actually i'm doing just that
False Awakening Suite: this is like. literally as generic as it gets. and Rudess' string patches sound awful. it's not bad. just flavorless.
The Enemy Inside: it's a better lead single than AROP, i guess. it's ok.
The Looking Glass: lyrics irk me, otherwise this is fairly unremarkable. the ending is -terrible- though, it sounds like they literally just gave up
Enigma Machine: this is one of the songs on the album I actually kinda like, mostly because it has some flavor to it. the solos suck though. it's basically just "Erotomania and YYZ but in 2013"
The Bigger Picture: only song on the album where LaBrie sounds sincere, but the over-produced guitars and vocal effects kinda irk me. Rudess also does a really bad run in the middle using his awful strings patch. this is probably the best song on the album
Behind the Veil: this song is evidence that writing lyrics separate of music is a terrible idea. one of the clumsiest-written DT songs, only TAMP is worst in that regard. that stupid symphonic intro just feels like a random idea they tacked on to the start of the song for no reason. singing "someone save me" while the chorus has an anthemic kind of vibe to it and Petrucci is doing random guitar runs doesn't work. "i can't face another day" segueing into an upbeat and relatively bright-sounding instrumental section is laughable. ugh. why is everything about this so wrong.
Surrender to Reason: this is kind of a mess too, it just feels like random ideas patched together. Petrucci's solo is awful. I'd like LaBrie here if his voice wasn't drowned in effects.
Along for the Ride: eh
Illumination Theory: you'll never convince me that string intro isn't a stolen melody. i haven't commented on the snare sound yet have it? it blows. hard. the song just stops for a random string interlude and the real string sounds blow Rudess' cruddy patch out of the water. when one song goes on so long and gets basically no reaction from me though there's definitely something wrong. the longer you make a meh thing, the worse it becomes.
my overall opinion on this album is that it's so flavorless that the dumb self-titled thing actually works 'cause, yeah, it does sound like Dream Theater alright, as soulless and lazy as the title. sigh. at least i can feel good that dismissing this album after only a month was fully justified because i feel like i wasted an hour just listening to this again
Topic: What album are you listening to? v.4 (Read 423699 times)
