Dream Theater announces 16th Studio Album - Parasomnia

[Dedalus]

I love TDEN and Shattered Fortress

Repentance is a weird outlier in DT's discography, as it is the only time they imitated the style of Damnation by Opeth, and the solo is fantastic, but I can imagine really disliking the second half of the song.

There are some interesting things in Repentance, but 10:43 for a song where very little happens... I get completely bored.

Myung should have shouted to his colleagues saying "Guys, this song is boring, let's cut some stuff" 

[BeatriceNB]

There are some interesting things in Repentance, but 10:43 for a song where very little happens... I get completely bored.

Myung should have shouted to his colleagues saying "Guys, this song is boring, let's cut some stuff" 

I personally don't mind the lack of variance. It's a moody song, and the second half can't overwhelm the "regret" samples. I love Post-Rock, Ambient, Drone, those kind of "boring music" genres, so I don't mind the length But Opeth-y Pink Floyd-y slow burn kind of songs isn't what most want from a DT album, especially a heavy one.

Have you listened to the Luna Park rendition of The Dark Eternal Night? I don't know what you specifically dislike about the song, but I really love how LaBrie sings it in that live album, and it doesn't have that annoying fuzz effect on the vocals.

As for TSF, I have a hard time imagining why someone would dislike it, maybe it's too self-referential? The medley-y feeling of the song? I think it makes it one of DT's most diverse, Prog-y songs from that era.

[Rob24]

No song has been needlessly slandered, underappreciated, looked over, disregarded as much as Repentance. "The song does something I wouldn't 100% do the same way, so it has to be bad". People can't even engage with art anymore.

[Pettor]

Yes! More slow-burner songs, please! I absolutely love that style, and DT excels at it. They've been underutilizing this approach for far too many albums, and it's time for a new slow-burner with a Pink Floyd-esque vibe. Tracks like Misunderstood, Repentance, the slow sections of 8V, and Trail of Tears are all fantastic examples of how they can take their time to build and experiment. I'd love to see them revisit and explore this side of their sound!

Also big 👍to Repentance. Not sure why this song gets overlooked. If one of the new singles were like Repentance I would be very happy boy!

[evilasiojr]

I was thinking of the comparison to ToT and this thing of DT being closer to metal than to Prog rn. And as a ToT lover, I would say people can really judge it wrong. Some people talk about ToT as if it was primarily comprised of songs like As I Am, when it's definitely not, it is the out of the norm song in the album, it's basically the only straight forward heavy metal head banging made for song.

For me, the other ones all explore crazier and "proggier" elements within a metal clothing. This Dying Soul, Endless Sacrifice, Honor Thy Father and In The Name of God are all much "more progressive" or have more prog elements than the three singles from Parasomnia. That's how I see it at least.

One of the reasons I like ToT so much is it's not a contained album at all, the guys were fired up, from the soloing to the base riffs, to the riff exchanging and grooves, mellow moments, crazy vocal parts and a lot of sung moments for JBL. It's definitely a metal album, but with a weird prog flavor.

[nikatapi]

Got into a guitar mood with the pre-release hype of Parasomnia
https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/1049970956

[Kyo]

Also big 👍to Repentance. Not sure why this song gets overlooked.

One reason is probably that the brickwalled mastering of the CD version (especially obvious in the 2nd half) makes it hard to listen to, which is an absurdity for a song that should be dynamic and not just as loud as possible all the way through.

[Pettor]

I was thinking of the comparison to ToT and this thing of DT being closer to metal than to Prog rn. And as a ToT lover, I would say people can really judge it wrong. Some people talk about ToT as if it was primarily comprised of songs like As I Am, when it's definitely not, it is the out of the norm song in the album, it's basically the only straight forward heavy metal head banging made for song.

For me, the other ones all explore crazier and "proggier" elements within a metal clothing. This Dying Soul, Endless Sacrifice, Honor Thy Father and In The Name of God are all much "more progressive" or have more prog elements than the three singles from Parasomnia. That's how I see it at least.

