Dream Theater self titled album discussion - [SPOILER FREE DISCUSSION ONLY]

[Jaq]

Christ, I miss a lot when I don't come to DT side, don't I?

Two songs with multiple movements (which of course means little overall, but it suggests these will be the two longest songs) and a pretty snazzy album cover to boot. This really has STATEMENT OF INTENT written all over it. Can't wait for the first song/samples/hell even song lengths. 

[DreamerTV]

Question: does the phrase 'Illumination Theory' come from anywhere?  Like, is it some scientific principle I'm not familiar with, or did they just make it up?

My guess is that it could be S.Augustin of Hippo theory of illumination

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illuminationism

[Edson Wilton]

Hello, how are you? I think the cover art is very minimal, which adds to the mystery of how the album will sound. I do not know why, but the cover art also reminds me of "The Dark Side of the Moon".

[gmillerdrake]

Hello, how are you? I think the cover art is very minimal, which adds to the mystery of how the album will sound. I do not know why, but the cover art also reminds me of "The Dark Side of the Moon".

Hello and welcome! I am fine thanks for asking.

[senecadawg2]

Hello, how are you? I think the cover art is very minimal, which adds to the mystery of how the album will sound. I do not know why, but the cover art also reminds me of "The Dark Side of the Moon".

Hello, I'm doing well, how about yourself? I agree with all the points you've made. I love the minimalist look, as I think too many of DT's album covers are unnecessarily cluttered. And if this album has anywhere close the the same tone atmospherically of Dark Side of the Moon, I'd be thrilled. I'm ready for something a little more 'out there'.

[Edson Wilton]

Hello, how are you? I think the cover art is very minimal, which adds to the mystery of how the album will sound. I do not know why, but the cover art also reminds me of "The Dark Side of the Moon".

Hello and welcome! I am fine thanks for asking.

Hello, how are you? I think the cover art is very minimal, which adds to the mystery of how the album will sound. I do not know why, but the cover art also reminds me of "The Dark Side of the Moon".

Hello, I'm doing well, how about yourself? I agree with all the points you've made. I love the minimalist look, as I think too many of DT's album covers are unnecessarily cluttered. And if this album has anywhere close the the same tone atmospherically of Dark Side of the Moon, I'd be thrilled. I'm ready for something a little more 'out there'.

Thanks! I'm fine too.

If this album has anywhere close to a more progressive and climatic mood, it will be a classic, for sure.

[theseoafs]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuw-25y6GC4

^^I remember watching this two years ago, and completely losing my mind from excitement. They definitely need to do something similar for DT12, having a brief track by track description.   

I remember this one.  Watched it a few times over when it came out.  Nostalgic watching it again after I've known everything for a couple years.  I still remember saying "OMG BRIDGES IN THE SKY HAS AN 'ETHNICAL' BREAKDOWN OMG OMG" 

Of course, now that the tracklist's out, details of the album's music are going to start trickling out every so often.  And I'll freak out over every single one.  Color me excited.

[adastra]

WHOA! Great news!
Tracklist looks amazing! But I don't like the cover art too much.
Somehow I get this "Texas Ranger" -vibe from the promo pic 

[sueño]

I see a lot of people aren't happy with us criticizing the album cover  Agree or disagree, that's what a forum is for. This place would be boring if there weren't people that call it like it is 

I love you...

And this is one of the more intelligent and lively forums I've been a part of.  All this is great!   

I just don't have a lot of geeked out people in my life so this is interesting. 

[chrisbDTM]

the cover art is different. and change is definitely good

[atmyne]

Yep i've totally just noticed that earth cut off thing on the cover...
and as much as I am an avid supporter of the awesome concept that is this cover.... that is horrid 

[fadetoblackdude7]

Damn it......that's all I'm gonna look at now!

[adastra]

Yep i've totally just noticed that earth cut off thing on the cover...
and as much as I am an avid supporter of the awesome concept that is this cover.... that is horrid 

NUGGETZ!

[Red_Queen]

WOW.. DT12 give me that shieeet !!!!!

I like the cover..what more do you need for the self-titled album ! Album to me sounds really (SDOIT vs Awake) dark-heavy-proggy..thats all I need ! 

When do we get single hm hm?

[dongringo]

I see some cloud creatures directly above the majesty symbol. One looks like an old man frowny face and the one to the right of that one looks like a cat face. There's also one to the left of the old man looking one, but it's more subtle. There's actually four cloud creatures in total that I can see. Wild, wild stuff.

[atmyne]

I see some cloud creatures directly above the majesty symbol. One looks like an old man frowny face and the one to the right of that one looks like a cat face. There's also one to the left of the old man looking one, but it's more subtle. There's actually four cloud creatures in total that I can see. Wild, wild stuff.

And yet you don't see that earth cut off line that cuts through from the leftmost edge of the cover into the logo?
I don't usually care about album art, but I will say that, assuming the music is really good, listening to awesome music that you have been desperately waiting for, that came with poor quality cover art, is kind of like eating a gourmet piece of rich, layered chocolate cake with just the right amount of icing... on a paper plate using a plastic fork...
I really hope they fix it, although it won't be the end of the world if they don't... even though it really kinda is...

[CodyWanKenobi]

I hope they call the tour the 'Dream Theatour'. That would be such a win.

[dongringo]

I see some cloud creatures directly above the majesty symbol. One looks like an old man frowny face and the one to the right of that one looks like a cat face. There's also one to the left of the old man looking one, but it's more subtle. There's actually four cloud creatures in total that I can see. Wild, wild stuff.

And yet you don't see that earth cut off line that cuts through from the leftmost edge of the cover into the logo?
I don't usually care about album art, but I will say that, assuming the music is really good, listening to awesome music that you have been desperately waiting for, that came with poor quality cover art, is kind of like eating a gourmet piece of rich, layered chocolate cake with just the right amount of icing... on a paper plate using a plastic fork...
I really hope they fix it, although it won't be the end of the world if they don't... even though it really kinda is...

