New Album “Distance Over Time’, First Set of 2019 Tour Dates announced!

[Fritzinger]

Damn I wanted to be the first one to say that Peter Gabriel also released a song called Signal To Noise! 
And WHAT a song that is!!!

But do we really *know* that S2N means Signal To Noise? Or is it just an assumption?

Personal, I didn't really like the Titel BU2B and I wish Rush would just have called it Brought Up To Believe.
That being said, it wouldn't really bother me here if S2N was just a short interlude (like f.e. BU2B 2 lol) somehow. Then again, I almost feel stupid writing this though, because "bother" is the wrong word I just would have liked the band to have called it by its real name.

[JustDefyYou]

Damn I wanted to be the first one to say that Peter Gabriel also released a song called Signal To Noise! 
And WHAT a song that is!!!

But do we really *know* that S2N means Signal To Noise? Or is it just an assumption?

Personal, I didn't really like the Titel BU2B and I wish Rush would just have called it Brought Up To Believe.
That being said, it wouldn't really bother me here if S2N was just a short interlude (like f.e. BU2B 2 lol) somehow. Then again, I almost feel stupid writing this though, because "bother" is the wrong word I just would have liked the band to have called it by its real name.

They just saved us the time and abbreviated for us.

[IDontNotDoThings]

Does anyone think that "song 10 " snippet is viper king ? Or maybe they rearranged the order between then and now

I doubt it's VK. From a marketing perspective I really don't believe that they would choose to release a snippet of a song that isn't even on the main album. It just kinda seems like false advertising to me.

That & the order in which songs are written is usually very different from the actual tracklist order, because of pacing & such.

[Fritzinger]

Damn I wanted to be the first one to say that Peter Gabriel also released a song called Signal To Noise! 
And WHAT a song that is!!!

But do we really *know* that S2N means Signal To Noise? Or is it just an assumption?

Personal, I didn't really like the Titel BU2B and I wish Rush would just have called it Brought Up To Believe.
That being said, it wouldn't really bother me here if S2N was just a short interlude (like f.e. BU2B 2 lol) somehow. Then again, I almost feel stupid writing this though, because "bother" is the wrong word I just would have liked the band to have called it by its real name.

They just saved us the time and abbreviated for us.

They saved us 1,4397 seconds of pronouncing the actual title so now we spend 2 weeks of guessing what it means 

[rab7]

Does anyone think that "song 10 " snippet is viper king ? Or maybe they rearranged the order between then and now

That & the order in which songs are written is usually very different from the actual tracklist order, because of pacing & such.

Case in point, At Wit's End is track 7, and it's the first thing they wrote. Same with In the Name of God.

[porcacultor]

This is the track listing for the CD.

Track Listings
1. Untethered Angel
2. Paralyzed
3. Fall into the Light
4. Barstool Warrior
5. Room 137
6. S2N
7. At Wit's End
8. Out of Reach
9. Pale Blue Dot

The total running time is listed as 57 minutes.  The LP shows 61 minutes.  I hope not as that makes these songs really short.

Can confirm track listing and album length.

Which one, the CD or the vinyl?

Both

So basic math tells me that Viper King is about 4 minutes long. With a title like that, I'm guessing LaBrie penned lyrics to a (likely) heavy and direct track. Cool! (I may be wrong of course).

[Darkstarshades]

I fear this will be like DT12 but with no Illumination Theory
You know, this is not the first time they "try" to write a shorter record.

Still, hyped.

[ToT-147]

DT has yet to disappoint me so I'm sure I will be happy with this but 57 minutes is about half an hour less than I was expecting . . .

So you were expecting a 87 minutes album?..

[BelichickFan]

DT has yet to disappoint me so I'm sure I will be happy with this but 57 minutes is about half an hour less than I was expecting . . .

So you were expecting a 87 minutes album?..

Fine, 20 minutes less.  That's typical for them.

[ToT-147]

DT has yet to disappoint me so I'm sure I will be happy with this but 57 minutes is about half an hour less than I was expecting . . .

So you were expecting a 87 minutes album?..

Fine, 20 minutes less.  That's typical for them.

Yeah, jk ... Anyways, I think after the 130 minutes of TA, I think I personally wouldn't mind if they would've released an EP instead of a regular album this time...

[ariich]

I am actually flabbergasted that people are calling an hour of music short. So much so that I'm even using words like flabbergasted.

