Your Controversial Opinions on DT

[Max Kuehnau]

call me strange, but I think some sections of S2N might have made sense on FII too (and Room 137 as well, as a whole)
Oh and another one: I don't know or understand why Nafaryus changes sides in TA (that and the apparent focus on family values). Shouldn't have happened. I would have preferred battles being put to music.

[Sebastián Pratesi]

Do we know if any other DT member, past or present, also joined the forum?

JP joined and posted once in 2013, but his post is no longer showing up. Charlie Dominici joined and posted for a while, until 2011. And, as mentioned by someone else earlier, MP joined and posted during the ADToE era. (Not a DT member, but JP's wife Rena also joined during the ADToE era, and has posted a few messages on behalf of her husband.)

You can find out all of that and more in the 'Members' section of the forum, and sorting by 'Position' - the ones you are looking for are the 'VIP members'.

Wow.  I had no idea that any of that went down. I always lurked on the MP forum because when I was a new fan, other fans told me his forum was really more like the band's forum and I'd get the latest news there and posts from him.  So I never went to the official DT forum and when I started checking this one out I was surprised it was "unofficial."

Last year, I put together a brief history of the DT websites and fan communities, going back to the mid '90s. If you find it interesting, you can check it out:

• on DT.club (you have to scroll down to 'Bonus tracks'):
  https://dreamtheater.club/blog/2018/12/31/dream-theater-treasure-hunt-walkthrough-pt-6
• on this PDF (page 108): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1v2MwZPqsVLF6L9v6UDm9D9Li3To0QzsM

Other fans like bosk, noxon, Weymolith and Setlist Scotty helped me with that, and have interesting stories to share.

Also, when did Dreamtheater.net kill their "Official" forum?

It seems they closed it sometime in the first week of November 2006. When you look at archived versions of DT.net from November 3, there's still a fully-working 'message board' link at the top, but the link is no longer there in November 7 versions. You can check it out here:

• November 3: https://web.archive.org/web/20061103002630/http://www.dreamtheater.net/
• November 7: https://web.archive.org/web/20061107180515/http://www.dreamtheater.net/

Oh and another one: I don't know or understand why Nafaryus changes sides in TA (that and the apparent focus on family values). Shouldn't have happened. I would have preferred battles being put to music.

Well, Faythe had been stabbed by her brother, and Gabriel (plus a thousand other voices) saved her. What I get from Nafaryus' lines in "Losing Faythe" and "Astonishing" is that he realises he had been too proud and selfish all that time, and he felt responsible for (almost) losing his daughter.

But I agree: the battle section in "The Path That Divides" is too cool.

[Grizz]

I think Chris Collins also joined this forum and got into a fight with a bunch of members. Or maybe I'm thinking of Dominici.

[Max Kuehnau]

I may be the only one here who likes all the DT cover art for what it is and that includes Hugh Syme's art.

[the_silent_man]

I may be the only one here who likes all the DT cover art for what it is and that includes Hugh Syme's art.

I like/love most of them, apart from WD&DU (THAT hairy armpit!  + no classic DT font - ugly and cheesy as hell cover) and ADTOE (love the album, like the general concept of the art, but the execution looks so cheap and basic).
Overall their covers are better than a lot of metal album covers.

[Setlist Scotty]

I may be the only one here who likes all the DT cover art for what it is and that includes Hugh Syme's art.

I'd say I'm basically in the same boat but with some exceptions. While the FII artwork is OK, I wish they would've gone with the other option that Storm offered up, which ended up being used for the Pink Floyd compilation Echoes. Also, I wish they would've been a bit more creative with the replacement artwork for LSFNY - what they used as replacement artwork is very dull, IMO. Same is true for the art of L@B. Regarding Hugh Syme's artwork, I don't have a problem with the ideas, but the execution is sloppy in most cases, unlike what he did for Rush.

[MirrorMask]

I would assume that the absurdingly horrible coincidence of the LSFNY cover and 9/11 forced them to think on their feet and find a possible solution ASAP, rather than taking their time to conceive a whole new art.

I believe it was a "Oh shyt, what do we do now?" moment for them, that's why they just slapped the Majesty logo on it and got done with it.

[zappafrank2112]

Controversial opinion:

WDADU is a top 5 DT album

[Ruba]

Controversial opinion:

WDADU is a top 5 DT album

It's my third favourite, to be exact.

