Official "A Dramatic Turn Of Events" Review Thread

[BlobVanDam]

am i the only one thinking that 3 ballads on an album with 9 songs is a little........too much?

I wouldn't say it matters as a figure alone. Ballad can cover many things, everything from Vacant to Forsaken and Wither. Ballad is a general enough term that until I hear the songs, it means nothing.

[tri.ad]

am i the only one thinking that 3 ballads on an album with 9 songs is a little........too much?

No. If the ballads can be compared to those on Images & Words regarding the general mood (and there are three of them there), I don't think that it's much at all. Also, as far as I remember, none of the 10+-minute songs are ballads (let alone all the way through, so in terms of length, it can't really be too much either imo.

[KevShmev]

The Greek review of A Dramatic Turn of Events made me wonder more about the new album. I think it's painfull for Portnoy to see he is not needed, if the album turns out to be loved by fans and critics and is a commercial highlight in the history of DT. Most looking forward to Breaking all Illusions

MP'll be ok, he's got the Anthrax album as a must buy on Sept 13th, so he's tweeted.

Did he actually tweet about other albums being released on the same day?

Of course he did.  You know he is hoping like hell that ADTOE either doesn't finish as high on the billboard album charts the first week as BC&SL did, or that it doesn't sell as many copies that first week.  If one of them happens, but not the other, you know he will point out the one so he can say (or imply), "See, without me, the band can't sell as well."  

[Chrissalix]

The Greek review of A Dramatic Turn of Events made me wonder more about the new album. I think it's painfull for Portnoy to see he is not needed, if the album turns out to be loved by fans and critics and is a commercial highlight in the history of DT. Most looking forward to Breaking all Illusions

MP'll be ok, he's got the Anthrax album as a must buy on Sept 13th, so he's tweeted.

Did he actually tweet about other albums being released on the same day?

Of course he did.  You know he is hoping like hell that ADTOE either doesn't finish as high on the billboard album charts the first week as BC&SL did, or that it doesn't sell as many copies that first week.  If one of them happens, but not the other, you know he will point out the one so he can say (or imply), "See, without me, the band can't sell as well." 

Nice and classless as per usual from post departure MP. Just hold your tongue for once in your life!

am i the only one thinking that 3 ballads on an album with 9 songs is a little........too much?

As a proportion of the album, the ballads only represent 17/80 of the album's content. That's less than a quarter. Probably more than usual but that's not a bad thing as a couple of the recent albums have been very ballad light.

[ReaPsTA]

am i the only one thinking that 3 ballads on an album with 9 songs is a little........too much?

No.  DT usually writes ballads really, really well.  I'd definitely say that 3/9 is the upper limit for me, but DT's a band that can go ballad heavy with a relatively high chance of success.

[GasparXR]

am i the only one thinking that 3 ballads on an album with 9 songs is a little........too much?

No.  DT usually writes ballads really, really well.  I'd definitely say that 3/9 is the upper limit for me, but DT's a band that can go ballad heavy with a relatively high chance of success.

Exactly. 3/8 songs on I&W were ballads, which is more than ADTOE. (AD, Surrounded, WFS)

[ZirconBlue]

am i the only one thinking that 3 ballads on an album with 9 songs is a little........too much?

Yes.  You are the only one thinking that.

[?]

am i the only one thinking that 3 ballads on an album with 9 songs is a little........too much?

Yes. However, I think that's the maximum. If over 3 songs on a 9-song album were ballads, that would be too much.

[DejaVu]

There are a few ballads on SFAM too, that doesn't bother me. I quite like calmer songs, gives you a breather before the storms, so maybe there will be plenty of 'storms' too?

[robwebster]

Pull Me Under - Not a ballad.
Another Day - Definitely a ballad.
Take the Time - Not a ballad.
Surrounded - Often considered a ballad.
Metropolis - Not a ballad.
Under a Glass Moon - Not a ballad.
Wait for Sleep - As ballady as ballads can be.
Learning to Live - Not a ballad.

