Author Topic: OTBOA vs The Enemy Inside vs The Gift of Music vs Untethered Angel  (Read 1875 times)

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Offline npiazza91

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The battle of the Mangini era singles.  All four of these songs were the first main single on each of the last four albums.  How would you rank all four of them?

For me, I actually really do like all four of them.  They're all pretty "standard" as far as DT's sound goes.  They all play it fairly safe overall.  Here's how I'd rank them.

1. On the Backs of Angels- This is a song that I don't think too much of until I go back and listen to it, and I always love it even more every time.  It's such a simple song (by DT standards) but it's executed so damn well.  Every member of the band is on point here, the song sounds great and it's just a very well executed song all around.  No real complaints here to be honest.  This song probably makes my top 30 or 40.

2. The Enemy Inside- I love the verses, I love the chorus, I LOVE the bridge, James' vocals sound fantastic there.  I don't have too many complaints with this one other than the fact that I think it could have used more of an instrumental section, and the way it ends is kind of "meh".  But yeah, great song.  It MIGHT make my top 50, but I'm not sure.

3. Untethered Angel- I really like this single a lot.  It took me a little while to appreciate it, because at first I was like "meh...more of the same".  But this song actually has a fantastic instrumental section.  I really like the chorus a lot, but I don't care for the verses too much, it sounds a bit too much like Outcry (which did it much better imo).  But my biggest complaint with this song is that James' vocals sound a bit too low, like he's far away.  Once you notice it that's all you think about.  So yeah, great song, great single, I just wish the production was a bit better.

4. The Gift of Music- This song's biggest flaw is that the chorus only appears once, and after the solo section it never comes back to either the chorus or the verse.  The song just kind of meanders a bit to the end and it leaves me wanting more.  I feel like this song could have done with another minute or two, because honestly it's a great sounding song.  It just feels like it ends prematurely.  I really love that chorus a lot.

Offline Pettor

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Re: OTBOA vs The Enemy Inside vs The Gift of Music vs Untethered Angel
« Reply #1 on: January 09, 2019, 02:54:00 AM »
1. OTBOA
Fantastic imo. This is song could be called Dream Theater as it's a great way to represent their style of progressive metal. I thought this was one of the best possible way they could have restarted after Portnoy introducing what Mangini could do. Good structure, diverse, consistent, great chorus and perfect instrumental. Fun everytime I listen to it. Oh and I love Rudess playing piano so hearing this one with that great piano break down was maxed out hype.

2. The Gift of Music
Really liked this one. Sounds great, very melodic and has a different structure than the typical single. Perfectly weighted song. James sounds great on this one and the sound reminds me of SDOIT. Fun to hear a more vibrant and joyful song than the usual dramatic singles they often do. Made me very hyped for TA and got a bit let down when I realized it didn't represent the overall sound.

3. Untethered Angel
Good song that improves over time. A bit all over the place and very standard structure, which is always a bit disappointing for me. But some parts are brilliant, like the main intro riff, meanwhile some parts could be improved like James vocal effects. I would like a more consistent energy/tempo in the song and the main riff is to good to not be utilized more. People complain about DT dragging things out, this is the opposite imo. Feels like it doesn't reach it's full potential is what I am trying to say. But very nice to hear a good groove and riff and makes me excited for the new album.

4. The Enemy Inside
Feels like a typical single for any metal band. Bit disappointed with this one. Feels like it goes away from what I imagine is the strength of DT and more into what any metal band could do. It has improved over the years, mainly thanks to 4th Wall improving the overall sound. Very straight forward without the best elements of DT for me but a good song.
« Last Edit: January 09, 2019, 05:09:56 AM by Pettor »

Offline RoeDent

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Re: OTBOA vs The Enemy Inside vs The Gift of Music vs Untethered Angel
« Reply #2 on: January 09, 2019, 03:38:41 AM »
1. The Enemy Inside - Great energy to this track, and I love the chord progression particularly in the verses.

2. On the Backs of Angels - First we ever heard of Mangini-era DT, so this is a special and pivotal track in DT's history.

