- " The Astonishing " - One Year -- er, EIGHT YEARS On.

[Peter Mc]

I understand the place in the story and have no problem with it mentioning the music player in the lyrics, it's just how it's introduced, this huge "MY MUSIC PLAYERRRR" moment.  It just makes me cringe a little every time although I will say that I'm not fond of that song as a whole and tend to skip it.  I have a similar issue with the "tell me is it true, bug was always you, finally I can reveal HOW MUSIC MAKES ME FEEL!!" moment in A New Beginning although I do like that song as a whole so I can live it.

[Chino]

I understand the place in the story and have no problem with it mentioning the music player in the lyrics, it's just how it's introduced, this huge "MY MUSIC PLAYERRRR" moment.  It just makes me cringe a little every time although I will say that I'm not fond of that song as a whole and tend to skip it.  I have a similar issue with the "tell me is it true, bug was always you, finally I can reveal HOW MUSIC MAKES ME FEEL!!" moment in A New Beginning although I do like that song as a whole so I can live it.

That's one of my favorite moments on the album. I think it's a great buildup to what immediately follows.

[The Walrus]

The 'father is it true' part of ANB bugs me too, but more because a lot of ANB is a direct reference to Jesus Christ Superstar. Honestly it's merely an 'okay' song to me - it's the solo tripping at 5:00 that makes me love the song so much.

[MirrorMask]

The 'father is it true' part of ANB bugs me too

[The Walrus]

The 'father is it true' part of ANB bugs me too

NUGGETZ

[Ninjabait]

I understand the place in the story and have no problem with it mentioning the music player in the lyrics, it's just how it's introduced, this huge "MY MUSIC PLAYERRRR" moment.  It just makes me cringe a little every time although I will say that I'm not fond of that song as a whole and tend to skip it.  I have a similar issue with the "tell me is it true, bug was always you, finally I can reveal HOW MUSIC MAKES ME FEEL!!" moment in A New Beginning although I do like that song as a whole so I can live it.

Man, that's like one of my favorite parts on the album. I belt it out every time that part comes on lol. To each their own, I guess!

[bosk1]

I understand the place in the story and have no problem with it mentioning the music player in the lyrics, it's just how it's introduced, this huge "MY MUSIC PLAYERRRR" moment.  It just makes me cringe a little every time...

I have no idea why that would be.  I LOVE pretty much every aspect of that part of the song. 

[cramx3]

I understand the place in the story and have no problem with it mentioning the music player in the lyrics, it's just how it's introduced, this huge "MY MUSIC PLAYERRRR" moment.  It just makes me cringe a little every time although I will say that I'm not fond of that song as a whole and tend to skip it.  I have a similar issue with the "tell me is it true, bug was always you, finally I can reveal HOW MUSIC MAKES ME FEEL!!" moment in A New Beginning although I do like that song as a whole so I can live it.

That's one of my favorite moments on the album. I think it's a great buildup to what immediately follows.

Yea, that's like the climax of the first disc and I absolutely love it.  Although I have one issue with it, which is the reference to BUG which I don't think makes any sense unless you read the website.  Well, I did so I get it and it doesn't ruin the song or anything, but I just find it odd to go that route with the lyrics when the story wasn't really clear about BUG.

[Ben_Jamin]

I understand the place in the story and have no problem with it mentioning the music player in the lyrics, it's just how it's introduced, this huge "MY MUSIC PLAYERRRR" moment.  It just makes me cringe a little every time although I will say that I'm not fond of that song as a whole and tend to skip it.  I have a similar issue with the "tell me is it true, bug was always you, finally I can reveal HOW MUSIC MAKES ME FEEL!!" moment in A New Beginning although I do like that song as a whole so I can live it.

Its meant to be a big moment though. Thats Faythe revealing her Gift of Music, The music player she had found in the castle, Relating to The Gift of Music.

[Peter Mc]

That's cool that people like it, not trying to convince anyone not to, just explaining why I'm not so keen. Still overall a fan of the album though and still enjoy it 2 years on.