3/8 is a higher ratio than 3/9 and it's possibly the most unanimously loved album in the base. 3 out of 9, or 2:1, is also the ballad-ratio on Black Clouds and Silver Linings. So no, it's not excessive. But I've got to go, now, because I've used the word "ballad" so much it has ceased to have any meaning whatsoever and I'm starting to question its actual definition.

Man I hate the word ballad. The immediate connotation is slow-'n'-mournful. Makes a song sound more toothless than it is. Rubbish descriptor.

[ACID_FOX]

I have no problem with it being a light album, to me a ballad just means a Verse/Chorus/Verse song that isn't heavy.

[Chrissalix]

Pull Me Under - Not a ballad.
Another Day - Definitely a ballad.
Take the Time - Not a ballad.
Surrounded - Often considered a ballad.
Metropolis - Not a ballad.
Under a Glass Moon - Not a ballad.
Wait for Sleep - As ballady as ballads can be.
Learning to Live - Not a ballad.

3/8 is a higher ratio than 3/9 and it's possibly the most unanimously loved album in the base. 3 out of 9, or 2:1, is also the ballad-ratio on Black Clouds and Silver Linings. So no, it's not excessive. But I've got to go, now, because I've used the word "ballad" so much it has ceased to have any meaning whatsoever and I'm starting to question its actual definition.

Man I hate the word ballad. The immediate connotation is slow-'n'-mournful. Makes a song sound more toothless than it is. Rubbish descriptor.

Ballad is a massive misnomer. Ballads tell stories so by that definition pretty much every Petrucci lyric-ed song since SC has been a ballad. This has somehow morphed into "slow pop-ish song". Language is a bastard.

Surrounded is definitely a "ballad". Anyway, in terms of minutes it's actually not that much (in I&W's case) as they're easily the three shortest tracks on the album (totalling 12 minutes out of 57. Statistically speaking, I&W is 21.05% ballad. ADTOE is 21.87% ballad. Very little difference. Album's going to be fine.

[Slain]

Review ain't great and should be taken with a massive pinch of salt given who wrote it. It's pretty cryptic and underwhelmingly written, tbh. Will wait and see when review start emerging from the mass heavy metal/rock media in a couple of weeks or so.

Looking forward to your review with baited breath . . .

EDIT: just to clarify, I think it's perfectly fine to take a review with a pinch of salt when the band's official biographer wrote it. That's not to say it's biased, but it's not the most neutral source if you get what I mean. And by underwhelmingly written, the review didn't make me want to run out and pre-order it, nor did it make me write it off.

I have to completely disagree. While he is the bands biographer, it wasn't an entire review of praise, and it was very well written. Makes me excited for the album, looking forward to seeing more reviews as well.

[gabeh1018]

As a couple people just pointed out, Images and Words is only 57 minutes long. That surprises me, I never realized this. There was so much time left for more amazing music.

[JediKnight1969]

As a couple people just pointed out, Images and Words is only 57 minutes long. That surprises me, I never realized this. There was so much time left for more amazing music.

Yeah... ACOS.

[Dream Team]

As a couple people just pointed out, Images and Words is only 57 minutes long. That surprises me, I never realized this. There was so much time left for more amazing music.

Yeah... ACOS.

Yeah, but if they had done that we never would have gotten the awesomer 1995 definitive version.

[snapple]

I hope Far From Heaven has a "Coming Home" vibe to it. That was such an awesome song from JLB's solo album. Honestly, it's the best one on it!

[The Letter M]

As a couple people just pointed out, Images and Words is only 57 minutes long. That surprises me, I never realized this. There was so much time left for more amazing music.

Yeah... ACOS.

Yeah, but if they had done that we never would have gotten the awesomer 1995 definitive version.

Good point... what about "Eve", "To Live Forever" and "Don't Look Past Me"?

-Marc.

