Dream Theater: The Astonishing (now with moment of betrayal!)

[Fritzinger]

I'm excited about seeing it live.

I understand now what JP means. As I said in the encore song thread in the concert section, We are going to see The Astonishing live show not a Dream Theater show.

Roger Waters did the same with his The Wall show. The last song on the album was also the last song in the concert. But it "felt" like an encore, because The Trial is the climax of the album. So I think this could work very well, granted that Astonishing is NOT the climax. I had my doubts before the RW concert, but I was surprised afterwards how well it worked!

[Ben_Jamin]

I'm excited about seeing it live.

I understand now what JP means. As I said in the encore song thread in the concert section, We are going to see The Astonishing live show not a Dream Theater show.

Roger Waters did the same with his The Wall show. The last song on the album was also the last song in the concert. But it "felt" like an encore, because The Trial is the climax of the album. So I think this could work very well, granted that Astonishing is NOT the climax. I had my doubts before the RW concert, but I was surprised afterwards how well it worked!

I think it'd work well. Of course, we'll all know this Friday. The best part is not many bands have done this, and we won't get the obligatory encore song. Which just feels like a short set nowadays. For me, a true encore should consist of a rare song hardly played or not played in a long time.

[ariich]

Oh crap, I thought it was 2185. Either way, it doesn't make too much of a difference with my overall point. Is there anyone here who didn't immediately say "oh, 2112" when they heard the back story?

The setting/back story, yeah. But as others have pointed out, that's just a setting. On that basis, every single story set in the real world is unoriginal and unspired. The point is to take the setting and tell your own story with it. I'm not defending the story because I don't know it, I'm just saying that the setting being non-unique doesn't really matter.

I mean, same thing with the map. They're trying to create a self-contained universe in which their story plays, but then they make the map a knockoff of the Greater New England area (G.N.E.A.), by just badly modifying the names. It's just, it almost strikes me as intentional sabotage. This stuff will dominate the reviews and many peoples' perception of the album.

In this case, I think you've missed the point. It's not a copy of New England, it is New England in this dystopian future. That's kind of the idea.

[Ben_Jamin]

That's the idea I got out of JP's description. It's taking the actual names and seeing what they might be named 200 years from now. Hell, Russia isn't that old of a name re-branding.

[ErHaO]

Suggesting that DT is copying Mindcage rather than copying Rush's 2112 is quite funny.

That, and frankly, FusedInMetal, welcome to 2015. We've known for a long time the concet behind the Astonishing is : 1-hackneyed 2-cheesy as fuck. That doesn't make it less interesting. Btw, dystopias have existed for a long time in literature, it's not an invention of the musical world.

B.Lee

That may be true, but I still think it's lamentable that the back story already seems to suffer from so many issues before we have even seen it. DT has been accused of WWRD so many times over their career, you'd think they would stay from it for this ambitious project. I was talking to two friends of mine yesterday at the Queensryche concert, and I laid out the TA story to them. They both burst out laughing, and I was asked "it doesn't take place in the 22nd century by any chance, does it?" to which I had to reply "yeah, it does".
I mean, those two guys used to be DT fans (up until 6DOIT), and I'm sure I could have piqued their interest with a solid, original story to the album. As it is, now it's in their head as a 2112 knockoff. Why would DT knowingly run into this?

I think "accused" is a rather harsh term. I mean, I am fully aware that quite some DT songs are very close to the material they were inspired by. But if I like the source material and if I like the DT song in question, I do not see the problem at all. Especially not when it is a band that also introduced a lot of fresh elements to music troughout their career and are succesfull at capturing the essence of many different genres.

As for the story. I agree that a more original premise would've been welcome. It being a rock opera focused on melodies caught my attention moreso than the total Hunger Games/Game of Thrones/2112/etc. mashup it seems to be. But as I said before in this thread, it is the execution that counts. Just look at what kind of different films the rather ridiculous premise of Batman has spawn. Tim Burton's Batman and Nolan's Batman can be summarised with premises that look nearly identical. But I think everybody would agree the experiences are totally different and it can work with both campy and serious tones. Furthermore, I think a lot of films and novels, even the great classics, can sound cringeworthy when summarised with a few lines.

[Bertielee]

Suggesting that DT is copying Mindcage rather than copying Rush's 2112 is quite funny.

That, and frankly, FusedInMetal, welcome to 2015. We've known for a long time the concet behind the Astonishing is : 1-hackneyed 2-cheesy as fuck. That doesn't make it less interesting. Btw, dystopias have existed for a long time in literature, it's not an invention of the musical world.

B.Lee

That may be true, but I still think it's lamentable that the back story already seems to suffer from so many issues before we have even seen it. DT has been accused of WWRD so many times over their career, you'd think they would stay from it for this ambitious project. I was talking to two friends of mine yesterday at the Queensryche concert, and I laid out the TA story to them. They both burst out laughing, and I was asked "it doesn't take place in the 22nd century by any chance, does it?" to which I had to reply "yeah, it does".

As it is 2285 is 23rd century, not 22nd. But I get your point and it's not bothering me.

B.Lee

[Hypnotoad]

Another review.

https://progreport.com/dream-theater-the-astonishing-album-review/

[bl5150]

Another review.

https://progreport.com/dream-theater-the-astonishing-album-review/

Here's hoping I don't feel as they do ,or it'll be a struggle for me.

"There is excellent music; however, complete songs are largely absent here.  It is not an album where it is easy to pick out 3-4 songs you can listen to repeatedly at first. The case for the 34 songs is defended by a significant amount of transitions and filler material for the purposes of theatrical continuity; however, the songs have a tendency of becoming homogenous as the music progresses the story onward"

[Vandalism]

2 hr 10 mins of DT is better than less DT for me any day.

