Dead Asleep Thread

[ariich]

Agreed. But this is the one song on the album where it feels like they know it's corny and just lean into it. Don't love it, but it kinda works.

Yeah maybe. But then it's also a slightly awkward juxtaposition between the lyrics being quite corny but the actual subject/story being really dark and brutal. Not sure I'm sold on that so far. But perhaps that's intentional too, a way to mitigate how depressing it would otherwise be.

Anyway it took a couple of listens but I'm enjoying the song. I just think it could have done with a stronger chorus to really make it excellent.

[MirrorMask]

Did anybody mention yet the violin in the intro? it's dark and foreboding as fvck 

Love the song, probably my favorite of the four heavy ones.

[Buddyhunter1]

Best riff on the album. Also easily the worst lyrics. "A sleepwalking murder begins!" You don't say?

[jayvee3]

This one has grown on me to be one of my faves from the album. JLB is great and it's a good blend between metal and prog for me. I like it.

The lyrics don't really bother me in this one either. If you are sitting there reading the lyrics, there might me a couple of clunker lines, but it's not really obvious if just listening. Compare this to some of the lines in TCOT (which i love, but geez the lyrics are bad), or ITPOE pt 2 where on first listen, I thought he was saying "Dark Nasty"... When I realised it was "Dark Master", I thought to myself, eh, that really isn't any better... those things really did stick out like dogs balls and while I'm used to them now, they are definitely cringeworthy...

[hefdaddy42]

Best riff on the album. Also easily the worst lyrics. "A sleepwalking murder begins!" You don't say?

Nah, the worst lyrics on the album are imported from a previous album.

[TheBarstoolWarrior]

I think sometimes JP does worse as a lyricist when he enters story telling mode.

[Arkarian]

I think this song is the worthy successor to the count of Tuscany. Both Italy based (am I crazy or were those Italian voices at the beginning?) but it seems like this song is in the distant past.
Does anybody have more information on this?

Was gonna ask the same question. I thought I heard some Greek in the intro?

[illusionist]

Yeah, it's the word πορτοφόλι in Greek
(Portofoli as it is heard)
Which means wallet

[Arkarian]

Yeah, it's the word πορτοφόλι in Greek
(Portofoli as it is heard)
Which means wallet

Yeah, and I think there's also a man saying καταλαβαίνω (I understand). So where was this recorded?

[gzarruk]

Or did they also ask Hugh to find some generic audio recording in a foreign language that they could use?

[gborland]

It should be actually illegal to write lyrics this bad. JP is the guilty party in this tragic crime, clearly.

[Northern Lion]

Did anybody mention yet the violin in the intro? it's dark and foreboding as fvck 

Love the song, probably my favorite of the four heavy ones.

Yeah that violin part really helps set up the song. Also my favorite on the album.

[durga2112]

Maybe Petrucci was dead asleep when he wrote the lyrics. 

[Northern Lion]

Maybe Petrucci was dead asleep when he wrote the lyrics. 

I like the lyrics. I don't see what's so wrong with them.

[durga2112]

I like the lyrics. I don't see what's so wrong with them.

I don't mind them either, but some people seem to think they're too, I don't know, literal or clunky, maybe? I remember seeing the same sort of criticism about "Beyond This Life" when it first came out, and I don't mind those lyrics either.

[svisser]

After a good chunk of listens, this one is coming out on top for me so far.

[TheBarstoolWarrior]

I like the lyrics. I don't see what's so wrong with them.

Another poster said it. They're clunky. The lyrics, melody, and delivery of the chorus aren't very good.

[Northern Lion]

Another poster said it. They're clunky. The lyrics, melody, and delivery of the chorus aren't very good.

Well, it must just be personal taste.  I have listened to the song probably over 2 dozen times and I don't find anything wrong with any of the parts you mentioned.  But like all DT songs, there will be folks who like it and folks who don't, which is fine.

[WilliamMunny]

Well, it must just be personal taste.  I have listened to the song probably over 2 dozen times and I don't find anything wrong with any of the parts you mentioned.  But like all DT songs, there will be folks who like it and folks who don't, which is fine.

This. Virtually everything said here can be chalked up to 'personal taste'

I don't know about you, but whenever I'm reading someone else's thoughts on just about anything pop-culture/music related, I mentally insert "In My Opinion" after each period.

I completely understand the inclination to defend and protest when we see someone taking a proverbial hatchet to something we hold dear, but it's all in the spirit of discussion.

