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

[Vandalism]

Must. Restrain. The. Urge.

Still not a single note? 

Good luck! 

[Kotowboy]

Must. Restrain. The. Urge.

Still not a single note! 

Good luck! 

2 songs out of 34 is hardly ruining the album. I've now heard in total about 10 minutes out of 130.

There's still TWO HOURS I haven't heard.

[Wubbagubba]

To anyone that's heard the album, is MOB the "heaviest" song? Is it one of your favorites on the album? How does it compare to the rest?

[Kyo]

To anyone that's heard the album, is MOB the "heaviest" song? Is it one of your favorites on the album? How does it compare to the rest?

This was already answered, actually it was just one page back.

[CoT67]

SPOILER ALERT (Moment of Betrayal Lyrics)

To anyone who doesn't want to know anything about the story, I advise not to read the post.

Here's what I managed to understand of the lyrics. I'm not a native speaker, so please bear with me. If anyone has any idea of what stuff goes into the (?) parts or any other stuff I might have gotten wrong, I'll be glad to know.






MOMENT OF BETRAYAL

VERSE
Brace yourself my brother,
I have breaking news,
The Noise Machines lie still tonight,
There's no time to lose,

No more threats of bloodshed,
No more pain and fear,
Ravenskill will brave the storm,
Our victory is near

PRE-CHORUS
You will have to bear restraint (?),
Know what's in our oath (?)
I will be the one to change (?),
Father give me strength

CHORUS
Burning rose, secret soul,
Moment of betrayal,
Kiss of death, love, revenge,
Moment of betrayal

VERSE
I just want to live and die
By the warrior's code,
Never leave a man behind,
The God (?) within my soul,

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

PRE-CHORUS
Leave me tonight where the stars touch the sky,
He'll be alone there, with nowhere to hide

CHORUS

BRIDGE
He will be defenceless,
I will close the brutal fight,
There will be no witness,
They will call you hero tonight

(instrumental)

CHORUS

Threats of life (?), changing sides,
Moment of betrayal,
Wasted love, (),
Moment of betrayal

[Wubbagubba]

SPOILER ALERT (Moment of Betrayal Lyrics)

To anyone who doesn't want to know anything about the story, I advise not to read the post.

Here's what I managed to understand of the lyrics. I'm not a native speaker, so please bear with me. If anyone has any idea of what stuff goes into the () and the (?) parts or any other stuff I might have gotten wrong, I'll be glad to know.






MOMENT OF BETRAYAL

Brace yourself my brother,
I have breaking news,
The Noise Machines () here tonight,
There's no time to lose,

No more threats of bloodshed,
No more pain and fear,
Ravenskill will brave the storm,
Our victory is near

You will have to bear restraint (?),
Know what's in our oath (?)
I will be the one to change (?),
Father give me strength

CHORUS
Then he rose (?), secret soul,
Moment of betrayal,
Tears of death, love, revenge,
Moment of betrayal

I just want to live and die
By the warrior's code,
Never leave a man behind,
The God (?) within my soul,

I have given you (?) what you need
My brother for my son,
Guilt and shame will burden me,
Until my days are done

Leave me tonight where the stars touch the sky,
He'll be alone there, with nowhere to hide

CHORUS

BRIDGE
He will be defenceless,
I will close the brutal fight,
There will be no witness,
They will call you hero tonight

(instrumental)

CHORUS

I always thought in the first stanza it was "The Noise Machines lie still tonight."

[CoT67]

I always thought in the first stanza it was "The Noise Machines lie still tonight."

Nice, I'll edit that part, thanks.

[aurorablind]

I think the last chorus has different lyrics.

[CoT67]

I think the last chorus has different lyrics.

I completely forgot about that, thanks.

[aurorablind]

Im not sure, but Im hearing this on the chorus:

Burning rose
Secret soul
Moment of betrayal
Kiss of death
Love, revenge
Moment of betrayal

[lovethedrake]

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?

Bad DT by numbers =    straightforward metal, Labrie trying to sound sinister, chorus with a boring melody,  token instrumental part that doesn't progress the song or smoothly lead back to the versus or chorus. 


I am one of the ones who really enjoyed DT12.... but I consider The Enemy Inside a throwaway track.    So I am happy to hear that "Moment of Betrayal" is not representative of the album.

[CoT67]

Im not sure, but Im hearing this on the chorus:

Burning rose
Secret soul
Moment of betrayal
Kiss of death
Love, revenge
Moment of betrayal

Might be. I'll update it... in the meantime, do you know the words for the last chorus?

[MirrorMask]

Saw 5 pages out of nowhere, figured out something had happened  funny how the vast majority really likes it, and the rest really dislikes it.

