The Gift of Music and Moment of Betrayal

[SystematicThought]

Since these two songs were the songs we heard before the album was released, I was curious how your opinion of these two songs changed when heard in the context of the album as a whole. I remember thinking The Gift of Music was awesome when first hearing it, but when heard in the context of the album I liked it even more and thought it worked really well. It sets the stage for the album and introduces us to the GNEA. I just wish there were more sections of the album that had that choir section.

Moment of Betrayal on the other hand, I really wasn't a big fan of. But when hearing it in the context of the album, I fell in love with it. The frantic nature of it fits in really well with where the story is and the video I saw of it live, the light show really adds to that feeling.

Did your opinion change of these two tracks once you heard it in the context of the full album

[Enigmachine]

Loved both on first listen. Loved them twice as much in context.

[TAC]

Loved both on first listen. Loved them twice as much in context.

Amen, Brother!

[Destiny Of Chaos]

Loved the Gift of Music then and now.  Abstained from Moment of Betrayal since it came out so close to the album release, and it's one of my favorite songs from TA.

[Bill]

Great stand alone tracks, even better in context.

[bosk1]

Great stand alone tracks, even better in context.

This.

[KevShmev]

I only listened to The Gift of Music a few times before the release of the album, and Moment of Betrayal only once.

My opinion on The Gift of Music has been pretty consistent: I like it quite a bit, but I can't say I love it.  There are at least 15 songs or so from TA that I like more.

Moment of Betrayal, I like much more.  That is a borderline top 10 song from TA for me. 

[SebastianPratesi]

I remember that until the album dropped, I only listened to "The Gift Of Music" once, the day it was released - which was actually my birthday, so it really was the gift of music by Dream Theater
I still don't enjoy "Gift" very much - it's like I don't 'get it'. The same thing has happened to me everytime I've listened to it - I wonder to myself 'Why was this song the first one?'.
(Imagine if the first preview in December had been "Three Days"; I think we would all have been like  )

As for "Moment", I initially thought it was weak, but in time I've come to like it a lot - especially the instrumental sections.

[erwinrafael]

Great stand alone tracks, even better in context.

This.

Especially Moment of Betrayal for me. At first, it was like a standard DT metal song, then the context came in. The intro became more haunting especially leading in from 2285 Entracte. I appreciated the frantic drumming of Mangini even more, which independently felt like abit of overplaying, but when taken into Arhys' context, wow, did it make more sense.

[jayvee3]

I really enjoy both songs - probably the Gift of music a little more, but they are both really solid.

Moment of Betrayal definitely grew for me in context, but Gift as much as I enjoy it, makes sense in context lyrically, but musically is an interesting one. It's one track that doesn't appear to have any sections that are recurring themes elsewhere, which I find curious seeing as its the first 'real' song to kick off the album. Love it regardless tho, just thought this was intriguing...

[SebastianPratesi]

Moment of Betrayal definitely grew for me in context, but Gift as much as I enjoy it, makes sense in context lyrically, but musically is an interesting one. It's one track that doesn't appear to have any sections that are recurring themes elsewhere, which I find curious seeing as its the first 'real' song to kick off the album. Love it regardless tho, just thought this was intriguing...

For a long time I thought exactly the same, but last week I started noticing some similarities between the 2nd verse (which is in D) and "Our New World"'s second half of the riff (also in D). If you speed up "Our New World" on YouTube, you might find the similarities in the riffs.

Besides that (which is probably me overthinking, really), I haven't found anything.

[BlobVanDam]

I like them exactly the same now as I did when I heard them standalone. TGOM is still great, MOB is still a skip track.

[Shooters1221]

I usually don't give the early releases much attention once the entire album is released, but I loved both of these pieces before the album release and even more now in context. I look forward to both when they come up in rotation. 

[Another_Won]

I usually don't give the early releases much attention once the entire album is released, but I loved both of these pieces before the album release and even more now in context. I look forward to both when they come up in rotation. 

Good point!  With previous releases the singles always got skipped after the album came out because I played them too much.  Not this time for me, I listened to them a lot and they're still not old.  I think it speaks to how strong each track is.

[Lalin1974]

Since these two songs were the songs we heard before the album was released, I was curious how your opinion of these two songs changed when heard in the context of the album as a whole. I remember thinking The Gift of Music was awesome when first hearing it, but when heard in the context of the album I liked it even more and thought it worked really well. It sets the stage for the album and introduces us to the GNEA. I just wish there were more sections of the album that had that choir section.

Moment of Betrayal on the other hand, I really wasn't a big fan of. But when hearing it in the context of the album, I fell in love with it. The frantic nature of it fits in really well with where the story is and the video I saw of it live, the light show really adds to that feeling.

Did your opinion change of these two tracks once you heard it in the context of the full album

Agreed on Moment of Betrayal. Felt a bit generic, reminded me of DT12, but listening to it in the context of the story and the mood completely changes the dynamic. Great song (in my top 10 TA songs)

[Mladen]

I loved The Gift of music from the start, and it's just as fantastic in the context of the album. Moment of betrayal, on the other hand, was very underwhelming on the first couple of listen, it sounded like one of those DT12 songs that went for a traditional song structure but ended up being slightly generic. However, in the context of the album, it's tremendous - the album would lack songs with traditional structure. And the chorus turned out to be insanely infectious, although it sounded rather ordinary at first.

[ADramaticTurnofChaos]

Honestly The Gift of Music took me a few listens to dig on its own, but now I love it. In the context of the story it's even better

Moment of Betrayal I liked pretty much from the start, but it's certainly more powerful now.

[hefdaddy42]

Great stand alone tracks, even better in context.

This.

Those.

[cramx3]

Great stand alone tracks, even better in context.

This.

Those.

Them.

But Moment of Betrayal didn't hit me at first, I enjoyed it, but not as much as I enjoyed Gift of Music.

However, going from the instrumentals before both of them and then into their respective songs, you really start to get the sense of purpose and place within the story.

[namgalsipsclar]

I enjoy The Gift of Music but Moment of Betrayal not so much. It's on a kind of Enemy Inside/Rite of Passage level for me, which is not particularly high. Feels like Dream Theater by numbers

[SchecterShredder]

So....this might belong in a 'controversial opinion' thread, but I think Moment of Betrayal is the only good song on all of Act 2. No joke. I understand the rest of the tracks are necessary for the story, but they're all pretty boring to me. Moment of Betrayal is top 3 on the album for me. Gift of Music is ok.

[Tomislav95]

I overplayed both of them before the album was release but I still keep coming back to Moment of Betrayal. One of my favorites on whole album.

[fischermasamune]

Both are still excellent, albeit average when compared with the other tracks of the album.