A Dramatic Turn Of Events - One Year On

[Dublagent66]

I didn't like it much at first but most of the songs grew on me over time.  However, I don't listen to it much anymore.  Good album but 2 songs remain clunkers.  FFH and BTS just don't do anything for me.  Take those 2 songs off and add a kickass instrumental and it would've been so much better.  Oh well, there's always the next release to look forward to.

[Cruithne]

It's just a shade off the quality of I&W and SFaM for me - an excellent album and such a return to form after SC and BC&SL.

[?]

ADTOE is the best albums since ToT.
Fact.

Not fact at all.

Yeah, it's the best since Awake

[Kotowboy]

An excellent album and such a return to form after SC and BC&SL.

I'd rank it about 5th after

Octavarium
Scenes From A Memory
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Train Of Thought
A Dramatic Turn Of Events


However - Train and Events are interchangeable.

[fadetoblackdude7]

I like ADTOE (not sure where I'd rank it) with the exception of the production and BMU,BMD

The production just isn't crisp enough and the drum tones are just flat-sounding, while I find BMU,BMD to be unbearable to listen to....just a bad song, all around.

[TheLordOfTheStrings]

I think it's a killer album! It totally rips. And songs like BAI, BITS, and Outcry, have some of their best vocal melodies in a long time (with the exception of ANTR, cause lets face it - that song has some INCREDIBLE vocal parts).

Overall I'd give it a 4.5 out of 5. It definitely struck a chord () with me.

[Scorpion]

I... don't know my opinion on this, actually. I don't have any desire at all to listen to this over the last few months, though I always enjoy a song when it pops up on shuffle. That said, I haven't been in the mood for DT a lot lately, so that doesn't have to mean anything. However, it's definitely behind SDOIT, Awake and FII, because I have very much wanted to listen to them during the last few months and I have always enjoyed them from front to back.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

ADTOE is probably one of my two least favorite Dream Theater albums. That said, I still really enjoy it for the most part. Beneath The Surface and Breaking All Illusions are fantastic, Outcry, Lost Not Forgotten and On The Backs Of Angels are really good. The rest of the songs are pretty solid too, nothing I particularly dislike about them.

So, not my favorite album, but still a really good one.

[Jaffa]

Bridges in the Sky has become one of my absolute favorite Dream Theater songs.  Beneath the Surface and Breaking All Illusions are both amazing as well.  The rest of the album ranges from good to great for me.  That beings said, it's been a while since I actually listened to ADTOE from start to finish.  It has some positively stellar songs, but as an album, it just doesn't seem to flow very well for me. 

[XB0BX]

It's an amazing album. This site doesn't like anything.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

It's an amazing album. This site doesn't like anything.

I think that's a bit of an exaggeration. I mean, I liked something once. It was so long ago that I can't remember what it was, but I'm sure it happened.

[bosk1]

When this thread was first posted, I figured I would let it go for a little while before merging it, to give it a bit of time to develop to discuss the OP's point of view.  But ultimately, there are a few ADTOE threads already, and there is really nothing unique enough about this one to justify a separate thread.

As far as the album itself, I will repeat what I have often said about it:  Probably the single most consistently good album in the entire discography.  I rank it third behind Six Degrees and SFAM, which obviously puts it ahead of some stellar, but inconsistent albums like I&W and SC.

[Destiny Of Chaos]

I actually prefer this album to I&W which sounds a bit dated to me.

[TheLordOfTheStrings]

I actually prefer this album to I&W which sounds a bit dated to me.

Yeah, I wish they'd remix I&W and Awake in their entirety.

Hell, a remix of WD&DU might make it tolerable for me.

[PwnsomeWin]

It's an amazing album. This site doesn't like anything.

Nah, we just have our opinions.

[Lolzeez]

I really like it. My favorite album since SDOIT. There's a few songs I don't really like, but that's most DT albums anyway. I ALWAYS skip BMUBMD. But OTBOA, LNF, BITS, Outcry,BAI and BTS are all awesome.

[Dreamer81]

Top 3 for me, with SFAM and SDOIT.

