Distance over Time - New Single "Untethered Angel"

[Darkstarshades]

It always amazes me how a YouTube video can have a 96% like ratio but 96% negative comments.

Anyhow, I enjoyed the song. It is certainly a return to the more familiar Dream Theater sound after the curve ball that was The Astonishing.

Easy, because complainers are extremely vocal, they are usually a bunch of biased jerks that just need to make extensive noise to feel better. If you check other videos you can see many of the same people saying the same stuff over and over again, pointless criticism with no real purpose such as "brink MP back".

[porcacultor]

If Myung wanted to jam like the old days...I'm feeling the main riff is Myungs. Watch the music video. And you know how Myung wrote the heavy part of Strange Dejavu. This is Myungs musical contribution.

Huh! I was watching the commentary track to WDADR and JMX exposed that sort of wish to go back to "jamming like the old days" -- which got me thinking that he must be really happy with the process behind D/T.

Did he ever talk about reverting to the old school process anywhere else?

[Schurftkut]

few albums back yeah

[erwinrafael]

Criticism  of a single is fine. What gets to me is when people frame the criticism as "DT did not put much thought into it" or "DT doesn't care." After all the preps we have seen the band do for this album, questioning the effort they put in making the album for me is crossing the line. Dislike the song and even be harsh against it, but questioning their effort is disrespecting the artist already.

Anyway, I am on my 50+ listen already, and I am obsessed with the second verse and unison section in the instrumental. Really, if they just came up with a much stronger first verse, this song would have been great.

[YtseJamittaja]

Yeah, does anybody else have a feeling that the first chorus is appearing too early? only 4 lines before it.

[erwinrafael]

Well, since the chorus allowed us to move on from the weak first verse, I have no problem with it.

[Shooters1221]

Yeah, does anybody else have a feeling that the first chorus is appearing too early? only 4 lines before it.

I remember waaaaaaaaaaay back to Friday and my first couple of spins. I was thinking "man that chorus comes up quick, they must've done their own radio edit." Didn't bother me though.

[ariich]

The band and label should definitely focus more on the 96% like ratio rather than the negative comments which are pretty much always there. Bloody Internet.

Anyway I've digested the single a bit now, still not that many listens as I never do that before an album comes out,  but enough to feel I get the song. Overall I dig it. I'm glad more of my listens were on the official video than the spotify/original YouTube stream, as the sound is so much better, which I don't really understand. Some sort of error in the single process perhaps?

Anyway, with the clearer sound, I think it's a great mix. Song is fairly standard DT fare stylistically (although the vocal effects are a little different - I wouldn't want the whole album like that but they work for this song), but that's absolutely fine as it's one of the singles. Apart from the Gift of the Music which had all the theatricality, DT singles are always among the more straightforward. And this is a good one. Looking forward to the album.

[genome]

I have a general internet rule for sites likes YouTube.

"Never go below the line". Ie, don't read comment sections. There's almost never anything constructive to be found and more often than not it just makes me frustrated and angry at people's ignorance.

It's not worth expending your mental energy, you'll never change their minds anyway.

[Pettor]

Listened to the song a lot now. Was absolutely a grower for me, a bit like The Enemy Inside. The highlight is the main riffing that comes after the intro. I love when the speed builds a bit and they manage to maintain it. James vocals is improving on me, I guess I am a bit unused to hearing him with this amount of effects. Would maybe have wanted a more straight through speedy song since the main riff is soooo good. The chorus is 

[RoeDent]

I've read through the last four pages of this thread, shaking my head the entire time. I'm flabbergasted at the level of entitlement some of you have. I want this, I want that.

DT fanbase in a nutshell. I can only imagine that when you like something so much, you kinda make it your own and so when your favorite or ex-favorite artist or whatever releases something you don't like at all you feel betrayed or something to that extent. That's not the way to go, tho. It's totally fine if you don't like DT's stuff now, as it happens, but DT criticism at that point is just tiresome to read and see. I don't read the forums as much as I used to because of that, because discussion and opinions on DT are so polarizing these days that the middle ground of debate is harder to see (to my eyes). Not with everyone, tho. There are wonderful posters here who dislike DT's recent output and they write about it with great taste. I even read once in my social media something in the lines of "if you like The Astonishing, you're wrong and you're stupid" and I was all like: Oh dear 

I don't mean to take the conversation in this road, tho. It's just something I had to get out of my chest and your post was a good reason to do so.

Thank you. The underwhelming response to The Astonishing was probably the single most disappointing thing in my time as a DT fan. But it also made me immensely proud of the commitment the band put into it. They made this music for us appreciators. We may be few, but we are strong and we will defend that wonderful album to the death.

[Destiny Of Chaos]

This doesn't feel like an album opener. It feels like a track 2 or track 5 to me.  But of course, I trust the band, and can't wait to listen to the album as a whole!

[TAC]

I trust the band, and can't wait to listen to the album as a whole!

THIS!

[noxon]

Untethered Angel is a perfect album opener when you hear it in connection to the tracks following it.