[bl5150]

2 hr 10 mins of DT is better than less DT for me any day.

I agree............what I said says more about my taste (and short attention span) than anything else.  I will be giving it every chance.

[mike099]

Darn!  I wanted to read the review, but my computer blocked due to a virus.

[erwinrafael]

Given that the story is about a society that has forgotten to make music, and that the main struggle is about bringing music back to the lives of people, I am quite amused that some people are trying to judge the concept using logical and "realistic" criteria. The concept is not ridiculous because it is meant to be symbolic and metaphorical, not realistic.

[gm5k]

Who gets a "Final Fantasy" feel at 3:20 of MoB?

Without a doubt.  Sounds like some old school boss music 

[Pragmaticcircus]

Is it confirmed that The Astonishing will be streamed on release day?

[noxon]

It will be streamed on all the streaming platforms rr has its roster on.

[jayvee3]

*Double post

[jayvee3]

Suggesting that DT is copying Mindcage rather than copying Rush's 2112 is quite funny.

That, and frankly, FusedInMetal, welcome to 2015. We've known for a long time the concet behind the Astonishing is : 1-hackneyed 2-cheesy as fuck. That doesn't make it less interesting. Btw, dystopias have existed for a long time in literature, it's not an invention of the musical world.

B.Lee

That may be true, but I still think it's lamentable that the back story already seems to suffer from so many issues before we have even seen it. DT has been accused of WWRD so many times over their career, you'd think they would stay from it for this ambitious project. I was talking to two friends of mine yesterday at the Queensryche concert, and I laid out the TA story to them. They both burst out laughing, and I was asked "it doesn't take place in the 22nd century by any chance, does it?" to which I had to reply "yeah, it does".
I mean, those two guys used to be DT fans (up until 6DOIT), and I'm sure I could have piqued their interest with a solid, original story to the album. As it is, now it's in their head as a 2112 knockoff. Why would DT knowingly run into this?

Probably because it's not up to DT to worry about a couple of your friends who aren't real big DT fans. I just don't see how that is even relevant. Many DT fans here are pretty pumped and have really enjoyed the lead up and idea behind the album, but most are just super keen to listen to the music all in context, rather than get too fixated on the story which simply just sets a scene. If your friends haven't been DT fans since 6 degrees, they have missed a lot of great music and their tastes have probably moved elsewhere, regardless of what DT release.

[RoeDent]

Happy Release Week, fellow DTF-ers!

[Bertielee]

Happy Release Week, fellow DTF-ers!

[V_R11]

Happy Release Week, fellow DTF-ers!

SO EXCITED

[Moor]

Happy Release Week, fellow DTF-ers!

SO EXCITED

[Zydar]

And I just can't hide it.

[SwedishGoose]

Just a few days now... 

[chego_voice]

Finally! RELEASE WEEK!!!!!!!!!!! 

[Wubbagubba]

Well, we've made it this far. These next four days are going to be the longest, though.

[Kotowboy]

Well I have almost all week off.

Friday will actually be the worst since if I'm up extra early for work - I can't stay up too late listening to it on Spotify since i'll have to go to bed soon after midnight-ish.

But if the CD arrives on Friday it'll be something to look forward to after work.

[AboutToCrash]

I'm definitely going to treat this as 2 albums, especially given one disc is 80 minutes long. I'll listen to the first one then take a bit of a break. 130 minutes of any band is hard to take in let alone DT... Could take a month or 2 to fully understand it

[thosava]

The wait is very hard! At least i'll have some studying to do, so that will take my thoughts away from the album for a while. Or is it the other way around?

[vazquez]

Another review:

https://themusic.com.au/music/albumreviews/2016/01/25/dream-theater-the-astonishing-brendan-crabb/

3.5 out of 5, quite coherent, in fact, although it´s very short.

[As I Am]

Another review.

https://progreport.com/dream-theater-the-astonishing-album-review/

Very thoughtful review. I think the suggested setlist is interesting.

[wideworldofmike]

Just flew back in from Chicago last night and ran into none other than John and Rena Petrucci at the New York airport bodega by the baggage claim...I told my wife, "that's the guitar player from dream theater", and she was like say something or I'm going to...I was like "no way they probably don't want to be bothered, plus what am I gonna say?!" She insisted and was 2 seconds from tapping JP on the shoulder so I just awkwardly turned to Rena and was like "excuse me are you Rena and John?" and she was really nice and just smiled and said yeah we are, and John turned around and I was like :"what's up man looking forward to the new record this week", and he laughed and said "coming soon!" and then I just said "awesome have a great night guys". 

They were super nice about it so pretty cool way to end my trip!

[Another_Won]

Cool story.  I always imagine it would be really surreal to run into someone famous just randomly in public.

[wideworldofmike]

Cool story.  I always imagine it would be really surreal to run into someone famous just randomly in public.

I recognized him immediately but took like 3 double takes just to be sure, it was really really random. They must have just gotten back in from NAMM.

Again they took it so well, I felt so bad they were probably really tired but man they were super nice about it. A+

[MirrorMask]

Well, it probably helped that you didn't harass them or anything, you just introduced yourself politely, you just told you look forward to the album and wished a good evening, if you would have went full fanboy on them "OMG OMG U AR PETRUCCI I LUV U TAKE 10 PHOTOS WITH ME" they would have been annoyed, in the end they're normal people knowing they can be recognized so I'm sure they don't mind being approached tastefully like you did.

Cool story!

[The Astonished]

Inb4 many people says "We only have three days..." on Wednesday... 

I can't believe it's out THIS WEEK!