At the risk of exaggeration?
In my defence, I've seen plenty of people who've adopted the most extreme version of the argument. Still, they're mostly within the domain of youtube comments and other such places. I see the subtler version of it a bit more regularly, I think. Dunno, maybe it's just me. One of the issues with me making a post like that is that it implies that I think MP is overrated or something like that. While I do think that some people seem to stretch the extent to what he did within DT, I won't deny that he's probably the most important and influential drummer within progressive metal and that his reputation on the whole is absolutely justified imo. I'll also say that I don't really see the decline of his drumming like some others do. I still really like his work on Systematic Chaos and Black Clouds. He settled into similar patterns, but I don't think that's inherently a bad thing if it works for the music (which it evidently did for a lot of people).
I'm not saying Portnoy is a prog composer like Neal Morse or Steven Wilson, and I'll be the first to admit he probably can't write a song by himself. He needs others to bring in ideas, then he has something to work with.
I'm also not saying JP and JR can't write music without MP, but I think there's a certain "IT" factor that comes into play when they collaborate with MP.
JP and JR's composing skills don't impress me much outside of the DT albums with MP, though they almost came close with ADTOE, there are some surprises in there, and even a couple of 'jazzy' moments, ala old school DT. I can't say I listen to their solo albums anywhere near as much as DT. 99/100 times I'll listen to Neal Morse's worst prog album over JP or JR's best work without MP.
I guess the issue is that, while you're acknowledging that it's your own opinion now (which is fair enough), you seemed to have stated it as a matter of fact before. Stuff like "he
is also a master arranger", "because that element
is missing", "MP
had the vision that only the best bands have" and "JP
is not the best composer out there". Not to mention, "but putting them together without MP
it is obvious why DT cannot sound like they did in the 90s or 2000s" makes it sound like people who don't agree with you just don't
get that obvious point. I don't really like to tone police, but there's a reason I try not to phrase my opinions like this, which is essentially a string of affirmative statements.
Other than that, that "IT" factor something that's clearly unquantifiable and subjective, particularly in the context of other people preferring DT's arrangements and overall music in the MM era (not that you'd necessarily disagree). I could just as easily argue that the shift in band dynamics created a different "IT" factor that's just as effective (again, not that you'd argue that it couldn't be done).
Okay, but more technical does not automatically mean better. There is no doubt in my mind that Portnoy could take any song DT has done since his departure and adjust it to his style and it would still sound good.
To be fair, I don't think this was the point of what TheBarstoolWarrior was saying.
Yeah mangini makes the parts technical because he can.
[Citation Needed]