It's been out for over a month...

[snapple]

How's ADTOE sitting for you guys?

I've pretty much refused to rank the album as a whole for the time being. I still will hold judgement because, like hefdaddy said in another thread, it has that "new car smell" still (I think it was him anyway).

Right now, I still love the album. I think that it was the dose of Dream Theater us fans needed to have our faith rekindled. I think their next album will be lighhtyears beyond this one. I really think the band outdid themselves and I am so glad to see how much they're enjoying touring and sharing their music with us live.

I still refuse to rank it against Dream Theater's other albums, but I know it's top 5 material. Every song has parts that send chills up my spine. The ballads are heart wrenching, and the power is  inducing. I can honestly say that I enjoy this album more than any other album since Falling Into Infinity.

[Dublagent66]

I've only heard half the album because it just isn't doing anything for me.  I'll listen to the other half when I don't have anything better to do.

[Ħ]

On the Backs of Angels - When it first came out, I treated it like A Rite of Passage.  Now, it could be the best song on the album.

Build Me Up, Break Me Down - Loved it at first, still do.

Lost Not Forgotten - Thought it was bad ever since the snippet.  It doesn't interest me at all.

This is the Life - Liked it at first, but now it's meh.  It's really cheesy, IMO.

Bridges in the Sky - Confused at first.  Wasn't sure if it would grow or get worse.  So many things happening in the song.  But now it's pretty forgettable.

Outcry - Initially I hated it, mostly for it's placement on the album.  Bridges wears you out.   But after really listening to the song alone, it's awesome.  I love the lyrics, I love the chanting, I love the vocals...possibly the best on the album.

Far From Heaven - Eh.  Don't care for it.  Better than TITL, but it doesn't grab me.

Breaking All Illusions - Loved it at first.  Now I just like it.  It's not totally satisfying, but there are some cool moments on it (the intro, the chorus...uhh that's it I guess).

Beneath the Surface - Blew me away when I first heard it.  I still think it's awesome.  Tied with Outcry and OTBOA as a candidate for the best song on the album.


Overall though...I'd place it in the top 5.  Not better than SFAM or SDOIT, definitely...probably not IAW or FII either...yeah, 5 sounds about right.  But it's better than their last 4 releases, so I'm very happy with it.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

Still love it.

[krands85]

Didn't take too long for me to rank it 3rd in my DT album list and it's still there now, I can't see that changing.

I've been listening to so much DT basically non-stop for most of the last couple of years and when ADTOE came out, I barely had a chance to listen to any other bands. So I decided to take a week off listening to DT last week     Longest I've not listened to them in I don't know how long. Anyway, despite listening to the new album about 30 times, I was already missing it by the end of the week!

I think it's gonna take me quite a while before I start getting a bit bored of it

[reneranucci]

The last time I listened to it was maybe 2 weeks ago and I don't see myself listening to it ever again  Sadly, I'm in a period where I don't feel motivated to listen to any kind of music and I can't find anything that satisfies me. I've even started to listen to the news on the radio while driving my car, which is all kinds of sad. The only solution would be to listen to Frost* or selected DT or PT songs over and over again but I don't want to ruin them for the rest of my life 

[emindead]

How's ADTOE sitting for you guys?

I have no desire to give it a spin ever again.

The last time I listened to it was maybe 2 weeks [ago] and I don't see myself listening to it ever again.

This.

[reneranucci]

I added the "ago" that was missing after "weeks", Emin. I'm really surprised that someone else don't want to listen to it again. I don't feel lonely anymore

[Metrovarium]

OTBOA - My enjoyment has grown in the past month.
BMUBMD - It's not as good as when I first heard the album, but it's still a great song.
LNF - This song clicked for me around two weeks ago, IIRC. I didn't care too much for it at first, but now I really like it.
TITL - Great song. It's grown a little bit on me, but not much.
BITS - I've loved this song ever since I first heard it, and that hasn't changed.
Outcry - I initially liked it, but over time it's gotten a bit stale. It sounds like a bunch of unrelated parts tied together, and the song doesn't have a conclusion - it just ends.
FFH, BAI, and BTS - I love these just as much as I did when I first heard the album.

Overall, it's aging well.

[FlyingBIZKIT]

My 2nd or 3rd favorite DT album

[Loser1]

I think it has some solid songs, but it doesn't keep me coming back for more listens. I think it is good, but I don't see why everyone is so "THIS IS THE GREATEST ALBUM EVER!"

[PixelDream]

I think it's their best album to come out since Octavarium, but Octavarium is better. It also sounds better. And it has the song Octavarium. And the song Sacrificed Sons, which is IMO a very, very strong track. In fact, that was the first older DT song I spinned after delving into ADTOE, and I was blown the crap away.

[Dr. DTVT]

I still enjoy it and listen to it, despite the fact that I had a nice run at the poker and backgammon tables lately and came into money and I've bought about 20 CDs in the time since ADToE came out.  I didn't listen to it for two weeks before the concert I went to on Monday because I pregame by not listening to the band I'm about to see, and the first album I put on after the concert was ADToE.

I don't think I'm ready to rank it with any certainty, but it might be as high as 3rd, but no lower than 4th.  I don't see it beating I&W or 6DoIT, it's gonna duke it out with Awake for the 3 spot.

