This if freaking crazy how good this album is! I keep posting here after each listen because it keeps getting better and better.
I absolutely love rock operas so I am having so much fun with the theatricality of this whole thing. Labrie is just amazing on this album!!!
I assumed the top 3 DT albums were completely untouchable (SFAM, I&W, SDOIT) and I feel like its blasphemy to place anything above them but I honestly think this album belongs up there with them and might just be the best of the bunch. SFAM is one of the all time great albums IMO and this one is honestly rivaling it. Crazy to say. One thing I will say for certain is that that this album has definitely left Awake and FII in their dust and those were my number 4 and 5.
If the DT guys are reading this. Well done gentleman! I am floored.
I really agree, that upon more listens where the recurring themes really start to surface and become familiar, it is vastly becoming apparent that this will be a top tier album for me. While DT are a band where you always seem to be discovering new things, I tend to find that if I like stuff from the first few listens, it generally stays that way. Without trying to compare too much, I remember vividly that my first listen of 6 Degrees had me a little confused. And while I like it more now for sure, much of it still doesn't grab me the way it seems to grab many others around here. Yet while the self titled album gets slammed more often than not, I enjoyed it immediately, and it still gets regular spins in my rotation. I&W didn't grab me as much many moons ago (ahh, I remember my I&W cassette
) But Awake totally did, and thats how it still remains...
Basically, I'm with you in how great the diversity of opinion is on The Astonishing, and it will be really interesting how it fits into everyones collections over time.