[tgstk2]

well seeing all the reactions..indeed 3 ballads might not be so bad after all.
but ballad is indeed a bad word.

when i think ballad.... i think bon jovi , bed of roses, wanted taht kind of terrible shit of music....

i hope that DT's ballad will have some crazy unison parts though or well not just 5 BPM for 3 minutes. ahh well we wait and see.

i'm ready for a new review?...
btw, who's buying the deluxe version?
Something i do not udnerstand from RR and also DT is why on earth they include the SCO documentry as an extra........it's on youtube....why bother putting in a DVD i wish they had a making of for this....causee who doesn't want to see MM laying down the tracks? there can only be the first time he ever recorded with DT and that's with this album. it woudl be great to see, how the made the music without an acutal drummer being in the studio...that would be cool to see.... ah well i just get the normal version.

[slycordinator]

Ballad is a massive misnomer. Ballads tell stories so by that definition pretty much every Petrucci lyric-ed song since SC has been a ballad. This has somehow morphed into "slow pop-ish song". Language is a bastard.

It's ironic that you would bastardize language while being annoyed with people bastardizing language.

Hint: Ballads never included every single song that told a story.

[Harpejji]

The Greek review of A Dramatic Turn of Events made me wonder more about the new album. I think it's painfull for Portnoy to see he is not needed, if the album turns out to be loved by fans and critics and is a commercial highlight in the history of DT. Most looking forward to Breaking all Illusions

MP'll be ok, he's got the Anthrax album as a must buy on Sept 13th, so he's tweeted.

Hmmm. I'd like to see MP starts a new project which he'll be in for more years than just one album. Or he should continu to work on Transatlantic. I think it's a little bit cheap to be a drummer in many bands for just one album. I prefer quality instead on quantity. Too bad MP thinks nowadays otherwise.

[BlobVanDam]

The Greek review of A Dramatic Turn of Events made me wonder more about the new album. I think it's painfull for Portnoy to see he is not needed, if the album turns out to be loved by fans and critics and is a commercial highlight in the history of DT. Most looking forward to Breaking all Illusions

MP'll be ok, he's got the Anthrax album as a must buy on Sept 13th, so he's tweeted.

Hmmm. I'd like to see MP starts a new project which he'll be in for more years than just one album. Or he should continu to work on Transatlantic. I think it's a little bit cheap to be a drummer in many bands for just one album. I prefer quality instead on quantity. Too bad MP thinks nowadays otherwise.

Or maybe he's trying a bunch of stuff until he finds one that gels for him and has a long term future? He's been out of DT for less than a year. You can't expect him to already have committed to one particular band when they haven't even released an album yet.

[TheOutlawXanadu]

Why does anyone give a shit how many ballads there are?

[KevShmev]

As a couple people just pointed out, Images and Words is only 57 minutes long. That surprises me, I never realized this. There was so much time left for more amazing music.

Nah, I&W is perfect as is.  I understand that some people want to cram as much music on to a CD as possible these days, but quality over quantity is always the way to go, and you can never overlook how important the flow of an album is.  The flow and pacing of I&W is absolutely perfect, and putting anything else on it would have messed with that.  Sure, it is easy to say, "A Change of Seasons would have made it even better," but where are you gonna put it in the tracklisting that doesn't take away from the flow or from the impact of certain other songs (putting it first takes away from Pull Me Under being the perfect opener, and putting it last takes away from Learning to Live being the perfect closer).

[Harpejji]

The Greek review of A Dramatic Turn of Events made me wonder more about the new album. I think it's painfull for Portnoy to see he is not needed, if the album turns out to be loved by fans and critics and is a commercial highlight in the history of DT. Most looking forward to Breaking all Illusions

MP'll be ok, he's got the Anthrax album as a must buy on Sept 13th, so he's tweeted.

Hmmm. I'd like to see MP starts a new project which he'll be in for more years than just one album. Or he should continu to work on Transatlantic. I think it's a little bit cheap to be a drummer in many bands for just one album. I prefer quality instead on quantity. Too bad MP thinks nowadays otherwise.

Or maybe he's trying a bunch of stuff until he finds one that gels for him and has a long term future? He's been out of DT for less than a year. You can't expect him to already have committed to one particular band when they haven't even released an album yet.

