Sorry if I'm moving fast but I want to get this finished early so I can concentrate on preparing for my upcoming exams. Besides, a lot of people are waiting for their turn to start their lists.
10. In the Name of GodIn the Name of God is a very appealing song to a person like me who has recently become a sucker for the combination of crushing downtuned riffs and clean vocals. Being an Atheist who finds violence, abuse and other crap that happens in the name of religion disgusting I also like the lyrical theme. ITNOG sounds massive and heavy, 10.02 is the best metal DT moment ever!
However, the song isn't devoid of atmosphere: the "hundreds of believers" section sounds pretty eerie. The instrumental section may seem like musical dong action on the surface but JM and MP's playing makes it very interesting actually. The chorus is really catchy and deserves to be repeated many times, and the ending is pure epicness.
9. Far from Heaven/Breaking All IllusionsFar from Heaven is another great ballad from ADTOE; as an individual piece I prefer BTS but this song is very beautiful too. FFH is a nice song to play on piano and I can relate to the lyrics as sometimes my parents put more than enough pressure on me to live up to their expectations. The end of FFH leads nicely into Breaking All Illusions which is a great epic in the classic DT vein. Knowing that JM had penned the lyrics I expected a lot from this song but it didn't disappoint me at all. BAI is easily one of the highlights of DT's recent output: it's full of great stuff like the soaring chorus, JP's excellent solo, Jordan's melodic keyboards and the beautiful FFH reprise at the end that still sounds breathtakingly epic.
8. Bridges in the SkyWhen I was listening to ADTOE for the first time and heard the throat singing I thought: "This song will be something special." And as you may guess, I was right! After the intro Bridges in the Sky offers you some of the best riffing JP has come up with on the newer DT albums. However, this isn't a full-on metal song as the chorus - that amazed me on the first listen already - is very melodic. James' singing is simply excellent here and he lifts the song into incredible heights (so high that it's crossing bridges in the sky
). The instrumental section is interesting and compact; it successfully avoids the pitfalls that so many songs on the previous few albums fell into. The outro of BITS is also the point by which I was 100% convinced that Mangini is even better than MP - dat double bass!
7. A Mind Beside ItselfI think I'm the first person to list this as one piece... A Mind Beside Itself begins with Erotomania which is a fairly typical DT instrumental thanks to its progginess and technicality. However, there's a lot of melody and atmosphere as well, like in the wonderful section at 2.38, the following bit that references The Silent Man and JP's neo-classical solo. Then it's time for Voices, one of DT's darkest songs that truly stands out among their epics. I love the contrasts this song has - the first verse with just piano and vocals and the "I'm kneeling on the floor..." part are really quiet but the chorus and the "fuck this whore" verse are quite explosive. JP's lyrics are the best ones he's ever written and James brings them to life with his impressive vocal performance. Oh, and dat solo! The suite ends with The Silent Man, a beautiful piece that shows JP's skills at writing great acoustic ballads. All in all, AMBI is an excellent suite that manages to sum up basically everything I love about DT in 20 minutes.
6. Blind FaithBlind Faith is an interesting journey: Jordan's keys and JM's bass give the intro the same mysterious vibe that a lot of Six Degrees has, but starting with the first chorus the song gets more rocking, culminating in the instrumental section in which the guys are firing on all cylinders. Jordan is undeniably the star of this tune: the piano break is the best thing he has played in any DT song and the keyboard solo is noteworthy as well. However, JP deserves a lot of credit for learning the tricky unison and MP's fills are impressive. James has penned great lyrics and vocal melodies, and although JM's playing isn't that clearly audible due to the fact that JP is playing on the same frequencies with his baritone, I appreciate the aforementioned cool bass intro. Blind Faith is
the song in which the 99-10 line-up unleashed its full potential in a mindblowing way.
Topic: ?'s 50 favorite pieces of music by DT v. We have a winner, goodbye to your liver (Read 13005 times)