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

[TheGreatPretender]

Not my favorite, but if it's like that, I think I'll enjoy it. I just hope we're not going to get a bunch of, "Which song is which in parallel to Octavarium?" The way people did with ADTOE and I&W.

I personally enjoyed drawing those parallels 

I think things like that give people the impression that the album lacks its own identity, though. Yeah, I saw some parallels in certain aspects, but musically it wasn't like I&W 2.0, and I highly doubt this will be Sedecimarium.

[commanderbob]

Speaking of which, am I the only one who would just love to have about 6 - 7 minutes of an extended Bass solo on the new tour? I mean, JP and JR did it plenty of times on previous tours. And last tour, they had MM do a drum solo, for obvious reasons. But I've never heard a live album with a "John Myung Bass Solo" track. I think it's about time.

I'd love to see a drum/bass duo myself

[GasparXR]

Speaking of which, am I the only one who would just love to have about 6 - 7 minutes of an extended Bass solo on the new tour? I mean, JP and JR did it plenty of times on previous tours. And last tour, they had MM do a drum solo, for obvious reasons. But I've never heard a live album with a "John Myung Bass Solo" track. I think it's about time.

They need to have one as an intro to a song. Songs they could prelude with a bass solo and have it work very well IMo are: LSoaD, Scarred, maybe TGP and AIA.

I don't want to comment on whether I like the song lengths or not, since I won't know if they work for the song or not until I hear the album. Ad for the August "update", tomorrow would be cool, but I can wait. We've waited lots before and we've survived!

[TheGreatPretender]

Speaking of which, am I the only one who would just love to have about 6 - 7 minutes of an extended Bass solo on the new tour? I mean, JP and JR did it plenty of times on previous tours. And last tour, they had MM do a drum solo, for obvious reasons. But I've never heard a live album with a "John Myung Bass Solo" track. I think it's about time.

I'd love to see a drum/bass duo myself

Well, of course, it could be garnished with other instruments, like the extended solo section on Beyond This Life on LAB.


EDIT: By the way, I just glanced in the fact finding thread, and shouldn't the album cover be switched for the non-cut off version, that's on the official website now?

[johncal]

Being an old Yes fan and liking that type of prog, I really liked the orchestral stuff on ADTOE.

I think the biggest issue DT will always have is the prog guys aren't necessarily all that thrilled with the metal and the metal guys like it hard and rough.... no violins. So there's always something that somebody won't like that much.

Fortunately for me, I love prog, metal, and classical. So I'm all set unless they break out the polka.

I like prog. I'm a big fan of Styx, Kansas, Rush. Haven't heard much Yes, but I like orchestral stuff, like what they did on Octavarium. I just don't really like the way it was used on ADTOE. BMUBMD was the biggest issue for me. But I think the bigger issue was just how big and layered it was, not the sheer fact that it was orchestral. I liked the way those aspects were used on Outcry, though. But considering the length of the songs on DT12, none of them are going to be big Outcry-like epics.

You can't say that just yet. Disk 2 on SDOIT is loaded with short tunes but they all run together into a big cohesive epic. JP said they put special effort into making sure the songs blended into each other on this album so it's possible that it might seem like 1 big song. We won't know until we hear it.

As to your comment on outcry, I feel the same way. It's totally based in classical structure and it's awesome.

[Nearmyth]

Not my favorite, but if it's like that, I think I'll enjoy it. I just hope we're not going to get a bunch of, "Which song is which in parallel to Octavarium?" The way people did with ADTOE and I&W.

I personally enjoyed drawing those parallels 

I think things like that give people the impression that the album lacks its own identity, though. Yeah, I saw some parallels in certain aspects, but musically it wasn't like I&W 2.0, and I highly doubt this will be Sedecimarium.

My thoughts exactly. I'm starting to feel like this DT album isn't going to really sound like any album before it, as in I don't think we're going to hear a song and be like "this could totally be in Octavarium" or something. That being said it's still most likely going to be DT no matter what.

[Tis BOOLsheet]

Not my favorite, but if it's like that, I think I'll enjoy it. I just hope we're not going to get a bunch of, "Which song is which in parallel to Octavarium?" The way people did with ADTOE and I&W.

