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

[adastra]

Mangini hair looks like a woman's hair.

Yeah, It really does.

[atmyne]

I think JP looks like a  boss in that jacket. I don't think it's a bad photo I think it's just kinda funny cause they're trying to look badass but you still get a strong dad vibe from it 

[Another_Won]

They should have used that new phone app that lets you fix each persons face.  All of their expressions just seem odd to me . . . except JMX of course.

[Mladen]

It's a strange photo, I guess. Mangini does look like he's trying too hard not to be a sweetheart he is, and there's something odd about the way James is holding his hand. But who cares. 

[me7]

Agree on Mangini's hair looking girlish, and JP looks like an extra from the TV show Firefly.

[atmyne]

JP looks like an extra from the TV show Firefly.

YES! 

[wasteland]

Don't know if this has been pointed out before, and it might seem farfetched, but the song titles kinda remind me of previous DT albums, as in the topics they deal with:

1. FALSE AWAKENING SUITE - SC. "False awakening" and it's subtitles are somewhat descriptive for Forsaken, ITPOE, TDEN and MOLS
2. THE ENEMY INSIDE - SDOIT. Mental illness and stuff.
3. THE LOOKING GLASS - FII. The Cover!  Yeah, this one is tough.
4. ENIGMA MACHINE - 8VM. Should be self-explanatory
5. THE BIGGER PICTURE - BCSL. Theres always a silver lining if you look at the bigger picture. All BCSL songs come down to that.
6. BEHIND THE VEIL - Awake. Deals with many aspects of seclusion and isolation, e.g. being behind a veil
7. SURRENDER TO REASON - ACOS. Come to terms with yourself and seize the day.
8. ALONG FOR THE RIDE - TOT. Trains. Ride. Obvious right? 
9. ILLUMINATION THEORY - SFAM. Just look at the title and subtitles. Its like SFAM in a nutshell.

I'm probably stretching things here but it kinda jumped me when i read the titles.

A bit far fetched (especially the FAS one), but still a clever find 

[Kotowboy]

I'm sure we do the " is this album about all their albums " every time they bring out a new CD.

Or my memory is playing tricks on me !



If any album is about another - WDADU is clearly about DT12 since Dream Theater is the name of the album and the sun is rising behind the earth..

It's when Dream ( theater ) and Day ( time ) Unite !

[ariich]

This may have been mentioned already, but from a quick glance, I don't think any acronyms for the new songs are the same as any other DT songs or albums... or are there some I'm forgetting?

[Kotowboy]

This may have been mentioned already, but from a quick glance, I don't think any acronyms for the new songs are the same as any other DT songs or albums... or are there some I'm forgetting?

AYe it has been mentioned already and no they do not overlap

[jonnybaxy]

T'was me, they don't overlap, but I think 2 are close or something

[ariich]

Cool. That's very considerate of them!

[sueño]

JP looks like an extra from the TV show Firefly.

YES! 

Exactly!   Browncoats, unite!   

I do like the coat, tho. 

[Kotowboy]

A quick wallpaper I made

[dongringo]

Nice^ I'm reminded of Testament - The New Order.

[Kotowboy]

That took me all of 5 minutes and I prefer it to the actual artwork

I wonder if the band realise how ludicrously easy it is make decent artwork and how badly they're getting ripped off ?

[krands85]

A quick wallpaper I made

Cool, do you have a larger version? i.e 1920x1080?

[wasteland]

Well, we don't know the identity of the artist. For all we know that could have been made by JP himself or by one of their children for a little more than an icecream 

By the way, why does the blue gas cuts so suddenly into darkness on the left of the logo? Boooooo!

[Kotowboy]

A quick wallpaper I made

Cool, do you have a larger version? i.e 1920x1080?

I'll see what I can do ?

[Super Dude]

So I guess the new forum theme will be pure black?

[Kotowboy]

A quick wallpaper I made

Cool, do you have a larger version? i.e 1920x1080?

https://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a178/kotowboy/MyWallpaperLARGE.png~original

How's this ? ;P

[BlobVanDam]

That took me all of 5 minutes and I prefer it to the actual artwork

I wonder if the band realise how ludicrously easy it is make decent artwork and how badly they're getting ripped off ?

