Listening Parties for The Astonishing ***SPOILERS***

[RMGadelha]

I love Chopin and Beethoven, therefore I love pianos. Can't wait!

Some parts reminded me of Rick Wakeman too.

BTW, the theme in Lord Nafaryus really sounds like the main title of Inspector Gadget (I don't know if the French song is the same in English : well here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFoKXGN94wY the extract starts at 00:04)

@lovethedrake: I chose this comparison because I love Nolan, yes he does super hero movies but they are so deep, so complex, yes, he does science fiction movies but they are complex and demanding too. If you don't like Nolan, just think about Kubrick? I've always compared DT to Kubrick except for the last albums (from SC to DT12)

Haha, I love inpsector's gadget theme, even though it doesn't sound much like tango to me.

And I only watched 2 Kubrick movies. A Clock Work Orange and Space Oddyssey, but I really liked both.

[the keyboard wizard]

Oh no, the Inspector Gadget theme is at the beginning and the tango in the end. It's really confusing to hear some tango and blast beat swing but really awesome.

I forgot to mention that the lyrics in the booklet are written like a movie script just like : fade in ext day ravenskill village (I don't remember the exact text). So you don't have a lot of images inside the booklet. And I don't know if it was mentioned before but Richard Chycki was called the sixth member and he really is: he is the narrative voice of Lord Nafaryus.

[RMGadelha]

Oh, so BOTH Inspector Gadget and tango on the track. Even more awesome Interesting to know about the narration. I was under the impression there was none. What about the two instrumental tracks? Any comment?

[the keyboard wizard]

Be careful, the narrative voice of Nafaryus is inside a song, there's no such thing as narrative tracks. There is a narrator (he appears on the lyrics) but his part is sung by James too.

The two instrumental songs did not convince me especially Dystopian Overture: it seems like a collage of the themes rather than an overture like Overture 1928 and Overture of Six Degrees. Maybe when I get more acquainted with the themes, I will be able to say that those overtures were well done but definitively not the strongest songs of the album. On the contrary, I thought that The Astonishing (the eponymous song) was really great as it uses again some themes (brother can you hear me and chosen) but it changes the lyrics and they take a different meaning. I think that the musical themes in Brother can you hear me and Chosen are the strongest ones.

[lovethedrake]

Really? Memento? Interstellar? Batman? Inception?  Those are great movies!

Kubrick would have me needing to change my pants with excitement.

Sorry, I know that hating Nolan movies puts me in the minority.  I will give you a review of his movies I have seen:


Inception- Absolutely hated it.  Terrible overblown script and stupid plot.  The supposed "Dream Sequences" looked like generic action movies.  The movie felt like one long action preview.

Memento- Solid, overrated but enjoyable enough

Batman Begins- Laughably bad.  Its a superhero movie, lighten up!

The Prestige-  Very dull.. not even the great late David Bowie could save this one.

Dark Knight- Really enjoyed it, expected it to suck based on my hatred for Batman Begins... but I was pleasantly surprised here, by far my favorite Nolan movie.

Dark Knight Rises- Actually enjoyed this more than most to be honest.  A bit long but loved Bane and thought it was fun.

I have not seen Interstellar.   He's a competent director and I like a couple of his movies but ultimately he overcomplicates his scripts and takes things WAY TOO SERIOUSLY for my taste.  Probably why I actually enjoyed The Dark Knight because you can't help but have some humor with the Joker as the bad guy.  I'm a huge Tim Burton fan(despite him sucking for the last 20 years)  so that should give you an idea of what I look for in movies.  I loved the original Batman movies with Keaton.   I don't think Nolan is a bad Director, but he is very much not my taste.

[mike099]

Thanks for the review.  Your child is so cute and looks like she is rocking out!  Do you have an opinion on how this will translate to the live show.  My wife will probably be going with me to the live show and I have a feeling she will like it just as much or more than myself.  I have toyed with the idea of going in to the live show with out hearing the cd, but others have not recommended this.

[the keyboard wizard]

If you don't like Nolan, just think about Kubrick? I've always compared DT to Kubrick except for the last albums (from SC to DT12)

If you had read my previous post, you would be smiling with excitement right now

@mike099: thanks for complimenting my daughter (her name is Lilouann and if you pronounce it in English, it sounds like Lil' One exactly what she is to me )I have no ideas how the show will be. Strong videos maybe props or special effects....No idea, but the music is already a good element to support the story.
I do think it's not a good idea to discover the CD at the show. It's too complex, too dense. At the end of the listening I was really tired because there were too many things to analyse. So imagine that and the context of a show: too many things to watch and to listen to. But your wife should love the show and the music even if she is not into metal.

