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

[TheGreatPretender]

I love it, but I'm a glass moon half full kind of guy. 

FTFM

[Lowdz]

So the tv is power Windows inspired, the dolls are like Syme's work on this. In fact it could be the same room. This is from the early 90s.



Lazy.

[maximumrocker]

I like it

Wonder what the other art work looks like

[YtseJamittaja]

Hugh Syme uses similar themes in many of his works. Elephants, children "looking to the future", skulls, sky and space for example.

[TheGreatPretender]

Hugh Syme uses similar themes in many of his works. Elephants, children "looking to the future", skulls, sky and space for example.

What I don't get is, do they just tell him, "Hey, Syme, go ahead and do what you want"? Shouldn't they tell him what kinds of imagery to use in their album?

[Lucidity]

Hugh Syme uses similar themes in many of his works. Elephants, children "looking to the future", skulls, sky and space for example.

What I don't get is, do they just tell him, "Hey, Syme, go ahead and do what you want"? Shouldn't they tell him what kinds of imagery to use in their album?

I really wish they would...

[Tomislav95]

I think it's time for change.

[JayOctavarium]

I think it's time for a CHAAAAAAAAYAAAAAANGE!

FIFY

[liran95]

I think it's time for CHAAAAAAAAYAAAAAANGE!

FIFY

 

There is something that I feel, but the artwork doesn't seem real

[countoftuscany42]

Hugh Syme uses similar themes in many of his works. Elephants, children "looking to the future", skulls, sky and space for example.

What I don't get is, do they just tell him, "Hey, Syme, go ahead and do what you want"? Shouldn't they tell him what kinds of imagery to use in their album?

how do we know they dont tell him the imagery to use? maybe Syme's typical themes just happen to be in line with what the band envisions for the album? personally i love Syme's work and have never had a problem with it (save for the cover cutoff issue, which was resolved).  I think the BC&SL artwork is great, and wouldnt mind more of that style 

[JayOctavarium]

We're tired of the pictures in Syme's mind
They do nothing but hurt our eyes

[liran95]

Hugh Syme uses similar themes in many of his works. Elephants, children "looking to the future", skulls, sky and space for example.

What I don't get is, do they just tell him, "Hey, Syme, go ahead and do what you want"? Shouldn't they tell him what kinds of imagery to use in their album?

how do we know they dont tell him the imagery to use? maybe Syme's typical themes just happen to be in line with what the band envisions for the album? personally i love Syme's work and have never had a problem with it (save for the cover cutoff issue, which was resolved).  I think the BC&SL artwork is great, and wouldnt mind more of that style 

I agree about the BC&SL artwork, but this one is just... weird.

[TheLordOfTheStrings]

I remember reading that they just tell him the album name, and they send him some lyrics to get the mood of the album. I also remember reading that for ADTOE they asked him to make the colors brighter and less dark like their previous albums.


At least, I think I remember reading this...

[Mosh]

I imagine at least Portnoy was really involved in the artwork, since he likes to have a hand in all that stuff.

[PROGdrummer]

The usual uninspired random copy and paste hackjob by Syme.

Greetings...
Nef

tbh I havent seen you post ANYTHING positive regarding this new album whatsoever.
I mean, everyone's entitled to their own opinion, be as negative and crucial as you want, but DAMN. Since I dont really know any better, it almost seems like you dont even like the band.

my2¢

[Lucien]

The usual uninspired random copy and paste hackjob by Syme.

Greetings...
Nef

tbh I havent seen you post ANYTHING positive regarding this new album whatsoever.
I mean, everyone's entitled to their own opinion, be as negative and crucial as you want, but DAMN. Since I dont really know any better, it almost seems like you dont even like the band.

my2¢

band =/= artwork

[abydos]

What I don't understand is why they don't do what Arjen does - commission a real artist that makes a beautiful painting/artwork.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

What I don't understand is why they don't do what Arjen does - commission a real artist that makes a beautiful painting/artwork.

I would like this, I've always loved Ayreon's album art.

[Dark Castle]

I don't know why everybody just doesn't hire John Baizley.