One of the reasons I like ToT so much is it's not a contained album at all, the guys were fired up, from the soloing to the base riffs, to the riff exchanging and grooves, mellow moments, crazy vocal parts and a lot of sung moments for JBL. It's definitely a metal album, but with a weird prog flavor.

Hell yeah! agree 100%

ToT is such a wild ride and nothing from DT has ever been as fired up since. I think it's a very progressive album, not only with odd rhythms and song structure, but also how much it influenced and changed what a Metallica-esque album could sound like.

[BeatriceNB]

Yes! More slow-burner songs, please! I absolutely love that style, and DT excels at it. They've been underutilizing this approach for far too many albums, and it's time for a new slow-burner with a Pink Floyd-esque vibe. Tracks like Misunderstood, Repentance, the slow sections of 8V, and Trail of Tears are all fantastic examples of how they can take their time to build and experiment. I'd love to see them revisit and explore this side of their sound!

Also big 👍to Repentance. Not sure why this song gets overlooked. If one of the new singles were like Repentance I would be very happy boy!

100% agree. The Xanadu-like intro to Trial Of Tears in Breaking The 4th Wall still blows my mind.

I didn't make it clear, but I like Repentance

[fadetoblackdude7]

I like the first half of Repentance, but right after JP's solo the song starts to drag on for way too long. Definitely couldn't benefited from some cutting.

[TheOutlawXanadu]

As fate would have it, I now need to do 6 hours of driving on February 7th. I am actually looking forward to it - Lots of time to blast the new album at full volume.

[Northern Lion]

As fate would have it, I now need to do 6 hours of driving on February 7th. I am actually looking forward to it - Lots of time to blast the new album at full volume.

Oo nice! You should get about 5 spins in that amount of time.

[lovethedrake]

I like the first half of Repentance, but right after JP's solo the song starts to drag on for way too long. Definitely couldn't benefited from some cutting.

I always thought it was a missed opportunity.  Agreed that I like the first half and then it just goes nowhere.

[Glasser]

I always tried to like Falling Into Infinity, but once the vocals kick in in New Millennium, my initial hype is on the floor, I really dislike the vocals production in the album, and really for all instruments (we were talking about the St. Anger snare, but I think the FII snare is even worse...). I wonder, is there any good Kevin Shirley mix?

 And I think Derek adds nothing to the band, he doesn't have the technique of Rudess nor the ambiance of Kevin Moore; although he's pretty good in Planet X.

I like You Not Me, it's a fun song with a catchy chorus.
Hollow Years is nice in the album, but it's definitely shadowed by the Budokan 2004 rendition.
Burning My Soul just exists, it's probably better live.
Hell's Kitchen is nice, but I never listened to it on its own.
Studio Lines In The Sand is unlistenable; and I don't know Doug Pinnick, never listened to his music, but LITS made sure I never will.
Take Away My Pain is a beautiful song, maybe a tad too long, but I enjoy it, I'm a sucker for those The Edge-like guitars in E major.
Anna Lee is a good ballad, but the topic of the lyrics is off-putting, and the possibility of the title being a pun on "anally" is vomit-inducing.
Trial Of Tears is one of my favourite songs by DT, but I'm pretty sure I never listened to the studio version if it wasn't because somehow I made it to the top end of the album.
I love TDEN and Shattered Fortress Repentance is a weird outlier in DT's discography, as it is the only time they imitated the style of Damnation by Opeth, and the solo is fantastic, but I can imagine really disliking the second half of the song.

Doug is from King's X, one of my all time favorite bands. You really never heard of them?

[BeatriceNB]

Doug is from King's X, one of my all time favorite bands. You really never heard of them?

Only by name, really

[Glasser]

2 WEEKS LEFT! Have some bacon in the meantime.

[Glasser]

Only by name, really

You just inspired me to listen to them. I'm curious what you would think of them. If you will, check out their album Gretchen Goes To Nebraska.

[hefdaddy42]

Doug is from King's X, one of my all time favorite bands. You really never heard of them?

I mean, they never hit it huge.  It's not shocking that anyone, really, has never heard of them.

