A Dramatic Turn of Events is so underrated

[bosk1]

I think that Outcry's instrumental section, while enjoyable, doesn't compliment the rest of the song as well as I'd want it to for it to be among my most listened to DT songs  - compare with say Breaking All Illusions, if I get a notion to listen to a part of BAI or I hear a single bit of it I know I want to hear the whole thing.

Interesting that you mention those two songs, because I have always felt like they are good representations of two of DT's major approaches to writing instrumental sections for their longer songs. 

The instrumental section for BAI, although it does a lot of things and has a lot of changes, has pretty smooth transitions that feel very logical, even if the change is a huge one.  And I think that, arguably, you could take any of those sections in isolation and they would feel like something that would go with the main parts of the song (verses and choruses).  They use a similar approach in LTL.  Some of those instrumental sections are just crazy and out of nowhere.  But the logic to why they are there and how they fit into the song just feels easy to bridge to most listeners' ears.

Outcry is more in the Metropolis vein.  It similarly pieces together a lot of disparate sounding parts.  But the transitions feel a lot more harsh, jerky, and out of nowhere.  And while there is a definite musical logic to how those instrumental sections build and flow, it is a lot less obvious to the ear.  And I think that is on purpose.  They want to be, metaphorically, blasting forward at full speed, careening toward the wall, only to jam the breaks and throw you into a full skid and take a 90-degree turn from where you thought you were going.

I think either approach can work well.  But the second is often going to get the strongest reaction and either turn people off or blow their minds. 

[RuRoRul]

Regarding the mix, I never had a problem with the sound of the album at all though I have different preferences than many when it comes to modern production sound, and even when I can hear problems of the loudness wars in them I'm usually still able to enjoy an album (I don't hear major problems with ADTOE though). I won't question people more knowledgeable than me that there are some issues with the production, but it never limited my enjoyment of the album. And in fact, although I think the production on Distance Over Time may be better for the individual instruments, I find the mix for the vocals on that album much worse than ADTOE and so I'd take the production of ADTOE over Distance Over Time personally.

[Anxiety35]

I think it's a great album. Superb songs. Why doesn't it get the love? Don't know.

My only issue with it is the mix. It sounds like I'm playing it with a blanket covering the speakers. Turning the volume up doesn't help.

[lovethedrake]

As to the overrated/underrated topic.....

On the album rankings thread the final page has 6 rankings.     1 Person has it 5th and none of the other 5 people have it ranked higher than 9th.   I personally have it 13th.... so if you all think its a masterpiece than underrated may be the appropriate term!

Small sample size of course 

[Dublagent66]

Mostly a good album but FFH and BTS are detractors from the album as a whole.  They just don't fit in with the other songs.  TITL is a perfect power ballad.  There's really no reason to have 2 more ballads on the album.  BAI should've been the closer.  I'd give it a 7/10.

[Stewie]

It's still the best album in the Mangini era.

[Elite]

I happened to listen to this album again earlier today for the first time in years (seriously). The new album has gotten me on a Dream Theater kick lately - I think Distance over Time is awesome and probably the best thing DT has done since SDOIT, but listened to ADTOE made me realise that, hey, this album is pretty awesome too! Lots of cool things. Outcry in particular stood out for me. The instrumental section is amazing.

[RuRoRul]

I think that Outcry's instrumental section, while enjoyable, doesn't compliment the rest of the song as well as I'd want it to for it to be among my most listened to DT songs  - compare with say Breaking All Illusions, if I get a notion to listen to a part of BAI or I hear a single bit of it I know I want to hear the whole thing.

Interesting that you mention those two songs, because I have always felt like they are good representations of two of DT's major approaches to writing instrumental sections for their longer songs. 

The instrumental section for BAI, although it does a lot of things and has a lot of changes, has pretty smooth transitions that feel very logical, even if the change is a huge one.  And I think that, arguably, you could take any of those sections in isolation and they would feel like something that would go with the main parts of the song (verses and choruses).  They use a similar approach in LTL.  Some of those instrumental sections are just crazy and out of nowhere.  But the logic to why they are there and how they fit into the song just feels easy to bridge to most listeners' ears.

Outcry is more in the Metropolis vein.  It similarly pieces together a lot of disparate sounding parts.  But the transitions feel a lot more harsh, jerky, and out of nowhere.  And while there is a definite musical logic to how those instrumental sections build and flow, it is a lot less obvious to the ear.  And I think that is on purpose.  They want to be, metaphorically, blasting forward at full speed, careening toward the wall, only to jam the breaks and throw you into a full skid and take a 90-degree turn from where you thought you were going.

I think either approach can work well.  But the second is often going to get the strongest reaction and either turn people off or blow their minds.

I agree, this is a good description of the different approaches that I'd find hard to put in words effectively. Breaking All Illusions and Learning To Live type instrumentals may take you on a journey, but it feels like they're more smoothly exploring the themes and ideas already around, rather than abruptly taking you different places. I definitely can get on board with either type of instrumental section. And Outcry's instrumental, which is in the Metropolis vein with its deliberately jerky and abrupt transitions, does make sense and fits the intent of the song well (at least as I interpret it). But when you have that type of instrumental, it's a bit similar to the even lengthier "sectioned" DT epics in terms of wanting to listen to it: I need to be in the mood to listen to both "Outcry (rest)" + "Outcry (instrumental section)" as pretty discrete things, same way I need to be up for different sections like Someone Like Him and Full Circle when I put on Octavarium. Definitely not a bad thing, but it does mean you need more elements to click to enjoy the song best. But when everything does click it means you have a song where the whole is even greater than the sum of its parts.

[wolfking]

Such a great album, there's honestly not a whole lot wrong with it.  It's tightly written from beginning to end imo.  The only "weak" track I would say is Lost Not Forgotten.  Everything else ranges from good to amazing.  I never see this album get a lot of love.  Definitely the best of the Mangini era (haven't heard the whole DoT yet though).

Do you like this album?  Dislike it?  What are your thoughts?

EDIT: I forgot to mention that I just gave it another full listen the other day and it was even better than I remembered.  Probably #5 or #6 DT album for me.

I could never get into it.  Bottom tier DT for me.

[Anxiety35]

Another reason it may be underrated relates to the musical throwbacks and references to Images & Words. I remember some views were that it wasn't a totally original album and that the band rehashed riffs, themes & structure from I&W.

[Phoenix87x]

I've always liked it.

Bridges in the sky, Build me up break me down and breaking all illusions are awesome      and I like This is the life and the ballads as well.

The only 2 songs I've never really liked all that much were Lost not forgotten and outcry. Besides that, I really dig this album.