To be fair, if you think it's ludicrously easy, you're not really aware of all it entails. Could you have made that Majesty logo on your own? Did you do any editing to that planet other than maybe colour tweaks and placement? Yeah, it's a cool image, but you're just taking other people's work and pasting them together, not really creating an original image on your own. It looks good because someone else made a nice image that you nabbed, not because it's ludicrously easy to do. And this is for a cover that is nothing but a planet and a logo.

Criticize Hugh Syme for his use of stock images, but if you actually look at the details, there is still a lot of work in putting them together to create a unique image that isn't just flogged from DeviantArt, and in the composition/arrangement, not to mention coming up with the ideas and concepts to begin with. If you come up with a fresh idea, and create that image from scratch on your own, you'd see all that is involved. Then multiply that by 8-10 for all of the booklet art too, and maybe you'll gain some perspective before stating so boldly that DT is being ripped is because you have a copy of Photoshop too.

I'm not absolving Hugh Syme for his mistakes, as I'm as critical as anyone else here of DT's covers, but I don't think you really appreciate the work that is involved even for what people consider "lazy".

/rant

[atmyne]

A quick wallpaper I made

I cannot un-see the square of space in the top left corner

[dparrott]

Reminds me of...


Wearing that t-shirt right now.  It's almost 20 years old.

[dparrott]

So I guess the new forum theme will be pure black?

I hope so.  Bored with this theme.

[Kotowboy]

A quick wallpaper I made

I cannot un-see the square of space in the top left corner

[Kotowboy]

That took me all of 5 minutes and I prefer it to the actual artwork

I wonder if the band realise how ludicrously easy it is make decent artwork and how badly they're getting ripped off ?

To be fair, if you think it's ludicrously easy, you're not really aware of all it entails. Could you have made that Majesty logo on your own? Did you do any editing to that planet other than maybe colour tweaks and placement? Yeah, it's a cool image, but you're just taking other people's work and pasting them together, not really creating an original image on your own. It looks good because someone else made a nice image that you nabbed, not because it's ludicrously easy to do. And this is for a cover that is nothing but a planet and a logo.

Criticize Hugh Syme for his use of stock images, but if you actually look at the details, there is still a lot of work in putting them together to create a unique image that isn't just flogged from DeviantArt, and in the composition/arrangement, not to mention coming up with the ideas and concepts to begin with. If you come up with a fresh idea, and create that image from scratch on your own, you'd see all that is involved. Then multiply that by 8-10 for all of the booklet art too, and maybe you'll gain some perspective before stating so boldly that DT is being ripped is because you have a copy of Photoshop too.

I'm not absolving Hugh Syme for his mistakes, as I'm as critical as anyone else here of DT's covers, but I don't think you really appreciate the work that is involved even for what people consider "lazy".

/rant

My brother is a Photoshop artist too and i've seen the amount of work that he puts into his covers and he is an absolute perfectionist.

He doesn't do it for a living - he just has pride in his work.

I guess if you'd been getting away with charging for as long as Syme has - you no longer care.

[Whatsername]

A quick wallpaper I made

This is pretty good! I feel like the lens flare would be more of a radial effect and less of a straight line as the sun came over the earth, but that might just be a personal thing.

Still a fan of the original too, since I can't see the line on my phone anyway.

[Zydar]

Man, that looks great. I wouldn't mind a widescreen size of it

[Kotowboy]

https://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a178/kotowboy/MyWallpaperLARGE.png~original

How is this Zydar ?

[Zydar]

Outstanding

[Kotowboy]

There's still errors but I did it for myself mainly and i'm absolutely TERRIBLE at photoshop

[puppyonacid]

Can somebody please take that band shot and do 5 more versions with each band members face occupying all the other members at once. You know, one with just JPs face, one with just MMs..........and so on.

I find those pics quite ticklish and frankly I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet.

[krands85]

A quick wallpaper I made

Cool, do you have a larger version? i.e 1920x1080?

https://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a178/kotowboy/MyWallpaperLARGE.png~original

How's this ? ;P

[Implode]

Mangini hair looks like a woman's hair.

Is that supposed to be derogatory or what?

The poses are all forced, but it's not like DT dudes are photo models, it's hardly a quality they should possess, don't y'all think? They look pretty damn fine to me.

I don't think that was supposed to be derogatory. It looks like Mangini is wearing one of those bump-its from the infomercials.