I understand your statement, but I think it's cheap to fill the places for bands whom are already been famous, and just for one album. It's in my opinion a cash & go situation. I agree that I (we) can't accept that he is already comitted to one band, but that's what I would like to see. Something new and big. But perhaps I expected too much.

[BlobVanDam]

The Greek review of A Dramatic Turn of Events made me wonder more about the new album. I think it's painfull for Portnoy to see he is not needed, if the album turns out to be loved by fans and critics and is a commercial highlight in the history of DT. Most looking forward to Breaking all Illusions

MP'll be ok, he's got the Anthrax album as a must buy on Sept 13th, so he's tweeted.

Hmmm. I'd like to see MP starts a new project which he'll be in for more years than just one album. Or he should continu to work on Transatlantic. I think it's a little bit cheap to be a drummer in many bands for just one album. I prefer quality instead on quantity. Too bad MP thinks nowadays otherwise.

Or maybe he's trying a bunch of stuff until he finds one that gels for him and has a long term future? He's been out of DT for less than a year. You can't expect him to already have committed to one particular band when they haven't even released an album yet.

I understand your statement, but I think it's cheap to fill the places for bands whom are already been famous, and just for one album. It's in my opinion a cash & go situation. I agree that I (we) can't accept that he is already comitted to one band, but that's what I would like to see. Something new and big. But perhaps I expected too much.

i wasn't referring to A7X here, although people seem to think he'd have liked to stay on permanently, so I don't think that means much anyway.
I'm sure he'd probably like a steady gig like DT for some stability, especially since he'd be accustomed to that. Probably a matter of not putting all of your eggs in one basket. Trying out a bunch of bands and seeing what works. It's too soon to expect anything to have settled yet imo. You don't jump into a marriage just after you've had a divorce. DO YOU WANT MP TO JUMP INTO A REBOUND BAND? DO YOU?

[Harpejji]

The Greek review of A Dramatic Turn of Events made me wonder more about the new album. I think it's painfull for Portnoy to see he is not needed, if the album turns out to be loved by fans and critics and is a commercial highlight in the history of DT. Most looking forward to Breaking all Illusions

MP'll be ok, he's got the Anthrax album as a must buy on Sept 13th, so he's tweeted.

Hmmm. I'd like to see MP starts a new project which he'll be in for more years than just one album. Or he should continu to work on Transatlantic. I think it's a little bit cheap to be a drummer in many bands for just one album. I prefer quality instead on quantity. Too bad MP thinks nowadays otherwise.

Or maybe he's trying a bunch of stuff until he finds one that gels for him and has a long term future? He's been out of DT for less than a year. You can't expect him to already have committed to one particular band when they haven't even released an album yet.

I understand your statement, but I think it's cheap to fill the places for bands whom are already been famous, and just for one album. It's in my opinion a cash & go situation. I agree that I (we) can't accept that he is already comitted to one band, but that's what I would like to see. Something new and big. But perhaps I expected too much.

i wasn't referring to A7X here, although people seem to think he'd have liked to stay on permanently, so I don't think that means much anyway.
I'm sure he'd probably like a steady gig like DT for some stability, especially since he'd be accustomed to that. Probably a matter of not putting all of your eggs in one basket. Trying out a bunch of bands and seeing what works. It's too soon to expect anything to have settled yet imo. You don't jump into a marriage just after you've had a divorce. DO YOU WANT MP TO JUMP INTO A REBOUND BAND? DO YOU?

Haha, I don't want to see MP in a rebound band, trust me. And I don't think that MP will do that, he is smart enough to know what is best for him. But I hope he will soon be in a prog-metal band for a few years, perhaps with some other great prog-musicians. Who knows?

[snowdog]

The Greek review of A Dramatic Turn of Events made me wonder more about the new album. I think it's painfull for Portnoy to see he is not needed, if the album turns out to be loved by fans and critics and is a commercial highlight in the history of DT. Most looking forward to Breaking all Illusions

MP'll be ok, he's got the Anthrax album as a must buy on Sept 13th, so he's tweeted.

Well this isn't as bad as the Facebook liking thing, but it is yet another classless move by Portnoy.

