Dream Theater self titled album discussion - [SPOILER FREE DISCUSSION ONLY]

[tartarus250]

I thought the wee minni review was great positive and concise thanks prog mag dude!!

[aprilethereal]

But... "It's our most, kinda, cohesive and broadest expression of our different styles and our sound." That's more than just marketing.

Pretty sure they said that about SC as well.

[fadetoblackdude7]

Where can this review be found?

[Kotowboy]

I had a dream that it was Monday September 24th ( or whatever day it is - it will be out on the Monday in the UK )

And I remembered that Dream Theater was out so I reminded myself to listen to it on Spotify on my Phone.

Then the dream ended.

I was all excited too.

[Lucien]

I had a dream that it was Monday September 24th ( or whatever day it is - it will be out on the Monday in the UK )

And I remembered that Dream Theater was out so I reminded myself to listen to it on Spotify on my Phone.

Then the dream ended.

I was all excited too.

I had a dream a couple of weeks ago that the tracklist was released, and I'm almost certain Enigma Machine was in the dream. Strange, as I don't think it was deja-vu

[serrano]

If that dreams are leaks I'm not sure if it's ok to discuss them   

[Kotowboy]

Well in my dream I heard no music because I never got around to listening to it.

I just jumped forward in time to Monday September 23.

[wolven74]

But... "It's our most, kinda, cohesive and broadest expression of our different styles and our sound." That's more than just marketing.

Pretty sure they said that about SC as well.

Watched the making of SC last night. JLB said that it was "the most fun I've had in the studio since awake."

And yes overall they were saying very similar things. And it looked like they had a lot of fun while recording, but they didn't look as excited about the music. They definitely seem more energized in the new in studio vids.

[BlackInk]

I see no difference in excitement about the music itself in these studio video and the making of SC.

[Mosh]

I do. I never noticed them ever expressing excitement over the actual music in SC, just that they were having a great time recording it. The impression I got was more along the lines of, we don't really have any direction for this album, we're just going to put a bunch of heavy progressive songs together and have fun with them. With DT12, it looks like they're really excited about the new music, the new found energy in the band, and firmly believe that this album represents them.

[Dream Team]

I thought the wee minni review was great positive and concise thanks prog mag dude!!

Oh please. DT is a Melodic Prog Metal band and he said the new album was melodic, proggy, and metal. Great insight. 

[Lucien]

I do. I never noticed them ever expressing excitement over the actual music in SC, just that they were having a great time recording it. The impression I got was more along the lines of, we don't really have any direction for this album, we're just going to put a bunch of heavy progressive songs together and have fun with them. With DT12, it looks like they're really excited about the new music, the new found energy in the band, and firmly believe that this album represents them.

[Shadow2222]

I thought the wee minni review was great positive and concise thanks prog mag dude!!

Oh please. DT is a Melodic Prog Metal band and he said the new album was melodic, proggy, and metal. Great insight. 

Personally I thought that was the point lol. I thought they were trying to be jokey about it.

[Scotto123]

Apparently everyone has a vast knowledge of reviewing and journalism on this forum. No offense but some of the responses based on a facebook comment are downright silly.

[matte.braso]

I often agree with members of DT when they describe one of their album. In 'I walk beside the band' JP talks about exploring different areas of their style in the last 2 albums (heaviness/dark side in ToT, melodic with influence from U2, Coldplay, Muse ecc. in Octavarium). MP in CiP referring to SC told about the return of prog/epic elements in most songs with an aggressive approach. They have always been conscious of the direction after they sit down and start writing new material, and consequently the kind of music/bands from which taking inspiration.
In this sense, when they decide to focus on the elements that make them unique (epic, intense, atmospheric, cinematic), I'm expecting something great 'cause I love exactly that side of DT and I'm pretty sure the music will reflect this description (at least Illumination Theory as far as we know;D).

everything I said is rigorously imho

[Voices]

If they don't believe this is their best effort, there's no sense in releasing the album. I assume that they really give all they have in each new record, and that's why we always hear from them things like "this is our best".
I'm not tired from hearing it, that just reminds me that the band is always trying to grow and improve...and I do believe it everytime I hear something new from DT.

[Kotowboy]

TL;DR : EVERY BAND SAYS THEIR NEWEST ALBUM IS THEIR BEST.

[Lucien]

The fact that it's self titled is a little bit more than a marketing scheme...

[BlobVanDam]

I see no difference in excitement about the music itself in these studio video and the making of SC.