Some songs like BITS or BAI are some of the best they have ever made.

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

Lots of people seem to hate the production. I don't mind it, although it could be better. It's nowhere near as dreadful as I&W's production to me.

[Mosh]

I&W has a production issue, ADTOE has more of a mixing issue. Drums are mixed too low on ADTOE and there just doesn't seem to be any punch. I found the keyboards to be a bit overbearing as well.

[theseoafs]

ADTOE is the best them since 6DOIT.

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

I&W has a production issue, ADTOE has more of a mixing issue. Drums are mixed too low on ADTOE and there just doesn't seem to be any punch. I found the keyboards to be a bit overbearing as well.

I kinda like the keyboards being pushed to the front as I find they do a lot more cool little bits on this album than on many before. Awesome album for Rudess IMO.

[Mosh]

He does shine on the album, I admit. There were just a lot of moments (mostly on softer parts) where it was too much.

[j]

Zydar posted my opinions on page 1.  Solid album, certainly way better as a whole than any of their previous 4.

-J

[ColdFireYYZ]

I like it a lot, but I haven't listened to it much lately. When it first came out I listened to it all the time, but according to last.fm I've only listened to it four times in the past year. But then again, I haven't been listening to DT in general much lately (that will likely change with the release of DT12).

I really love how Jordan's keyboards are at the forefront. He's probably my favorite member of the band, and after two albums of him not being at the forefront much, I was very happy with this change. Plus, his piano playing is excellent throughout.

[jjrock88]

Top 3 for me from the band.  This album rejuvinated my interest after the previous few discs.

[DebraKadabra]

ADTOE is the best them since 6DOIT.

Indeed.

[Luigi]

In several parts is like an I&W Revisited, but, it`s a very clear and important step in the right direction (the SERIOUS PROG direction) after the 2 worst DT albums by so far.

Only one song is a disaster (BMU, BMD). Pieces like BAI  , Outcry  , LNF  and BTS  are the DT best material since SDOIT (only with SOC and the Octavarium song as a company).

ADTOE is a door opened again to the seriousness by DT.

[mellotron_scratch]

I'd say it's gotten better with age, but it still wouldn't crack my top 3. There's some great moments, but there's also quite a few dull moments.

[adastra]

Breaking all Illusions is still one of my fav. DT song! 
But almost all the other songs have grown very boring to me; 
OTBOA is boring as hell. BMU,BMD, Outcry and Lost not forgotten are all kinda bad songs 

IMO, there is Something missing on ADTOE... No Groove and Nothing "dangerous"

[Meatrose]

Time flies.

After the first spin I was thinking that "this is probably somewhere in the middle of the pack" but DT records always require a couple of spins before they start to really sink in. In the months following the release I used to say that it was their best record since Scenes From A Memory and their second best overall record ever. Today I would probably say that I ranked it a little too high and that Six Degrees is still better. Unlike most of their previous releases this album has practically only good songs, and some are pretty amazing. A Dramatic Turn of Events is a consistently very good album in my opinion (disregarding Build Me Up, Break Me Down which I never listen to). On the other hand, I honestly think that the album doesn't have any extreme highs either - I love Breaking All Illusions, it's definitely my favorite song on ADToE, but it's no Octavarium... so to speak. What I'm trying to say is that while the album is one of their best overall there are no song on it that I think is so overwhelmingly beautifully written that it brings tears to my eyes each time I sit down to actively listen to it.

[Sycsa]

I love it! It's fresh, interesting, exciting, intense, adventurous, varied, polished, a different experience with each listening. Just the way progressive music should be. Easily the best since SDOIT and I don't even think that's up for debate if we go by the popular vote. 

[BlobVanDam]

I love it! It's fresh, interesting, exciting, intense, adventurous, varied, polished, a different experience with each listening. Just the way progressive music should be. Easily the best since SDOIT and I don't even think that's up for debate if we go by the popular vote. 

It's always up for debate, and I'd definitely disagree with it.
I'd easily rank ToT and Octavarium above it, both having songs that leave anything on ADTOE for dead imo. And at worst I'd rank SC and BCASL just behind ADTOE (with all three albums right at the bottom of my rankings regardless).
ADTOE may be a slight improvement over BCASL, but it's still only middle of the pack for post-SDOIT albums imo.

