Self Titled Album Discussion thread [Expect Spoilers]

[XJDenton]

So circlejerking over the new DT is okay but criticism regarding my disappointment with the album isn't? Meh.

Sorry, I'll make up for my behavior. I was planning on stopping at 7/11 anyway. What type of donuts would you guys like most for this game of "DT Soggy Biscuit"?

Critique is fine, but this kind of comment serves only to piss people off. Knock it off. Now.

[Dellers]

I'm only listening to some "extended snippets", but musically it sounds good. Except for in TEI Myung seems to be very audible this time. I won't judge too much based on a stream, but soundwise the album sounds a little harsh, especially the guitars (probably a combination of mix, master and his new pickups which I don't like too much). Some uncomfortable treble even on the headphones I've got with least high end. The actual CD may be slightly better, but I have the same issues with a 320k version of TEI. I'll listen more closely when I get the CD in 3-4 days.

[Miyazaki74]

I listened to this album twice through and I don't get it. There are no memorable vocal melodies, the riffs are all over the place and nothing stands out except for a few moments here and there. I really liked ADTOE and thought it was there best work since SDOIT but the music on this album is just putting me to sleep. The enemy within is the only song that I really like. I'll buy the album when it comes out just so that I have it in my DT collection, but I have no desire to see them play these songs live this time around.

[Kotowboy]

When I blast it in my car next week, I'll have a better formed opinion of it.  That's as "surround sound" as I get!  It's hard to feel music through headphones on a computer.

My fave way to experience new music is in headphones on a walk. That way you can pay more attention to the music. At home on your PC - you can kinda surf the net and not really focus on it.

[Hanz Gruber]

Just finished the Looking Glass and the Enigma Machine.

TLG reminded me a little of "Don't Look Past Me" except I like "Don't Look Past Me" a lot more

I know the rest of the album will be better but disappointed with the Looking Glass and the Enigma Machine.  Looking Glass felt a little off and it ended abruptly.

I wish DT would not do instrumental tracks anymore unless they are amazing because it feels like a waste of a track when their songs have so much going on in them anyway.  Enigma Machine was pretty boring.


Edit - Just finished the Bigger Picture.  A very good step in the right direction.  Good song with a guitar that I can feel emotion coming from.

[WheyWaffles]

I hate when musicians say "this is our best work to date" when what they mean is "here is something safe and familiar, please still listen to us".


Illumination Theory barely makes sense as a full 20 minute song.

Right? I thought it was over twice when there was just a long silence with nothing, nooothing in between! And that final piano thing didn't "felt" like it should be there.

The ambient/orchestral bit that lasts almost 4 minutes was just so...lazy. Normally I defend DT's longer songs, because they flow or have substance but this was just so..."hey I've got a guitar and 20 minutes of musical ideas so...what the fuck".

Agreed, it feels very disjointed!

The whole song might be the most disjointed thing they've ever written.

It's horrible.  Artificially extended again and again with tacked on generic orchestration all in the name of "epic."

[jammindude]

I have to say, the reaction to this album is MUCH more overall positive than any of DT's post 2000 albums have been... I think DT hit a nerve here. Looking forward to that tour even more now.

Even 6DOIT? That would be kinda lame.

SDOIT wasn't received that well, I'm told. It gained it's current near-holy status through the years.

I was there.   There were "disc 1" and "disc 2" factions.   It wasn't pretty.   I'm actually shocked to see so many people rate it so high, because I've always seen people like either one disc or the other, and almost never proclaim a love for the *whole thing*.   (I'm a disc 2 man myself, but not as low on disc 1 as most "disc 2 people" are)

[WheyWaffles]

Just finished the Looking Glass and the Enigma Machine.

It reminded me a little of "Don't Look Pat Me" except I like "Don't Look Past Me" a lot more

I know the rest of the album will be better but disappointed with the Looking Glass and the Enigma Machine.  Looking Glass felt a little off and it ended abruptly.

I wish DT would not do instrumental tracks anymore unless they are amazing because it feels like a waste of a track when their songs have so much going on in them anyway.  Enigma Machine was pretty boring.

Those are two of the stronger tracks, but I applaud the optimism in going forward.

[Kotowboy]

I have to say, the reaction to this album is MUCH more overall positive than any of DT's post 2000 albums have been... I think DT hit a nerve here. Looking forward to that tour even more now.

Even 6DOIT? That would be kinda lame.

SDOIT wasn't received that well, I'm told. It gained it's current near-holy status through the years.

I was there.   There were "disc 1" and "disc 2" factions.   It wasn't pretty.   I'm actually shocked to see so many people rate it so high, because I've always seen people like either one disc or the other, and almost never proclaim a love for the *whole thing*.   (I'm a disc 2 man myself, but not as low on disc 1 as most "disc 2 people" are)

That's mad because "Disc 2" is just Track 6 of Disc 1. I don't think of them as seperate.