3. Untethered Angel - A grower, which has full-on grown on me now.

4. The Gift of Music - Good enough track, but there's not as much going on as in the others.

Offline Pax

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Re: OTBOA vs The Enemy Inside vs The Gift of Music vs Untethered Angel
« Reply #3 on: January 09, 2019, 04:09:18 AM »
1. OTBOA
Well put-together, has nice harmonic progressions, riffs, and overall epic feel

2. TGOM
Has a great SDOIT-esque modulatory section towards the end, leading into solo between JP and JR where they play different, but compatible melodies - a thing that's actually very rare for DT (the only other example that comes to my mind being in ITPOE pt2 - the reckoning)

3. UA
Has a good second verse, other than that, just an ok song, with a middle section that is completely out of place. That's what you get when you try to compress a full length song into 6 mins (on the other hand, TGOM is not compressed, it's just short)

4. TEI
I have nothing good to say about this song. Boring, just like the most of DT12
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Offline Mladen

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Re: OTBOA vs The Enemy Inside vs The Gift of Music vs Untethered Angel
« Reply #4 on: January 09, 2019, 05:01:18 AM »
1. On the backs of angels
2. The Gift of music
3. The Enemy inside
4. Untethered angel

Interestingly enough, the ranking of the first three songs is identical to my ranking of the albums the singles came from. Hopefully that doesn't indicate where the new album will land on my list.

Offline Moor

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Re: OTBOA vs The Enemy Inside vs The Gift of Music vs Untethered Angel
« Reply #5 on: January 09, 2019, 05:09:49 AM »
1. The Gift of music
2. On the backs of angels
3. The Enemy inside
4. Untethered angel

Offline the_silent_man

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Re: OTBOA vs The Enemy Inside vs The Gift of Music vs Untethered Angel
« Reply #6 on: January 09, 2019, 05:48:38 AM »
1. On the Backs of Angels - Excellent single - as far as singles go, one of their best. Good length, defines everything DT. Great guitar and piano solo, progressive and interesting.

2 (tie). The Enemy Inside - Heavy, riffy and catchy, perfect choice for a single. Not very progressive but makes up for in riffs how immediate it is.
   
Untethered Angel - More going on to my ears than The Enemy Inside and the instrumental is more interesting. Great choice to reassure people that DT are back to what they are good at. It adds absolutely nothing new, but that isn't necessarily an issue in this case.

3. The Gift of Music - Good song, some interesting parts and quite fresh. Just very short and (as per my main issues with the album as a whole) not much to sink your teeth into. (Moment of Betrayal I'd probably put as 2nd though, love that song)

Offline krands85

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Re: OTBOA vs The Enemy Inside vs The Gift of Music vs Untethered Angel
« Reply #7 on: January 09, 2019, 06:33:42 AM »
I really like all these tracks and it's quite hard to rank them, but I think the band picked good choices for their albums first singles.

Right now, I'd probably rank them chronologically, though it's close between TEI and TGoM. I've also only listened to Untethered Angel a few times, so it could rise when I'm more familiar with it.

1. On the Backs of Angels - Quintessential DT, a great way to start off a new era of the band. I really love how the song is put together and the piano break, then guitar solo are awesome. The only thing I would change would be to slightly alter the vocal melodies at the end to make them stand apart from the rest of the song.
2 The Enemy Inside - A perfect choice for a heavy-hitting single and JP brings out another belter of a solo. Still my second favourite track from a disappointing album.
3. The Gift of Music - I really love this, it's easily my favourite of the shorter songs the band have ever done. A good introduction to the story of The Astonishing, with a fresh and 'airy' feel the song. The second half of the song (from when the choir comes in) is especially great and I don't think I'll tire of it.
4. Untethered Angel - I enjoyed this one on the few listens I've had, but I'm holding off playing it again until the album is released. It definitely sounds promising, though I'm not too keen on the effects on JLBs voice.
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Offline Ninjabait

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Re: OTBOA vs The Enemy Inside vs The Gift of Music vs Untethered Angel
« Reply #8 on: January 09, 2019, 07:31:01 AM »
1. On the Backs of Angels - this is probably one of the songs I would introduce someone to DT with. It's such an all around good song and it hits all the marks: it's melodic, has some killer solos (especially the piano solo), an interesting structure and arrangement, and just a great overall epic vibe. One of my favorite DT songs in general.