I personally enjoyed drawing those parallels 

I think things like that give people the impression that the album lacks its own identity, though. Yeah, I saw some parallels in certain aspects, but musically it wasn't like I&W 2.0, and I highly doubt this will be Sedecimarium.

My thoughts exactly. I'm starting to feel like this DT album isn't going to really sound like any album before it, as in I don't think we're going to hear a song and be like "this could totally be in Octavarium" or something. That being said it's still most likely going to be DT no matter what.

I certainly hope you are right. A second Octavarium would be like reliving my worst nightmare. The release of the single will answer a lot of questions, I think.

[Scorpion]

Boolsheet you're back!

[Tis BOOLsheet]

Boolsheet you're back!

Surprised anyone seems happy to see me! 

The pre-release excitement has brought me back for a bit.

[theseoafs]

Looking forward to hearing more of your opinions about which DT songs are best and worst, bool.

[Tis BOOLsheet]

Looking forward to hearing more of your opinions about which DT songs are best and worst, bool.

I sense some sarcasm 

Obviously, I will be sharing my opinion/review of the album once it's released, like everyone else.

[aXygnus]

Speaking of which, am I the only one who would just love to have about 6 - 7 minutes of an extended Bass solo on the new tour? I mean, JP and JR did it plenty of times on previous tours. And last tour, they had MM do a drum solo, for obvious reasons. But I've never heard a live album with a "John Myung Bass Solo" track. I think it's about time.

I'd love to see a drum/bass duo myself

Are you reading this Myung and Mangini? DO IT

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

Something occurred to me earlier. On the progress chart DT had, there was a column for "guests". Have we decided that this referred to the orchestra, or is it something else?

[darkshade]

DT posts the new album artwork, and DTF freaks out for several dozens of pages on how fucked up the cover looks.

Then, when someone posts the corrected and fished artwork, NO ONE comments on it.

Only at DTF........

[dongringo]

More catchy and mainstream means more like Octavarium. My favourite album

Once again we agree.  Everything so far points more to Octavarium than anything else. This has me beyond stoked.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

I like a lot the idea they're focusing on shorter song forms this time. It reminds me of the I&W days (inb4 THOSE ARE THE ADTOE DAYS BECAUSE THOSE ALBUMS ARE TEH SAME LOL THIAGLOL) where the songs practically set the standard for Dream Theater's music and didn't necessarily had to feature a keyboard solo, followed by a guitar solo and followed by a unison. I love that the listening party reviews point towards a Rush-esque type of approach in some of the songs, this is something I've missed from the early DT. True, I love their metal side and I love Train of Thought, but I wanna see some of that good-hearted ole prog rock back on track.

[theseoafs]

The Rush thing is interesting.  Nothing DT has done in recent history has struck me as sounding like Rush at all, so I'm interested in hearing what that will sound like.  It's also interesting because the song titles seemed Rush-y to me and a few other DTF'ers as well.

[darkshade]

Nothing DT has done in recent history has struck me as sounding like Rush at all

Not even The Best of Times?

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

The Rush thing is interesting.  Nothing DT has done in recent history has struck me as sounding like Rush at all, so I'm interested in hearing what that will sound like.  It's also interesting because the song titles seemed Rush-y to me and a few other DTF'ers as well.

In WDADU, the Rush influence is super present (even Dominici's vocal style back then was Rush-esque).

[GasparXR]

The Rush thing is interesting.  Nothing DT has done in recent history has struck me as sounding like Rush at all, so I'm interested in hearing what that will sound like.  It's also interesting because the song titles seemed Rush-y to me and a few other DTF'ers as well.

In WDADU, the Rush influence is super present (even Dominici's vocal style back then was Rush-esque).

I would argue that parts of TCOT and TBOT are Rush-influenced.

[Implode]

DT posts the new album artwork, and DTF freaks out for several dozens of pages on how fucked up the cover looks.

Then, when someone posts the corrected and fished artwork, NO ONE comments on it.

Only at DTF........

This is all old news. We had a separate thread, and the fixed artwork was posted a couple weeks ago.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

The Rush thing is interesting.  Nothing DT has done in recent history has struck me as sounding like Rush at all, so I'm interested in hearing what that will sound like.  It's also interesting because the song titles seemed Rush-y to me and a few other DTF'ers as well.

