Parts of 'The Astonishing' that remind you of......

[BlobVanDam]

The end of Begin Again gives me a total Christmas feeling.

It's totally Christmas. It's very off putting.

[tarskian]

For some reason I get a really strong Devin Townsend (from the album Deconstruction) vibe from 3:34-3:41 in Three Days.  On close inspection there are some really big differences, so it could just be that I'm having a weird reaction to that section. But I'd be lying if I said that I've never swapped out my DT disc for Devin's song Sumeria in a fit of musical inspiration immediately after listening to that section of Three Days.

[Octavarious]

Heaven's cove piano+keyboard following same notes has a sound (not the notes) that recall Genesis in the mid period just after Gabriel (hep!) went, namely Mad Man Moon or One for the Vine - hence all references to the "chosen one" like in that song? Mmmmhhhhh...
And "changing the course of history" is "though you may stand upon my grave" note by note.

[Kotowboy]

Loads of vocal melodies do a descending minor pentatonic triad at the end of lines.

[Enigmachine]

For some reason I get a really strong Devin Townsend (from the album Deconstruction) vibe from 3:34-3:41 in Three Days.  On close inspection there are some really big differences, so it could just be that I'm having a weird reaction to that section. But I'd be lying if I said that I've never swapped out my DT disc for Devin's song Sumeria in a fit of musical inspiration immediately after listening to that section of Three Days.

It sounds more like Juular to me than Sumeria.

And "changing the course of history" is "though you may stand upon my grave" note by note.

Nah. Similar shape though.

[tarskian]

For some reason I get a really strong Devin Townsend (from the album Deconstruction) vibe from 3:34-3:41 in Three Days.  On close inspection there are some really big differences, so it could just be that I'm having a weird reaction to that section. But I'd be lying if I said that I've never swapped out my DT disc for Devin's song Sumeria in a fit of musical inspiration immediately after listening to that section of Three Days.

It sounds more like Juular to me than Sumeria.

And "changing the course of history" is "though you may stand upon my grave" note by note.

Nah. Similar shape though.

Fair enough, I totally hear where you're coming from. And you may be right that Juular is closer. In any case, I have on several occasions switched over to Deconstruction when I've hit this point while listening to The Astonishing. And I don't necessarily mean this to be a knock against TA.  It's kind of cool when listening to something on album X can inspire you to shut it off (no matter how awesome it is) and switch over to album Y.  It's neat to tease out these commonalities between my favorite bands.

[Enigmachine]

Fair enough, I totally hear where you're coming from. And you may be right that Juular is closer. In any case, I have on several occasions switched over to Deconstruction when I've hit this point while listening to The Astonishing. And I don't necessarily mean this to be a knock against TA.  It's kind of cool when listening to something on album X can inspire you to shut it off (no matter how awesome it is) and switch over to album Y.  It's neat to tease out these commonalities between my favorite bands.

I didn't get the impression that you were knocking the album at all. It's kind of like if I were to listen to Lost Not Forgotten then go "ok, I'm now going to listen to Myrath" or listen to Never Enough and go "ok, I'm now going to listen to Muse".

[tarskian]

Fair enough, I totally hear where you're coming from. And you may be right that Juular is closer. In any case, I have on several occasions switched over to Deconstruction when I've hit this point while listening to The Astonishing. And I don't necessarily mean this to be a knock against TA.  It's kind of cool when listening to something on album X can inspire you to shut it off (no matter how awesome it is) and switch over to album Y.  It's neat to tease out these commonalities between my favorite bands.

I didn't get the impression that you were knocking the album at all. It's kind of like if I were to listen to Lost Not Forgotten then go "ok, I'm now going to listen to Myrath" or listen to Never Enough and go "ok, I'm now going to listen to Muse".

Ah, cool!

It seems to me that there's a bit of a difference between the Muse/DT connections in that it's fairly obvious that DT were directly influenced by Muse in the case of Never Enough, and yet the section in TA that I referred to could have been come up with by DT independent of them ever hearing Devin. And that's part of why I find it so cool.

As an aside: I've never listened to Myrath before, so I'm going to check them out now. Thanks!

[Enigmachine]

Fair enough, I totally hear where you're coming from. And you may be right that Juular is closer. In any case, I have on several occasions switched over to Deconstruction when I've hit this point while listening to The Astonishing. And I don't necessarily mean this to be a knock against TA.  It's kind of cool when listening to something on album X can inspire you to shut it off (no matter how awesome it is) and switch over to album Y.  It's neat to tease out these commonalities between my favorite bands.

