OK.............I have now listened to The Astonishing three times , last time reading along with the story on dt.net and I must admit that it did boost the listening experience. So , as I originally surmised , if you're not prepared to get involved in the story there ain't much there in terms of individual songs. I normally wouldn't even bother , as if I don't like the music right off the bat I generally don't bother with concepts or rock operas at all. That's why I never got into SFAM as it just sounded too focused on forcibly squeezing the story into a song format and I felt it dragged down the quality of the music/songs.
Paul was right in saying that DT didn't write this for me. My normal response to anything on TV or stage that involves drama combined with people breaking out into song is to throw up. The whole idea of musicals etc.....just does nothing for me. So when you take into account that I am rating this 75% (which is higher than I rate most albums from FII through to SC) then I think they have done a decent job. For what it is , it's very good and far more appealing to me than anything I have heard from Ayreon or the like.........I just don't hear the musical genius that others do there (or here really).
The highlights for me generally involved something resembling a full song and some good guitar playing - A Better Life, Chosen,A New Beginning and Moment of Betrayal. Of the 34 tracks they are likely the ones I would return to individually - other than that it's pretty much a "listen to the whole thing or not at all" for me and that won't be happening much I'm afraid .
The lack of heaviness doesn't bother me at all - I probably have more wimp rock in my collection than most of you guys
And when it comes to DT my taste generally doesn't follow the rules:
- I&W supposedly is very Rush like
- metalheads should like ToT (I don't rate it at all - 2nd lowest ranking above SC)
etc......
POSITIVES:- it is definitely the more melodic DT here , which is the style I like best. Having said that it's a bit light on the prog even for me.
- JLB does really well
- I think they did a good job within the chosen format. My preferred concept album style is an album full of genuine songs that loosely tell the story , with verbal interludes etc....( Mindcrime, Crimson Idol, Streets) rather than an ongoing conversation between characters /rock opera etc...
With that in mind I am glad that JLB did the lot. I am not observant enough to pick up all the cues for his various characters in this so I am not fussed. If it was a whole load of other singers I think I would've liked it less.
- the album has good production , but there's also the odd downside IMHO
NEGATIVES- once I decided to be a sport and give the cheesy storyline a go , the music flowed a lot better (as expected). However after listening to it 3 times I could probably only hum you 5-10 mins in total. Memorable musical moments are few and far between for me , despite it being a nice enough listen. I get more from one song on Images and Words than this whole album
- Jordan has been given the keys to the DT car here and IMHO has confirmed what I have always felt - that he's a gun of a player but not quite as good as a composer. I realise that there are recurring themes in the music that are done on purpose , but that doesn't account for all of the lack of variety. The soundscapes that I might have expected (I would love to know how Kev Mo' would've approached this......) just aren't there and the slow , plodding epic moments all have the same feel.
- I mentioned in the positives that the production is good in terms of clarity but I would've liked this album to have its own personality/sound (which all their other albums do). Aside from the improvement in clarity , to me this is close enough to a carbon copy of the DT 12 sound , which even further emphasises the familiar sounding epic moments , many of which can also be heard in very similar fashion in songs like The Bigger Picture (When Your Time Has Come/Ravenskill) , Illumination Theory (2285) Come to think of it Ravenskill also brought to mind Savatage , which is no bad thing.
Those are the main thoughts that were running through my head as I listened. To get a mark bordering on an 8/10 from me for this style of album is probably some sort of achievement. Part of that rating is an appreciation of the effort/guts it took to go this way and do a good job in a format that I don't really like. It won't be getting much play from me , but I do appreciate what they have done.
Do you think the fanboys over on DT side would get offended it I posted my 4 song abridged version ?
Topic: The Official Hard Rock / Classic Metal Music Discussion and Memorabilia Thread! (Read 909692 times)