Is ADTOE the Dream Theater Album you were hoping for?

[Another_Won]

In a word . . . . YES.

I still have only been able to get through tracks 2 and 3 before repeating them.  I love a CD that takes time to digest.

[Aramatheis]

I was hoping for a return to the early DT "sound" of I&W or Awake, so I answered no.


HOWEVER that is not to say that I don't immensely enjoy the album. It's fantastic, but in a different way, which is even better.

[energythief]

Ok, I've spent a ton of time with the album, and it is firmly in top 3 territory for me. I have not been this obsessed with an album (especially a DT album) since Scenes. It's more than I could have hoped for.

[MetalJens]

I feel that ADTOE is more than what I was hoping for. I couldn't even imagine that it would be this great! 

^ This.

/agree 

[Icebear]

It is and it isn't the album I was hoping for. Generally, there seems to be a joy and a sense of experimentation that I appreciate.
As for the songs themselves, I find several of them a bit... forgettable, or something. The only two songs I absolutely love are OTBOA and BTS, the rest are ok. I supposed it's growing on me, though, I find myself liking stuff more and more every day.

But to compare it with BCSL, that album I liked from the first listen, all of it. I must've played it ten times in a row, and every single song I liked. This time, I found myself thinking it was alright. I think the intense hype around the album and how everyone seems to think it's the album of the century, all that created expectations in me that very few songs on this album could fulfill, IMO.

But this is DT. I fully expect this album to be a favorite of mine in a year or so, because that's how most of their albums have hit me.

[Ħ]

Kind of.  Most songs I'd say were above-average, only one was below average, but there wasn't really anything that blew me away.

[Marion Crane]

Yes and no. Musically, I feel like it has four or five strong tracks.  Vocally and melodically, I think it ranges from pretty strong, to very very safe, to at times a little boring.  One thing that MP did bring to the band were vocal ideas.  Some of these really worked (The Glass Prison, ACOS, Home, etc.)  and some did not (Constant Motion, "Day After Day..")

I actually miss MP's vocal input more than I miss his drumming on this record.  Or the presence of a drummer writing his own drum parts to be more specific.  Even though Mangini is killing it on this record, I can still tell the drums were originally programmed.  It's a little too mechanical for me.

[Ħ]

I kinda think that MP was the driving force behind epics like Octavarium, TCOT, ACOS, and SFAM.  So, while previous albums had meh average-length songs and stunning epics, ADTOE has really good average-length songs and pretty-good epics.  The ground is more level.

[TheOutlawXanadu]

For Dream Theater's 11th studio album, I only wanted two things:

1) A killer

2) Something that sounded natural

I got the second, but I didn't get the first.

[legenden1]

I always know that DT will deliver but was a little disappointed with OTBOA so lowered my expectations for the rest a bit. Well, that was no need. The rest of the disc is fantastic, best since SFAM for me.

[Lowdz]

Definately.
A step away from the modern metal sound and no growls. Result.

[obscure]

I was hoping for a good Dream Theater album and I got a great one, so yeah.

this

[Priest of Syrinx]

I was hoping for a good Dream Theater album and I got a great one, so yeah.

this

yeah

[Bacong]

pretty much

[InstrumentalFiasco]

Pretty much, I love it. Best album since 6DOIT for sure. I haven't heard Dream Theater songs this inspired and beautiful since 2002. Songs like "This is the Life" and "Beneath the Surface". Both are amazing old school melody driven emotional songs. And the opener is amazing, especially the ending, the riffs are banging. Not that I didn't like Train of Thought through Black Clouds...I just like this album better. I liked Black Clouds a lot too. But I have Beneath the Surface on repeat daily, it gives me Fuzzy feelings all over!