[Madman Shepherd]

Some of my favorite albums are shorter than 40 minutes since that was the limit before there were CDs/tapes. 

[porcacultor]

I'll say. In 2013, Secret Chiefs 3 released a 39-minute-long album. Many complained, but the length is great.

There'll be more than enough meat for us to chew on, I'm sure.

[ToT-147]

I am actually flabbergasted that people are calling an hour of music short. So much so that I'm even using words like flabbergasted.

Agreed..

But I think this has more to do with the average length that DT got used to us, rather than people just complaining about things... though, as usual, we'd get a lot of this too..

[robwebster]

Albums by average track length...

• BCSL: 75 minutes / 6 tracks ≈ 12.5 minutes per track
• SC: 79/8 ≈ 10
• ToT: 69/7 ≈ 10
• Octavarium: 76/8 ≈ 9.5
• ADToE: 77/9 ≈ 8.5
• Dream Theater: 68/9 ≈ 7.5
• SDoIT: 96/13 ≈ 7.5
• IaW: 57/8 ≈ 7
• FII: 78/11 ≈ 7
• Awake: 75/11 ≈ 7
• SfaM: 12/77 ≈ 6.5
• WDaDU: 51/8 ≈ 6.5
• DoT: 57/9 ≈ 6.5
• DoT (+VK): 61/10 ≈ 6
• The Astonishing: 130/34 ≈ 4

I've double rounded, so this isn't super scientific.

Distance over Time is a little short for a 9-track DT album, and their shortest record since Images and Words. (Even including the bonus track!)

...but the average track length is similar to IaW, SfaM and Awake, so they aren't going to be smallfry!

[MirrorMask]

Well, if some people want a longer album, they could always get creative, learn some sound editing basic skills, and copy and paste some random LTE sections after the second chorus of the new songs. Hell, that's basically what most of the songs in the Systematic Chaos / Black Clouds era were constructed anyway.

I'm all stoked for an hour long album, quality over quantity  also, I think it's more challenging to show off their chops in short songs, stuff like the ending of Innocence Faded which still lets them loose, but not the point that it drags on or changes completely the mood of the song.

[cramx3]

They talked about about how easy the music came out in the writing sessions that I kind of thought an 80 minute album was fairly likely, and considering their history with longer albums.  So while 57 minutes is a bit surprising, I'm not bothered by it.  I'll judge when I hear it, but the length isn't a real issue here, it's still pretty long for today's standards.

[The Letter M]

An hour long album sounds just good enough to me.  The longer ones tend to feel a bit padded out, and though I *love* epics, I really quite enjoyed the more concise, tighter song-writing on some of the songs on DT12. If it's like DT12 again, I'll be happy, which has some great songs in the 6-8 minute range, so if we get more like "The Bigger Picture" and "Surrender To Reason", I'm sure it'll be great!

As for the song titles, I really like "Untethered Angel", "Fall Into The Light", "At Wit's End" and "Pale Blue Dot" (as cliche as it is). The more peculiar ones are smack-dab in the middle with "Barstool Warrior", "Room 137" and "S2N", while "Paralyzed" and "Out Of Reach" sound like titles that should have been DT songs LONG ago but are for some reason just now happening! And the supposed bonus track "Viper King" sounds like it's still a working title, though I'm sure the lyrics will contextualize the title...maybe. And near as I can tell, none of the new song abbreviations seem to conflict with other songs - UA, FITL, BW, R137, S2N (lol), AWE, OOR, and PBD.

I hope PBD is the closing epic, a la "Illumination Theory", and that we get at least one solid ballad. It's also nice to see Magini *finally* contribute some lyrics, and more from Myung is always a good thing.

-Marc.

[Willthescout7]

Not sure how I feel about the idea of a bonus track. I know IO likes their artists to have them, but I've found them to ruin the flow of an album. If Pale Blue Dot is the closer and is a sweet climax, then I don't want to hear Viper King come along and mess that up. I'll keep an open mind, but I don't know..

[RMGadelha]

Well, if a bonus track ruins the flow of the album, I just don't listen to it when listening to the full album. I listen to them as separate things. In regards to the album length, I've been revisiting DT12 and noticed how it aged really well for me. If I remove IT, it becomes an album shorter than DOT, and I still like that chunk of the album without it.