FII is miles better than SFAM

Maybe not miles better but yeah, better.

[ReaperKK]

Listening to DOT and I'm going to say this is easily their third best album.

[Max Kuehnau]

Listening to DOT and I'm going to say this is easily their third best album.

wow ok, that's controversial

[Cool Chris]

At this point I'd rank it as their 3rd best album with MM.

[Max Kuehnau]

I actually like Another Won quite a bit (great songwriting and great melodies and all that), it may have made sense on WDADU in place of Status Seeker.

[ReaperKK]

I agree with that. Another Won is a great song.

[Cool Chris]

I had never heard Another Won until Score was released and I totally enjoyed it. I am sure I have heard the original version (with much less joy), though I don't know where since I don't own it

[John II]

My controversial opinion is that 8vm is 4th or 5th best DT album.
Also, UA is annoying because it was so good, and the rest of D/T was a bit lame.
WfM > D/T
Finally, I used to hate PMU... I got better though (required electroshock therapy)
I lied about the final bit... not DT related but I just can't get King Crimson... ITCotKC is the only album I've heard from them, and it's a good album, but only good. I definitely don't like it enough to go and listen to other KC albums.

[Another_Won]

I agree with that. Another Won is a great song.

Yes, a great song

[hefdaddy42]

My controversial opinion is that 8vm is 4th or 5th best DT album.

Is that controversial?

[pg1067]

My controversial opinion is that 8vm is 4th or 5th best DT album.

Is that controversial?

I don't think so at all.  I rank I&W, SFAM and SDOIT at the top, followed closely by Awake.  8VA is in the next tier -- not necessarily 5th, but right there.  And, judging from all the recent "tier making," lots of folks have in that range.

[BeatriceNB]

I have to say that, in my opinion, The Astonishing  is their most mature, musically diverse and interesting album, and has every member on their musical prime.
Some say it's a failure, and I couldn't disagree more. I just love every tiny bit of the album, including the lyrics (and yes, that includes the music player section).

Not sure if controversial is the word, but definitely isn't something you read normally.

[Volante99]

Not my cup of tea, but nothing wrong with liking Astonishing. But not sure I would call a 2 hour fantasy rock-opera about Lord Nefaryus "mature". 

[KevShmev]

Not my cup of tea, but nothing wrong with liking Astonishing. But not sure I would call a 2 hour fantasy rock-opera about Lord Nefaryus "mature". 

Why not?

[TAC]

I freaking LOVE The Astonishing. Sure, it can run a bit long, but there are so many great melodies on this. It's like a classic moment every 30 seconds. I do have an Abridged version of The Astonishing that I'd put up against anything in their catalog. Just the way they "scored" the music first, then added all of the other bits is amazing.

[PetFish]

Not my cup of tea, but nothing wrong with liking Astonishing. But not sure I would call a 2 hour fantasy rock-opera about Lord Nefaryus "mature". 

I guess you're overlooking the entire story of oppression and rebellion all because you don't like the name of one of the characters.

I guess every fantasy rock-opera ever is also immature.

I guess the insane musical effort that JP and JR put into it along with a huge production doesn't mean anything either.

       

[Grizz]

Not my cup of tea, but nothing wrong with liking Astonishing. But not sure I would call a 2 hour fantasy rock-opera about Lord Nefaryus "mature". 

I guess you're overlooking the entire story of oppression and rebellion all because you don't like the name of one of the characters.

I guess every fantasy rock-opera ever is also immature.

I guess the insane musical effort that JP and JR put into it along with a huge production doesn't mean anything either.

       

Say what you want, the names in that story are distractingly dumb.

So is the rest of the storytelling tbh

[Setlist Scotty]

I have to say that, in my opinion, The Astonishing  is their most mature, musically diverse and interesting album, and has every member on their musical prime.

I would question how "musically diverse" it is. One of the problems I have with TA is the fact that so many of the songs seem to start off as piano-based ballads. Besides there being too much dialog between characters, I would say a lack of musical diversity is a big reason why the album ranks lowest in their catalog for me. Many of their other albums are more musically diverse, IMO.

[KevShmev]

Say what you want, the names in that story are distractingly dumb.

