It definately took me some time to get hold of the many softer parts during this album. But really, nearly every song is quite different in the end in my opinion. Two piano ballads are not necesarily more samish than two regular DT metal tracks. But DT (offcourse) has a lot of metal fans and it is totally understandable they are not all over this due to the musical direction they took here. Still, I see some prog-orientated people saying the same about DT's heavy side at times, which I also understand ("generic heavy DT" See criticisms on BC&SL or TOT, for example). I am generally more of a fan of DT's metal side , but to my surprise I am really loving this one.
That said, I will probably listen to 40-minute chunks of this work instead of the whole thing in the future (I saw some people dividing it as three acts, I can see that working for me). I rarely listen to double albums in one row though (I often treat them as several acts/ episodes of series, so to say). My biggest gripe is that the ending does miss a little bit of power/epicness to it, while I like the music itself. I absolutely love disc 1, disc 2 drags a bit near the end. But thankfully the "negartives" for this album are more like missed oppertunities than elements I dislike.
When I first heard TA, I kind of felt the same feeling I had with Ayreons Theory of Everything. While presented as 4 tracks and most tracks weave in to each other, in the end that album often feels like many shorter pieces. I had to digest that one as well. Each time I listen to TA, I am loving it more.
Finally, why are people saying Myung cannot be heard? I can hear him pretty often, also during heavier parts. And I am not exactly listening high end now.
Topic: *Official* The Astonishing discussion thread (Read 518850 times)