Anyway, not listening to it, I wil resist until the end and I will listen to the entire album without hany kind of preview at all!

[BelichickFan]

Just realized why I don't like the vocal melodies - they are most reminiscent (to me) of A Rite of Passage, which is one of my least favorite DT tracks especially when it comes to the vocals.

[Tabs]

Here's what I hear for the lyrics:

(again - major story plot spoilers here - don't read this if you care about that)

Brace yourself my brother
I have breaking news
The noise machines lie still tonight
There's no time to lose
No more threats of bloodshed
No more pain and fear
Ravenskill will brave the storm
Our victory is near

You are acting very strange
Nervous and on edge
I will be a voice for change
Brother give me strength

Burning rose
Secret sold
Moment of betrayal
Kiss of death
Blood revenge
Moment of betrayal

I have sworn to live and die
By the warrior's code
Never leave a man behind
May god redeem my soul
I will give you what you need
My brother for my son
The guilt and shame will burden me
Until my days are done

Meet me tonight where the stars touch the sky
He'll be alone there with nowhere to hide

Burning rose
Secret sold
Moment of betrayal
Kiss of death
Blood revenge
Moment of betrayal

He will be defenseless
Out of guards, he'll put up a fight
There will be no witness
They will call you a hero tonight

Burning rose
Secret sold
Moment of betrayal
Kiss of death
Blood revenge
Moment of betrayal

Threats and lies
Changing sides
Moment of betrayal
Risking all
Savior's fall
Moment of betrayal

[Voices]

The instrumental section feels so natural. IMO, DT is improving that subject. Many instrumental sections from BCSL, for example, just doesn't flow naturally and sounds forced.

[TH1RT3EN]

I think the last part is:

Threats and lies, changing sides
Moment of betrayal
Risking all, secrets fall
Moment of betrayal

Also, I think it's "I will give you what you need" instead of "I have given you what you need", "blood" instead of "love" and "kiss" instead of "tears" in the chorus (although I'm not quite sure of this last one. Perhaps it makes sense in the context of the album).

[As I Am]

Well, THAT was disappointing

[RMGadelha]

Sounds just like ADTOE and DT12.

Disagree completely.

I got a huge SDOIT vibe from it.

One of the pre-chorus is The Great Debate and the main chorus reminds me of Losing Time.

[BlobVanDam]

He will be defenseless
Out of guards, he'll put up a fight
There will be no witness
They will call you a hero tonight

Mostly right, just a minor correction-

He will be defenseless
I'll look on
Say I put up a fight
There will be no witness
They will call you a hero tonight

Also the chorus says secrets told, not secret told, but that's pretty minor.

[chwik]

Well, THAT was disappointing

Why?

[CoT67]

Here's what I hear for the lyrics:

(again - major story plot spoilers here - don't read this if you care about that)

Brace yourself my brother
I have breaking news
The noise machines lie still tonight
There's no time to lose
No more threats of bloodshed
No more pain and fear
Ravenskill will brave the storm
Our victory is near

You are acting very strange
Nervous and on edge
I will be a voice for change
Brother give me strength

Burning rose
Secret sold
Moment of betrayal
Kiss of death
Blood revenge
Moment of betrayal

I have sworn to live and die
By the warrior's code
Never leave a man behind
May god redeem my soul
I will give you what you need
My brother for my son
The guilt and shame will burden me
Until my days are done

Meet me tonight where the stars touch the sky
He'll be alone there with nowhere to hide

Burning rose
Secret sold
Moment of betrayal
Kiss of death
Blood revenge
Moment of betrayal

He will be defenseless
Out of guards, he'll put up a fight
There will be no witness
They will call you a hero tonight

Burning rose
Secret sold
Moment of betrayal
Kiss of death
Blood revenge
Moment of betrayal

Threats and lies
Changing sides
Moment of betrayal
Risking all
Savior's fall
Moment of betrayal

Whoa, I got a lot of stuff wrong... thanks for the lyrics!

[RoeDent]

Some of the lyrics make me think it's Gabriel talking to Arhys, then others make me think it's the other way round. Maybe this is a "dialogue" song.

[CDrice]

Well, THAT was disappointing

Why?

Maybe it's because the song was so good that he has no other choice than to buy the new album... at least that the case for me 

[jayvee3]

Just terrific! Loving the direction of this and of course TGOM. I get a real 'Outcry-meets Sacrificed Sons' vibe from this song (which is great, as I love those two songs). I'm fairly easy to please in regards to DT music, and like lots of things even from the albums I listen to the least. But what I have heard of the Astonishing so far just appears right up my alley, and I really think this album will be something special. Pumped to listen to the album in full on release! 