[ToT-147]

Not sure how I feel about the idea of a bonus track. I know IO likes their artists to have them, but I've found them to ruin the flow of an album. If Pale Blue Dot is the closer and is a sweet climax, then I don't want to hear Viper King come along and mess that up. I'll keep an open mind, but I don't know..

Listen without judgement, keep an open mind!..

Actually, generally speaking that's how I feel too about bonus tracks.. With DT, though, I'm a bit hyped to see what a bonus track done by them looks like.. Is a first for them after all..

[jayvee3]

I simply go into DT albums with no expectations. The beauty about this band, is no matter what album or era you favour, there is always quality to come out of every album. So things like album length, I take with a grain of salt. I absolutely loved James' solo Impermanent Resonance, and the standard version of that was nearly 10 minutes shorter than DoT. Good music is good music. 

[ToT-147]

I simply go into DT albums with no expectations. The beauty about this band, is no matter what album or era you favour, there is always quality to come out of every album. So things like album length, I take with a grain of salt. I absolutely loved James' solo Impermanent Resonance, and the standard version of that was nearly 10 minutes shorter than DoT. Good music is good music. 

1000% agreed..

[CodyWanKenobi]

What about Sext 2 None?







No?







Ok.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

Haken's Vector is also short and it packs quite the punch. Quality > quantity 4ever boys.

[Bertielee]

Haken's Vector is also short and it packs quite the punch. Quality > quantity 4ever boys.

Provided that shorter means better, which is not necessarily the case.

[DreamerTV]

Not sure how I feel about the idea of a bonus track. I know IO likes their artists to have them, but I've found them to ruin the flow of an album. If Pale Blue Dot is the closer and is a sweet climax, then I don't want to hear Viper King come along and mess that up. I'll keep an open mind, but I don't know..

So you should buy the regular version of the album which won't feature the bonus track.

[robwebster]

Quick thought - since there’s no track called Distance over Time (and it doesn’t look like a “thematic” title, e.g. Black Clouds & Silver Linings), could it be taken from the lyrics anywhere?

My guess would be S2N. Bit sciencey?

Not sure how I feel about the idea of a bonus track. I know IO likes their artists to have them, but I've found them to ruin the flow of an album. If Pale Blue Dot is the closer and is a sweet climax, then I don't want to hear Viper King come along and mess that up. I'll keep an open mind, but I don't know..

So you should buy the regular version of the album which won’t feature the bonus track.

I don’t know, I get where Will’s coming from. I want to hear Viper King, but I think the “balance” of a tracklisting is a delicate thing. I’ll probably just build two playlists.

[IDontNotDoThings]

What about Sext 2 None?

Six 2y Nine 

[SeRoX]

I have a feeling we'll get a single this week.

[gfiore88]

My guess would be S2N. Bit sciencey?

s2n (written with lowercases chars) is a TLS (trasport layer security) protocol written by Amazon in reply to more known OpenSSL.
So, all treasure hunt based on chiper and crittography now has finally a sense 

Source: I'm an analyst developer! 

[Dellers]

With such a "short" record they better skip the ballads. Too little possible awesomeness to be found if that's taking up space too. I've heard less than 10 ballads ever that do anything to me musically. 57 minutes isn't long for prog, I have some more or less pop albums of that length or more in my collection.

[ariich]

57 minutes isn't long for prog

It's not short for prog either. In fact genre is entirely irrelevant. An hour is pretty normal length for an album. 70+ minutes is long. As far as I'm concerned an album needs to go below about 40-45 minutes (i.e. the length of a single vinyl LP) to be considered short.

[nikatapi]

Perfectly reasonable length given we're coming from an ultra-long album. Better having some heavy hitters instead of bloat just to fill 70 minutes.

[DreamerTV]

I don't know, I get where Will's coming from. I want to hear Viper King, but I think the "balance" of a tracklisting is a delicate thing. I'll probably just build two playlists.

Yeah I get it too, but I won't make such a big deal as the tone of his comment intended.
Sometimes something cool happens in the studio, but doesn't fit into the feel of the album, and this time around instead of leaving this material to be put into future records we'll have it as a bonus - which is something lots of people have asked here in these years.
And that's exactly the reason why a song is presented as a bonus: it's not part of the flow of the record, and it's supposed to be listened with that in mind.