[atmyne]

disclaimer: my opinion!
Purpose: interested to see if anyone else here feels the same way.

I hate to be "that guy" but this album was a real downer for me. With the exception of maybe on the backs of angels and some moments on breaking all illusions, I have no incentive to revisit any of this music. I really tried to like this album, but to no avail it hasn't aged well at all for me...

> build me up, break me down: generic radio friendly "nu-metal" album that isn't even worthy of being a b-side James labrie solo project song (not to say that the JL solo stuff is bad, i love SI and the previous one and am looking forward to the next album)

>Lost not forgotten: has some good moments, which are prompt and completely outweighed by how arbitrary and derivative alot of the noodly stuff seems (see rehash of dance of eternity into unmusical showmanship of how fast we can play diminish scale pattern things), and the melodic and lyrical content just doesn't appeal to me at all.

>this is the life: I do like this one, but not enough to give it another listen. a "powerful moment" or two. I feel like this song was structured really well, there is definitely an emotional roller coaster of sorts. I guess I just find it way too cheesy, uninspired and even a little tired.

>Bridges in the sky: It just feels too formulaic in terms of the instrumentation and the "proggyness". Its like a parody of modern DT prog metal itself. I love the "crossing bridges in the sky" chorus thingy, and the dramatic instrumental that immediately precedes it up until the "eastern" sounding instrumental part. I just don't see the appeal of that section ("eastern" sounding instrumental) at all, and they have done this before (not literally, but again emphasis on feeling uninspired). also an honorable mention to "Sun... come shine my way..." chorus.

>Outcry: some cool moments in the instrumental, but otherwise its technical for the sake of being technical imo. not really drawn in by the "big/epic" sound of the rest of the song either.

>i've forgotton what this ones even called... its not terrible... it kind of serves as a decent counterpart to BAI I guess(?)  but other than that...

>BAI:I have little bad to say about this one. Has some of the most inspired and unique sounding DT on this album. For me it saves the album from being one of their worst. There is prog with purpose here i feel (at least doesn't feel as arbitrary as other proggy parts on the album), and props to JR with some of those wicked keyboard tones that really give it a new flavor and depth (same for backs of angels). JPs solo is A+, and that freaky deeky keyboard section after it is so sick! I want to hear more DT songwriting/arrangement of this caliber.

>beneath the surface: good closer. a suprisingly tasteful use of morphwiz lol. a beautiful song that I just don't have an interest in listening to again, although i can almost see myself letting this one play if it came up on shuffle or something and i was in the mood for it.

A mostly "uninspired" sounding album. If there was a frontier of "the best DT music", which was a function of "musically innovative" and "tasteful progressive" (for instance), this album, as a whole,  would lie well below this frontier. Considering their circumstances at the time, I think it's definitely a commendable effort, although I think the praise for this album is slightly unwarranted and I would like to put forward that the correlation between a person loving this album and their DT fandom/fanboyism/outright LOVE for DT is strong: rose colored glasses bias. I mean to people saying this is up there with 6doit/sfam and even octavarium: reallyy?
again, I don't mean to be a hater, just stating how I really feel about this album. Just trying to keep it real

[Ruba]

Let's see... ADTOE is definately the best DT album since... BC&SL. I'm not too fond about it, even though it has some good songs, there are a couple of weaker ones and the ultimate rock bottom (BMU,BMD). My 9th favourite DT album.

[ariich]

It's still my second favourite DT album. Ok, it's very safe, which is why I'm hoping for something a bit more new and exciting for DT12, but the quality really is so high in the majority of the songwriting, and there are some great standout moments.

Song ranking, just because I haven't done it in a long time!

1. Bridges in the Sky
2. Breaking All Illusions
3. This is the Life
4. Build Me Up, Break Me Down
5. Beneath the Surface
6. On the Backs of Angels
7. Far From Heaven
8. Outcry
9. Lost Not Forgotten