[pcs90]

I love lots of little details, so it seems like this will be perfect.
I was also glad to hear from these posts as well as the radio interview that Jordan is using a real piano and organ.

[the keyboard wizard]

And real Rhodes!!! when I saw that Samurai hotel had a Rhodes too, I was disappointed that Jordan did not use it (it has never been mentioned that Jordan uses a Rhodes) but he does. Anyway, the bigger winner of the album is the piano and as a keyboard/piano player it is the best piano sound I've ever heard on a DT album.

[BlobVanDam]

I hate both Nolan and Kubrick, but let's not read too much into director comparisons with a prog metal album.

The "Inspector Gadget" riff you speak of reminds me of BTL, or something from SFAM. The whole song reminds me of SFAM actually.

[pcs90]

And real Rhodes!!! when I saw that Samurai hotel had a Rhodes too, I was disappointed that Jordan did not use it (it has never been mentioned that Jordan uses a Rhodes) but he does. Anyway, the bigger winner of the album is the piano and as a keyboard/piano player it is the best piano sound I've ever heard on a DT album.

Yeah, I never heard anyone mention Rhodes at all, not even Jordan in the interviews. Even better! Nothing is as good as the real instruments.

[the keyboard wizard]

Well all things considered I'm not sure, the Rhodes of Samurai Hotel was mentioned in the album credits...but I heard the sound of a Rhodes, it was really nice so maybe I jumped to conclusions too quickly.

[pcs90]

Maybe, assuming he uses it less than piano and organ, he just hadn't mentioned it before. I mean I don't know why they would credit it if they didn't use it.

[TH1RT3EN]

So... we're about to get the Batman of DT's discography?

[SystematicThought]

I get really excited when I hear that it is not a DT album it's a rock opera by DT because every snippet we have heard so far or song sounds exactly like DT. So I'm excited for something different

[arvizu9618]

I just adore this new intro DT created for Trial of Tears live in 2014:

https://youtu.be/ey3tIypNSfE?t=78

I wonder if they used it on TA...

WOW!

[the keyboard wizard]

I just adore this new intro DT created for Trial of Tears live in 2014:

https://youtu.be/ey3tIypNSfE?t=78

I wonder if they used it on TA...

WOW!

I don't recall hearing something like this. The riff reminds me of the beginning of TGOM (the chords and the rhythm)
Hey guys you know what? I really want to listen to the album again!!!
I forgot to mention that the sound effects were not really convincing. There's the sound of a dying person who made me laugh: I thought he was throwing up

[RMGadelha]

Haha. Well, it was mentioned on the other thread, but Victoria's scream on SFAM is also a really bad and old sampled scream. I kinda like this silly stuff.

[bosk1]

There's the sound of a dying person who made me laugh: I thought he was throwing up

  You are the first person I have seen say that, but yes, that is a good description.  I know exactly the part you are talking about.

[Panar]

 

[the keyboard wizard]

There's the sound of a dying person who made me laugh: I thought he was throwing up

  You are the first person I have seen say that, but yes, that is a good description.  I know exactly the part you are talking about.

There were some serious WTF sound effects or lyrics that made me laugh.

[rab7]

it seems like a collage of the themes rather than an overture like Overture 1928 and Overture of Six Degrees

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the point of an Overture to be a collage of themes? And isn't that what 1928 and Six Degrees do?

[RMGadelha]

Is it during the trackThe Walking Shadow? The reviews say something happens there.

[RoadTrain_of Thought]

Really nice thread. Thanks to the guys who gave us an idea of what to expect from the album. 

P.S. Those last few posts about the samples make me feel like this.

[Thematt202]

Quick question - are there still plenty of guitar solos?  I realise that we won't have the ten minute unison shreds, but do we still get to hear lots of shorter JP leads?

[pcs90]

Based on reviews and comments I've read here there are still plenty of JP solos.

[Enigmachine]

I'm curious to know how intense TGoM and MoB are compared to the rest of their respective act.

[Thematt202]

Based on reviews and comments I've read here there are still plenty of JP solos.

Then I'm happy!

[ericoml]

https://dreamtheater.net/chooseaside/

There are some music in the background... Descent of Nomacs for Nafaryus narration, but which one from Arhys?

