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

[Jaffa]

Classic Rock Presents Prog (Facebook):

"#‎nowplaying‬ Dream Theater - Dream Theater. Massive sense of anticipation here at Prog Towers!!"

"First impressions: different to A Dramatic Turn of Events. Heavier and also more melodic. Some lovely obtuse time changes and very proggy in places. The epic Illumination Theory will thrill DT fans. It won't change opinions of the band's detractors within the prog community, and these are still early days, but it sounds like a strong addition to the band's body of work."

We've already seen this...

Oh, I didn`t know it.

My mistake.

No worries, you're fine.  It's tough to keep track.

[atmyne]

guys you should know everything that has happened or we'll re-post and discuss your avatar.

[LBC.]

Your avatar is unnerving....

Is only a Lawyer.

[wolven74]

These are the people I will trust to give me a well rounded review.

1. The people of this forum. We're never afraid to say what we don't like about something, so I don't fear bias here. Though maybe that's a bit foolish. Meh, we'll see.

2. Someone from a well established magazine like maybe Metal Hammer, Karrang, something like that.... someone who's only listened to it once, without any credentials doesn't say much for how much we're supposed to believe.

3. Someone from the label who's been given permission to do a write up. They'll still try to sell it, so they'll be biased, at least it won't be a "This album is worse than the one before it. It's nothing new." type of feel.

Nothing dream theater has ever put out has ever sucked. Even their worst albums are good in their own right. They're only the worst because what they've put out after it was better. They have never and I mean never gone backwards on a cd.

No matter what is said this early, I will wait until I hear it to make my decisions about how I feel.

[Kotowboy]

guys you should know everything that has happened or we'll re-post and discuss your avatar.

[LBC.]

No matter what is said this early, I will wait until I hear it to make my decisions about how I feel.

[SaterUM]

What if the album that have heard the critics is a demo, or better yet, a different recording  from the original album, to fool the critics and the public to feel disappointment and end with a surprise attack!, it would be interesting, just thinking xd

[RMGadelha]

dreamtheater.net is back! With nothing new xD

[Dark Castle]

What if the album that have heard the critics is a demo, or better yet, a different recording  from the original album, to fool the critics and the public to feel disappointment and end with a surprise attack!, it would be interesting, just thinking xd

I feel safe in telling you that's most definitely not the case and that's an absurd thought.

[dparrott]

I used to laugh at the fact that DT's EP (ACOS) was still almost an hour.  The albums around it are almost full discs.  They never go half-assed.

[BlobVanDam]

Let's say hypothetically speaking it is *only* 70 minutes, as this translated and questionable review suggests (ah DTF, you never let me down). Subtract about 20 minutes for the epic, as has been confirmed, and that leaves about 50 minutes for the remaining 8 tracks. That averages to a bit over 6 minutes a track.

I think this is good news. First of all, it means DT aren't just filling CDs for the sake of it, or extending songs artificially. They're filling it with strong material.

It also means we're likely to see diversity in song lengths, maybe with some really short songs like Vacant/FFH, and then with longer songs closer to 10 minutes. We're talking song lengths very much like IaW here, maybe LTL aside. So I'm expecting concise songwriting without any fat.

I don't see this as a bad thing. They're kicking off the album with a suite, and ending on an epic, and utilizing an orchestra. It's going to be a DT album, people! Let's not worry.

[Zook]

70 minutes isn't enough?!

[chrisbDTM]

the things people complain about..

[Progmetty]

Whoa while I was gone DT released the track list for Symphony X's next release! Just kidding I actually really like the song titles and the whole mysterious feel about what the album nature is like, I'm already think of what the live stage is going to look like and how they would try topping their last tour intro and theme, is there a banana in my pocket or are DT releasing a new album?

[LBC.]

We`re living the slowest days for DT fans in history.

[adastra]

Let's say hypothetically speaking it is *only* 70 minutes, as this translated and questionable review suggests (ah DTF, you never let me down). Subtract about 20 minutes for the epic, as has been confirmed, and that leaves about 50 minutes for the remaining 8 tracks. That averages to a bit over 6 minutes a track.

I think this is good news. First of all, it means DT aren't just filling CDs for the sake of it, or extending songs artificially. They're filling it with strong material.

It also means we're likely to see diversity in song lengths, maybe with some really short songs like Vacant/FFH, and then with longer songs closer to 10 minutes. We're talking song lengths very much like IaW here, maybe LTL aside. So I'm expecting concise songwriting without any fat.

I don't see this as a bad thing. They're kicking off the album with a suite, and ending on an epic, and utilizing an orchestra. It's going to be a DT album, people! Let's not worry.

This would be great! I'd love to hear more short songs.  FII has a lot of short songs and IMO it's their best work!

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

We`re living the slowest days for DT fans in history.

No, those would be the new drummer announcement days.

[GasparXR]

We`re living the slowest days for DT fans in history.

No, those would be the new drummer announcement days.

Oh my god yes. That exactly.

[Voices]

I think that an album with more shorter songs can be a nice trick to break new ground. Why? Well, the last three albuns didn't have that structure (there was just a few shorter songs, like 5 min), and this new album will explore it...something different from what we recently heard from DT.
I do believe that this change will take our listening experience to a whole new level. I'm very excited for this new album!

[Victor Alexandrov]

Besides, does Dream Theater give promotionals to non English-speaking countries?

No, we just wait for free food from the Red Cross to survive. And we all really apologize for having the nerves to exist on the planet and pollute your Free World. Sheesh...

