How are you listening to the new album now that it has been a few weeks?

[mrpmrpmrpmrp]

I thought it would be interesting to get people's takes on the above and also any comments on how the listening of the new album is developing as time goes on, the poll is supposed to reflect if you had these three options which one would you choose and if you could modify your own option what would you do in the comments.

Obviously, the singles were played for months before the album was released so some fatigue probably set in.

Now that it has been a few weeks would love to know if people are playing just single songs or listening to the full album or starting from a certain spot in the album etc. etc.

The poll is just a conversation starter, but organized by where a specific part of the album ends with silence, creating three separate unofficial "acts" or options in this case.

[TAC]

I'd put A Broken Man in the first group and my second group would be Dead Again and Midnight Messiah.

[durga2112]

The vinyl has 4 "Dreams" grouped as follows:

1.
In The Arms Of Morpheus
Night Terror

2.
A Broken Man
Dead Asleep

3.
Midnight Messiah
Are We Dreaming?
Bend The Clock

4.
The Shadow Man Incident

I think grouping the last 2 together makes that "act" a tad overpowered.  However, I'm surprised at how well "A Broken Man" and "Dead Asleep" hold up - ABM was my least favourite of the three singles, but it sounds much stronger in the context of the whole album, mainly on the strength of the melody that it shares with a few other songs.

That said, I continue to listen to this album the way I still listen to almost all music: as a complete album. Even though I mainly use YouTube Music for listening to music these days, I almost always just queue up one album after another. This album flows really well, and it never seems as long as it really is to me, which is a really good sign.

I occasionally ask my smart speakers to shuffle some music, and the last couple of times I've asked for Dream Theater I've been pleased to hear songs from the new album showing up at random points, and they fit right in with the rest of their catalogue.

[CraftyCaleb2483]

Uh, grouping is a little weird, so I assume that the last group will be pretty much unanimous

[MirrorMask]

Now that it has been a few weeks would love to know if people are playing just single songs or listening to the full album or starting from a certain spot in the album etc. etc.

I'm an album kind of guy, I want to listen to it in full. Since "people just don't have the time for music anymore" the next best thing for me is listening to it in chunks, as long as it happens over the course of a day.

The length of the songs is a minor problem for this - they're all long so I can't just "listen to a 5 minutes song since I have time to spare", I have to plan it somehow. For example it's already a couple of saturdays that I have breakfast and bathroom duties (I mean shaving, dressing up) with Morhpeus / Terror / Broken Man, listen Dead Asleep and Messiah in the course of the day, and then save Bend the Clock and Shadow Man for the shower before dinner 

[Wim Kruithof]

I'd put A Broken Man in the first group and my second group would be Dead Again and Midnight Messiah.

Funny typo Stadler...

[CraftyCaleb2483]

Funny typo Stadler...

I think you meant King

[TAC]

Funny typo Stadler...

Oh shoot. I must've had SFAM on my mind.

[Wim Kruithof]

I think you meant King

Will you believe I constantly switch Stadler with TAC. I have no idea why. Sorry...

[TAC]

Will you believe I constantly switch Stadler with TAC. I have no idea why. Sorry...

Neither do I. I'm a lot younger.

[Wim Kruithof]

Neither do I. I'm a lot younger.

4911 members and subconscious I keep on swapping you both. Dunno. Maybe I grew old and dementia 's got a hold on me in my forties.

[mrpmrpmrpmrp]

So far I've done are we dreaming into bend the clock into SMI the last several revisits.

[TAC]

I've basically listened to the album in full twice daily since I got my hands on it. Sometimes with time constraints, I'll try and simply zero in on a song singularly.

I've been trying to get Dead Asleep to click for me, so I've given that some extra run lately.

[wolfking]

I'd put A Broken Man in the first group and my second group would be Dead Again and Midnight Messiah.

Fuck yeah, Mercyful Fate!!     

[Revenge319]

For me, the album is split into two parts. In the Arms of Morpheus through A Broken Man, then Dead Asleep through The Shadow Man Incident. Between those two parts, I like the second half better.

[wolfking]

The splits in the OP are odd, I don't look at it that way at all.  For me its;

1. Morpheus/NT/ABM
2. DA/MM
3. BTC/Shadow

[TAC]

The splits in the OP are odd, I don't look at it that way at all.  For me its;

1. Morpheus/NT/ABM
2. DA/MM
3. BTC/Shadow

Exactly.

[wolfking]

Exactly.

Nice, missed you mentioned that up top. 

Personally don't see how it could be viewed any other way but each to their own.

[mrpmrpmrpmrp]

Nice, missed you mentioned that up top. 

Personally don't see how it could be viewed any other way but each to their own.

