Dream Theater: The Astonishing (now with moment of betrayal!)

[noxon]

Maybe monday.

[RaiseTheKnife]

Due to the delay until March, any speculation as to what the bonus gift will be for those of us that purchased the box sets?

Some of this artwork would make really nice prints.

[CoT67]

Italian interview to JP : https://issuu.com/italiandreamers/docs/ytseitalia_-_intervista_petrucci_co/1

I've read a couple of pages... JP says that Gabriel is like Jesus Christ for the inhabitants of Ravenskill (a little city) and they call him "The Astonishing".. However this word is not referred only to him...

Other things JP said in the interview:
- He started writing the story in the summer of 2013, before any music.
- He and JR started writing music in November 2014.
- They wrote the music mainly as a soundtrack to the story, but some songs can be appreciated by themselves, out of context.
- They consciously made the choice of revealing bit by bit of the album and concept and not until very late into the recording-producing phase to build up hype and keep it interesting.
- Every song talking about a character has its own kind of sound to it (character themes?).
- Live they will have some sort of scenography built by a third-party company, to accompany their performance.
- There may be a live DVD with a real choir and orchestra in the future. On this tour the choir and orchestra will only be part of the movie on the stage screens (backing tracks confirmed?).
- The interviewer asked him about doing the DVD in Italy, he said it would be a great place to do that ("The Astonishing Live in Milan" FTW!  ).
- He loved the drum mix and sound in the last album, but he says this time around the snare is much better and whoever didn't like it in DT12 will like it this time. He thinks there can't be a better drum sound than the one in The Astonishing, since they focused much more on it.

[BlackInk]

Maybe monday.

George R.R. Noxon

[ariich]

Maybe monday.

George R.R. Noxon

EDIT: Also worth noting the "RR" initials and their relevance to the word "Soon".

[Estiui]

They're coming...

https://gofleye.com/

[Cyclopssss]

LOL! No(Mac) Fly zone...

[majo]

Italian interview to JP : https://issuu.com/italiandreamers/docs/ytseitalia_-_intervista_petrucci_co/1

I've read a couple of pages... JP says that Gabriel is like Jesus Christ for the inhabitants of Ravenskill (a little city) and they call him "The Astonishing".. However this word is not referred only to him...

Other things JP said in the interview:
- He started writing the story in the summer of 2013, before any music.
- He and JR started writing music in November 2014.
- They wrote the music mainly as a soundtrack to the story, but some songs can be appreciated by themselves, out of context.
- They consciously made the choice of revealing bit by bit of the album and concept and not until very late into the recording-producing phase to build up hype and keep it interesting.
- Every song talking about a character has its own kind of sound to it (character themes?).
- Live they will have some sort of scenography built by a third-party company, to accompany their performance.
- There may be a live DVD with a real choir and orchestra in the future. On this tour the choir and orchestra will only be part of the movie on the stage screens (backing tracks confirmed?).
- The interviewer asked him about doing the DVD in Italy, he said it would be a great place to do that ("The Astonishing Live in Milan" FTW!  ).
- He loved the drum mix and sound in the last album, but he says this time around the snare is much better and whoever didn't like it in DT12 will like it this time. He thinks there can't be a better drum sound than the one in The Astonishing, since they focused much more on it.

well... that sounds intriguing but then i play tgom and it's just 

[BlackInk]

Maybe monday.

George R.R. Noxon

EDIT: Also worth noting the "RR" initials and their relevance to the word "Soon".

Lol, we're so multi-layered here.

[noxon]

If you want to speed up the launch, write me a 4000 word biography of DT from the beginning till today, without plagiarising any other sources (quotations are fine). And a 2000 word biography of each member, current and past.

[Pax]

The drums going up and down during the unison section of TGOM is amazing. MM's unique setup allows him to hit one tom at a time during a run.

There's a unison in TGOM? o.O

The unison is short, but it starts around 3:16

I didn't realize it that part has keyboards, thought it's only guitar
thanks

[vazquez]

There´s a short interview with JR here, in German:

https://www.metal.de/progressive-metal/interview/dream-theater/63160-interview-mit-jordan-rudess-zum-kommenden-album-the-astonishing/

Nothing new, I believe...

[Pax]

Tracklengths on RYM are correct...

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/dream_theater/the_astonishing/

I told you guys that I were sure in our calculations. In your face, non-believers in statistics

[The Stray Seed]

Italian interview to JP : https://issuu.com/italiandreamers/docs/ytseitalia_-_intervista_petrucci_co/1

I've read a couple of pages... JP says that Gabriel is like Jesus Christ for the inhabitants of Ravenskill (a little city) and they call him "The Astonishing".. However this word is not referred only to him...

