Right then, I'm slowing down to three a day now because I'm going to make a surprise for you

also, I'm going to Goth weekend so I'll send Jon a set of 6 to post up for me over the weekend...Or would you rather wait?
20: Under A Glass Moon I saw this live at High Voltage. Just saying. Oh, I also heard Learning to Live live as well…But I can’t be arsed to go up to my Learning to Live ramblings and edit it.
First things first, I don’t fucking get this song. But it is so, bloody good. Yup, I’m going to go off rambling about the music again, brace yourselves. Also, aiming to not say fucking. Apart from there.
James’ voice is in top form as it always is on this album. Portnoy’s doing a damn good job on the drums that are mixed a little loudly I feel on this listen. But who knows? Next time I listen to it I’ll probably be all like WOAH DUDE THOSE DRUMS ARE PERFECT. Shut up. I’m a girl, I’m hormonal kay?
BUY A PEN.
How the hell can a man hit those kinds of notes and have children, it shouldn’t be possible! I’m a girl and I can’t hit those kinds of notes. I love the keys in this song, Moore does a really great job, and when Petrucci brings in the guitar it’s genius how they intertwine and lead into the instrumental together, like young lovers who are walking into a whirlwind where they’ll be beautifully ripped apart…You know, I was in the mood to use some horrifically gory imagery to supplement that metaphor but the song doesn’t really call for it. Goddamnit, where’s Raw Dog when I need it? I need RAW DOG. I NEED TO FINISH THE METAPHOR.
No I don’t, James has just come in again…I love how in a lot of the songs the instrumentals kind of signals like ‘Right, Ok guys, brace yourselves, James is going to lovingly rape your ears now’.
It just kind of stops though. I don’t like things when they just…Stop.
19: Honor Thy Father Now, I’m not that keen on the opening of the song, don’t ask me why…Atleast the very first half minute, I’m not sure. It certainly does jolt the listener awake. But then it leads into some of the patented Dream Theater opening technicality so it’s all good…It kind of repeats itself over again
And I love that first softer guitar. It’s such a contrast to the opening…And the bit that follows it. You see, I try to finish a point off and I miss out a whole verse. I’m not sure about James’ little rapping bit down the telephone. At least it sounds like he’s speaking down a telephone, maybe he got shipped back up to Canada for that bit of recording and all of his equipment was busted at home so he got really pissed and shouted down the phone line to the band. But it does show versatility in his voice, and versatility is always good.
I just missed out a shit load of the song talking about a telephone. The line ‘respect is not a one way street’ is one I can really appreciate. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t them who coined it but it’s a lesson that a lot of people including my teachers could learn to understand.
DON’T CROSS THE CROOKED STEP.
Now this part of the song is something I could jog to, or make very weird and unsatisfying sexy time to. Maybe it’s because all of the samples are talking about regret…That really isn’t the kind of thing you want to be listening to when you’re with your other half, you could give them the wrong impression. But the samples are mixed in very well…I can actually hear what they’re saying now! Not much else to talk about, just going to pause for a minute or so and indulge in the instrumental.
The instrumentals talking to us again, it’s like ‘Guys, settle down now, you’re going to get ear raped again, just give us a buzz if you need any help with the lube!’ and that is an image I want to get out of my head again. But now it’s just like ‘Lol no, just kidding guys, you’re not going to get ear raped again, chillax’.
And then James is all like ‘Surprise!’ and then goes off to make sexy time with your ears. Yep. I’m definitely tired, I haven’t had any coffee in a good few hours, oh god, I think I’m getting a headache as well. I’m going to shut up.
WHY DOES THIS SONG TRICK ME INTO THINKING IT’S ENDING?!
Ok, I’m calm, it ended.
18: Sacrificed Sons And here comes the shit storm for rating any other Octavarium song over its title track.
I love samples. I can’t remember how many times I’ve mentioned that in this list, I might do a tally at the end to find out how many times I praise samples and transitions.
And here comes the song, I love the haunting piano melody, it’s chilling after the cluster of samples that proceeded it. Drums soft, and those vocals, I love the vulnerability of them (tallying vulnerability as well) and it’s all leading up to the pre chorus, which is, beautiful. The whole song centres around this kind of vibe, you know it’s building up to something, you can feel it and here it comes, it’s getting heavier and stronger, it’s embodying the panic, I’m getting chills.
I’m finding it hard to ramble about this song because it’s so melancholy and it’s about such a serious subject matter. I was only young when 9/11 happened, and I’m English so it didn’t have as much impact on me as it did many. This song really helps me to imagine how many others feel about the terrible event.
Into the instrumental now, it’s quite basic to begin with, something that I could imagine being able to play after- and I’m eating my words now because the keys just blasted in at a hundred notes per second which I could never hope to play in a million years. There is something familiar about this section of the instrumental, it resembles Dance of Eternity in my mind for some reason…And now it’s gone, back into good old, classic Dream Theater. I’m going to shut up- Well, I was going to shut up, but now it’s reaching the height of the instrumental, around 6:00 in. It’s building up to James coming in again, you can feel it, repeating the opening riff of the instrumental.
There’s the string effects, I’m happy, and James is in again, I love the quality to his voice here, it’s strong and passionate. The lyricism of this song is nothing short of incredible, it’s one of the songs that make me appreciate that I’m into this kind of music instead of rap and all that.
And I’m sorry, but I have to say it. AMISH STEAK. I really shouldn’t have watched those misheard lyric videos last night, they really stick in your head and you cannot unheard!
Coming up to the end of the song now, it’s genius how they bring everything together, hearing a bit of technical guitar work that I’ve never noticed before, and there were go. Amazing ending to an amazing song.