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

[lovethedrake]

The quality of the youtube link is basically unlistenably bad... please tell me that its just the quality of the link and not actually the mix...

I'm sure it is.  It was recorded off a live Sirius radio show, first off.  Then YouTube mangles it up some more.  That's the last thing I'm worried about.

I really hope so because as it stands, based on the youtube version, this would be the worst DT song I have ever heard by far.    I love TGOM.   

Despite the quality being terrible the vocal melody sounds extremely tiring and unfresh... I really hope its all just a sonic issue.

[maximumrocker]

The part where JLB sings "Lead me tonight where the star touch the sky"

That part was awesome!

[bl5150]

The quality of the youtube link is basically unlistenably bad... please tell me that its just the quality of the link and not actually the mix...

The file has had two big hits -  1) radio show rip and then 2) Youtube , so I wouldn't read much into it.  I think the guitar sound is a bit too muddy but apart from that I won't comment on the sound.

As far as the song goes , my expectations just soared based on that song,.  If that is one of the lesser tracks then this is going to be one of those rare things - a concept album that I love.   I couldn't understand half the lyrics , so no real spoilers there for me either.

My main gripe with concept albums is that in all but the best of the best , I feel like the lyrics are shoe-horned into the music ..............like "these are the words and they are going to be used because they're essential to the story , even though I can't quite get the music to sound as good as it might otherwise".  I like that better than just about anything on SFAM - main reason being that the song stands up on its own for me.   I want to be able to listen to most of the songs on a concept individually and am not a fan of the "needs to be listened to as a whole" thing.

Count me much more pumped for this release than before - if DT can get me to like a sci-fi/fantasy cheesy concept album then they've crossed the final frontier .

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

OMG this is amazing.

People judging sound quality: please don't.

I can't wait for the full-quality version.

[BlobVanDam]

I didn't listen that closely to the Youtube sound quality, but the sound on the album is good.

[Sir Walrus Cauliflower]

When do you guys think we'll get an official release of Moment of Betrayal?
I mean MOB

[lovethedrake]

Well... take my words with a grain of salt because I'm struggling to find a quality version but from what I hear this is one of the least inspired dream theater songs I have ever heard.  It is completely "Bad DT by numbers" and has all the qualities of a bad DT song:

Labrie sounds horrible and the vocal melody is not just boring but actually grating to my ears.  The instrumental is technical garbage and the chorus might be their worst yet. 

I have tried three times now and can't make it through the whole song.     

Again, I love TGOM and have played it about 50 times.     

I really hope this is just a one off because my confidence in this album just plummeted. 

[ansell]

They talk about whats to come for the albums website in the interview. Going to be awesome when the album is out!

Edit: Its at about 2:17:00 in the interview.

[RMGadelha]

Btw, a certain section of the lyrics is REALLY spoiler-heavy as JP mentioned, lol.

which one? 

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER AHEAD: "I will give you what you need My brother for my son, Guilt and shame will burden me Until my days are done"

[Vandalism]

The best parts are the intro and the first verse, plus the guitar solo.  Other than that, it's okay, and it sounds a lot like the last two albums.  This probably won't be my favorite song on the album.  I think TGOM is above it.

Add this to the fact that people are placing TGOM in the middle of the pack! Man this album will be Astonishing!

[RMGadelha]

Well... take my words with a grain of salt because I'm struggling to find a quality version but from what I hear this is one of the least inspired dream theater songs I have ever heard.  It is completely "Bad DT by numbers" and has all the qualities of a bad DT song:

Labrie sounds horrible and the vocal melody is not just boring but actually grating to my ears.  The instrumental is technical garbage and the chorus might be their worst yet. 

I have tried three times now and can't make it through the whole song.     

Again, I love TGOM and have played it about 50 times.     

I really hope this is just a one off because my confidence in this album just plummeted.

I on the other hand can't stop listening to it and I love James' singing on it. Loved the instrumental section.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

When do you guys think we'll get an official release of Moment of Betrayal?
I mean MOB

ADRENALINE

MOB

[Sir Walrus Cauliflower]

Well... take my words with a grain of salt because I'm struggling to find a quality version but from what I hear this is one of the least inspired dream theater songs I have ever heard.  It is completely "Bad DT by numbers" and has all the qualities of a bad DT song:

Labrie sounds horrible and the vocal melody is not just boring but actually grating to my ears.  The instrumental is technical garbage and the chorus might be their worst yet. 

I have tried three times now and can't make it through the whole song.     