Other things JP said in the interview:
- He started writing the story in the summer of 2013, before any music.
- He and JR started writing music in November 2014.
- They wrote the music mainly as a soundtrack to the story, but some songs can be appreciated by themselves, out of context.
- They consciously made the choice of revealing bit by bit of the album and concept and not until very late into the recording-producing phase to build up hype and keep it interesting.
- Every song talking about a character has its own kind of sound to it (character themes?).
- Live they will have some sort of scenography built by a third-party company, to accompany their performance.
- There may be a live DVD with a real choir and orchestra in the future. On this tour the choir and orchestra will only be part of the movie on the stage screens (backing tracks confirmed?).
- The interviewer asked him about doing the DVD in Italy, he said it would be a great place to do that ("The Astonishing Live in Milan" FTW!  ).
- He loved the drum mix and sound in the last album, but he says this time around the snare is much better and whoever didn't like it in DT12 will like it this time. He thinks there can't be a better drum sound than the one in The Astonishing, since they focused much more on it.

well... that sounds intriguing but then i play tgom and it's just 

It's totally fine for me. It's very dry, so it's not the snare you usually hear in a metal album, where they usually go for a fat sound. Also, Mangini's drumming is precise as hell and it might give the sensation of a less "dynamic" sound, as some have said, but I think it's just his style of playing (it was confirmed that no trigger has been used, if I remember correctly) and saying it sounds like a "drum machine" is totally out of place IMO. I think that many people are complaining not for the fact that "all they can do is complaining" as someone has said, but just because it's different from what they're used to, from what they expect. But sure it has nothing to do with the snare from DT12.

[erciccio]

Track by track review...in Italian!
https://spaziorock.it/speciale.php?&id=dream-theater-track-by-track-the-astonishing-2016
Sound very promising!

[The Astonished]

So, i found the track lenghts here:

*snip*

Source: Rateyourmusic.

I don't know if it's official.

They're ballpark, but they're mostly wrong.

This is what happens when you rely on sneaky pie charts.

Not according to Blob... 

[mike099]

Italian interview to JP : https://issuu.com/italiandreamers/docs/ytseitalia_-_intervista_petrucci_co/1

I've read a couple of pages... JP says that Gabriel is like Jesus Christ for the inhabitants of Ravenskill (a little city) and they call him "The Astonishing".. However this word is not referred only to him...

Other things JP said in the interview:
- He started writing the story in the summer of 2013, before any music.
- He and JR started writing music in November 2014.
- They wrote the music mainly as a soundtrack to the story, but some songs can be appreciated by themselves, out of context.
- They consciously made the choice of revealing bit by bit of the album and concept and not until very late into the recording-producing phase to build up hype and keep it interesting.
- Every song talking about a character has its own kind of sound to it (character themes?).
- Live they will have some sort of scenography built by a third-party company, to accompany their performance.
- There may be a live DVD with a real choir and orchestra in the future. On this tour the choir and orchestra will only be part of the movie on the stage screens (backing tracks confirmed?).
- The interviewer asked him about doing the DVD in Italy, he said it would be a great place to do that ("The Astonishing Live in Milan" FTW!  ).
- He loved the drum mix and sound in the last album, but he says this time around the snare is much better and whoever didn't like it in DT12 will like it this time. He thinks there can't be a better drum sound than the one in The Astonishing, since they focused much more on it.

Thanks for the translation! Without backing tracks for the choir and orchestra the songs live may not sound as good.  This is my only concern about the live show.

[BlobVanDam]

So, i found the track lenghts here:

*snip*

Source: Rateyourmusic.

I don't know if it's official.

They're ballpark, but they're mostly wrong.

This is what happens when you rely on sneaky pie charts.

Not according to Blob... 

They're all close, so the calculations were right, but unless the CD is slightly different lengths to what I've got (which is possible), some of these are 5-10 seconds off, probably due to the precision of the measurements. Maybe my copies are cut slightly differently though.

[noxon]

The Gift Of Music is 4:00 on the CD.

[BlobVanDam]

That wasn't one of the songs I was worried about. My versions appear to be the same length or longer to various degrees, so there's probably some additional silence on mine given the different source.

[Zydar]

You have the Australian Edition, with additional kangaroo noices.

[BlobVanDam]

You have the Australian Edition, with additional kangaroo noices.