[Awaken]

Nafaryus kinda sounds like the guy who made the petrucci parodies on YouTube 

[Enigmachine]

Nafaryus kinda sounds like the guy who made the petrucci parodies on YouTube 

I can't hear any sound from either of the two videos on the 'select your side' bit.

[noxon]

Arhys is the intro to "A Better Life".

[thedrumanimal]

Spoiler Alert...

What a day. What an event. I have to tell you about this. Been into DT since 1995, 21 concerts, so many great memories of speaking to band members... but today a very unique DT experience completed my DT fandom.

First of all, thanks to Warner Music in Hamburg, for inviting us to the listening session. Me and a good friend won this in a facebook competition. Second: I am still drunk, so I have to apologize for my English. OK, my bad "German-English" is not only due to this... But to be honest, even seven Cubas and a couple of beers are not enough to cherish this amazing day.

Eight DT fans were invited to Warner, and it was a great welcome. Beer, a DT cake, two lovely marketing ladies from Warner (who were NOT into Prog) and an amazing B&W sound system waited for us. We were all given a paper with the song titles and some space to take notes.

And then the ride began. What a great way to experience a new DT album for the first time. And man – what a brave album they deliver to us. Noxon, I read everything you posted here, all your points are so spot on. I have so many things in my mind to share with you guys... I don't think that my points add anything to what all of you know by now, but I will share these thoughts with you anyway. Read it or not 

This album will divide the fans. I am sure that a lot of fans will say: "too many fillers, to many ballads..." I think like 10 tracks start with piano and vocals. But damn, when this album is good, it is REALLY GOOD. And I think that they did something really innovative with this album, everybody is talking about ROCK OPERA?! This is a PROG opera. I don't think that anything like this was composed before. Kudos to them for not only trying something new within the frame of their own career, but I think that they really tried to explore new ground. Even though this really is a musical, it is a musical by DT, and this mixture is so unique.

For me the album worked for like 95 %. For like 70 % it worked really good. Really good in the sense of: Sheer brilliance. But I have one major complaint about the album: Scenes for me is reaching absolute brilliance towards the end, the way tension is being built up from TDOE up to FF. I also read that complaint in one review. And while listening to it for the first time – indeed this tension building was missing for me. The ending was not completely satisfying. But this might change when I listened to that album for about 20 times. While listening to it for the first time - this was the point which did not work for me. All in all the first half of the second CD was the strongest part for me – the second part from the second CD was the "weakest". But not weak in the sense of bad, it is far away from that.

Regarding the sound, I know there is a huge discussion going on here and the fans in the room after the listening session discussed that issue as well...  This was the best sound for me on a DT album since a very long time. The drums sound great in the quieter parts, where you can better hear them! I am a drummer myself, and of course I wasn't happy about the snare on DT12 as well, but this is something completely different. There were a couple of quieter parts where you just have little instrumentation and Mangini playing. (Not only) in those parts the drums including the snare sounded great to my ears.

For whatever it is worth I write down some of the notes I took while hearing the album for the first time... Warner allowed us to share whatever we want to share. German school grades in brackets (1 best, 6 worst) – Remember – all what I write is based on MY FIRST IMPRESSION.

Descent of the Nomac: WHAT THE FUCK!? But I liked it.

Dystopian Overture – very classical, some many great Prog parts, cant wait to listen to it again. Not as crazy as Overture 1928 (2+)
The Gift of Music – you all know it by now. (2-)

The Answer – First of many ballads. JP & JR – it is soooo obvious that they wrote this album... a lot of this reminded me of the two JP&JR tracks on the LTE albums. Very musical-like (2-)

A better life – I took a note saying "Fatal tragedy"-Part. Some marching troupes. (1-)

Lord Nafaryus – PROG-TANGO? Crazy stuff. I like. (2)

A savior in the square – Horn Section, Brass?!? Then: ROCK. Ballad. Good. (2-)

When your time has come – Happy-mood-soft-rock. Cool Chorus, JP solo, very cool epic ending. (2-)

Act of Faythe – Orchestral beginning. Then Piano ballad, very close to being cheesy. Cool piano ending. (2-)

Three days – Inspector Gadget theme... Dat 20ies-Prog-swing-part. Followed by Prog-madness. ME LIKE! WOW-Chorus... Metal-Bridge! (1)

Hovering sojourn: Just... what?!