For me the split above was purely on which songs end in silence instead of being connected to the next song w a transition. So the split, while maybe stacked, is purely on "continuousness".

[wolfking]

For me the split above was purely on which songs end in silence instead of being connected to the next song w a transition. So the split, while maybe stacked, is purely on "continuousness".

Fair enough mate.  I can understand your thinking here.

[ganpondorodf]

Midnight Messiah, Bend the Cock and Shadowman are my favorite songs on the album so that was an easy choice, lol. The only song I'm not totally sold on is Dead Asleep. It may grow on me though; I didn't think much of A Broken Man the first time I heard it, and now I enjoy it quite a lot.

[TAC]

The only song I'm not totally sold on is Dead Asleep.

Same here. To me, it's the low point of the album, but that said, it's a pretty high low point. It doesn't even qualify as skippable, but I do rank it last on the album.

[Northern Lion]

I've mostly been listening to the album front to back, but I do give individual songs a listen.  Particularly TSMI.  It has taken longer to digest than the rest.

[SwedishGoose]

Listening is done by album but if I have to choose then the last two songs take the spot.

[nick_z]

Re: Dead Asleep, I really like that one. The main riff is super-tasty...I think it was Bosk that said it sounds like a DT-fied version of Ozzy's Diary of a Madman heavier riff, and I can hear that. In fact, I believe I heard JP say somewhere he was going for an Ozzy vibe (although I might have imagined it, who knows  )

In any event, it's not even necessarily my favorite side of DT, but I think it's a really good song. If I had to pick a least favorite at the moment, it's probably Midnight Messiah. It's fun for what it is, but not much more than that.

[ariich]

The only song I'm not totally sold on is Dead Asleep. It may grow on me though; I didn't think much of A Broken Man the first time I heard it, and now I enjoy it quite a lot.

Completely the same for me. Dead Asleep the weakest, and ABM being the biggest grower. 

As to the OP question, I'm not someone for whom a new album dominates my listening for weeks, unless I find it really special. This one is strong but it doesn't do that. I'm still dipping into it from time to time, either a full album listen (which how I mostly listen to music), or to one of my favourites if I have a short bit of time to chuck on a song or two. So no different to any other new album really, other than it's probably getting a bit more attention from me by virtue of being DT and my long history listening to their stuff.

[mrpmrpmrpmrp]

I am pretty excited to hear this stuff live as I am always surprised by what studio stuff sounds like in concert. Especially with Portnoy back always brings a bigger than studio vibe to the show.

[The Letter M]

Midnight Messiah, Bend the Cock and Shadowman are my favorite songs on the album so that was an easy choice, lol. The only song I'm not totally sold on is Dead Asleep. It may grow on me though; I didn't think much of A Broken Man the first time I heard it, and now I enjoy it quite a lot.

You're bending WHAT/WHO now?!

Anyways, in response to the question posed in the subject of this thread - all the way through, top to bottom, but not as often as I was that first week. I've actually been revisiting Haken this week, but I've gone back to Parasomnia a couple times lately, and when I have, it's usually from beginning to end, sometimes spread across the day between commutes to/from work, or in-between tasks at home. As for the question posed by the Poll in this thread, the back-half of the album remains a favorite for me, but the top half is gaining traction. I can't say I disliked anything in the first half of the album, but from MM onward, it's some top-notch DT to my ears. This honestly might be the album that brings DT back to my regular rotation, rather than listening to them in the weeks around a new album's release, which has been the case since DT12 for me. After ADTOE, I haven't really given DT as much time in my listening habits as they used to, partly because I haven't been into prog metal as much as I used to in that 2003-2013 window of my life, but also because other bands have grown in importance to me (like Big Big Train), and thus they get more of my listening time.

In short - "How are you listening to the new album"? With my ears.
Refreshed ears willing to dive back into the Dream Theater pool and re-experience all their music once more.

-Marc.

[MirrorMask]

Downtime at work so I got offered to leave early. Took the chance for a full runthrough. Listening to the instrumental part of Shadow Man now 

I was thinking that maybe I should play around with sound volumes and raise up all the low volumes of the intros. I get that they wanted to keep them low for contrast and for making them more misterious, but there's some legit musical cues and themes in those little intros and outros.

[mrpmrpmrpmrp]

Downtime at work so I got offered to leave early. Took the chance for a full runthrough. Listening to the instrumental part of Shadow Man now 

I was thinking that maybe I should play around with sound volumes and raise up all the low volumes of the intros. I get that they wanted to keep them low for contrast and for making them more misterious, but there's some legit musical cues and themes in those little intros and outros.

I have two toddlers so after they where put a bed, I couldn't wait for midnight on the album release... went down to my car and cranked the album. I really wish I had filmed my reactions as there was a lot of HOLY SH*T's! happening 😂