Hats off to Mr James LaBrie

[shredding]

Aside from all the awesomeness of this new album, I will have to say this is my favorite album of JBL performance.

[VioletS16]

While he is immensely good on this album, nothing can top his performance on IAW and Awake, or even if you wanna go real far back, Winter Rose.

[PS Head]

James Labrie's vocals on ADToE are nothing short of awesome.I have been stunned by his performance on this album..in particular the three ballards.His breathy vocals set him aside from so so many other rock/metal vocalists and feel this is his best contribution for years.DT wouldnt be DT without James.

[autumn13]

DT wouldnt be DT without James.


Abso-freakin'-lutely. James KILLS on this CD.

[Priest of Syrinx]

JLB's best vocals on a DT album, ever.

[lonestar]

I am truly floored by his performance, and hope that it carries into the live show.

[AngelBack]

All I can say is ..."The price I pay to live this WAAAAYYYYYY"

[kiwiclapton]

JLB's best vocals on a DT album, ever.

This,

[njdtfan]

JLB's best vocals on a DT album, ever.

This!!!!!!!!!!

[Vajra]

The album needs more high register vocals from James...    I love it when he goes into the stratosphere, and this album he primarily stays pretty low register. Plus it's amazing to listen to him hit those notes live.

highlight of James in this album:

-The heavy verse of Breaking All Illusions
-The chorus of Bridges In The Sky

[gm5k]

-The chorus of Bridges In The Sky

Agreed.  One of the best choruses JLB has ever recorded 

Both the writing and performance on it are just brilliant.  Definitely my favorite JLB moment on the album...and tied for favorite overall with JP's guitar solo(when it gets heavy) on BAI.

[Madman Shepherd]

The album needs more high register vocals from James...    I love it when he goes into the stratosphere, and this album he primarily stays pretty low register. Plus it's amazing to listen to him hit those notes live.

I kind of agree.  I don't know where it would be good for him to use those vocals but I kept hoping for 1 or 2.  I guess this has prevented me from ranking the album any higher than the 9.99994921 I gave it out of 10   

[yesrushdt]

I prefer his vocals from the earlier albums without auto tune.  It was definitely used in BC&SL and is used even more so in ADTOE (more evident in the ballads).  James' voice is certainly good enough to avoid using that aid all together.  It's a shame.  That's probably the only thing I don't like about the new album.

[jonny108]

James...you are amazing...well and truly world class. He is easily up there with Freddie Mercury, Robert Plant etc

[InertSolo]

JLB's best vocals on a DT album, ever.

This is probably one of his better performances but I've gotta respectfully say no way. Wait until the shiny coat on this album dies down, it's not THAT amazing.

[Chimpi]

It's clear James is passionately expressive on this album.  His performance on this album is nothing short of awesome.  Personally, the vocal melodies feel more like something from one of his solo albums, and it seems to feel more natural.  I would say the differences between the vocal passages from albums like Images and Words as well as Awake are too different to compare his vocals on A Dramatic Turn of Events.  Definitely a fresh [obligatory usage of:] turn of events for vocals as compared to other recent albums, I feel.

[dongringo]

JLB's best vocals on a DT album, ever.

This is probably one of his better performances but I've gotta respectfully say no way. Wait until the shiny coat on this album dies down, it's not THAT amazing.

I respectfully disagree. His vocal performance on this album IS that amazing.

[Edan the Man]

I got chills on the ending of Beneath The Surface, and still do!

[Dcrupi]

One of JLB's best vocal performances.  He sounds absolutely fantastic throughout the entire album.

[Priest of Syrinx]

JLB's best vocals on a DT album, ever.

This is probably one of his better performances but I've gotta respectfully say no way. Wait until the shiny coat on this album dies down, it's not THAT amazing.

I appreciate your courtesy, and I'll explain where I'm coming from... I'm not always a fan of huge metal voices, unless I'm in that particular mood.  So I'm already biased towards JLB's slightly softer vocal side.  On ADTOE, he runs the gamut from soft to loud + up and down more comfortably and consistently and beautifully than on any other DT album.

I'll go further and say that JLB's performance is my favorite of any prog album I've heard in 30+ years, except for maybe Gary Brooker.

All that said, of course these things are very subjective, and while I'm experienced, I'm no expert! 

[Priest of Syrinx]

James...you are amazing...well and truly world class. He is easily up there with Freddie Mercury, Robert Plant etc

Let's not go too far, brother. 

[gm5k]

James...you are amazing...well and truly world class. He is easily up there with Freddie Mercury, Robert Plant etc

Let's not got too far, brother. 

   I enjoy his vocals even more than those guys.  I realize I'm in the extreme minoirity though and thus pretty much wrong according to most people 

I'll happily listen to JLB over FM and RP and be wrong, though     It's not my fault the rest of the world can't realize the brilliance of the pirate 

Want to say hats off to JLB once again...as BTS has just become one of my favorite tracks on the album    Took a while but it happened.  Even that weird moog solo by JR in the middle is starting to make sense to me now 

[sguerrero]

James is getting better and better with the time! Can't wait to see him perform these songs live!

[The Silent Cody]

His voice is really great on ADTOE, and he wrote melodies themself, that makes me think he is very talented guy, because melodies are great too.

[gm5k]

His voice is really great on ADTOE, and he wrote melodies themself, that makes me think he is very talented guy, because melodies are great too.

You might know this, but just for clarity's sake...JLB and JP worked on vocal melodies together. 

Can't remember if they've ever specified who had a bigger role in this department. 

[The Silent Cody]

His voice is really great on ADTOE, and he wrote melodies themself, that makes me think he is very talented guy, because melodies are great too.

You might know this, but just for clarity's sake...JLB and JP worked on vocal melodies together. 

Can't remember if they've ever specified who had a bigger role in this department.