[WheyWaffles]

I have to say, the reaction to this album is MUCH more overall positive than any of DT's post 2000 albums have been... I think DT hit a nerve here. Looking forward to that tour even more now.

Even 6DOIT? That would be kinda lame.

SDOIT wasn't received that well, I'm told. It gained it's current near-holy status through the years.

I was there.   There were "disc 1" and "disc 2" factions.   It wasn't pretty.   I'm actually shocked to see so many people rate it so high, because I've always seen people like either one disc or the other, and almost never proclaim a love for the *whole thing*.   (I'm a disc 2 man myself, but not as low on disc 1 as most "disc 2 people" are)

They totally lost me with 6DoiT for a couple years.  There was a lot of negativity given the first single was as straight-ahead metal as they'd done with very "loud" production values.  Some of that was just disappointment following an album like SFAM, but to this day I only care for two songs on it.

[adamack]

I have to say, the reaction to this album is MUCH more overall positive than any of DT's post 2000 albums have been... I think DT hit a nerve here. Looking forward to that tour even more now.

Even 6DOIT? That would be kinda lame.

SDOIT wasn't received that well, I'm told. It gained it's current near-holy status through the years.

This is definitely true. I actually couldn't believe how so many people ranked it in their top 1-3 DT albums in the album ranking thread, because the last time I was active in any kind of DT forum (yearrrrrs ago a bit after it was released), I remember it being highly criticized.

In any event, it's always been a great album IMO. 

[Super Dude]

I agree that this is the best among the RR albums (on first impression, of course), and in that group of contenders only.

[noxon]

Even 6DOIT? That would be kinda lame.

People tend to forget this, but at the time SDOIT was -very- badly recieved by a very large portion of the fanbase. That and Train of Thought were the two albums where I distinctly remember a -really really- bad reaction from the fanbase, whereas for the later albums I guess a lot of the negativity was just more expected so people weren't as vocal about it (although that's not to say there's not a lot of hate for those albums out there). And for those that didn't hate the entire album, there were plenty that just had to take sides (liking one of the discs but not the other). For me? It's personally not a very high ranking DT album for me. Aside from The Glass Prison, I just don't listen to any of it anymore.

noxon, I know the soundcloud stream is going to be vastly inferior to the actual CD but by how much do you think its off? In terms of presenting overall dynamics of the mix.

Soundcloud is a bit more muffled than the proper release, but the actual CD is quite muffled. I prefer the 5.1 mix, because it's MUCH more airier. You can hear a lot more of what happens in the keys and the vocals on the 5.1 mix. Like in False Awakening Suite, you'll -very- clearly hear the choir patch, while on the cd it's kinda "background-ish".

[Syzzle]

Just got done listening and I didn't hear any of the criticism that some people in this thread seem to have. Right now this is a top 5 DT album for me and it beats Haken's new album for Album of The Year.

[jammindude]

I have to say, the reaction to this album is MUCH more overall positive than any of DT's post 2000 albums have been... I think DT hit a nerve here. Looking forward to that tour even more now.

Even 6DOIT? That would be kinda lame.

SDOIT wasn't received that well, I'm told. It gained it's current near-holy status through the years.

I was there.   There were "disc 1" and "disc 2" factions.   It wasn't pretty.   I'm actually shocked to see so many people rate it so high, because I've always seen people like either one disc or the other, and almost never proclaim a love for the *whole thing*.   (I'm a disc 2 man myself, but not as low on disc 1 as most "disc 2 people" are)

That's mad because "Disc 2" is just Track 6 of Disc 1. I don't think of them as seperate.

In the 8VM days....people would commonly list the discs separately on their album rankings.

[Perpetual Change]

I listened to this album twice through and I don't get it. There are no memorable vocal melodies, the riffs are all over the place and nothing stands out except for a few moments here and there.

Yeah, I think the lyrics / vocal melodies are the biggest weaknesses here. Just not much sticks out or is memorable. Hopefully as KevShmev suggested the album could just be a grower.

[MetalJens]

It's horrible.  Artificially extended again and again with tacked on generic orchestration all in the name of "epic."

I agree IT feels a bit disjointed, but all the parts are absolutely mind blowing IMO so I couldn't really care less about the flow of the song.

Insane vocal melodies and riffs in the first part, incredibly beautifully orchestrated string section in the middle, and crazy DT all the way the rest of the song, and then that beautiful piano and swell guitar section at the very end. Absoulutely amazing. This is what prog is all about. Just my opinion anyway

[snapple]

dat mangini on dis album doh

[Kotowboy]

In the 8VM days....people would commonly list the discs separately on their album rankings.