Never said I didn't see that. In fact, if you turn up your brightness you will see that it's more than that. It's like looking through a window or something. It cuts down, then across through the logo then back up, then to the left a bit more to parallel the left side of the (window?). There's also some other curves at the bottom right of the window that are subtle brown/grey colors with serrated edges....plus the cloud creatures. There's something too all this. It can't be a mistake (in my opinion).

[BlobVanDam]

I see some cloud creatures directly above the majesty symbol. One looks like an old man frowny face and the one to the right of that one looks like a cat face. There's also one to the left of the old man looking one, but it's more subtle. There's actually four cloud creatures in total that I can see. Wild, wild stuff.

And yet you don't see that earth cut off line that cuts through from the leftmost edge of the cover into the logo?
I don't usually care about album art, but I will say that, assuming the music is really good, listening to awesome music that you have been desperately waiting for, that came with poor quality cover art, is kind of like eating a gourmet piece of rich, layered chocolate cake with just the right amount of icing... on a paper plate using a plastic fork...
I really hope they fix it, although it won't be the end of the world if they don't... even though it really kinda is...

Never said I didn't see that. In fact, if you turn up your brightness you will see that it's more than that. It's like looking through a window or something. It cuts down, then across through the logo then back up, then to the left a bit more to parallel the left side of the (window?). There's also some other curves at the bottom left of the window that are subtle brown/grey colors with serrated edges. There's something too all this. It can't be a mistake in my opinion.

It's the edge of the stock image that was used, hence the honking square corner. The lines are at an angle because it was rotated. It is a mistake, clear and simple.

[dongringo]

I see some cloud creatures directly above the majesty symbol. One looks like an old man frowny face and the one to the right of that one looks like a cat face. There's also one to the left of the old man looking one, but it's more subtle. There's actually four cloud creatures in total that I can see. Wild, wild stuff.

And yet you don't see that earth cut off line that cuts through from the leftmost edge of the cover into the logo?
I don't usually care about album art, but I will say that, assuming the music is really good, listening to awesome music that you have been desperately waiting for, that came with poor quality cover art, is kind of like eating a gourmet piece of rich, layered chocolate cake with just the right amount of icing... on a paper plate using a plastic fork...
I really hope they fix it, although it won't be the end of the world if they don't... even though it really kinda is...

Never said I didn't see that. In fact, if you turn up your brightness you will see that it's more than that. It's like looking through a window or something. It cuts down, then across through the logo then back up, then to the left a bit more to parallel the left side of the (window?). There's also some other curves at the bottom left of the window that are subtle brown/grey colors with serrated edges. There's something too all this. It can't be a mistake in my opinion.

It's the edge of the stock image that was used, hence the honking square corner. The lines are at an angle because it was rotated. It is a mistake, clear and simple.

Well that sucks. At least there's the cloud creatures. 

[atmyne]

Never said I didn't see that.

I can see it clearly in your avitar through my monitor, and assumed you loved it as much as I did before I noticed it, and hence set it as your pic to denote your love for it 
Its really freaking good other than that.

[Deve]

I hope they call the tour the 'Dream Theatour'. That would be such a win.

I now want this to happen with all of my heart.

Also, I think they avoided writing the band name all together due to fear of incurring the wrath of Blob if it was the wrong font 

Seriously though, it sucks that the Majesty logo is so disproportionate from how it should look. As someone who doesn't really see much of a difference, it doesn't bother me, but I get how it could be quite annoying to someone that could see it.

[ariich]

I'm also in the camp that now can't unsee the ridiculous cut-off for the planet.

Damn you, Blob!

[Victor Alexandrov]

It gets really visible when you invert the image:

[?]

At first I thought the cover looks cool, but now I can't unsee the cut-off, either. Damn!

[Bolsters]

This really accentuates the compression artifacts I saw in the original on the light. It looks like it has been scaled up from a lower resolution, too, given the size of the artifacts, but Blob might have to confirm or deny that for me since I'm not really into graphic design or anything. But that's what it looks like to me, it's both compressed too much and zoomed in too far.

Couldn't Hugh Syme find a better stock image than this to use? Cut off horribly at the bottom, low resolution and blown up, compressed to hell...

[BlobVanDam]

The artifacts are just compression artifacts from being a jpg file brightened up, not because of the stock image used.

I've just started my own quick mockup of my idea of a "better" cover. Only just started this, and keep in mind this is from scratch, not editing the existing image. Only an hour or two of work in this.

[Bolsters]

Already better than Syme's.

[novenpeter]

A lot better

[MoraWintersoul]

I hope they call the tour the 'Dream Theatour'. That would be such a win.

Totes

I love all the new people in the thread already

[wasteland]

Oh, yeah, that's way better blob! I love the diamond ring effect!

[PROGdrummer]

Thank god youre doing that blob. Please post your final version here if you can. I was afraid i was going to have to fix all this stuff myself just to get a nice album cover . And that would have taken forever with my minimalistic photoshop skills. Your version already looks a million times better lol

[?]

I hope they call the tour the 'Dream Theatour'. That would be such a win.

That was actually my idea:

Dream Theater will be tourning in support of Dream Theater. Groovy.

"Dream Theatour"

Great to see so many new people here - welcome, everyone!

[BlobVanDam]

Oh, yeah, that's way better blob! I love the diamond ring effect!

That's just a lens flare orb.

[wasteland]

Oh, yeah, that's way better blob! I love the diamond ring effect!

That's just a lens flare orb.

Reproducing a diamond ring effect https://diamondringeffect.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/DiamondRingEffect.jpg