2. The Gift of Music - like On the Backs of Angels, but smaller

3. Untethered Angel - overall a solid song

4. The Enemy Inside - another solid song, but it (like the rest of DT12) hasn't aged well. imo it suffers from serious pacing issues in the Bridge and the arrangement and production are suffocatingly thick at times. Still one of the best off of DT12 and an overall good song

Offline mikeyd23

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Re: OTBOA vs The Enemy Inside vs The Gift of Music vs Untethered Angel
« Reply #9 on: January 09, 2019, 08:18:08 AM »
Right now, I'd say -

1. OTBOA
2. TGoM
3. UA
4. TEI

Offline KevShmev

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Re: OTBOA vs The Enemy Inside vs The Gift of Music vs Untethered Angel
« Reply #10 on: January 09, 2019, 08:25:48 AM »
1. The Enemy Inside
2. The Gift of Music
3. Untethered Angel
4. On the Backs of Angels

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Re: OTBOA vs The Enemy Inside vs The Gift of Music vs Untethered Angel
« Reply #11 on: January 09, 2019, 08:32:37 AM »
1. The Enemy Inside
2. The Gift of Music
3. Untethered Angel
4. On the Backs of Angels

Yeah I'll go with this ranking.
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Offline Lonk

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Re: OTBOA vs The Enemy Inside vs The Gift of Music vs Untethered Angel
« Reply #12 on: January 09, 2019, 09:47:22 AM »
4. The Gift of Music- This song's biggest flaw is that the chorus only appears once, and after the solo section it never comes back to either the chorus or the verse.  The song just kind of meanders a bit to the end and it leaves me wanting more.  I feel like this song could have done with another minute or two, because honestly it's a great sounding song.  It just feels like it ends prematurely.  I really love that chorus a lot.

If you dont mind me asking, what would you consider the chorus for the song to be?

For me the order would be

1) On the Backs of Angels
2)Untethered Angel
3) The Gift of Music
4) The enemy Inside

That's not to say any of these songs better than the other because I think they are all great songs.
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Offline erciccio

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Re: OTBOA vs The Enemy Inside vs The Gift of Music vs Untethered Angel
« Reply #13 on: January 09, 2019, 10:06:48 AM »
1. The Enemy Inside- IMHO, by far the best Metal song by our guys.  :tup :tup
2. The Gift of Music- fresh, nice melody, full of new ideas. Loved it, like the rest of Astonishing.
3. Untethered Angel/ On the Backs of Angels. Both are ok-ish, love both solos, love the chorus and outro of UA and the verses and intro of OTBoA. A "best of Angels" would have been perfect!
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Offline lucasembarbosa

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Re: OTBOA vs The Enemy Inside vs The Gift of Music vs Untethered Angel
« Reply #14 on: January 09, 2019, 10:29:46 AM »
1-OTBOA
2-TGOM
3-UA
4-TEI

Offline EPIC Outro

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Re: OTBOA vs The Enemy Inside vs The Gift of Music vs Untethered Angel
« Reply #15 on: January 09, 2019, 10:45:27 AM »
1-TGOM - the "My Brother Gabriel" part got me so pumped for that album.
2-TEI - The movement of the verses, the production, the energy. Awesome track.
3-UA - So many awesome sections. Sort of like a mix of the best parts of OTBOA and TEI.
4-OTBOA - Feels way shorter than it is, and I thought it was a ballsy, proggy tune to mark a new era in DT history, but it never really grabbed me like it did some others.

Offline Elite

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Re: OTBOA vs The Enemy Inside vs The Gift of Music vs Untethered Angel
« Reply #16 on: January 09, 2019, 01:29:51 PM »
The Enemy Inside is easily the best of these as far as I’m concerned.
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Offline pg1067

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Re: OTBOA vs The Enemy Inside vs The Gift of Music vs Untethered Angel
« Reply #17 on: January 09, 2019, 01:36:33 PM »
I see no need to rank these songs, but...