[TheKillingHand]

Still absolutely love it, still think it's their strongest album since Six Degrees

[snapple]

I still enjoy it and listen to it, despite the fact that I had a nice run at the poker and backgammon tables lately and came into money and I've bought about 20 CDs in the time since ADToE came out.

Pretty much the same thing here.

[ResultsMayVary]

Still love it.

[bss4life15]

I still love it, it beat out FII and SC in my top 3, and still is my second favorite, but it will never come close to touching Six Degrees

[TheOutlawXanadu]

It's a good album. I listened to some of it last night and enjoyed it immensely.

That being said, it's not a "special" album. It's not in Dream Theater's top tier. There's no way of saying this without sounding a little arrogant, but I don't think all the people saying it's a top three DT album will be singing such praise a year from now.

[hefdaddy42]

Still absolutely love it, still think it's their strongest album since Six Degrees

[Metrovarium]

I think it's their best album to come out since Octavarium, but Octavarium is better. It also sounds better. And it has the song Octavarium. And the song Sacrificed Sons, which is IMO a very, very strong track. In fact, that was the first older DT song I spinned after delving into ADTOE, and I was blown the crap away.

I almost agree. Octavarium the song is better than anything on ADTOE, and The Root of All Evil is only beaten by BITS and BAI. But ADTOE is a much more consistent album to me. If Panic Attack and Never Enough were better songs, I'd definitely be inclined to agree with you, but those two songs just don't match up to the rest of the album.

[Phoenix87x]

Still love it.

This

[farsight]

Still tied for 3rd along with 6DOIT. There's much emotion and tender loving care put into the creation of the album, and it shows.

[theseoafs]

Each song seems stronger to me now than it did when I first heard the album, and that's saying something. I feel comfortable at this point seating it behind I&W, SDOIT, and SFAM at no. 4.

[emindead]

I added the "ago" that was missing after "weeks", Emin. I'm really surprised that someone else don't want to listen to it again. I don't feel lonely anymore

o/

[YtseCullen]

I think this has to be my favourite Dream Theater album, It's the perfect balance between what I liked about Pre 00's DT and what I liked about SDOIT and on. The melodies are really awesome, it has lots of power and driving moments, and for me this is my favourite JLB performance to date, Mike Mangini's drumming made it seem fresh and new to me, which is what I wanted was something different then the formula of the last 2 albums before it, and another thing that made it great for me was JR's keyboard work, it was really tasteful, very similar to Kevin Moore's parts on I&W and Awake. Overall to me its just a solid album beginning to end, this is the only album that i LOVE every song on.

[perfectchaos180]

Thought it was mid-tier when it came out, dropped since then... I haven't listened to it for about 3 weeks because I am just not that interested in it.

I listened to A Change of Seasons for the first time in a really long time earlier today, and it blew me away. When I thought about listening the ADTOE, I just had no desire to.

[Buddyhunter1]

This was the first DT record I had looked forward to since becoming a fan sometime in 2009, and it did not disappoint much. Probably in the top 5 DT albums, though I'm still not exactly sure where. I think the biggest problem with this album is that while I like all the songs (except for Lost Not Forgotten) there is none I really LOVE. Bridges In The Sky comes pretty damn close, but overall the whole album was 8/10 material. While this isn't exactly a bad thing, I think pretty much every other DT album has at least one song better than anything this one has to offer. On the bright side, I think this album was definitely a step in the right direction for the band's overall sound, since the last two releases sounded pretty stale.
Great album, but my album of the year award goes to Deconstruction.

[energythief]

Top 3 DT album behind SFAM and I&W, and I am confident it will remain there.

[dethklok09]

I've only listened to it once, and haven't since.
It's not that the songs are bad, it's just none were really that good in my opinion.
I've also been leaning away from prog over the past few months so that may be a factor.

[tjanuranus]

Love it. In the top 5 DT albums for me. Seeing them live 3 times really cemented it too! The songs are amazing live.

[XB0BX]

I've only listened to it once, and haven't since.
It's not that the songs are bad, it's just none were really that good in my opinion.
I've also been leaning away from prog over the past few months so that may be a factor.

You're posting on a Dream Theater message board but only listened to the new album once?

[KevShmev]

Still love it, and it would probably be dominating 90% of my music listening time for months (like a DT release used to back in the 90s) if there weren't so many other great new releases as well. 

[reneranucci]

I added the "ago" that was missing after "weeks", Emin. I'm really surprised that someone else don't want to listen to it again. I don't feel lonely anymore

o/

*\o
(I remember you did the "interceptions" thing before, right?  )

[BlobVanDam]

I haven't really listened to it since it came out (but I had it for a couple of months before that), but it's hard for me to find time to listen to full albums lately, and it's an album I usually only listen to in full.
I still think it's a great album, and their most consistent one in a few albums, but in my recent DT album rankings it was about 7th, mostly based on the fact it doesn't have any top 20 songs for me. On consistency though, I'd probably put it 5th. It may still go up the ranks a bit, but it's never going to be a top 3.
This ends up sounding more negative than it was meant to. As I said, I still think it's a great album, and I love it, but I just don't think quite as highly of it as some people, and most of their other albums have one or two songs I enjoy more.

[Jaffa]

I'd say it's aging fairly well for me.  I haven't gotten at all tired of it yet, so I consider that a very good thing. 

Also,

This ends up sounding more negative than it was meant to.

I didn't actually think it sounded at all negative in the first place.