[BeatriceNB]

You just inspired me to listen to them. I'm curious what you would think of them. If you will, check out their album Gretchen Goes To Nebraska.

I checked a couple of songs from it. Not a fan

[Dedalus]

I personally don't mind the lack of variance. It's a moody song, and the second half can't overwhelm the "regret" samples. I love Post-Rock, Ambient, Drone, those kind of "boring music" genres, so I don't mind the length But Opeth-y Pink Floyd-y slow burn kind of songs isn't what most want from a DT album, especially a heavy one.

I understand that the goal was to be a moody song. But for me it doesn't work, I find it quite boring. I'm not very used to post-rock, drone bands... But I like Floyd and Opeth.

Have you listened to the Luna Park rendition of The Dark Eternal Night? I don't know what you specifically dislike about the song, but I really love how LaBrie sings it in that live album, and it doesn't have that annoying fuzz effect on the vocals.

Yes, but I confess I don't remember it very well. I haven't listened to DT's live albums in years.
I don't like anything about this song. I don't like the main riff, I don't like the vocals, I don't like the ending with Jordan soloing on the continuum.

As for TSF, I have a hard time imagining why someone would dislike it, maybe it's too self-referential? The medley-y feeling of the song? I think it makes it one of DT's most diverse, Prog-y songs from that era.

Exactly. I remember the first time I heard this song, I thought something like, "But it's just a collage of parts of the other songs."

If I look at it coldly, I can see that they did a good job of taking elements from the previous songs and combining them into a new song, but I still have the feeling that it's just a collage of motifs from the previous four songs.

[HOF]

I can get why Dug's voice is divisive in general, but I've never understood the strong negative reaction to his relatively small part on Lines in the Sand (which he is perfect for IMO).

[durga2112]

I mean, they never hit it huge.  It's not shocking that anyone, really, has never heard of them.

Yeah, but I think there was quite a bit of overlap with their fanbase and DT's in the 90s, which was only te--, twe--, wait, thirty-plus years ago - what the fuck?

[Dedalus]

Oh, and a side note about slow songs. I don't necessarily have anything against that kind of music. I really like Marillion post-Fish, and they have a lot of slow songs (which a lot of people find boring).
I don't know, I guess I just don't like Repentance. I've never had the patience for it.

[Peter Mc]

There are some interesting things in Repentance, but 10:43 for a song where very little happens... I get completely bored.

Myung should have shouted to his colleagues saying "Guys, this song is boring, let's cut some stuff" 

Agree with this.  It is an attempt to do Opeth Damnation but none of the songs on that album go on for 10 minutes and, for me personally, Akerfeldt is just better at writing those pretty, folksy melodies.  I remember JP's solo being decent but, apart from that, I wasn't a fan.  I get that they wanted to have a breather in the metal onslaught that is the 12 Steps Suite but this didn't work for me and I haven't listened to it in a long time.

[Glasser]

I checked a couple of songs from it. Not a fan

Not for everyone but it's cool you gave them a listen.

[Stadler]

I can get why Dug's voice is divisive in general, but I've never understood the strong negative reaction to his relatively small part on Lines in the Sand (which he is perfect for IMO).

I know for me, it's a double-whammy.  I hate that scat/melismatic style of singing, anyway - I don't really like it when James sings those parts on the Director's Cut - and then his voice is a bit grating, so it really doesn't play.  It's a very good song otherwise. 

[Stadler]

I don't quite get the complaint of revisiting themes and motifs. I actually LOVE that.  King Crimson is big for that, and it's inspired some of what I consider their best music.  Why not? It's THEIRS, amirite?

[Thoughtspart3]

I don't quite get the complaint of revisiting themes and motifs. I actually LOVE that.  King Crimson is big for that, and it's inspired some of what I consider their best music.  Why not? It's THEIRS, amirite?

Totally agree. It makes an album feel like an album instead of a bunch of singles.

[HOF]

Yeah, but I think there was quite a bit of overlap with their fanbase and DT's in the 90s, which was only te--, twe--, wait, thirty-plus years ago - what the fuck?