In WDADU, the Rush influence is super present (even Dominici's vocal style back then was Rush-esque).

I would argue that parts of TCOT and TBOT are Rush-influenced.

TBOT more than anything, that guitar intro line is an enormous tribute to The Spirit of Radio.

[theseoafs]

In WDADU, the Rush influence is super present (even Dominici's vocal style back then was Rush-esque).

Agreed.

Not even The Best of Times?

Ah, knew I was forgetting something.  Yeah, the upbeat part of that song does sound a lot like Rush.  But that's one song among many.

I would argue that parts of TCOT and TBOT are Rush-influenced.

TCOT doesn't really sound anything like Rush.

[Dacling]

TCOT doesn't really sound anything like Rush.

The entire intro of TCOT sounds like a Rush wankfest to me and same thing with the intro for TOWHTSTS. Not saying there is anything wrong with them. I love those parts and they just both really remind me of Rush.

[darkshade]

DT posts the new album artwork, and DTF freaks out for several dozens of pages on how fucked up the cover looks.

Then, when someone posts the corrected and fished artwork, NO ONE comments on it.

Only at DTF........

This is all old news. We had a separate thread, and the fixed artwork was posted a couple weeks ago.

Sorry, lol, I don't spend as much time as I'd like on the internet, especially when the thread has 10-15 new pages a day, most of which are filled with useless garbage.

[Petruccinator12]

https://www.bryanreesman.com/2013/07/31/dream-theater-unveils-new-album-2013/

Referring to the link above: I ask myself why they chose this album to be the first one that's being played via a listening party..and the article gives the answer: it's more mainstream, and they knew it, and I don't like it

[Mosh]

Wait a second. Are we already criticizing the new album for being too mainstream 2 months before it's even out?? 

[Petruccinator12]

Wait a second. Are we already criticizing the new album for being too mainstream 2 months before it's even out?? 

Exactly

[GasparXR]

Wait a second. Are we already criticizing the new album for being too mainstream 2 months before it's even out?? 

Honestly, I find it a bit on the annoying side that people are doing that. I see nothing wrong that it might end up being more accessible, because not only does it not really matter to me how "avante-garde" the music is, given that if I like it, I like it, but some might not even agree about the accessibility once they listen to it!

[BlobVanDam]

Dream Theater has always incorporated accessible elements. Having a listening party isn't about being mainstream, it's just about publicity and marketing. It's basically another reason for sites to get some early news out there about the album. It's a fairly typical thing for bands to do these days, and I think DT are just keeping up with that trend.

If a 70 minute album with a 20 minute epic, and one or two instrumentals is considered more mainstream, then I'll take it!

[Mosh]

Dream Theater has always incorporated accessible elements. Having a listening party isn't about being mainstream, it's just about publicity and marketing. It's basically another reason for sites to get some early news out there about the album. It's a fairly typical thing for bands to do these days, and I think DT are just keeping up with that trend.

If a 70 minute album with a 20 minute epic, and one or two instrumentals is considered more mainstream, then I'll take it!

Seriously. I don't care what the style is as long as it sounds good. Last time they went overboard with the technical stuff we got SC, I'd rather have a more "mainstream" sounding album than a repeat of that.

Wait a second. Are we already criticizing the new album for being too mainstream 2 months before it's even out?? 

Exactly

Why don't you wait for the album to come out and then form an opinion on it? Criticizing music you haven't even listened to is silly.

[Nearmyth]

The Rush thing is interesting.  Nothing DT has done in recent history has struck me as sounding like Rush at all, so I'm interested in hearing what that will sound like.  It's also interesting because the song titles seemed Rush-y to me and a few other DTF'ers as well.

Really? Rush is by far DT's biggest influence.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

[TheGreatPretender]

The Rush thing is interesting.  Nothing DT has done in recent history has struck me as sounding like Rush at all, so I'm interested in hearing what that will sound like.  It's also interesting because the song titles seemed Rush-y to me and a few other DTF'ers as well.

Yeah, but come on. Nothing RUSH has done in recent history has struck me as sounding like Rush at all. 

[BlackInk]

I like prog. I'm a big fan of Styx, Kansas, Rush. Haven't heard much Yes, but I like orchestral stuff, like what they did on Octavarium.

f u dis is not prog dis porgressive