Honest question: do you like Game of Thrones and if so do you think some of the names of the characters in that show are distractingly dumb?  Because JP is a huge fan of that show, and I think it's clear that he chose unusual names in the style of GOT for the Astonishing characters.

[The Walrus]

Say what you want, the names in that story are distractingly dumb.

Honest question: do you like Game of Thrones and if so do you think some of the names of the characters in that show are distractingly dumb?  Because JP is a huge fan of that show, and I think it's clear that he chose unusual names in the style of GOT for the Astonishing characters.

I think some of the names in The Astonishing aren't 'dumb' but they're close because they're so on the nose. Two of them are biblical in nature - Gabriel (good guy Gabriel, has angelic voice, heart of gold, The Savior), and Faythe (nuff said) - and the villainous nefarious tyrant is named... Nafaryus. Like really.  Big difference between those names and creating entire family trees and ancestry and naming schemes amongst the families (Aemon, Aegon, Daemon, Daenerys, Viserys, Aerys...)

[MirrorMask]

Well, like or not the choice, but Petrucci surely went intentionally for an over the top name. Do you think he came up with the name "Lord Nafaryus" for a villain and was dead serious about it? he obviously accepted that it would have been seen as a cheesy name.

[Grizz]

Say what you want, the names in that story are distractingly dumb.

Honest question: do you like Game of Thrones and if so do you think some of the names of the characters in that show are distractingly dumb?  Because JP is a huge fan of that show, and I think it's clear that he chose unusual names in the style of GOT for the Astonishing characters.

Never watched it. Doesn't really pique my interest.

[TAC]

Honest question: do you like Game of Thrones and if so do you think some of the names of the characters in that show are distractingly dumb?  Because JP is a huge fan of that show, and I think it's clear that he chose unusual names in the style of GOT for the Astonishing characters.

Never watched it. Doesn't really pique my interest.

Amen, Brother!

[BeatriceNB]

I have to say that, in my opinion, The Astonishing  is their most mature, musically diverse and interesting album, and has every member on their musical prime.

I would question how "musically diverse" it is. One of the problems I have with TA is the fact that so many of the songs seem to start off as piano-based ballads. Besides there being too much dialog between characters, I would say a lack of musical diversity is a big reason why the album ranks lowest in their catalog for me. Many of their other albums are more musically diverse, IMO.

On the bigger picture (pun intended) it may seem that the songs are similar to each other, but the arrangements/instrumentation makes it really diverse, in my opinion. On the top of my head, you have the Tango section on Lord Nafaryus, the Jazz+blast bears section in Three Days, the bagpipes on The X Aspect, the instrumental section on A New Beginning (including the Satriani tribute), the straightforward Metal of Moment Of Betrayal, the mandolin on Hymn Of Thousand voices, the Rock anthem nature of Our New World, the '70s Prog intro on A Life Left Behind...

The only other really diverse album I can think of is SDOIT, which is the most "Proggy" borderline experimental one.

[TAC]

I have to say that, in my opinion, The Astonishing  is their most mature, musically diverse and interesting album, and has every member on their musical prime.

I would question how "musically diverse" it is. One of the problems I have with TA is the fact that so many of the songs seem to start off as piano-based ballads. Besides there being too much dialog between characters, I would say a lack of musical diversity is a big reason why the album ranks lowest in their catalog for me. Many of their other albums are more musically diverse, IMO.

I don't know. I mean, the piano is definitely there, but I would say that it's only noticeable because the piano is so criminally absent from the rest of their catalog.

My biggest problem with The Astonishing (and I love it) is that many of the ideas aren't built upon. Feels like every 30 seconds there's an amazing part, and then BAM it's gone.

Honestly I'm trying to think what is more musically diverse. Maybe 8V, but overall, that album stinks. Systematic Chaos? Maybe, but for some reason, that album is universally panned. Train Of Thought? No way!

[PetFish]

It's a new level of pop-tart shallow when DT fans dismiss the music simply because of the names of some fictional characters.

[IDontNotDoThings]

It's a new level of pop-tart shallow when DT fans dismiss the music simply because of the names of some fictional characters.

Devil's advocate: Volante99 didn't dismiss the music, he just used it as an example of how he doesn't find the music "mature".

Not my cup of tea, but nothing wrong with liking Astonishing. But not sure I would call a 2 hour fantasy rock-opera about Lord Nefaryus "mature".