[Woodworker1]

1.  Mangini really is impressive on this song.  Every album he gets better and better (or I can hear him better).  He has some really catchy parts on this song.
2.  The instrumental breakdown is impressive even by DT standards.
3.  Based on The Gift of Music and Moment of Betrayal I predict this will be my second favorite DT album (behind Images and Words).

[Polarbear]

Gift of Music was good, but nothing that made me really excited about the rest of the album..

Moment of Betrayal was awesome, much better than anything from the DT12! Sounds like it would fit really nicely into Octavarium, minus the concept of course. I have not followed any of the updates for the album, but this song made me pretty excited to hear the rest of The Astonishing.

If this song is any indication on what we can expect from The Astonishing, it should be a damn good album!

[emtee]

Didn't resonate with me at all on 1st spin but subsequent spins allowed it to settle in better. Overall it's a solid DT song with the
classic DT mixture of melody and musicianship.

[James.v6]

MoB is really interesting song. After few round with my brother and father ..our expression was    !
I got a feelings this album will destroy us. I really like the vibe and MM drumming is damn good. Love to hear JM and awesome Petrucci solo very technicall but still melodic. Rudess is monster he is everywhere in this song.
Cant wait guys.

[nikatapi]

Also i have to say that's a perfect showcase for Mike, his playing is very interesting and fits the music well.

[shadow1psc]

I really liked this. I had a potato quality rip playing on the way to work, but I got Finally Free/Test that Stumped Them All with a little bit of DT12 vibes thrown in. I loved it. I completely feel like (even with the potato quality) that they've managed to tap back in to that more dynamic, progressive sound. Nothing felt out of place, and even the song following a formula (which I imagine most do for the sake of the 'rock opera') didn't bother me as much as some of the cookie cutter stuff since Systematic Chaos. No sir, this is a keeper.

[Pettor]

I really liked this. I had a potato quality rip playing on the way to work, but I got Finally Free/Test that Stumped Them All with a little bit of DT12 vibes thrown in. I loved it. I completely feel like (even with the potato quality) that they've managed to tap back in to that more dynamic, progressive sound. Nothing felt out of place, and even the song following a formula (which I imagine most do for the sake of the 'rock opera') didn't bother me as much as some of the cookie cutter stuff since Systematic Chaos. No sir, this is a keeper.

Yes! Sometimes following a the typical formula can annoy me too much for the song to be enjoyable. Like Last Not Forgotten. A song that is long and all, but is actually just an extended song following a typical formula without a nice flow imo. This one progress and flows nice in a way that I really like. Actually the chorus is so dramatic and awesome

[chwik]

I used to only embrace music in the shape of metal, technical metal and black metal, but my musical tastes has more or less metamorphosed the last 10 years. Although I still listen to bands like Emperor, Satyricon, Entomed, Sepultura and At the gates etc., today I am more into ambient, soundtrack movie music, melodic rock, and prog. Apart from DT, figuring on my playlist today are Gazpacho, Steven Wilson, Gustavo Santaolalla ("the last of us" soundtrack), Circus Maximus, Anathema, The Magnificent and Ulver.

My point is:

10 years ago the technical metal and prog used to be my favorite part of Dream Theater. Now it is the softer, melodic and more AOR parts that gets my attention. I used to ignore "Falling into infinity"; it was not to my preconceived taste and thereby I "searched" for evidence of not liking the album. Today, it is one of my favorite albums - it think it is excellent.  It will therefore be interesting from a philosophical point to see what people think about the Astonishing in a 10 years time, considering the change in the maturity (or immaturity) of the listener in that time frame. As of now, because of its diversity,  this album really suits my taste in music.

[jdprsaga]

I gotta admit that now that I paid attention to the lyrics (last night i was only able to hear it once during the radio show) the song freaking jump 2 or 3 points up in my chart.  I'm way more interested in the story now.

TGoM didn't do that for me at least, this one did.

Just talking story wise and not music wise.

[lovethedrake]

Slept on it and listened to it again.   Still a major snoozefest... I usually love Labrie's voice but I feel like he is actually trying to annoy the listener on this song.   Also can Mangini play anything other than a machine gun drum fill?   Where is Portnoy when you need him?  MP made melodies with his drums.  I feel like Mangini sounds like a kid just banging away at his new drum set.

The instrumental in this song seems totally forced.   

Glad some of you are digging it, I'm jealous.    This song really does sound like Octavarium and ADTOE wrapped up in one and those are probably my two least favorite DT albums.

I expect the rest to be better and hopefully much more like TGOM.