Self Titled Album Discussion thread [Expect Spoilers]

[sylvinception]

I'm so glad this will be my first DT album!   

You actually don't know what you're missing...

Hopefully you will discover there are many DT album better than this one.

[Kotowboy]

I'm so glad this will be my first DT album!   

You actually don't know what you're missing...

Hopefully you will discover there are so many DT album better than this one.

Opinion.

[The Stray Seed]

I'm so glad this will be my first DT album!   

You actually don't know what you're missing...

Hopefully you will discover there are many DT album better than this one.

She's been into DT for quite a while, judging from the post count. She might have heard an album or two. =)

[sylvinception]

I'm so glad this will be my first DT album!   

You actually don't know what you're missing...

Hopefully you will discover there are so many DT album better than this one.

Opinion.

Yep, my "opinion" is that "DT" is a very overestimated album.
Hope you will forgive me guys...

[YtseJamittaja]

I just thought in the morning that Behind the Veil's atmosheric intro sounds like The Great Debate is played under Muse's Resistance!

[sylvinception]

I just thought in the morning that Behind the Veil's atmosheric intro sounds like The Great Debate is played under Muse's Resistance!

"Muse inspiration", again...

[ariich]

I just thought in the morning that Behind the Veil's atmosheric intro sounds like The Great Debate is played under Muse's Resistance!

"Muse inspiration", again...

Yes, Muse were the first ever band to use atmospheric sounds as a song introduction.

[Öxölklöfför]

I'm so glad this will be my first DT album!   

You actually don't know what you're missing...

Hopefully you will discover there are so many DT album better than this one.

Opinion.

Yep, my "opinion" is that "DT" is a very overestimated album.
Hope you will forgive me guys...

Opinion without quotes, or else you're implying that it's fact. My opinion (shared by many on this forum) is that it's among the better release DT has ever made. Still, it's only an opinion.

A tip is to give it more listens, true greatness tends to creep up on you ;-)

[sylvinception]

The same fans who think that BC&SL was a masterpiece ??

I will follow your advice, and listen to it again and again and again and again...

[Kotowboy]

This isn't aimed at any one person in this thread.

But after about 5 listens. 3 on the day and 1 per day since then. . .

I'm not exactly sure what more anyone could want in a Dream Theater album ?

[mezzaIX]

The same fans who think that BC&SL was a masterpiece ??

I will follow your advice, and listen to it again and again and again and again...

It's fine. You don't like it, and I can respect that.

Awake has been my favorite album since I discovered the band in '06, and through out those 7 years I just kept listening to IaW, Awake, ACoS, SFaM, SDoIT, ToT and some songs from other albums, such as Ytse Jam, Repentance, TCoT or BAI.

But with DT the dynamic has changed. Is not necessary to be an obsessed fan in order to think something is different here, that there's something greater.

FAS is absolutely fantastic for a cinematic intro song; TEI, a technical and powerful piece of music, and easily to digest; TLG is heavily inspired in the IaW record, so we can notice some of the influences Dream Theater had back then; in order to enjoy EM, you have to accept it for what it is: a demonstration of instrumental virtuosity; TBP, one of the more acclaimed, hasn't clicked for me yet, so I won't say anything for now; BtV, one of the weakest, has the best instrumental plus ending verse section I've heard in many years; StR is without any doubt the LtL or BAI from this album; for AftR, I'll quote myself: "It's still surprising to me how much AftR ruins the atmosphere in just a second. The worst song from the album by far; and personally, the most ambience-killer musical piece Dream Theater has ever created"; IT... Well, that song is now part of my holy trinity.

So I guess there you have my album review, people.

sylvinception, don't be dogmatic.

Please excuse any possible mistake. Not my native language.

[metrojam]

Very sad to say that after 24 years and 12 studio albums worth of listening to, championing them to everyone I know and loving DT, that this is the first EVER release of theirs that there is not ONE song on the CD that I immediately wanted to hear again on first listen. And now, many many listens down the line in an effort to get a real feel for the album, I still have to say the same
Their only release that has ever left me feeling more disappointed after initial listens was SC. I'm glad a lot of people say they like it so far, but I think the passage of time will overcome the initial "heart over head" excitement type comments from a lot of people in here, that always happen when new music is released, and in a few months time this release will be generally ranked as very "average" in the history of DT's releases. Just hark back to all the over the top and "this is in my Top 3 albums by DT" type comments we got back when SC was released, to see where I'm coming from.

