Do you think the band is aware of the "bad planet cut" in their album cover?

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

This ain't meant to be a bashing thread or anything like that, but I think it's safe to ask now that all the cool kids in the forum are discussing the track list and album cover of the new album. The more I look at the cover, the more I can't help to cringe because as you all know, what was seen cannot be unseen. I mean, the new majesty symbol is very cool but the background looks so amateurish that it brings the whole thing down.

Take the ADTOE cover, for example. It wasn't their best received cover for many reasons already talked to death in this place, but at least the concept was clear and was executed without mistakes. Yeah, in an extremely lazy way that made Hugh Syme look very bad but hey, we all kind of learned to live with it. With this new album cover, there are very few redeeming qualities. I can't imagine the band being OK with such mistake (it can't be anything else, it looks like an image editing error), so I want to hear your opinions. Is Dream Theater OK with their good ole planet being cut in 200 degrees of the circle? Did Mike Portnoy hjack the designer's file and tried to destroy Dream Theater's new album? Is Charlie Dominici seeking revenge?

keep this srs pls

[atmyne]

I think they have seen it the way I did (and most people had) on first inspection, and didn't notice the cut. When I saw the cover for the first time I thought it was really classy and high quality. Then I came back to this forum to have that detail pointed out to me...
I still like it better than the adtoe cover though 

[ronnibran]

Personally, I don't see an issue and don't assume it's a "mistake".  I think the cover is awesome and don't care if the planet cut isn't symmetrical. But that's just my opinion, I don't have a problem with others being bothered by it.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

Personally, I don't see an issue and don't assume it's a "mistake".

I'm interested by this, why don't you think it's a mistake? What else could it possibly be?

Also, don't take me wrong. I take this one over ADTOE's cover any day, but it could have been miles better IMO.

[SystematicThought]

I guess I'm more of in a fog as to what the issue is. Just tell me where to look and I'll find it and read more about the issue

[wolfking]

I don't really care, but I can see why peple would be a bit annoyed with it.  It's pretty sloppy.

[theseoafs]

I don't think the band noticed, and I'll tell you why:  I cannot for the life of me see where the planet is cut off in normal conditions.  Yeah, when you invert the colors, it's obvious, but the colors aren't inverted.  Even with my laptop on its brightest setting, I can't see the cut, and if I can't see the issue with a very bright backlight, then I doubt I'll see it when it's printed on an album cover.  So yeah, I think it's entirely possible the band is not aware of the "issue".

[Implode]

From my end I'm amazed that it hasn't been caught already. I would think that graphic designers test what something will look like on different light levels and different displays. It's incredibly obvious to me on my computer screens as well as my iPhone screen. It's definitely a mistake, and I do hope that it's fixed before the artwork is printed.

[Marion Crane]

Can someone explain in detail what the issue is with the album cover? I don't see any problem with it

[Implode]

You can see where the picture of the planet ends very easily. Also the planet part looks like it has been compressed to shit. jpg artifacts abound. You can even see white pixels around the dt logo. And same (but less so) goes for the whole picture. That I'm not worried about because I'm sure they didn't take care in resizing the picture for promotional purposes on facebook.

You know, that might be a good point. Maybe this is like a first draft that they wanted to post as soon as it was ready, and the full quality render is being touched up for the prints.

[SystematicThought]

If someone hadn't told me, I guess I would never have really noticed. I'm sure it will look fine on the physical release.

[wolfking]

It's pretty easy to see, and my eyesight is shit.

[Rattlehead]

You know, that might be a good point. Maybe this is like a first draft that they wanted to post as soon as it was ready, and the full quality render is being touched up for the prints.

That makes sense... let's hope that's the case because it would be downright inexcusable for them to release the album like that 

[Marion Crane]

If someone hadn't told me, I guess I would never have really noticed. I'm sure it will look fine on the physical release.

This....hadn't noticed until someone pointed out. Doesn't bother me in the slightest

[senecadawg2]

Maybe it has something to do with the concept of 'Illumination Theory'. Or maybe it was just a mistake. Either way, I'm planning on never looking too closely at it, and therefore don't really care one way or the other.

[wolven74]

If someone hadn't told me, I guess I would never have really noticed. I'm sure it will look fine on the physical release.

This....hadn't noticed until someone pointed out. Doesn't bother me in the slightest

+1 

[mrjazzguitar]

still don't see anything wrong with it

[TheAtliator]

On my macbook I can see it better when I tilt my screen down

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

still don't see anything wrong with it

This.
After playing with the color curves of the image, this was seen.