[dparrott]

Just gave it a proper listen last weekend, it's still my 2nd favorite DT album.  I like some songs more than others, but I like all of the songs, it's an enjoyable listen for me.  Some things I noticed:

The transition between the first NOMAC track and the overture is a bit abrupt and weird.  Could be better.

Hovering Sojurn should be longer.  Either make it over 30 seconds as a break or don't have it at all.  Seems awkward as is.  The other NOMAC tracks are decent breaks.

I slept on Tempting Offer.  That's a good one.

[lucasembarbosa]

DT could release digitally the first track as it was presented in the concerts, without cuts. The mood for the story would be set much easier.

[RandalGraves]

Incidentally I just recently listened to (the bulk of) this album last week. A few of my general thoughts:

It's a fun journey, for the most part. Considering how mediocre (I think) the story is, the album could've easily lost 30-45 minutes. Some of the tracks towards the end of Disc 1 (Ravenskill, Chosen, A Tempting Offer) do absolutely nothing for me, and I think Disc 2 is pretty hit or miss. Speaking of the latter disc, it also takes a little bit to get going, but there's some great dramatic crescendos in The Path that Divides and The Walking Shadow. And the finale, which really is the 3 closing tracks, are all great for their own reasons. Hymn of a Thousand Voices is a nice, folksy tune with shades of gospel. Our New World is a straightforward rockin' one, with some great melodies. And then there's Astonishing, which is more in the vein of your classic show closer, with a pleasant wrap-up of all the main themes. It may be too many "finales" but I like 'em.

While I seem pretty negative on the album of the whole, I love that DT wrote a lot of shorter songs. Unfortunately, as with most concept albums (or rock albums), if you're not all in to what the story is selling, then the album suffers (depending on your focal point in lyrics, I suppose).

It's ironic that there seems to be some disappointment about the latest album having shorter songs, when there are so many fantastic and epic tracks in The Astonishing. The epic track, A New Beginning, is only 7:41. There are longer songs on DOT, but I hope they can measure up. Hell, even a 3 and a half minute track like Lord Nefaryus reaches places that other DT "epics" have not.

Bottom line: I like the majority of the tracks, as I do any other DT album (for the most part), but the story can make it harder to get into.

[Darkstarshades]

Well, many musical stories are pretty silly or add some blatantly irrelevant subplots or things the writer could have excluded.
For me it's ok, one of the best DT albums ever, it's totally up there with SFAM for me, and I've covered several songs, analyzed many more and even plan on making a tribute, and of course I'd include at least one or two TA songs.

And taking advantage of this thread's appearance, I can say that DT fans are some of the most biased ones I've ever seen.
I'm used to dealing with widows, there are tons of widows in every band where a member quits because you're used to that person's influence and of course you're in your right to criticize a band's work.
But, in my opinion, there's a difference between criticizing a band's work and actively taking credit away or just shitting on a band's new work while also actively denying flaws from the past era, a clear example of this is fans saying that melodies are mediocre or music isn't good. Seriously, what?
This album is great and I still hear it to this day, and I'm actually concerned that in the new album DT will do too much of "the same" they've been doing since SC, I'd rather have them go out and experiment like they did with TA, which is an effort I appreciate.

[Mark Levinson Jr.]

When The Astonishing came out, my daughter was 7 years old. She was super interested in Princess Faythe, her pink hair, and all the characters and story. I played TA constantly and we had many conversations about the plot. Like, how everyone just happened to have their own personal reason to be at Heaven's Cove. Her favorite song was A New Beginning. "Father is it true, BUG was always you?" had her singing along in the back seat of my car.

When the tour started, I brought her to her first concert... The Astonishing at Radio City! She had some pink in her hair, and was one of only a couple kids I saw there. Every last person gave her a big smile, and I lost track of how many people said, "Hey, a new fan!" and stuff like that. We were on top of the world before the concert started.

When they played A New Beginning, Petrucci moved to the center of the stage and brought the house down. One of my favorite concert moments of all time. A 7 year old stayed seated and paying attention to the entire show. I bought her a tour book, and a shirt. Instead of drinks after the show, we got Magnolia cupcakes in NYC.  There are too many cool things about that night to mention, but the coolest thing to me is the lasting impression it made on her.

