So after about 10 listens I've gone through a couple stages of enjoyment with this album.
My first reaction was that it was completely forgettable. I have never had such a lukewarm first listen to a Dream Theater album before. I don't know if my tastes changed a lot as I've grown older, but I had never been less excited upon a first listen.
I gave it another run through a few days later and Illumination Theory hit me like a brick wall. I experienced a high on this song and suddenly a number of other songs started clicking with me. Surrender to Reason. The Looking Glass. I even learned the easter egg song on piano because it was so captivating I couldn't get it out of my head.
However, I can offer a more seasoned personal perspective on the album now, and unfortunately it is closer to my initial reaction. I understand why many love the album, but I'm afraid it didn't live up to the expectations for me.
The one piece of my opinion that has remained constant throughout is the quality of the production. I know many have favorable or unfavorable opinions on the mix, but as someone who teaches audio production for a living at a couple colleges, I can't pretend that the mix is strong. ADTOE suffered from low drum volume in a couple areas but other than that I was very much a fan of what Andy Wallace was able to accomplish. The mix on the self-titled album is somewhat of a disaster at times in my opinion. Even on the 5.1 DVD mix I couldn't believe how loud the "quiet" parts of the songs were. I know Systematic Chaos gets the finger pointed at it for being a product of the loudness war, but sonically I would choose that album over this one any day of the week.
I realize there has been some dispute over whether the snare was triggered and I am unsure whether that has been resolved. However, this misses the point because whether it was or was not triggered DOES NOT MATTER. It SOUNDS triggered and it SOUNDS bad (in my opinion of course), so how they achieved this is irrelevant if the final product reflects a poor result. I also feel the vocals were surprisingly low and overly filtered in many areas, and despite the "chocolate cake" approach, the mix lacked energy in a number of areas and felt thin overall. When I popped in the DVD, I turned my subwoofer up to over twice the regular volume (I have it calibrated) before it felt beefy enough. I'm not saying there weren't brilliant spots on the album, but if one of my graduating students turned in "Along for the Ride", they wouldn't be getting a perfect score.
So onto the songs themselves:
I can't seem to get into the instrumentals at all. False Awakening is pretty cheesy, video gamey, and sounds like it was made with very low quality synth patches. Enigma Machine is a mess. The only things keeping it notched above Raw Dog are the organ sequence and the hilariously impossible Mangini solo. It's been a long time since we've had an instrumental make its way onto an album, and the earlier attempts were always highlights, but here they unfortunately obvious lowlights.
A couple tracks tend to blend together in my mind. Not necessarily because they are too similar, but mostly because there isn't enough about them to be considered unique. The Enemy Inside, Behind the Veil, and the The Bigger Picture aren't poor tracks, but they certainly aren't anything special. Were it not for the guitar refrain in 6/8 on TBP, I would say that the album would be stronger without these tracks included at all.
Surrender to Reason is the second strongest track on the album, and I've really grown to love it, but what is going on with that intro? It's so lazy and tacked on that it pulls down the rest of the track with it.
Illumination Theory is an incredible song, no doubt about it. This track alone is the reason I didn't initially write off the album as a failure. I do worry that on future listens it will sound incredibly disjointed, but for now it really hits all the right notes in just the right way. The beginning rocks, the middle is beautiful, and the ending delivers as well. This is probably one of the best tracks the band has written, and I still hold onto my initial thought that the easter egg is mind blowing. I have to imagine this song is going to be a chore to listen to live however. For the orchestra break are they just going to have Jordan play it? Bring a string section to every show? Leave the stage and spin a CD? I can't think of any possible way for this to play out in a concert scenario that isn't completely boring and momentum-draining, but only time will tell.
So my song ranking is:
1. Illumination Theory
2. Surrender to Reason
3. The Looking Glass
4. Along for the Ride
5. The Bigger Picture
6. Behind the Veil
7. False Awakening Suite
8. The Enigma Machine
So, at least at this point in time, I'm fairly displeased with the album. That could change over time but for now I would have to rank the album within the bottom four certainly.
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Topic: What are your thoughts on DT12? (Read 156640 times)