Of course every legitimate media in the music biz receives all promos issued by Roadrunner. When ADTOE came out, it was a watermarked digital stream which I had the chance to have access to. It was released almost simultaneously with Opeth's Watershed promo.

[atmyne]

Besides, does Dream Theater give promotionals to non English-speaking countries?

No, we just wait for free food from the Red Cross to survive. And we all really apologize for having the nerves to exist on the planet and pollute your Free World. Sheesh...

Of course every legitimate media in the music biz receives all promos issued by Roadrunner. When ADTOE came out, it was a watermarked digital stream which I had the chance to have access to. It was released almost simultaneously with Opeth's Watershed promo.

well that escalated quickly... But I can see where Lucien is coming from. I mean, if North America (predominantly English speaking) is Dream Theaters largest Market, how can you demonstrate the logic of giving (more) promo copies (earlier) to people in other countries/regions/markets etc.?

[CodyWanKenobi]

you guys.... I am so fucking excited for this album.. I can't contain this...

[?]

70 minutes isn't enough for DT fans? Images & Words is universally loved by DT fans and it's not even an hour long! I agree with Blob:

I think this is good news. First of all, it means DT aren't just filling CDs for the sake of it, or extending songs artificially. They're filling it with strong material.

Also, regarding the "promos in non-English-speaking countries?! " reaction:

Of course every legitimate media in the music biz receives all promos issued by Roadrunner.

This. Music reviews are written all over the world and in order to give a review someone from the magazine/website needs a promo copy - simple as that! I promise I'll post a translation or a summary of every Finnish review I can find before the release of the album.

[JayOctavarium]

Prediction

4:26 - 4:52 of Enigma Machine is going to blow minds



(disclaimer: This is based on absolutely nothing.)

[wasteland]

I wouldn't give that review too much credit.

[fadetoblackdude7]

Blob is absolutely right.

And going back a couple pages, CDs can hold exactly 78:59 of music.

[BlobVanDam]

And let's not forget we're going by a very questionable source right now, and 70 minutes is a rounded off figure. It's not going to be exactly 70 minutes. It could be 71 minutes, it could be 75 minutes, who knows. It's going to be around the average DT album length. I'm certainly not worrying about nitpicking a minute here or there.

As has been pointed out, IaW is under an hour, and that's universally praised. Factoring in a 20 minute song doesn't cut too much into the difference.

[wolven74]

We`re living the slowest days for DT fans in history.

No, those would be the new drummer announcement days.

I have to agree with LBC on this one. The wait for the new album is much more intense than the wait was for the new drummer. Same kinda of anticipation, but much more intense.

[serrano]

And let's not forget we're going by a very questionable source right now, and 70 minutes is a rounded off figure. It's not going to be exactly 70 minutes. It could be 71 minutes, it could be 75 minutes, who knows. It's going to be around the average DT album length. I'm certainly not worrying about nitpicking a minute here or there.

As has been pointed out, IaW is under an hour, and that's universally praised. Factoring in a 20 minute song doesn't cut too much into the difference.

It would be typical for a Spanish guy to say 70min if it was 74min (i would say it so). So if the source is legit, we know that the album is seventy something minutes.

[MoraWintersoul]

You dudes, did we really have a 2-page freakout over a non-legit non-review? The dude just calculated his move and said the things that would rustle maximum jimmies with still being believable (if he'd said Petrucci had no solos, for example, that would have been unbelievable).

[Elite]

Or 67. What the hell guys, we DON'T know it yet, until we get some official proof. And I don't care whether it'll be 70 or 50 minutes, as long as the music is just fantastic. Stop the whining, seriously.

[wasteland]

Of course. He may have very well seen the chart and drawn assumptions from there regarding Jordan's presence. And I believe that there's no chance in hell the drums will sound bad this time. Absolutely nihil.

Moreover we got a first impression from CRPProg stating that the album is indeed different from ADTOE. You would assume they know. This guy here is stating the exact opposite.

[?]

Moreover we got a first impression from CRPProg stating that the album is indeed different from ADTOE. You would assume they know. This guy here is stating the exact opposite.

The CRPP "review" gave me the impression it's not ADTOE II, but not radically different either. I bet the amount of stylistical differences between these two albums depends on how you see them and I don't think you're "right" or "wrong" if you say they are similar or different.

[mikemangioy]

Hey guys, new guy here, this is my first post.

First off, let me say that I'm extremely pumped for this record, I feel like it's gonna turn in one of my favorites, but I like to keep my expectations pretty low, simply because I don't want to be disappointed.

For me the spanish guy's review counts nothing, it can easily be a fake, but it looks like it's legit. So, I am a bit worried about the drum sound now  , but I honestly think the guy exaggerates, I mean, c'mon, how can the drums sound like MIDI? Ah, well. For anything else he said, I'm not scared/worried. I don't like personal reviews, because opinions change from person to person, so I basically don't care  what he said about there being "nothing new". Prog Magazine said it's different from ADTOE, what the hell. Damn, there's Illumination Theroy, I think that's gonna kick some serious ass! Anyways, waiting 'til september is gonna be so hard, but I think we're all going to be rewarded well for the waiting. Oh yeah, I forgot, once the album comes out, I have to wait for the concert. Which is in January. DAMMIT.
Anyway, can't wait 

[LBC.]

We`re living the slowest days for DT fans in history.

No, those would be the new drummer announcement days.

Ok, both.