I Love Dream Theater!!! // A testimony of sorts

[Tick]

Last night while having a few beers in my living room lit up with about a dozen candles, I chilled out and listened to Six Degrees(the song) and Octavarium in there entirety. I was just loving it. I didn't become a Dream Theater fan until 2005, and Octavarium was my first album and tour. Its strange that I became a diehard fan at age 40 but I fell in love with there music and still love it as much today. Since 2005 I have seen the band 6 times and thankfully I got to see one evening with show.
As Octavarium was drawing to a close, and my buzz was just hitting its stride, I started to get a bit sad about the fact Mike is gone. I will stay with the band and hope for the best, but I'd be lying if I said it I thought it could even remotely be the same for me.
I truly believe Mike will be back in 2 or 3 years but ya never know for sure.
Sorry, I just felt like spewing before I go mow the lawn for the last time this year.
I love Dream Theater!

[guysullavin]

to Dream Theater! *raises champagne glass*

[Perpetual Change]

Hehe. I've had a couple nights were it was just me, a freezer pizza, a couple beers, some harder liquor, some snacks, and Score/Budokan/LiT/OIALT/LSFNY. Man. Always come out loving Dream Theater even more. Also usually come out at least 5 pounds heavier.

[Tick]

Hehe. I've had a couple nights were it was just me, a freezer pizza, a couple beers, some harder liquor, some snacks, and Score/Budokan/LiT/OIALT/LSFNY. Man. Always come out loving Dream Theater even more. Also usually come out at least 5 pounds heavier.

[pmahoney1337]

I know how you feel when you say it will never be the same without MP. Listening to the drums in DT songs was like a whole other song for me, no matter who they get they won't be them same. To make it easier I dont plan on comparing there new drummer to MP. DT's still got 4 out of their 5 members so it will still be awesome music (obviously).

[Ħ]

ALL HAIL

*raises Dr. Pepper, while eating a guacamole chicken soft taco sans pico sauce, taco supreme, burrito supreme, and Mexican pizza*

[robwebster]

I'm with you!

Cheeky confession, but I reckon the band are getting significantly better with age.

I mean, I feel like BCSL was playing it safe, a little, but that only makes me more excited for the next album, when they'll definitely be changing things up - even if they don't want to, they'll have a new drummer.

And, to be honest, I like BCSL a lot. ANTR, AROP, Wither, TBOT and TCOT are all songs I really like. My opinion re: TSF has neutralised, somewhat, but still! Brilliant band with brilliant songs. Always brilliant songs. 5/6 of the songs are "really like"s in my book. And TSF I still enjoy.

[Ħ]

Great post rob, as always!

I totally agree that as DT progresses, their sound has gotten so much more crisp.  Maybe it's a production quality thing, but even during the heavy songs, each instrument a nice distinguishable tone to it--even the electric guitar.  Many metal bands, I'm sorry to say, just sound muddy sometimes.  Opeth, for example.  (Not to bash Opeth; I love them so much.)

Whether or not the "new DT" is better or worse than the "old DT" is kind of subjective, though.

[robwebster]

Oh it's massively subjective. There are lots of people who'd disagree. Too many, almost! Fandom always sides with the old stuff.

I'm not convinced they've yet recorded a truly weak song, though. I mean, there are people who'd criticise their new stuff, as there are in any fandom - but even by the standards of 'orrible people on the internet, they're not exactly struggling, nowadays. Commercially they're doing better than they ever have, and they've not done anything truly horrific - and the people who insist that they have, tend to disagree on exactly which aspects.

Even the most ardent haters of Systematic Chaos, which is, online, their most maligned album by a fairly long chalk - and those haters are magnified, in such a small and psychotic fanbase (which I fully subscribe to, by the way!) can quite often at least find a few songs they love on it. And there are only eight of the buggers, so "a few" generally encompasses at least a quarter of the album!

How many bands, at the age of 25, can say they've not only not yet dropped the ball in a big way, but they're even amassing fans at a fairly alarming rate?

How many bands, at the age of 25, can still pump out classics that make it to the top five in the "favourite song" polls? Even among the least brown-nosey fans, The Count of Tuscany's frequently considered one of their best, and I've yet to find many a-person with a bad word to say about Wither.

How many bands, at the age of 25, can have a founding member leave, and still have their fans completely optimistic, and even psyched about what's still to come?

By any barometer you can possibly think of - commercial success, album popularity, number of beloved songs - bar the on notoriously subjective "personal taste" meter, you can happily say that Dream Theater are doing ruddy well nowadays. Long may they prosper.

[Tick]

ALL HAIL

*raises Dr. Pepper, while eating a guacamole chicken soft taco sans pico sauce, taco supreme, burrito supreme, and Mexican pizza*

ALL HAIL, your taco!