I didn't get the impression that you were knocking the album at all. It's kind of like if I were to listen to Lost Not Forgotten then go "ok, I'm now going to listen to Myrath" or listen to Never Enough and go "ok, I'm now going to listen to Muse".

Ah, cool!

It seems to me that there's a bit of a difference between the Muse/DT connections in that it's fairly obvious that DT were directly influenced by Muse in the case of Never Enough, and yet the section in TA that I referred to could have been come up with by DT independent of them ever hearing Devin. And that's part of why I find it so cool.

As an aside: I've never listened to Myrath before, so I'm going to check them out now. Thanks!

Myrath are amazing. Maybe even better than DT on an album-by-album basis.

[tarskian]

Fair enough, I totally hear where you're coming from. And you may be right that Juular is closer. In any case, I have on several occasions switched over to Deconstruction when I've hit this point while listening to The Astonishing. And I don't necessarily mean this to be a knock against TA.  It's kind of cool when listening to something on album X can inspire you to shut it off (no matter how awesome it is) and switch over to album Y.  It's neat to tease out these commonalities between my favorite bands.

I didn't get the impression that you were knocking the album at all. It's kind of like if I were to listen to Lost Not Forgotten then go "ok, I'm now going to listen to Myrath" or listen to Never Enough and go "ok, I'm now going to listen to Muse".

Ah, cool!

It seems to me that there's a bit of a difference between the Muse/DT connections in that it's fairly obvious that DT were directly influenced by Muse in the case of Never Enough, and yet the section in TA that I referred to could have been come up with by DT independent of them ever hearing Devin. And that's part of why I find it so cool.

As an aside: I've never listened to Myrath before, so I'm going to check them out now. Thanks!

Myrath are amazing. Maybe even better than DT on an album-by-album basis.

I just listened to "Tales of the Sand," and really enjoyed it! I can see the similarities between some of the songs (especially Sour Sigh) and DT. Thanks for the heads-up! (And apologies if I derailed the thread.)

[Enigmachine]

I just listened to "Tales of the Sand," and really enjoyed it! I can see the similarities between some of the songs (especially Sour Sigh) and DT. Thanks for the heads-up! (And apologies if I derailed the thread.)

We have a Myrath thread here if you want to talk more about the band: https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=20591.35

To get back to the thread's topic, Ravenskill in general kind of reminds me of modern Fates Warning. Just a vibe I get.

[devieira73]

I'm bit lazy to check if this one was suggested before, but to me the guitar riff intro of "a new beggining" is very similar to the guitar riff intro of "Kiss - Uh! all night"  Just crazy...

[matthewmatt]

Also, many, many moments of the album remind me of Theocracy's song The Gift of Music, though, funnily enough, not The Gift of Music itself 

[Thematt202]

The piano riff near the start of The X Aspect is a near carbon copy of the part about 10 seconds into Horizons by Genesis.  Anyone else noticed this?

[ToT-147]

The Path That Divides = U2 + Scarred + I think the bit from 2:30 onwards reminds me of something but I can't quite pinpoint it.

Probably you're thinking of JLB's Oblivion?.. That was one of the first similarities I could find from TA...

Also, the vocal melody at the start always reminds me of the one in Haken's The Point of No Return..

There's a big comment thread on Moment of Betrayal video saying that 1:22 sounds like "The Great Debate"

Am I deaf or can I not figure out which part? 

Actually, the first similar phrase/melody I've notice was precisely that one.. It's actually 1:31, "Brother give me strength..." (right before chorus) from MoB and 4:44 "In a labyrinth of rules..." (right before chorus) from TGD..

Another one from Moment of Betrayal: the main melody is almost the same as Men of Honor (the song) by Adrenaline Mob's main melody..

[BlobVanDam]

The Path That Divides = U2 + Scarred + I think the bit from 2:30 onwards reminds me of something but I can't quite pinpoint it.

Probably you're thinking of JLB's Oblivion?.. That was one of the first similarities I could find from TA...

I think I probably am! Same rhythm and distorted JLB vocals.

[ToT-147]

Found another one:

Lord Nafaryus - Riff at 1:08..

The Ministry of Lost Souls - Riff at 8:34..

LN's is slower, but they're pretty much the same notes and/or have the same vibe..

[matthewmatt]

Also, somebody must have already posted this, but the Act of Faythe intro reminds me of Morricone (Deborah's Theme, maybe?) and/or "Albinoni's" Adagio in G Minor.