[Dream Team]

well seeing all the reactions..indeed 3 ballads might not be so bad after all.
but ballad is indeed a bad word.

when i think ballad.... i think bon jovi , bed of roses, wanted taht kind of terrible shit of music....

i hope that DT's ballad will have some crazy unison parts though or well not just 5 BPM for 3 minutes. ahh well we wait and see.

i'm ready for a new review?...
btw, who's buying the deluxe version?
Something i do not udnerstand from RR and also DT is why on earth they include the SCO documentry as an extra........it's on youtube....why bother putting in a DVD i wish they had a making of for this....causee who doesn't want to see MM laying down the tracks? there can only be the first time he ever recorded with DT and that's with this album. it woudl be great to see, how the made the music without an acutal drummer being in the studio...that would be cool to see.... ah well i just get the normal version.

You know, I really think JP dropped the ball on this. Your suggestion of at least showing MM's full audition is a great idea. It's probably unrealistic to expect the entire footage of all 7 drummers, but at least show the footage of MM playing the 3 audition songs. Yeesh . . .

[gabeh1018]

As a couple people just pointed out, Images and Words is only 57 minutes long. That surprises me, I never realized this. There was so much time left for more amazing music.

Yeah... ACOS.

yea i forgot about that one. Also, anybody else not happy with the way the snare sounds on the song?

[?]

As a couple people just pointed out, Images and Words is only 57 minutes long. That surprises me, I never realized this. There was so much time left for more amazing music.

Yeah... ACOS.

Yeah, but if they had done that we never would have gotten the awesomer 1995 definitive version.

Good point... what about "Eve", "To Live Forever" and "Don't Look Past Me"?

-Marc.

Wasn't Eve written after I&W was released? At least it wasn't played live until '93 and recorded until the Awake sessions (for the Japanese edition and The Silent Man single).

[tgstk2]

Why does anyone give a shit how many ballads there are?

i do, cause i dont like em.

[ReaPsTA]

Why does anyone give a shit how many ballads there are?

i do, cause i dont like em.

Are you serious?

TOX - I like ballads, but a Dream Theater album with too many of them defies expectations in too many negative ways.  DT does many kinds of songs, and I like to hear all of them on each album.  The super heavy one, the mixed prog/metal song, the big prog piece, the shorter more singleesque song, the shorter song that's very Dream Theaterey, and on and on.  A DT album with all ballads would suck for the same reason I don't really enjoy listening to Train of Thought as an album.  Lack of variety from a band I expect variety from.

[The Letter M]

As a couple people just pointed out, Images and Words is only 57 minutes long. That surprises me, I never realized this. There was so much time left for more amazing music.

Yeah... ACOS.

Yeah, but if they had done that we never would have gotten the awesomer 1995 definitive version.

Good point... what about "Eve", "To Live Forever" and "Don't Look Past Me"?

-Marc.

Wasn't Eve written after I&W was released? At least it wasn't played live until '93 and recorded until the Awake sessions (for the Japanese edition and The Silent Man single).

Hmm, possibly. I just know it was played on the IAW Tour, so I figured it was written around then, but if it was written AFTER the IAW sessions, then my mistake! Oops   Live and learn...

-Marc.

[ZirconBlue]

The Greek review of A Dramatic Turn of Events made me wonder more about the new album. I think it's painfull for Portnoy to see he is not needed, if the album turns out to be loved by fans and critics and is a commercial highlight in the history of DT. Most looking forward to Breaking all Illusions

MP'll be ok, he's got the Anthrax album as a must buy on Sept 13th, so he's tweeted.

Hmmm. I'd like to see MP starts a new project which he'll be in for more years than just one album. Or he should continu to work on Transatlantic. I think it's a little bit cheap to be a drummer in many bands for just one album. I prefer quality instead on quantity. Too bad MP thinks nowadays otherwise.

Well, he's said that Adrenaline Mob is a "Real Band", not just a side-project, so, presumably he means to stick with it for a while.  But, in the meantime he's going to continue to do other side projects (and at least one other "Real Band").