What next, you'll tell me that Overture 1928 doesn't actually start with a low didgeridoo note?

[noxon]

Yours is probably from the same source that originated the first promo - every track there were many seconds longer (with descent of the nomacs being a full minute longer). I believe that was sourced before the final touches were done, and before the mastering.

[BlobVanDam]

Yours is probably from the same source that originated the first promo - every track there were many seconds longer (with descent of the nomacs being a full minute longer). I believe that was sourced before the final touches were done, and before the mastering.

Well Descent of the Nomacs is a full minute longer for a reason, as I'm sure you're aware of.
But yeah, that sounds very likely, as these versions would have been what as available as early as possible.

[noxon]

I'm actually not, but it's okay.

[MirrorMask]

Track by track review...in Italian!
https://spaziorock.it/speciale.php?&id=dream-theater-track-by-track-the-astonishing-2016
Sound very promising!

Absolutely it does!

Damn I am so stoked and hyped now, best album ever incoming!!!!! 

I'll try to manage my expectations 'cause I have a gut feeling that this will be the best thing happened to mankind in this entire millennium!

About track lengths... am I the only one that think that this time around they don't really matter? sure, with albums made up of a collection of songs it was cool to learn which was the epic, which the most concise etc etc but this time around all songs are scenes from a musical movie, so the length serves only the story, it does not give any real indication about how the song is structured - they're all parts of a bigger scheme anyway.

[Vandalism]

I'll try to manage my expectations 'cause I have a gut feeling that this will be the best thing happened to mankind in this entire millennium!

 

[Thematt202]

Yours is probably from the same source that originated the first promo - every track there were many seconds longer (with descent of the nomacs being a full minute longer). I believe that was sourced before the final touches were done, and before the mastering.

Well Descent of the Nomacs is a full minute longer for a reason, as I'm sure you're aware of.
But yeah, that sounds very likely, as these versions would have been what as available as early as possible.

I'm intrigued now!  Was something cut?

[BlobVanDam]

Track by track review...in Italian!
https://spaziorock.it/speciale.php?&id=dream-theater-track-by-track-the-astonishing-2016
Sound very promising!

Absolutely it does!

Damn I am so stoked and hyped now, best album ever incoming!!!!! 

I'll try to manage my expectations 'cause I have a gut feeling that this will be the best thing happened to mankind in this entire millennium!

About track lengths... am I the only one that think that this time around they don't really matter? sure, with albums made up of a collection of songs it was cool to learn which was the epic, which the most concise etc etc but this time around all songs are scenes from a musical movie, so the length serves only the story, it does not give any real indication about how the song is structured - they're all parts of a bigger scheme anyway.

I see your point. It sorta mattered when we had no idea, but after finding out you realize there's not that much insight to gain in this instance, beyond the initial mystery of the NOMACS tracks.

I'm actually not, but it's okay.

In that case, I've said too much.

[Prog Snob]

In that case, I've said too much.

Yes, because that never happens.

[noxon]

Yours is probably from the same source that originated the first promo - every track there were many seconds longer (with descent of the nomacs being a full minute longer). I believe that was sourced before the final touches were done, and before the mastering.

Well Descent of the Nomacs is a full minute longer for a reason, as I'm sure you're aware of.
But yeah, that sounds very likely, as these versions would have been what as available as early as possible.

I'm intrigued now!  Was something cut?

No, the difference is (at least on the promo i had) a longer fade in at the beginning, and a few more klaxons/bllaaarts at the end... Not anything important.

[ariich]

Well Descent of the Nomacs is a full minute longer for a reason, as I'm sure you're aware of.

EXPLAIN

[Thematt202]

Yours is probably from the same source that originated the first promo - every track there were many seconds longer (with descent of the nomacs being a full minute longer). I believe that was sourced before the final touches were done, and before the mastering.

Well Descent of the Nomacs is a full minute longer for a reason, as I'm sure you're aware of.
But yeah, that sounds very likely, as these versions would have been what as available as early as possible.

I'm intrigued now!  Was something cut?

No, the difference is (at least on the promo i had) a longer fade in at the beginning, and a few more klaxons/bllaaarts at the end... Not anything important.

Ah, cool.  Thanks for the clarification! 

[mikemangioy]

Track by track review...in Italian!
https://spaziorock.it/speciale.php?&id=dream-theater-track-by-track-the-astonishing-2016
Sound very promising!

Jesus, things are getting more exiting by the minute here! (If someone is interested in a good translation just say the word.)

[Train of Naught]

Whahibrido?