*Official* The Astonishing discussion thread

[dparrott]

"The next album is going to be different."



</sarcasm>

[Lucien]

Not sure what they could do next that wouldn't be a letdown for me relative to TA, to be honest 

[SwedishGoose]

Not sure what they could do next that wouldn't be a letdown for me relative to TA, to be honest 

TA is one of my top 3 DT albums....
Did not think they had it in them to do such a masterpiece this late in their career.
This would be very hard to top.

[MirrorMask]

Not sure what they could do next that wouldn't be a letdown for me relative to TA, to be honest 

For me it would mean taking this approach of focusing on melodies and let the song theme direct the music and use it for regular songs.

Only in a concept album you would get a short, full 2 minutes song or one that starts very theatrical and ends in a metal jazz section, why can't this happen on a "normal" album? DT12 was a conscious attempt in doing more concise songs, now I would like the next album to have songs of a wide array of lenghts that can be as unique and peculiar in their structure as the ones on The Astonishing.

[Dream Team]

Not sure what they could do next that wouldn't be a letdown for me relative to TA, to be honest 

For me it would mean taking this approach of focusing on melodies and let the song theme direct the music and use it for regular songs.

Only in a concept album you would get a short, full 2 minutes song or one that starts very theatrical and ends in a metal jazz section, why can't this happen on a "normal" album? DT12 was a conscious attempt in doing more concise songs, now I would like the next album to have songs of a wide array of lenghts that can be as unique and peculiar in their structure as the ones on The Astonishing.

Agreed 100%.

[bosk1]

I don't see them doing anything that would be a "let down," to be honest.  The last three albums have all been top notch.  I see no reason to doubt that the trend will continue.  Even if I end up not liking the next one as much as the last three, I am confident it will be quality.

[red barchetta]

It is impossible for the next album to be a let down unless they go country style and even so.

[gabeh1018]

Not sure what they could do next that wouldn't be a letdown for me relative to TA, to be honest 

TA is one of my top 3 DT albums....
Did not think they had it in them to do such a masterpiece this late in their career.
This would be very hard to top.

much agreed
I think TA is a masterpiece
I find myself not wanting to listen to their back catalog
this is a first for me...
we'll see how it holds up over time

[Architeuthis]

While listening to TA most of the time, Octavarium has been finding it's way to my CD player alot lately..

[bosk1]

Interesting.  Me too.

[RoeDent]

It should never be a case of "topping" the previous album(s). They should just do what they want to do. And, based on their record, "what they want to do" usually ends up being pretty awesome music.

[lucasembarbosa]

While listening to TA most of the time, Octavarium has been finding it's way to my CD player alot lately..

The music, yes. Absolutely. Been listening to it a lot lately. The album, not so much...

[Moor]

Interesting.  Me too.

Same here... any explanation?

[bosk1]

Interesting.  Me too.

Same here... any explanation?

Not really.  It just felt underplayed.  I hadn't really listened to it at all in a long time, and I found myself wanting to listen to the title track, so I have been spinning the whole thing.

[lucasembarbosa]

Tuesday I was listening to the symphonic tribute Eren Basbug did with some young folks playing Octavarium. Brilliant, just made me eager to listen to the original song.

Maybe it happens because of the overly used orchestra elements on TA and it resembles something on 8V. Who knows?

[wolven74]

It is impossible for the next album to be a let down unless they go country style and even so.

Progressive country?

[jakepriest]

It is impossible for the next album to be a let down unless they go country style and even so.

Progressive country?

Country is never good no matter what type it is. 

[Enigmachine]

It is impossible for the next album to be a let down unless they go country style and even so.

Progressive country?

Country is never good no matter what type it is. 

Casualties of Cool exists though. That's pretty good. Not sure if it's actually country though.

[jakepriest]

Casualties of Cool exists though. That's pretty good. Not sure if it's actually country though.

Yeah except in my opinion it's pretty bad. 

[MirrorMask]

One thing I realized is that the album works best when listened in full, or in two halves at best. I remember once that I listened it going back and to from work and with other pauses for other stuff in between, so I was stopping more than once, and I basically listened to Power Down and Astonishing to close it up only after dinner, and it wasn't satisfying as usual. Whenever I hear it in full, it's still goosebumps.

I remember reading once a quote from Neil Young saying something along the lines of "I couldn't perform Rocking in the Free World in a TV show, I have to get there after two hours of sweat on stage"... I guess it's the same with The Astonishing, to truly enjoy the gran finale of the album and the story I have to get there having spent 2 hours or so in the album's world.

[Enigmachine]

Casualties of Cool exists though. That's pretty good. Not sure if it's actually country though.

Yeah except in my opinion it's pretty bad. 

Oh.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

Casualties of Cool exists though. That's pretty good. Not sure if it's actually country though.

Yeah except in my opinion it's pretty bad. 

Oh.

I think Casualties of Cool is better than some of DTP's albums. I love it.

[KevShmev]

Casualties of Cool exists though. That's pretty good. Not sure if it's actually country though.

It's not. It has bits of a country vibe here and there, but still not nearly enough to be labeled as such.

[Enigmachine]

Casualties of Cool exists though. That's pretty good. Not sure if it's actually country though.

It's not. It has bits of a country vibe here and there, but still not nearly enough to be labeled as such.

That sounds right. The country bits it does have though, are very good IMO.

[KevShmev]

Fortunately, those bits sound like old school country, not the modern day, bubble gum, pop country horse shit.

[jimbosile]

I've been a bit late to listening to this album. Took me a while to get around to fully listening to it but the last few days I've been playing it non stop and honestly, I think it's phenomenal. It blows me away every time I listen and contrary to a lot of opinions on here, disc two actually has some of my favourite moments on the album. The climaxes in Losing Faythe and in Hymn of a Thousand Voices are really special.

[Moor]

Deleted

[MirrorMask]

Looks like Daryus gave him the gift 

[Moor]

I deleted my post, because upon reading the video description again I found out the following:

Octavarium a Dream Theater Tribute Band of RNRU performed at Duffy's Ale House on June 4th, 2016

I googled RNRU and found several definitions, among them Regional Neurological Rehabilitation Unit. So I am not sure whether the cover is related to anything like this, however, I preferred to be on the safe side.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

Is it my imagination or they announced some months ago that they were gonna release a game? I feel like it's been ages. 

[SebastianPratesi]

Is it my imagination or they announced some months ago that they were gonna release a game? I feel like it's been ages. 

Well, on one press release it was stated the game would be released on late April. But, on anothe one (I think on the company's Facebook profile), the release date is "Q2 2016", so it could still be released this month.

[Moor]

Awesome acoustic cover for A new Beginning!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQm0phHvUd4

[Kotowboy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dml7W37AWlY

Hymn of a Thousand Voices with Tour Visuals.

[don_waka]

Wow! This a great thread.
Haven't really paid closer attention to TA after listening to it two or three times when it was released.
Definitely superior than the last DT-with-Portnoy albums, but somehow haven't been able to be seduced by it.
Same thing happened to me back in the day when I listened to SFAM for the first 2 or 3 times; it was only after the 4th time that I started to like it. Hope the same thing happens to me with TA.

[Kotowboy]

It is impossible for the next album to be a let down unless they go country style and even so.

Progressive country?

Dream Theater Outhouse.