Brother can you hear me – Battle field, marching music, too much Uff-Ta-Ta for me, then Hymn. Only working in the context of the album. Mmmh. (3-)

A life left behind – Acoustic-Spocks-Beard-Intro, many changes in the dynamics, great chorus (1-)

Ravenskill – amazing song. Cool Piano intro, great reverb vocals, great atmosphere, A dialogue from LaBrie (COOL!), dark atmosphere... amazing Piano-Rock-Part.

Chosen – Piano & Vox. Cheesy light Rock-ballad, not for me. (3)

A tempting offer – 7 String action, great JP solo in the middle "Metal-Musical", amazing symphonic Outro (1)

Digital dischord – Shut up Nomac.

The X aspect – piano in the beginning and choir, Ballad, amazing second verse. Chorus also: Yeah! Bagpipes?! Cool. (2)

A new beginning – very complex rhythm stuff going on, uplifting chorus, wild instrumental break, the first Key solo, followed by Git solo and a Unison, very simple but good groove part under JP solo with a FADEOUT. I hate fadeouts. And the fadeout was too early (but the CD is full at this point). (1)

Road to revolution – Hymn. Repeated parts. (2-) (Had to go to toilette at that point, so I didn't take many notes...)

-----

2285 Entr'acte – Prog-Musical-instrumental, 6DoiT-Style. Liked the first Overture better (2-)

Moment of betrayal – this song got the strongest reactions in the "test group". (1)

Heavens cove – I loved this song – Mystic-Atmo-Intro – very cool verse. Everybody looked at each other saying: ON THE BACK OF ANGELS. Long instrumental. Amazing verse. Excitement. Piano outro. (1-)

Begin again – Piano/E-Git-Intro (Count of Tuscany??). one of my notes says here: Amazing drum sound! Great melodies! Very cool ballad. Tubular-bells-uptempo-Outro-Part. (2+)

The path that divides – Nomac Intro, TENSION in the beginning, very progressive, very cool LaBrie vocals, someone throwing up? Choir-Outro (1)

Machine Chatter – best Nomac track after Intro.

The walking shadow – Amazing start, ROCK! LaBrie-Scream!! Best Rhythm Part so far!!!! Short Unison. Female vocals?! What an amazing ending!!!
My last farewell – Ballad?! Ah. Maybe not. Second Rudess Solo on album (only short). Followed by amazing LaBrie-Part. Great Melody. PROG! (2+)

Losing Fathye – Crying?! Great melody. Cool quite piece of music. Cool Mangini performance. WOW-Choir-part. Cool. (2+)

Whispers on the wind – Cheesy. Calm track. (3+)

Hymn of a thousand voices – Irish-Folk?! Unfortunately not my cup of tea... Glory-Hallelujah-Part. NO. (4)

Our new world – Great JP-Intro (6DoiT). Midtempo-Rpck, OK. JP Solo: Check. Cool straight DT song. Might become a skip track. (2-)

Power down – Nomac: CRAZY STUFF again.

Astonishing – Main Theme Reprise. Damn... the brother can you hear me- theme (which did not work very well for me) returns... WHAT? Military-music?! Question: Where is my finale? Ah – there it is, but not quite satisfying.

Overall observations:


Sound is by far better than on DT 12 or ADTOE

Bass drum sometimes too loud

Snare in the quite parts: Attention, I dare to say it: I loved it!

Many new stylistic elements, never heard before in DT, some even never heard of before in music?!?!

Many songs will not work on their own. But they work in the context of the album.

Some many piano parts. Rudess is so amazing when playing the piano. I think we get more piano on this album than all the piano parts before summed up.

LABRIE! Best. Vocal. Performance. On. A. DT. Album!

Giving grades to single songs in basically senseless, you have to judge this as a whole.


It is the most brave album they have done. Some will rank it very high, some will rank it very low. For me it might end in the top 5 league I think. But it might rank even higher.

At the end we were told that we will get the CD next Friday by post and we were given a poster with autographs from JP, JR and James from a meeting one week ago with the label.

AMAZING DAY.   

[Wubbagubba]

Some very interesting opinions you have. I'm very intrigued to see so many songs that have been interpreted so differently - it seems like this album will be polarizing, as well as different. Personally, I'm taking your negative opinions with a grain of salt because of the supposed subjectivity of the album. Nonetheless, I love hearing your opinions and somehow I'm even more hyped for the album. That poster is awesome, too!

[RandalGraves]

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who's taken the time to list their thoughts about what they've heard from the album thus far. Frankly, the marketing hasn't really done it for me, but after listening to the two tracks available and reading everyone's notes . . . I'm genuinely excited to sit down and give this a listen. Next Friday can't get here soon enough!