[Podaar]

I guess you just can't account for taste.  Of course, some parts of the album are bound to be more memorable/exciting/cool than other parts, but I've found that on basically every DT album since Six Degrees, at least one song has a "what were they thinking?" moment.  For me, that's just not the case for DT12.  With DT12, I'm on board with every compositional decision the guys made.  (So far, anyway.)

There are a lot of great ideas on the album, but for me none of the songs really "stick the landing", so to speak. I think it's a combination of the songs being a bit too condensed, and containing some weaker sections. I still struggle to recall a lot of the songs.
There's nothing on the album I'd call bad, but there's also nothing on this album I see cracking my top 50 (except maybe FAS, of all songs). For an album with such high peaks, that's not a good sign.

I think it's high time you realize you have a poor memory. If you keep finding yourself alone while blaming all the women you've known, sooner or later you must consider the possibility that it's been you all along. 

[BlobVanDam]

I guess you just can't account for taste.  Of course, some parts of the album are bound to be more memorable/exciting/cool than other parts, but I've found that on basically every DT album since Six Degrees, at least one song has a "what were they thinking?" moment.  For me, that's just not the case for DT12.  With DT12, I'm on board with every compositional decision the guys made.  (So far, anyway.)

There are a lot of great ideas on the album, but for me none of the songs really "stick the landing", so to speak. I think it's a combination of the songs being a bit too condensed, and containing some weaker sections. I still struggle to recall a lot of the songs.
There's nothing on the album I'd call bad, but there's also nothing on this album I see cracking my top 50 (except maybe FAS, of all songs). For an album with such high peaks, that's not a good sign.

I think it's high time you realize you have a poor memory. If you keep finding yourself alone while blaming all the women you've known, sooner or later you must consider the possibility that it's been you all along. 

I think it's high time you don't try and judge me or my memory. I have a great memory for music, I just don't find about half of this album particularly memorable at all. The rest I mostly do.

[Podaar]

I really must work on my tone. Somehow, when I try to engage in fun banter it turns folks angry. My apologies, BVD, I thought that it might be fun for those of us of a certain age to make memory jokes. No real insult was intended.

[Thematt202]

I honestly don't know what more the band could have done to please some of you lot.

[BlobVanDam]

I really must work on my tone. Somehow, when I try to engage in fun banter it turns folks angry. My apologies, BVD, I thought that it might be fun for those of us of a certain age to make memory jokes. No real insult was intended.

No problem. I don't know you well, so I didn't get that tone from it!

But let me put it this way - I remember the musical cue used in the movie Way of the Dragon whenever Bruce Lee needed to take a piss. I saw that movie once. Over a decade ago. So I shall not allow my memory to be called into question!

[Systematik88]

I like to imagine if Images and Words was released today if people would praise it as they do now.   I think everyone is just extra critical after hearing 12 albums from the same band. 

[wolfking]

I still haven't listened to the album but I snuck a listen of The Looking Glass to get me until the weekend.  It is amazing.  After one listen it's better than most of the songs on ADTOE and just sounds so fresh and old school.  I will say the riff is a blatant Limelight rip, but I'll let JP off.

[emtee]

Some people love it. Some people don't. Same with all music. You either make a connection with the music or you don't.

[wolfking]

I like to imagine if Images and Words was released today if people would praise it as they do now.   I think everyone is just extra critical after hearing 12 albums from the same band.

Plus, when expectations are so high, there's bound to be something which doesn't live up to the expectations, no matter how good the material is.  Every album needs time to age, and that truly says how good the piece is IMO.

[Viking of the Sagas]

I honestly don't know what more the band could have done to please some of you lot.

Like anybody has an obligation to like their music or their decisions. 

Right now, most of what I see is overexaggerated fanboy love-letters and criticism of the album. I'm going to go ahead and say that there was only a single moment for me throughout the whole album when I thought 'oh, this is going to be REALL good' but that feeling was ruined by the follow-up as well. And that feeling was in IT around 15:30, when the drums kick in.

[YtseJamittaja]

I guess you just can't account for taste.  Of course, some parts of the album are bound to be more memorable/exciting/cool than other parts, but I've found that on basically every DT album since Six Degrees, at least one song has a "what were they thinking?" moment.  For me, that's just not the case for DT12.  With DT12, I'm on board with every compositional decision the guys made.  (So far, anyway.)