[YtseCullen]

Their WWRD philosophy basically sums up the whole "Why Doesn't DT use anybody else?" problem. Personally I don't have a problem with that. The artwork looks cool, and for the most part I just care about the music. As mentioned earlier, I'm more of a Glass Moon half full type of person, and it seems like more people here should try and be the same way.


Take that as you will, but in my opinion this whole album cycle has been very pessimistic and I don't like it. So I'm hoping people come around and stop being so negative and just enjoy the process.

Also, I realize nothings all sunshine and rainbows. There will be some criticism, but this album cycle's criticism is just unusually high from what I've seen.

[Perpetual Change]

I forgot DT were doing this.

Anyway, not sure why. If there's anything DT should have learned last time around, it's that throwing new Hugh Syme art out for the fans to chew on is almost never a good idea

[PROGdrummer]

The usual uninspired random copy and paste hackjob by Syme.

Greetings...
Nef

tbh I havent seen you post ANYTHING positive regarding this new album whatsoever.
I mean, everyone's entitled to their own opinion, be as negative and crucial as you want, but DAMN. Since I dont really know any better, it almost seems like you dont even like the band.

my2¢

band =/= artwork

no he hated on the single too

[Dark Castle]

The usual uninspired random copy and paste hackjob by Syme.

Greetings...
Nef

tbh I havent seen you post ANYTHING positive regarding this new album whatsoever.
I mean, everyone's entitled to their own opinion, be as negative and crucial as you want, but DAMN. Since I dont really know any better, it almost seems like you dont even like the band.

my2¢

band =/= artwork

no he hated on the single too

So? Lucien's point still stands. I love love loved the single, but don't like this artwork(I do like the cover) that Hugh Symes has shown so far.

[Lucien]

The usual uninspired random copy and paste hackjob by Syme.

Greetings...
Nef

tbh I havent seen you post ANYTHING positive regarding this new album whatsoever.
I mean, everyone's entitled to their own opinion, be as negative and crucial as you want, but DAMN. Since I dont really know any better, it almost seems like you dont even like the band.

my2¢

band =/= artwork

no he hated on the single too

So? Lucien's point still stands. I love love loved the single, but don't like this artwork(I do like the cover) that Hugh Symes has shown so far.

Besides, a single has never been the best song on DT's albums. Also, sigged in bold.

[dongringo]

Their WWRD philosophy basically sums up the whole "Why Doesn't DT use anybody else?" problem. Personally I don't have a problem with that. The artwork looks cool, and for the most part I just care about the music. As mentioned earlier, I'm more of a Glass Moon half full type of person, and it seems like more people here should try and be the same way.


Take that as you will, but in my opinion this whole album cycle has been very pessimistic and I don't like it. So I'm hoping people come around and stop being so negative and just enjoy the process.

Also, I realize nothings all sunshine and rainbows. There will be some criticism, but this album cycle's criticism is just unusually high from what I've seen.

I couldn't agree more with everything you said fellow Glass Moon half full person.   

[TheGreatPretender]

how do we know they dont tell him the imagery to use? maybe Syme's typical themes just happen to be in line with what the band envisions for the album? personally i love Syme's work and have never had a problem with it (save for the cover cutoff issue, which was resolved).  I think the BC&SL artwork is great, and wouldnt mind more of that style 

Well, I'm not extensively familiar with Syme's work, and someone said that he uses that kind of imagery in his work a lot. So does that meant that DT said, "Hey, remember those other art works that you did that used elephants, dolls, etc? Yeah, do all that with ours now."

[wolven74]

I think it's time for a CHAAAAAAAAYAAAAAANGE!

FIFY

I saw the OP of this and sang your response in my head before seeing this.

[adastra]

I like the fact that it is drawn, but it looks weird o.o . But i'm not hating it! :3

[TheLordOfTheStrings]

So I have a theory, and try to stay with me on this...


Since 'Darwin' and 'Behind The Veil' are on the same book, BTV could possibly be a song about the Darwin awards (Darwin Awards: awards which are given to people for dying in the stupidest ways possible). JP could have possibly focused on the death of Sirius Black which takes place in the book Harry Potter and the Order of The Phoenix (Chapter 35, entitled "Beyond The Veil"), in which he gets hit in the chest with a spell, which causes him to fall behind the veil that hangs from the archway that leads from the land of the living to the land of the dead..