OTBOA:  It's good, but it doesn't compare to the best songs on ADTOE.  Honestly haven't listened to it in a while.

TEI:  Good, but not great.  Again, it suffers by comparison to the other songs on the album.

TGOM:  Probably haven't listened to it more than four or five times.  Nothing special.

UA:  Really good, but haven't listened to it since the initial half dozen listens right after it came out.  Time will tell how it holds up.
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Offline npiazza91

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Re: OTBOA vs The Enemy Inside vs The Gift of Music vs Untethered Angel
« Reply #18 on: January 09, 2019, 04:15:55 PM »
4. The Gift of Music- This song's biggest flaw is that the chorus only appears once, and after the solo section it never comes back to either the chorus or the verse.  The song just kind of meanders a bit to the end and it leaves me wanting more.  I feel like this song could have done with another minute or two, because honestly it's a great sounding song.  It just feels like it ends prematurely.  I really love that chorus a lot.

If you dont mind me asking, what would you consider the chorus for the song to be?

For me the order would be

1) On the Backs of Angels
2)Untethered Angel
3) The Gift of Music
4) The enemy Inside

That's not to say any of these songs better than the other because I think they are all great songs.
Now that you ask me this question...I had to think about it.  I've always just thought of the chorus as the "My brother Gabriel" part since that's what the two verses build up to, and he even says "Music is the gift he brings" (tying in with the title of the song like a chorus typically does).  It would be like if Outcry went back to the verse after the "We suffered far too long", part and didn't actually hit the "Rise up, be counted, stand strong, and unite" chorus until after the second verse, that's what TGOM feels like to me.  And that would have been fine, but it's just a bit strange because that "Gabriel" part only comes up once and never again, it never comes back to it at the end.  It's one of the problems I have with concept albums.  A lot of the songs don't feel like full tracks that stand on their own, but instead a piece of music that's just leading into something else.  And even though TGOM is a full length song, I still get that vibe from it, like they didn't make it complete.
« Last Edit: January 09, 2019, 04:22:21 PM by npiazza91 »

Offline TheCountOfNYC

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Re: OTBOA vs The Enemy Inside vs The Gift of Music vs Untethered Angel
« Reply #19 on: January 09, 2019, 04:53:48 PM »
1: On the Backs of Angels
2: The Gift of Music
3: Untethered Angel
4: The Enemy Inside
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Offline Phoenix87x

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Re: OTBOA vs The Enemy Inside vs The Gift of Music vs Untethered Angel
« Reply #20 on: January 09, 2019, 05:01:54 PM »
1. Backs of Angels - Very decent song. Varied and well put together. It covers a lot of different ground musically and flows well, which I dig.

2. Gift of music- Not a bad little tune. Uplifting and Catchy as well.

3. The enemy inside- I've listened to it all the way through only twice (and one of them was right now to remember it). Not a bad intro, the verses are pretty straitforward and whatever imo, the chorus is alright, bridge is just ok and the instrumental sections feels like old material already done. It kind of a meh song and doesn't bring a lot to the table. And Since day one with this song, all I can think of is the Rush song which I love a million times more. (Regardless, I truly love DT the album though)

4. UA - Don't like this song. Boring verses that feel muddy and dull. The chorus is very meh and drones on. Bridge is whatever. Instrumental section's is pretty good, but then right back into the chorus that drones on. This is DT by the numbers. Regardless, I feel pretty strongly that I will like more of what the new album has to offer and look forward to hearing more. Its just one song.

Offline legenden1

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Re: OTBOA vs The Enemy Inside vs The Gift of Music vs Untethered Angel
« Reply #21 on: January 10, 2019, 06:43:13 AM »
I dont think any of these are among the top tracks on either album. When I first heard them I became very worried about what to expect but both ADTOE and TA far exceeded my expectations while the self titled remains a little weaker then the rest of the discography IMO. That being said I´m not convinced about UA either so I hope the rest of the album is stronger (and I expect it to be).