[Kotowboy]

dat mangini on dis album doh

OMG IKR TOTES

[jammindude]

In the 8VM days....people would commonly list the discs separately on their album rankings.

You KNOW I'm right....   

[faizoff]

Soundcloud is a bit more muffled than the proper release, but the actual CD is quite muffled. I prefer the 5.1 mix, because it's MUCH more airier. You can hear a lot more of what happens in the keys and the vocals on the 5.1 mix. Like in False Awakening Suite, you'll -very- clearly hear the choir patch, while on the cd it's kinda "background-ish".

Thats excellent to hear, I'm looking forward to the 5.1 version of the album very much now. Thanks!

[Kotowboy]

In the 8VM days....people would commonly list the discs separately on their album rankings.

You KNOW I'm right....   

I've only been a fan since around SC. I worked my way backwards pretty quickly though. I literally could not get enough DT.

[Kotowboy]

Soundcloud is a bit more muffled than the proper release, but the actual CD is quite muffled. I prefer the 5.1 mix, because it's MUCH more airier. You can hear a lot more of what happens in the keys and the vocals on the 5.1 mix. Like in False Awakening Suite, you'll -very- clearly hear the choir patch, while on the cd it's kinda "background-ish".

Thats excellent to hear, I'm looking forward to the 5.1 version of the album very much now. Thanks!

i actually like the production and i'm guessing the CD will just enhance that.

[RodrigoAltaf]

I REALLY like 99% of what I´ve heard so far. I´m at work and have headphones on, and I´m clicking randomly at each song to see what grabs my attention first. But people keep interrupting me to talk about work!!! 

[Kotowboy]

How dare they !

[SeRoX]

Here is my first thought about the album.

When I heard BC&SL and ADTOE for the first time I just gave my point to them and it barely changed to up or down by the time. It's like the first impression is enough to judge these albums and it goes like that.

But I gladly say that this album needs more listenings to understand it completely. For me that's a good sign because it feels like I can dig the album each listening and find different things to enjoy. And again, I really hear I&W, Awake, FII, SFAM and SDoIT in this album. I really mean they are there. I can hear Surrounded, Scarred, SdOIT, Finally Free, Overture and good thing is the new sound is not reflection or copy of these classics. There are noticable elements with original sound.

Finally DT unites its roots and modern sound and it comes out perfectly well. 

[WheyWaffles]

Soundcloud is a bit more muffled than the proper release, but the actual CD is quite muffled. I prefer the 5.1 mix, because it's MUCH more airier. You can hear a lot more of what happens in the keys and the vocals on the 5.1 mix. Like in False Awakening Suite, you'll -very- clearly hear the choir patch, while on the cd it's kinda "background-ish".

Can we admit to hearing the leaked CDDA since the band has "leaked" the album officially in the form of the stream?

[RodrigoAltaf]

How dare they !

Man...all those Purchase Orders to fix, all those line items in SAP to adjust...contract clauses to discuss...this should NEVER get in the way of listening to DT! 

[noxon]

Can we admit to hearing the leaked CDDA since the band has "leaked" the album officially in the form of the stream?

No, that would be against the rules of the forum.

[commanderbob]

Upon first listen, my impression is that this may not only be in the holy of holies (I&W,Awake,SFAM and SDOIT), but may end up being number 1 after it gels for this reason:  It has no low points for me.  Most DT albums for me 1-3 songs that are classics, 2-4 that are good/OK, and 2-3 that I wish never existed.  This album they are all good or better.  Time will sort out the classics from the good.

[goo-goo]

I have to say, the reaction to this album is MUCH more overall positive than any of DT's post 2000 albums have been... I think DT hit a nerve here. Looking forward to that tour even more now.

Damn right it did!!! 

For me this one is a blend of FII, Awake, and Six Degrees but the album is on a whole different category by itself. I'm loving every minute of it. Very song oriented but very DT-ish at the same time. Drum sound aside, this album screams Album of the year for me. JLB's vocals are outstanding (though a bit low on the mix but I can live with that). JP's guitar playing is monstrous throughout the record and love how JR is restrained creating a more mellow sound and mood throughout the album. Very Kevin Moore-ish I would say. The nugget is just beautiful as well. Love JM"s bass as well since it sounds very Geddy Lee-ish.

[me7]

...and it beats Haken's new album for Album of The Year.

I have to disagree there. DT failed to overcome The Mountain IMO

[nikostheater]

i am now to Surrender To Reason and i already like the album a lot!
Definitely the best of the RR era!

[ddtonfire]

I think I'll be able to best judge it when I can listen to the CD with nice headphones.

There were a couple of good moments here and there, a few parts where it got a bit of a chore, but there wasn't much that was quite so memorable right off the bat. I bet it'll grow once I can give it a really, really good listen.