 

[Nefarius]

tbh I havent seen you post ANYTHING positive regarding this new album whatsoever.
I mean, everyone's entitled to their own opinion, be as negative and crucial as you want, but DAMN. Since I dont really know any better, it almost seems like you dont even like the band.

[...]

no he hated on the single too

Let's summarize...

• I said the album cover had a good concept but could need some improvements, I really don't like the execution of the artwork for BTV. What I haven't mentioned is that I actually like the artwork for the single. All in all I find Syme's work to be too formulaic, repetitive, and... recyclic (if that's a word).
• I posted about me looking forward to coming home from work to enjoy the single right after its release.
• I didn't like it at first and expressed that in a very emotional way (first few listen reactions) but with playing the stream on different systems my initial dislike of the song dissipated and slowly got rectified.
• I mentioned how much the audio quality (or in this case the lack thereof) of the stream was the culprit for me not getting into the song right away. I also stated the single to be "much more enjoyable" once I got used to the compression and could prepare my ears and my gear accordingly.
• An hour later I preordered the limited edition collector's box set.
• During the audio quality discussion I wrote that due to the extreme brickwalling I did "almost bash the single although it's not that bad at all, it's simply not my preferred style".
• Over the next few posts I tried to explain overcompression and brickwalling to people who are not that much into the technicalities of music production. I actually described Score's audio quality to be "a paragon of live sound" and that I've been to several DT concerts which were almost as great in the sound department.
• Next step was explaining the difference between mixing and mastering because the terms were used synonymically by several posters and I stated that "DT albums never suffered a case of really bad mixing"
• I even posted "Being disappointed about the mastering does not mean one dislikes the song(s) or the band!" in big bad bold text to discern the discussion about bad audio quality from praise or hate towards artists and their music. The same post also had the line "so called 'mediocre' or even 'bad' DT is still way better than most of the rest can ever hope for".

Just so you know my background: I'm a professional design & graphics guy, quite an experienced musician, and have some (not much, but still) production experience live mixing young bands at a youth center and mixing and mastering my own stuff and the material of projects I've been a part of. So although sometimes I very much love to bitch about things I don't actually have any idea about, in this case I do.

DT is one of my favorite bands, which is the very reason I'm obsessed with details. I disliked the single at first 80% due to the audio quality and only 20% due to the song itself or its style. Or to quote myself one last time, "It would just be that much greater if we could have all that awesomeness giftwrapped in high quality sound.".

And if that's hating I would love to see more of the real haters do their homework and research only half as well as I do.

Greetings...
Nef

[BlackInk]

Finally ordered the box-set, totally worth the $118,48, I hope.

[Nefarius]

I'm sure it will be just fine, the box sets for BC&SL and ADTOE are great too, with the stem DVD on BC&SL definitely the highlight next to the idea with the silver and golden tickets. No platinum ticket this time?
I'm very much looking forward to getting the new box set too, even if it's probably some time in October or even November rather than , but I don't care. The only thing that got me worried was that I didn't get any confirmation message after ordering. But as long as the message with my digital download link on release day is okay, I'll be one happy trinity-of-box-sets owner.

Greetings...
Nef

[Outcrier]

The usual uninspired random copy and paste hackjob by Syme.

Greetings...
Nef

tbh I havent seen you post ANYTHING positive regarding this new album whatsoever.
I mean, everyone's entitled to their own opinion, be as negative and crucial as you want, but DAMN. Since I dont really know any better, it almost seems like you dont even like the band.

my2¢

So, to like a band, i am obliged to like all their albums and songs?

[BlackInk]

The only thing that got me worried was that I didn't get any confirmation message after ordering.

Really? I got an e-mail seconds after ordering.

[wasteland]

Very interesting piece of information:

To me with producing—and this goes to the song "The Bigger Picture" - it's being able to step back and really see what you're trying to do from the beginning. Then to put all the pieces in place so that you follow that road to where when you're done you can say, "OK, this is what I expected it to be. I did all the things that made it happen." That's really, really important to me to keep that focus and to have a really good grasp of the bigger picture. And that's kind of like what that song is actually about.