Again, I love TGOM and have played it about 50 times.     

I really hope this is just a one off because my confidence in this album just plummeted.

I mean, I disagree with this just about as much as one can possibly disagree with something, but to each their own. 

[pcs90]

I on the other hand can't stop listening to it and I love James' singing on it. Loved the instrumental section.

Same here! James sounds great! Sure, the vocal melodies are simple, but so what? The instrumental section is perfect especially JM's unison part and JP's solo.

[Sir Walrus Cauliflower]

Muthafuckin psychosane 

[Pragmaticcircus]

So if I HATED DT12, will I like the Astonishing?

[RMGadelha]

"There will be no witness"   

[Vandalism]

So if I HATED DT12, will I like the Astonishing?

Nullius in Verba

[ResultsMayVary]

Dont let your DT fanboyism blind you

This song is very very by-the-numbers and bland.

You're trying too hard.

[RMGadelha]

So if I HATED DT12, will I like the Astonishing?

Nullius in Verba

Lorem ipsum presto felice amore

[Ben_Jamin]

That fast syncopated riff with James singing is pretty cool, gonna be awesome live. I hope James can do it all. That chorus is lovely.

[Vandalism]

So if I HATED DT12, will I like the Astonishing?

Nullius in Verba

Lorem ipsum presto felice amore

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

The main theme from this song is amazing. I can't get enough of it.

[Sir Walrus Cauliflower]

The main theme from this song is amazing. I can't get enough of it.

Yeah. I have it on repeat while I'm trying to fall asleep. Gonna be a while

[wideworldofmike]

I just figured out the spoiler / meaning of the song. Great plot point.

And Manginis drumming on second verse and outro is beyond amazing.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

I'm already spoiling myself big time by listening the song on repeat. I'm doing my best in not spoiling myself any lyrical matters until I have the physical copy on my hands and I can read while listening to the whole thing. 

[wideworldofmike]

SPOILER: This song will be a DT classic. I like it even better than GOM.

[Marion Crane]

TGOM was bliss to my ears because it reminded me very much of SFAM, 6 Degrees and something new combined. I've probably listened to it 100 times in the last month.

This song is 98% DT12, with a sprinkle of 6 Degrees to me. I've listened to it twice and probably won't again until I hear the full album. Not really working for me.

Again, hoping it will work in context.

[wideworldofmike]

When SFAM came out it was totally different than everything before. If we had heard Finally Free 2 weeks before album release and heard JL sing "I ran into Julian said we'd get together soon" we'd all be like "huh?"...in this context this song will be a major plot point and I think the song will grow on the fans of the album a lot.

[lovethedrake]

After listening to it on a more quality version I don't have the extreme hatred for the song that I first did and now that I can actually hear Labrie he sounds fine.

With that said the melodies on this song are still boring and sound like a band that has run out of ideas which is worrisome.   I am confident that this is just a one off though and there will still be plenty to like on the album based on the rave reviews by many on this board.

The only part of the song I actually like is the obvious "The Great Debate" rip off because it sounds like... The Great Debate, which IMO is on the last album that the band actually sounded inspired.

Hopefully it grows on me as most DT songs do... although I really liked TGOM right from the beginning.

[TH1RT3EN]

I've spent the last 2 and a half hours trying to write down the lyrics, but there are some pieces still missing and others which I'm not quite sure of. I wanted to see if any native English speakers could help me out with that, is it OK if I post here what I've got so far?

[metropofreak]

Well that was incredible! The only similarity to DT12 that I see is the medium tempo chorus, just like Behind the Veil. Saying that, I think it is far better executed in Moment of Betrayal...

Also, there are some comments that says this is DT by numbers. I'm curious, what do people actually mean when this phrase is tossed around?

[FsF]

Really don't like the chorus, but enjoyed pretty much everything else. Also the closest Mangini has come to a memorable DT drum performance, to me.

[YtseJamittaja]

That was like a good mix between The Great Debate and Behind the Veil. Liked but not so overstocked. Great to hear another tune though!! 

[Kyo]

It makes sense that they would debut Moment of Betrayal in the context of a metal radio show. It's easily one of the most metal and most straightforward things on the album. But of course this choice in the context of the other marketing activities goes further down the misleading path of the trailer, indicating that the album is much more along the lines of modern heavy DT (think DT12) than it really is. The intro before the verse riff kicks in, particularly the first ~22 seconds with just the piano and the violin (or is it a cello?), are actually more representative of a good chunk of the album than the metal song that follows is.