[lifesonrules65]

Noxon,



Frank

[red barchetta]

What I think after a couple of time listening to it.  The tone, the voice, it sounds like The Astonishing.  I am not in love with it.  The drums:  Mike Mangini's upper toms set up is a boring distraction.  But about the sound, it's even worse.  No depth at all, I would really like it if the sound would be more distinctive and clearer.  It sounds too much like they are all the same which is totally different than Portnoy's era.

So, bottom line, I have not been knocked out by the first song but I will listen to it more and more and will give a good chance for the album. 

[gzarruk]

Untethered Angel, if it was played by Mike Portnoy (as close as it gets): https://youtu.be/NdYJE-jUd1c

EDIT: Just noticed Rodrigo posted this first on a separate thread.

[erciccio]

I have mixed feelings about the song: really like the instrumental section, the riffs and the chorus.
Don't like so much the verse and...ehm...the sound overall.
I don't like to judge it just from a file bought online (Amazon in this case), but all instruments are really muddled. Only the guitar stands out clearly during the solos.
Let's wait for the CD.

Overall, I like it more that 99% of the rest of the music out there...so I am happy.

Just like Noxon, I really cannot understand all the "fans" that have been complaining for the last 10 years about DT.

If you really don't like something, why bother listening to it and also spending time to comment it on line?
E.g. I think Haken is a good band, but there is not one single second of their music I really like...so I have never spent time on their boards complaining...
I really don't understand...but that's the Internet, babe.

[rumborak]

Back to the song at hand, I was listening to SFAM yesterday, and one thing that struck me was, JP and JR almost never solo together, whereas these days (and this song no different) it's an exception when they don't.
When did that solo trading start?

[dream75]

What I think after a couple of time listening to it.  The tone, the voice, it sounds like The Astonishing.  I am not in love with it.  The drums:  Mike Mangini's upper toms set up is a boring distraction.  But about the sound, it's even worse.  No depth at all, I would really like it if the sound would be more distinctive and clearer.  It sounds too much like they are all the same which is totally different than Portnoy's era.

So, bottom line, I have not been knocked out by the first song but I will listen to it more and more and will give a good chance for the album.

I think that in this song the voice is very different than TA and the sound of the drums is good

[Adami]

Just cause we were talking about it, I thought it was funny that this showed up on my youtube feed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEB98Jz89G0

[Adami]

Back to the song at hand, I was listening to SFAM yesterday, and one thing that struck me was, JP and JR almost never solo together, whereas these days (and this song no different) it's an exception when they don't.
When did that solo trading start?

I'm not sure what you mean. There's tons of solo trading on SFAM. I'd say that's when it started.

[Mladen]

I think what rumborak refers to is Petrucci's solo followed by Rudess followed by Petrucci followed by Rudess. That kind of trading back and forth started with Train of thought, I believe, e.g. Endless sacrifice.

[Adami]

I mean, unless you're specifically referring to 2 trade offs and a unison, then I'd still say it started with SFAM.

Fatal Tragedy does the trade offs. So does Beyond This Life, and Home.

It wasn't as stereotypical or routine, but I'd say that's when it started.

[bosk1]

Yeah, I agree.  I had also recently pulled SFAM off the shelf and had been listening recently, and I don't really get rumbo's comment either.  Tradeoff soloing is all over that album.

[rumborak]

While I can see your point about those songs, Adami, I kinda agree with Mladen that I think Endless Sacrifice is the first true occurrence of the JP-JR-JP-JR trading sequence.

Yeah, I agree.  I had also recently pulled SFAM off the shelf and had been listening recently, and I don't really get rumbo's comment either.  Tradeoff soloing is all over that album.

It's hard for me to put a finger on, but somehow the SFAM trades don't have yet that "hard rule" of JP-JR-JP-JR they later developed. In SFAM those sections are still more variable, less settled.

[Adami]

Oh I agree. But you asked when it started. That's when it started. It just didn't become a permanent, predictable fixture til later.

6DOIT has it plenty too. They just felt more fresh, like SFAM. Which I think is what you're getting at. When did they begin to sound tired and part of the formula.

[erwinrafael]

It started with Just Let Me Breathe.

[Adami]

It startes with Just Let.Me Breathe.

Impossible.

JR wasn't in the band yet. 

[rumborak]

I should point out that while I certainly wouldn't mind them making it more variable again, the trading sections don't bother me at all. It's just something that struck me when I listened to SFAM yesterday, right after I had listened to Untethered Angel again.

[erciccio]

Probably it all started with LTE..

[Another_Won]

Does anyone else hear what sounds like a sample of a voice talking at the end of the song?  Like the one in BAI.

Can someone just tell me I'm hearing things and we can move back to arguing over the single.  Anyone?  . . .  no?

[erwinrafael]

It was bound to happen. A drum machine emulating Mangini!

https://youtu.be/PEB98Jz89G0

[mikeyd23]

It's hard for me to put a finger on, but somehow the SFAM trades don't have yet that "hard rule" of JP-JR-JP-JR they later developed. In SFAM those sections are still more variable, less settled.

Less settled is a good way to put it, I get what you are saying. SFAM and SDOIT had those solo trade off sections, but they seemed to have different variation and a freshness in the midst of the song.

[llpyyz]

Listened to it three times now. That is one infectious groove. Makes my pulse pound. Cool Middle Eastern vibe on part of the JP solo as well.