Yeah, back in the 90s and early 00s they were kind of in a select group of prog and metal acts in existence, and you had collaborations between members of the bands in side projects, even a joint tour at one point. But King's X went dormant by the end of the 00s, and any DT fans who came of age later than about 2010 probably aren't going to be that familiar with King's X (if they've even heard of them).

[Stadler]

Totally agree. It makes an album feel like an album instead of a bunch of singles.

I was actually talking about across albums, but if you're talking within the album even better!!! Albums like Genesis' Trick Of The Tail and Wind and Wuthering reuse motifs and figures throughout, and it makes for a very cohesive listening experience, IMO.

[Dedalus]

For me, the problem with TSF is not that it uses motifs from previous songs, but that it uses motifs from previous songs in almost 100% of the new song.

If it were something like 60% new composition and 40% revised motifs, I think it would be more interesting.

[durga2112]

For me, the problem with TSF is not that it uses motifs from previous songs, but that it uses motifs from previous songs in almost 100% of the new song.

If it were something like 60% new composition and 40% revised motifs, I think it would be more interesting.

I think a lot of the problems people have with the latter parts of the 12 Step Suite stem from the fact that these were never really meant to be standalone songs. "The Shattered Fortress" is the culmination of the entire suite, so to me it makes sense that it is made up of riffs and motifs from the rest of the suite. And "Repentance" was meant to be a break from what would otherwise have been nearly a continuous hour of balls to the wall metal.

[Dedalus]

I think a lot of the problems people have with the latter parts of the 12 Step Suite stem from the fact that these were never really meant to be standalone songs. "The Shattered Fortress" is the culmination of the entire suite, so to me it makes sense that it is made up of riffs and motifs from the rest of the suite. And "Repentance" was meant to be a break from what would otherwise have been nearly a continuous hour of balls to the wall metal.

Yes, that logic makes sense. But in reality it's both at the same time. I think the songs were made to work both in the context of the suite and to be played in isolation (well, Repentance maybe not), so much so that even with Portnoy out of the band they played TSF alone.

I think that's more or less the logic of SFAM. It's a unit, but most of the songs there work on their own or at least in pairs.

TA, on the other hand, works more as a block (for the few who think it works in some way). A few songs would work well in isolation: TGoM, ANB, MoB and ONW.

Going back to the 12-step suite, I think it was one of those cases where the idea seemed better than the execution, thinking about it as a whole. When Portnoy started I thought he had a great idea to take the 12 steps and make a series of songs about them. When he finally finished it I felt a certain relief, kind of like "thank goodness this is over and we won't have a continuation of the suite on the next album". Musically I also find it tiresome. I've listened to the whole thing in one go a couple of times, and that was when they finished it, which is 15 years ago. It doesn't work for me.

But I know a lot of people appreciate it and that the shows Mike did as The Shattered Fortress were successful..

[Crier Tuck]

Oh, and a side note about slow songs. I don't necessarily have anything against that kind of music. I really like Marillion post-Fish, and they have a lot of slow songs (which a lot of people find boring).
I don't know, I guess I just don't like Repentance. I've never had the patience for it.

I'm one of those!

I LOVE Marillion with Fish...but with H, it's way more miss than hit for me.  I can't stand the slow boring soft crap that just goes on and on.  That's not to say I don't like some of their post-Fish stuff, but not a one of those albums stands up to any of the Fish ones, and to me, it's not even close.  To be fair, Fish-era Marillion is really kind of a continuation of Peter Gabriel Genesis, which I also love. 

As for Repentence, that's a skip song for me every time...WAY too long and slow and boring for my taste.  And it's not because it's slow...just to me it doesn't click...

[Northern Lion]

I was actually talking about across albums, but if you're talking within the album even better!!! Albums like Genesis' Trick Of The Tail and Wind and Wuthering reuse motifs and figures throughout, and it makes for a very cohesive listening experience, IMO.

Yes. This is one of the reasons I like The Astonishing so much. I'm not familiar with Kings X, but it sounds like I might need to rectify that.