As for the lyrics to "Dead Asleep," they have now replaced "The Count of Tuscany" as my go-to exhibit A when making my case for JP being one of the best AND worst lyricists I have ever heard.

[Northern Lion]

This. Virtually everything said here can be chalked up to 'personal taste'

I don't know about you, but whenever I'm reading someone else's thoughts on just about anything pop-culture/music related, I mentally insert "In My Opinion" after each period.

I completely understand the inclination to defend and protest when we see someone taking a proverbial hatchet to something we hold dear, but it's all in the spirit of discussion.

As for the lyrics to "Dead Asleep," they have now replaced "The Count of Tuscany" as my go-to exhibit A when making my case for JP being one of the best AND worst lyricists I have ever heard.

Yeah, when JP knocks it out of the park he really does.  For instance, I'm a huge fan of the lyrics in Illumination Theory and A View.

[WilliamMunny]

Yeah, when JP knocks it out of the park he really does.  For instance, I'm a huge fan of the lyrics in Illumination Theory and A View.

Yep...songs like "Voices," "Lines in the Sand," and "This is the life" are among the most moving, powerful lyrics I have ever heard.

[hefdaddy42]

I haven't analyzed the lyrics, but nothing jumps out to me as being bad, especially for DT.

Which I can't say the same for every song on the album.

[bosk1]

Love the lyrics on this song.  As does James, who called this his current favorite on the album and loves the "cinematic" (his words) feel of the lyrics on this song. 

[BlackInk]

I think sometimes JP does worse as a lyricist when he enters story telling mode.

Yeah I think so too. He seems afraid of subtlety, like he's afraid people won't get it unless he spells everything out to the point where it becomes super dry, literal, and artistically uninsteresting to me. But I've gotten used to it, and the song itself is still overall pretty cool.

[genome]

I think the lyrics are pretty self-aware that they're silly. It's theatrical, all good with me.

[gborland]

Compare and contrast to the new Opeth album, where Mikael Åkerfeldt manages to tell an enthralling story without ever telling us explicitly what's happening. It's beautiful prose.

[ariich]

Compare and contrast to the new Opeth album, where Mikael Åkerfeldt manages to tell an enthralling story without ever telling us explicitly what's happening. It's beautiful prose.

But that in itself doesn't make it better (or worse), it's just a different style.

I don't particularly love the lyrics in Dead Asleep, but lyrics can be direct and not poetic and still be brilliant. 

[evilasiojr]

Yeah I think so too. He seems afraid of subtlety, like he's afraid people won't get it unless he spells everything out to the point where it becomes super dry, literal, and artistically uninsteresting to me. But I've gotten used to it, and the song itself is still overall pretty cool.

For me it's quite funny, I think he is a great lyricist but not a great story teller. Like in TA, he puts the words beautifully imo, but the story isn't that well crafted. With IToE for example, I think the subtlety is there, it's both a good story and well put. Now with this one, it is silly, too much exposition, but I like it for some reason 

[DoctorAction]

I've been avoiding this subject as I have strong feelings on it.

I think the lyrical style here (and in TA) comes off very amateurish. It AMAZES me that these got through.

I'm doing my best to ignore the lyrics and go with the flow, and have been largely successful, but they do not come up to scratch, afaic.

[KevShmev]

I don't really pay attention to DT lyrics much anymore.  I mean, I like the theme of this album, but the lyrics do not stand out to me in any real way (in either direction, and I would likely notice if they did).  In other words, there is nothing here Count of Tuscany levels of bad, but nothing Voices level of great either.  It's fine.

[Northern Lion]

I think it would be cool to get a Forsaken style video for this song. I doubt it would happen, but I think it would be cool anyway.

[Architeuthis]

Dead Asleep is my least favorite track on the album. I like it ok, but the lyrics really drag it down. The subject matter is too heavy and makes it hard to want to rock out to.
Midnight Messiah on the other hand, is a real Banger! 

[DoctorAction]

That main riff with the extra two descending bottom string notes plopped in might be riff of the decade.

[RandalGraves]

For whatever reason, DT has this habit of crafting a kind of fan favorite song on an album that I like the least...at first. Tracks like The Ministry of Lost Souls, Outcry and Sleeping Giant are tracks that initially did nothing for me and I've skipped on subsequent listens. Then there's a time, be it a year or two later, when I revisit the track and am like, "Ya know, there's something here." Now maybe Dead Asleep is just not my bag but it's kind of fun to have those tracks where you're like, "I think I might appreciate this more over time."

[Architeuthis]

So this song is really growing on me after a few more spins. Yet I still find the lyrics disturbing.