would have liked to have seen more effort put into it.

[Metabog]

It's not that he used stock footage, it's just mindblowing that he used the same clown that appears on the cover of another prog metal band that many people think sounds like Dream Theater.

Anyway, I thought the cover was ok aside from some errors (like the rope that clips off before the edge of the screen, zoom in on the left edge of the picture where the rope goes off screen), but this kind of ruins it for me pretty badly. I mean is there any work involved in this cover aside from copy pasting an image? I mean the rest of the picture is just sky and probably a plane taken from another website. Very lame. How is this guy even an artist?

[tofee35]

I seem to be the only person on the planet who is vehemently opposed to stock art and stock audio in media. How uncreative can one get?

I agree...find a unicyclist and stage a photoshoot. On the other hand, from a business perspective, stock footage is much cheaper and less time consuming. I've used many stock entourage images for architectural renderings and also shot my own. It's always more rewarding and unique when it's totally orginial. A side note, there's an image of Virgil Donati sitting down in hundreds of arch. renderings. I come across one every few months. Kind of funny.

Also, hi.... first post here!

[The Letter M]

Considering the one who took the most time and care in the art direction of their albums is now out of the band, this seems only likely considering the others may not have had much say or control in the art department for this album. Now unless we ask them ourselves we can't be TOO sure, but it could have been a case of "Hey Hugh, give us whatever you can piece together, we're short on time and money!" or "Hey Hugh, do whatever you want, we don't really care, we just want something different..." or something alone those lines. The others may not have cared so much about the artwork like MP did, and the observations on the new album cover seem to indicate that perhaps the band themselves really didn't care. I say, if you're going to blame anyone, also blame the band themselves if you're going to blame Hugh Syme - sure he had to put it together, but the band had to OK it and agree with it. Perhaps they didn't care enough to be very concerned with how it looked, so they just went with whatever Hugh put together? Or perhaps they really DO like it, and didn't care how it was made or what went into it.

Either way, it seems like the band may not have been as carefully involved in the artwork this time around, and easily so...

-Marc.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

Since the internet's been a big deal, everyone became a critic.

[JayOctavarium]

I don't like the cover... but I am not going to make a big deal out of it...

and for the circus maximus thing... first i was like... "FUCK NO!"

now im all "its chill... whatever"

[TL]

M, I don't think it's that the band didn't really care as much as the band probably didn't scour the internet to see if the elements used on the cover were original or stock. I mean, we're talking about the guy who has literally made every Rush cover save for their first album, so obviously they're getting a high quality work from one of the best, right? It's pretty easy to see how checking for this sort of thing wouldn't exactly be the first thing to come to mind for them.

[The Letter M]

M, I don't think it's that the band didn't really care as much as the band probably didn't scour the internet to see if the elements used on the cover were original or stock. I mean, we're talking about the guy who has literally made every Rush cover save for their first album, so obviously they're getting a high quality work from one of the best, right? It's pretty easy to see how checking for this sort of thing wouldn't exactly be the first thing to come to mind for them.

Fair enough, but if Hugh knew using such a "typical" stock image would get him "in trouble" or called-out, why take the risk and present them an album cover with it? I guess I figure if MP were still there, that uni-cyclist would've been a different image altogether since MP would have taken the time to see if any of those elements were used on recent album covers that would call up similarities.

-Marc.