Likewise. I think we're trying to split hairs here, because basically-

TL;DR : EVERY BAND SAYS THEIR NEWEST ALBUM IS THEIR BEST.

That. Which is fine. Every band should feel that way about their latest album! It's not about lying or marketing though, it's because a band has just spent months writing and recording the music that represents where they are currently at, so it should be their idea of the perfect album. So the fact that it's self titled means nothing to me. It's just a name.

And coming from DT, it's entirely possible it is one of their best albums. What are the chances it's going to be a bad album, really?

[wasteland]

I would say remote. The biggest chance I see of the album somewhat failing is the Octavarium syndrome, but somehow I believe this album won't suffer from it. 

[BlobVanDam]

Since you just made that up, what does that even mean?

[Moor]

I would say remote. The biggest chance I see of the album somewhat failing is the Octavarium syndrome, but somehow I believe this album won't suffer from it. 

I always feel secured with DT because even SC did not disappoint me... Any syndrome would be fine  unless it is a St Anger syndrome 

[wasteland]

Since you just made that up, what does that even mean?

Of course it's a very personal thing! I should have specified that the octavarium syndrome would have caused the album to fail for me, not generally of course, but when I'm on the iPad I try to limit the number of words I type, I quite dislike touch keyboards!

Anyway, as I said earlier, the presence of a huge epic in a single CD, especially if the epic came early in the songwriting process (which is not the case this time), may be detrimental in the overall pace of the album, and could create a feeling of being lesser satellites to a massive planet for the other songs, which is not a feeling I like getting from a musical records.

But as I said at the beginning, that's entirely me!

[?]

For me Octavarium syndrome would be that DT release an album with only three great songs, one of their worst songs ever, some mediocre stuff and a huge epic that doesn't click with me yet gets worshipped by everyone else.

[aprilethereal]

If DT12 turns out to be somewhat similar to Octavarium, I'll be happy

[BlobVanDam]

Since you just made that up, what does that even mean?

Of course it's a very personal thing! I should have specified that the octavarium syndrome would have caused the album to fail for me, not generally of course, but when I'm on the iPad I try to limit the number of words I type, I quite dislike touch keyboards!

Anyway, as I said earlier, the presence of a huge epic in a single CD, especially if the epic came early in the songwriting process (which is not the case this time), may be detrimental in the overall pace of the album, and could create a feeling of being lesser satellites to a massive planet for the other songs, which is not a feeling I like getting from a musical records.

But as I said at the beginning, that's entirely me!

That's fine, I just wasn't sure what attribute of the album you felt was its major weakness. Personally, I liked the combination of longer and shorter songs, as I really enjoy DT's shorter songs, (in this case TROAE/TW/PA).
For me the problem with Octavarium is that is was perhaps too diverse for its own good, with the weaker tracks not being good for DT, and the placement hurting the pace of the album, but overall I quite like the album overall.

Excluding WDADU, DT has yet to release an album that has truly disappointed me, even the ones I notoriously complain about, and I think now with MM as a fully integrated member, they can only get better. So I have a really good feeling about this one.

[BlackInk]

If they don't believe this is their best effort, there's no sense in releasing the album.

Well, I wouldn't want the release cancelled just becuase they didn't feel like this is their best album ever, which it is unlikely to be.

[tartarus250]

I thought the wee minni reviiew was great positive and concise thanks prog mag dude!!

Oh please. DT is a Melodic Prog Metal band and he said the new album was melodic, proggy, and metal. Great insight. 

Personally I thought that was the point lol. I thought they were trying to be jokey about it.

oh come on he didn't have to say anything at all and if he was extracting the Michael at least he wasn't unnecessarily grumpy unlike some people ;-)

[matte.braso]

it seems that JP has called his new Di Marzio pick-ups 'Illuminator'.....I wonder why.....

[BlobVanDam]

it seems that JP has called his new Di Marzio pick-ups 'Illuminator'.....I wonder why.....

I think I have a theory.........

[Bolsters]

Built-in LEDs?

[wasteland]

Built-in LEDs?

Holy shit, built-in LEDs populated my university nightmares for the last week. Hearing of them so unexpectedly made me shiver

[aprilethereal]

it seems that JP has called his new Di Marzio pick-ups 'Illuminator'.....I wonder why.....

I think I have a theory.........

[DreamerTV]

So it seems now that pre orders are not going to start until August

https://twitter.com/rrusa/status/358381893336563712

[aprilethereal]

... and the album will come out in March.