Now, I don't expect my kid to listen to all the same music I do, and she doesn't. But she has great musical taste. She listens to music that's good, and she can articulate exactly why she thinks it's good. She doesn't listen to stuff just because the other kids do. And, she still loves her some Astonishing.

So... to me and my family, The Astonishing played a pivotal role. It gave a young person some real insight into complicated, heavy, deep music. I think getting into the whole TA world was eye opening to what music could do. I believe she has a bit of strength and independence from the whole experience.

It wasn't the mass appeal of Trans Siberian Orchestra. It wasn't the women of Nightwish or Delain that my daughter related to. It was The Astonishing that steered my daughter towards carefully crafted music, and maybe thinking for herself a little more. Two years later I still love the music of The Astonishing, and I'm still grateful for it.

[SwedishGoose]

Snip.....

What a loveley story. Wonderful that your daughter really go into TA.
It is a fantastic piece of music, my favorite from DT and I am soo sad that there will never be a DVD of the tour.

[Darkstarshades]

Yeah, that was a massive fuck up from whoever calls the shots there.
If they planned a one time TA show with orchestra and choir I'd go, seriously, I'd go, no matter if it's in another country, I'd arrange papers and just fucking go.

[Devin Townsend]

Two years on?

I still don't really like it. There are a few awesome moments in several songs (including all of "A new beginning"), the NOMAC tracks where great and I wish they where longer, but overall I just don't think most of it was a well written album and didn't find the concept original or well-executed.

[Lax]

It's terrible, the most times goes by, the less I listen to the astonishing (meaning I listen even more to the other albums).
I have a little group of songs I just love and enjoy, but most of the other songs aren't stimulating me enough individually.
Plus, last week I tried to introduce a friend to DT and only had the astonishing in the car, it was hard to find the most heavy and proggy parts of the album.

Happily we'll have soon 14+others albums to listen in the DT sphere

[Darkstarshades]

Two years on?

I still don't really like it. There are a few awesome moments in several songs (including all of "A new beginning"), the NOMAC tracks where great and I wish they where longer, but overall I just don't think most of it was a well written album and didn't find the concept original or well-executed.

Now this is an unpopular opinion

[DreamerTV]

I absolutely adore it for what it is.
The complete opposite of a complicate album, if not for its length, with several moments where the melodies rich the peak in DT catalog. I get the criticisms about these being moments instead of full songs, but that's the point of this album. Although, I have to admit i'll never get how a song like The Path that Divids - one among a few others - didn't receive the praise it absolutely deserve (except for the laughable fight sounds).

There're some lame elements in this, though: the story, for instance, it's so weak I can only picture it as something told by a father to his baby child. The marketing campaign has been very out of focus too, way too focused on trying to give elements of the story instead of give people a clear vision about what to expect (people knowing it was a concept were expecting another Scenes, and bought tickets well in advance because of that).
Everything that followed was a consequence of that, with the app and the book being done  in a general context of discontent (well, mostly) and I get there should have been also a certain degree of frustration at least from JP, as you don't put so much energy and commitment just for the fact of being free to do so, but you do because you believe it has the potential to shine (which I think it had).

All in all, a fantastic collection of gorgeous melodies for an album tha will stands as a unique moment in DT history.

[nattmorker]

...

Wow! great story! thanks for sharing.

I absolutely love the album, one of my top 3 DT albums (together with SFAM & SDOIT). I rarely have the time to listen to it in its enterity, but I usually listen in chunks of 4 or 5 songs.

[Mark Levinson Jr.]

What a loveley story. Wonderful that your daughter really go into TA.
It is a fantastic piece of music, my favorite from DT and I am soo sad that there will never be a DVD of the tour.

Wow! great story! thanks for sharing.

I absolutely love the album, one of my top 3 DT albums (together with SFAM & SDOIT). I rarely have the time to listen to it in its enterity, but I usually listen in chunks of 4 or 5 songs.

Thanks... here we are on our big night:


...and we can't wait for the Distance Over Time show!