[theanalogkid7]

Honestly, when we all sit down and think about, are we going to care about the album cover when it's all said and done?

Wait, this is DTF, of course we're going to care about the album cover.

[SystematicThought]

Now I can see it......

......And I can't unsee it

[FiberglassMoon]

On both my monitor and my phone I saw it immediately.  Didn't have to look for it...it stuck out so much that my eye was just glued to it.  Honestly, if it isn't fixed by the time the album is released, I'll be pretty damn disappointed.  It is just so sloppy and amateurish and I can't see a band like DT letting it become a permanent part of their catalog.  If the cover wasn't so sloppy, I think it would be very elegant and atmospheric.

[Bolsters]

I think the lousy quality of this cover reflects poorly on the band. Something should definitely be done about it.

[SystematicThought]

I don't see it on my Mac, but on my iPhone, I do see it. Goddammit, I retract my earlier statement. Maybe we'll hit up Randy

[Zook]

We all remember this right:


It was cropped when the CD was released, so hopefully they fix this new cover as well. Also, Octavarium had a first rough draft, so maybe the new cover is also a demo.

[SystematicThought]

The gap is still there on the vinyl edition 

[Zook]

The gap is still there on the vinyl edition 

Wow, that's shitty.

[BlackInk]

Love the idea of the new cover. But of course the cut-off bothers me something terribly. Even if you try not to look at it's it's impossible to not see. I'd hate for this cool cover to be forever known as the one with the cut off image of a planet. Even though it probably already will be, I'd hate for it to be permanent.

[fadetoblackdude7]

I hope they fix it before the release. It bothers me quite a bit.

[BlobVanDam]

The cut is more visible on many monitors than it realistically is, because most people these days are using run of the mill LCD monitors with relatively poor black levels, set overly bright, and with viewing angles that give inaccurate colour reproduction.

I'm using a CRT monitor calibrated for correct gamma, and I can't make it out (although my monitor is a bit darker than it should be). I only spotted it when brightening the image.
I would assume that working professionally for print, that Hugh Syme has a high end monitor properly calibrated to closely approximate how it's going to look in print, and if he didn't notice a problem, I find it highly unlikely it will be noticed on the physical album. When taken as a linear value, the brightness of the transition is only a jump of 0.5% brightness, which should be negligible.

And if it's really going to be noticeable when displayed on a computer as a tiny thumbnail when listening to your music (if you're going to be staring at the cover on your computer/mp3 player while listening to it), then here's a "fixed" version. Problem solved!

[Zook]

The cut is more visible on many monitors than it realistically is, because most people these days are using run of the mill LCD monitors with relatively poor black levels, set overly bright, and with viewing angles that give inaccurate colour reproduction.

I'm using a CRT monitor calibrated for correct gamma, and I can't make it out (although my monitor is a bit darker than it should be). I only spotted it when brightening the image.
I would assume that working professionally for print, that Hugh Syme has a high end monitor properly calibrated to closely approximate how it's going to look in print, and if he didn't notice a problem, I find it highly unlikely it will be noticed on the physical album. When taken as a linear value, the brightness of the transition is only a jump of 0.5% brightness, which should be negligible.

And if it's really going to be noticeable when displayed on a computer as a tiny thumbnail when listening to your music (if you're going to be staring at the cover on your computer/mp3 player while listening to it), then here's a "fixed" version. Problem solved!

Meh, I like the original better.

[BlackInk]

My god, it calms my soul just to look at the fixed version.

[BlastParadigm]

That fixed version is the savior of times to come 

But seriously, I hope the band is aware, or that someone on the team is aware. It doesn't matter if you stare at the cover for 24 hours straight or not, that cursed cut will still be there, and the cover WILL be called bad or whatever because of that cut. There's no escaping that.

[Zydar]

My god, it calms my soul just to look at the fixed version.

Yeah, thanks Blob

[Sycsa]

Is Charlie Dominici seeking revenge?

keep this srs pls

I don't think the band noticed, and I'll tell you why:  I cannot for the life of me see where the planet is cut off in normal conditions.  Yeah, when you invert the colors, it's obvious, but the colors aren't inverted.  Even with my laptop on its brightest setting, I can't see the cut, and if I can't see the issue with a very bright backlight, then I doubt I'll see it when it's printed on an album cover.  So yeah, I think it's entirely possible the band is not aware of the "issue".

It's blatantly obvious on my perfectly calibrated monitor and on my smartphone too.