I believe it was JLB because, like band said in one of the interviews he was recording in Canada alone and They let him do what He wants with vocals, as I remember. I think that was said somewhere, I don't remember where

[gm5k]

I believe it was JLB because, like band said in one of the interviews he was recording in Canada alone and They let him do what He wants with vocals, as I remember. I think that was said somewhere, I don't remember where

Cool  you can definitely hear that huge JLB influence on the vocal melodies throughout the album if you've listened to Elements of Persuasion and Static Impulse 

[cramx3]

I think the vocals may be the best part of this album (and thats saying a lot since everyone is really amazing).  For me, some of his melodies on the choruses are killing me with amazingness.  I cant get some parts out of my head.  Outcry, This is the Life, and Bridges in the Sky are driving me crazy with how good he is.

[The Silent Cody]

I believe it was JLB because, like band said in one of the interviews he was recording in Canada alone and They let him do what He wants with vocals, as I remember. I think that was said somewhere, I don't remember where

Cool  you can definitely hear that huge JLB influence on the vocal melodies throughout the album if you've listened to Elements of Persuasion and Static Impulse 

Yeah, like hell I agree just wanted to wrote that

[MajorMatt]

JLB slays on this album, love the vocal melodies. Sounds like he tailored it to what he can realistically pull off live. Yeah sure LATM/IAW/Awake is awesome vocally and all but Mr LaBrie is being very sensible and mature about selecting melodies for the new album. He can save the insanely higher stuff for the older stuff and focus on his current strengths in the newer albums to save his voice.

Saying that he is still my fav vocalist ever.

[Priest of Syrinx]

3:03-3:39 in BAI. 

[BlobVanDam]

The biggest difference with this album is that there's more variety for JLB to show his full emotional range. There's nothing like FFH or TITL on BCASL and SC, so you really notice the difference there. But for heavier stuff, I think he sang equally good on BCASL and SC, at least when the melodies suited him, and not stuff like CM and TDEN where his voice wasn't utilized well at all (even though I love those songs).

[Lionheart1827]

-The chorus of Bridges In The Sky

This. I cant help but get goosebumps and smile like a little kid when I hear this chorus. Its so damn good. 

[ReaPsTA]

I think ADTOE is easily his third best DT album behind Awake and I&W.  He crushes every moment of this album so undeniably.  The only bad JLB moments are because of bad auto-tune, which aren't really his fault.

EDIT:  Seriously, okay, I need to gush about JLB some more:

- Right from the OTBOA single it was obvious something was different.  He was elevating the quality of the vocal lines like I haven't heard in a long time.  And the music felt more like it was built around his singing.  The music in Dream Theater took care of James LaBrie very well.
- He totally nails the emotional torture of BMUBMD without breaking the semi-pop vibe of the song.
- He makes LNF come ALIVE!  Seriously, he makes me feel like I'm watching a movie about Persian armies.
- I shouldn't need to describe why TITL is so good.
- I think BITS might be one of JLB's best songs ever.  I thought his singing on ANTR wasn't bad, but he sounded like someone was choking him.  On this album, that is not the case.  He absolutely roars under the seve-string chaos of JP's riffing to give one of his best metal performances on anything he's done.  And then the chorus and bridge, good god.  I get emotional when listening to it.  The use of harmony and the feeling infused into the words are so powerful.
- I want to overthrow African warlords when listening to Outcry.
- Lots of feeling and subtlety going on in FFH.  Very nice performance.
- JLB does so many things in BAI it's insane.  FXy vocals in the first verse, an epic and melodic first chorus, distortion in the second verse, one of his best vocal harmonies ever in the "searching out" part, and then makes the philosophical lyrics of the very end communicate the heart that was intended.
- The lyrics and vocal melodies in BTS are great to begin with, but there's a certain kind of sadness and longing that needed to be captured for that song to really work, and JLB did it.  "And then one day I stopped caring."  Crap, I'm thinking about it and getting sad again.

[DP_Gumby]

I think ADTOE is easily his third best DT album behind Awake and I&W.  He crushes every moment of this album so undeniably.  The only bad JLB moments are because of bad auto-tune, which aren't really his fault.

EDIT:  Seriously, okay, I need to gush about JLB some more:

- Right from the OTBOA single it was obvious something was different.  He was elevating the quality of the vocal lines like I haven't heard in a long time.  And the music felt more like it was built around his singing.  The music in Dream Theater took care of James LaBrie very well.
- He totally nails the emotional torture of BMUBMD without breaking the semi-pop vibe of the song.
- He makes LNF come ALIVE!  Seriously, he makes me feel like I'm watching a movie about Persian armies.
- I shouldn't need to describe why TITL is so good.
- I think BITS might be one of JLB's best songs ever.  I thought his singing on ANTR wasn't bad, but he sounded like someone was choking him.  On this album, that is not the case.  He absolutely roars under the seve-string chaos of JP's riffing to give one of his best metal performances on anything he's done.  And then the chorus and bridge, good god.  I get emotional when listening to it.  The use of harmony and the feeling infused into the words are so powerful.
- I want to overthrow African warlords when listening to Outcry.
- Lots of feeling and subtlety going on in FFH.  Very nice performance.
- JLB does so many things in BAI it's insane.  FXy vocals in the first verse, an epic and melodic first chorus, distortion in the second verse, one of his best vocal harmonies ever in the "searching out" part, and then makes the philosophical lyrics of the very end communicate the heart that was intended.
- The lyrics and vocal melodies in BTS are great to begin with, but there's a certain kind of sadness and longing that needed to be captured for that song to really work, and JLB did it.  "And then one day I stopped caring."  Crap, I'm thinking about it and getting sad again.

This! JLB's vocals hasn't given me this much goosebumps since I&W and Awake..