[Architeuthis]

Dude, that's awawesome!

[ytserush]

Well, many musical stories are pretty silly or add some blatantly irrelevant subplots or things the writer could have excluded.
For me it's ok, one of the best DT albums ever, it's totally up there with SFAM for me, and I've covered several songs, analyzed many more and even plan on making a tribute, and of course I'd include at least one or two TA songs.

And taking advantage of this thread's appearance, I can say that DT fans are some of the most biased ones I've ever seen.
I'm used to dealing with widows, there are tons of widows in every band where a member quits because you're used to that person's influence and of course you're in your right to criticize a band's work.
But, in my opinion, there's a difference between criticizing a band's work and actively taking credit away or just shitting on a band's new work while also actively denying flaws from the past era, a clear example of this is fans saying that melodies are mediocre or music isn't good. Seriously, what?
This album is great and I still hear it to this day, and I'm actually concerned that in the new album DT will do too much of "the same" they've been doing since SC, I'd rather have them go out and experiment like they did with TA, which is an effort I appreciate.

NEVER had a problem with the music, even now.

[ytserush]

What a loveley story. Wonderful that your daughter really go into TA.
It is a fantastic piece of music, my favorite from DT and I am soo sad that there will never be a DVD of the tour.

Wow! great story! thanks for sharing.

I absolutely love the album, one of my top 3 DT albums (together with SFAM & SDOIT). I rarely have the time to listen to it in its enterity, but I usually listen in chunks of 4 or 5 songs.

Thanks... here we are on our big night:


...and we can't wait for the Distance Over Time show!

Nice!

[jsbru]

Two years on?

I still don't really like it. There are a few awesome moments in several songs (including all of "A new beginning"), the NOMAC tracks where great and I wish they where longer, but overall I just don't think most of it was a well written album and didn't find the concept original or well-executed.

Now this is an unpopular opinion

It may be, but I like the Nomac tracks, too--I wish a few of them were longer and more developed, instead of just being little ditties.

I like a lot of electronic music, though.

[JLa]

Still don't think I have listened to all of it, both discs, from start to finish. I know I've played disc 1 but by then I have had more than enough. It's just so... Boring.

[Cyclopssss]

Were those deluxe box-sets ever delivered?

[CrimsonSunrise]

Haven't listened to it since The RCMH show a couple years ago. 

[Ben_Jamin]

Were those deluxe box-sets ever delivered?

Yup. And the NOMACS are pretty Damn detailed. Not bad for being 3D printed.

Although I haven't listened to it in full in quite a while, its still a fantastic album. I still play songs from it too. I joined some songs into one track as those are meant to go together.

My favorite song is actually Road To Revolution. I like the optimistic, determined feel of the music and of the characters themes.

I do agree that disc 1 can, at times, drag on a bit. Particularly after Act of Faythe, then picks back up during The X Factor. Funny thing is though, thats mainly where Faythe has her themes and story.

[RodrigoAltaf]

What a loveley story. Wonderful that your daughter really go into TA.
It is a fantastic piece of music, my favorite from DT and I am soo sad that there will never be a DVD of the tour.

Wow! great story! thanks for sharing.

I absolutely love the album, one of my top 3 DT albums (together with SFAM & SDOIT). I rarely have the time to listen to it in its enterity, but I usually listen in chunks of 4 or 5 songs.

Thanks... here we are on our big night:


...and we can't wait for the Distance Over Time show!

Dude, that is ALL KINDS of awesome!!! I'm also a proud dad, but my little girl is only now warming up to rock songs. She's 4 years old, and likes Toto's Africa, Mr. Big's To Be With You, AC/DC's Yo Shook Me All Night Long and Twisted Sister's We're Not Gonna Take It. There she is:

[lucasembarbosa]

@Rodrigo and Mark: You're excellent role models... If I ever become a father, I'll try to raise my children like you do! Props 

[cramx3]

@Rodrigo and Mark: You're excellent role models... If I ever become a father, I'll try to raise my children like you do! Props 

+1 

[Lethean]

That is such a cool story Mark.