There are a lot of great ideas on the album, but for me none of the songs really "stick the landing", so to speak. I think it's a combination of the songs being a bit too condensed, and containing some weaker sections. I still struggle to recall a lot of the songs.
There's nothing on the album I'd call bad, but there's also nothing on this album I see cracking my top 50 (except maybe FAS, of all songs). For an album with such high peaks, that's not a good sign.

I think it's high time you realize you have a poor memory. If you keep finding yourself alone while blaming all the women you've known, sooner or later you must consider the possibility that it's been you all along. 

I think it's high time you don't try and judge me or my memory. I have a great memory for music, I just don't find about half of this album particularly memorable at all. The rest I mostly do.

I'm on the same side with Blob. BUT, you Blob have to give this album a few more spins because I just noticed after not listening to it for 2 days that many of the songs are much better now. It just needs time I think.

[Viking of the Sagas]

Everything gets better when you get used to it.

[BlobVanDam]

I'm on the same side with Blob. BUT, you Blob have to give this album a few more spins because I just noticed after not listening to it for 2 days that many of the songs are much better now. It just needs time I think.

I've had the album as long as noxon. I haven't listened to it as much as him in that time, but time I have had. There's a lot I love about the album, but there's also a lot of it that just doesn't click with me, and at this point I don't think ever will.

[Kotowboy]

To me this is easily the best Roadrunner album and probably my favourite since Octavarium.

[Dream Team]

If I may stretch the analogy a little, this is kind of like DT's Black Album. Shorter songs with heavy riffs but also great melodies and choruses. I wish it would sell millions like TBA did.

[YtseJamittaja]

I'm on the same side with Blob. BUT, you Blob have to give this album a few more spins because I just noticed after not listening to it for 2 days that many of the songs are much better now. It just needs time I think.

I've had the album as long as noxon. I haven't listened to it as much as him in that time, but time I have had. There's a lot I love about the album, but there's also a lot of it that just doesn't click with me, and at this point I don't think ever will.

Oh okay I see. I hope it will still grow. So you are doing some sick live projections from this record too? I love those

[Kotowboy]

That would be good. But I also hope that it sells enough that they can continue to live comfortably.

If they suddenly raked in $20m each - there's always the risk of egos getting out of hand.

[thosava]

My copy arrived today. Cant wait to listen to the 5.1 

[JPX]

If I may stretch the analogy a little, this is kind of like DT's Black Album. Shorter songs with heavy riffs but also great melodies and choruses. I wish it would sell millions like TBA did.

Sorry but I fail to see how this is like the Black album in any way, either musically or in the context of DT's/Metallica's career.

The Black album was a 180 shift in direction for tallica at the time, and it consisted of 12 hard rock songs with an average length of 5 minutes. It was released when rock in general was going thru a major shift and tallica had only released 4 prior studio albums.

DT however are 1000 times more diverse musically, have been around for 20+ years, released 11 studio albums, the songs are still long by radio standards, and the music isn't a shift at all for them.

[DP_Gumby]

Got my copy in the mail today! My days of listening to not-so-good quality stream are now gone. 

I did however manage to reach 8 playthroughs before the cd arrived. Which I find impressive considering how much I'm playing GTA V at the moment. 

[ariich]

I think the passage of time will overcome the initial "heart over head" excitement type comments from a lot of people in here, that always happen when new music is released, and in a few months time this release will be generally ranked as very "average" in the history of DT's releases.

Come on now, that's a bit arrogant of you to suggest that people who love the album are just excited by new music. You don't like it, and that's cool. Lots of us love it, and that's also cool. And as has been mentioned multiple times, this is probably the most positive reaction the DT fanbase has had to a new album in a VERY long time.

Just hark back to all the over the top and "this is in my Top 3 albums by DT" type comments we got back when SC was released, to see where I'm coming from.

Er, what? A lot of people HATED SC when it came out.

To me this is easily the best Roadrunner album and probably my favourite since Octavarium.

Aren't those two statements the same?

[userx]

adding myself to a group of people left disappointed after the first listen only to say after few listens that this is the best DT since SDOIT, perhaps even on par with SDOIT, SFAM. I&W is still untouchable for me but better than Awake in my eyes

[jayvee3]

I like to imagine if Images and Words was released today if people would praise it as they do now.   I think everyone is just extra critical after hearing 12 albums from the same band.

Plus, when expectations are so high, there's bound to be something which doesn't live up to the expectations, no matter how good the material is.  Every album needs time to age, and that truly says how good the piece is IMO.

Much like the finest wines...