Offline AboutToCrash

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Re: OTBOA vs The Enemy Inside vs The Gift of Music vs Untethered Angel
« Reply #22 on: January 10, 2019, 07:11:17 AM »
Might be a fun idea to do BMUBMD v TLG v MOB v FITL too!

Offline Mladen

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Re: OTBOA vs The Enemy Inside vs The Gift of Music vs Untethered Angel
« Reply #23 on: January 10, 2019, 07:42:18 AM »
I seem to recall Along for the ride came out as a single before The Looking glass did. It didn't have a video, though.

Offline bosk1

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Re: OTBOA vs The Enemy Inside vs The Gift of Music vs Untethered Angel
« Reply #24 on: January 10, 2019, 07:52:16 AM »
I've always just thought of the chorus as the "My brother Gabriel" part since that's what the two verses build up to, and he even says "Music is the gift he brings" (tying in with the title of the song like a chorus typically does).

I'm not so sure that part qualifies as a "chorus," but I do like it a lot.  And the next line, as a twist on the quote about Katniss' father in the Hunger Games is a nice touch.
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Offline Setlist Scotty

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Re: OTBOA vs The Enemy Inside vs The Gift of Music vs Untethered Angel
« Reply #25 on: January 10, 2019, 08:14:15 AM »
I'd rank them in the following order:
Untethered Angel (and it's not because of that "new car" smell)
On the Backs of Angels
The Enemy Inside
The Gift of Music
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Offline IDontNotDoThings

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Re: OTBOA vs The Enemy Inside vs The Gift of Music vs Untethered Angel
« Reply #26 on: January 10, 2019, 08:38:01 PM »
I was going to answer this normally, but then I thought "fuck it".

#1. Blind Faith
#2. On The Backs Of Angels
#3. The Gift Of Music

#4. Pull Me Under
#5. A Rite Of Passage
#6. Untethered Angel
#7. Home
#8. Constant Motion
#9. The Enemy Inside
10. Status Seeker
11. These Walls
12. As I Am
13. Lie
14. Burning My Soul

(bolded are the ones relevant to the topic)
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Offline Jamesman42

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Re: OTBOA vs The Enemy Inside vs The Gift of Music vs Untethered Angel
« Reply #27 on: January 11, 2019, 03:58:03 PM »
On the Backs of Angels by far, though TEI is p good. The others are forgettable.

Offline Peter Mc

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Re: OTBOA vs The Enemy Inside vs The Gift of Music vs Untethered Angel
« Reply #28 on: January 11, 2019, 04:26:27 PM »
OTBOA is a modern DT classic for me so that is number 1.

Number 2 is also pretty easy as it is much better imo than 3 and 4. That is The Gift Of Music which is basically the essence of DT in a 4 min song. Really good song, one of the best on the album.

Number 3 and 4 are pretty close but I’d go with The Enemy Inside at 3 as it has more energy to it.

Offline cramx3

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Re: OTBOA vs The Enemy Inside vs The Gift of Music vs Untethered Angel
« Reply #29 on: January 11, 2019, 05:58:00 PM »
My rankings are a bit different than most here:

The Enemy Inside
The Gift of Music
Untethered Angel
On The Backs of Angels

I really enjoy all these songs though

Offline Dellers

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Re: OTBOA vs The Enemy Inside vs The Gift of Music vs Untethered Angel
« Reply #30 on: January 12, 2019, 05:00:28 AM »
1 - Untethered Angel. I love this track, the greatest single since I became a fan before SC came out.

2 - On The Backs Of Angels. Solid track, but I still can't remember the chorus when I'm not listening to it.

3 - The Gift Of Music. Not a great song, but I do enjoy it for what it is.



4 - The Enemy Inside. I strongly dislike this song. The production and sound is atrocious, and I don't like the riffs or melodies. After Raw Dog and Burning My Soul this is my least favorite song from the band. These three songs I consider bad by any standard, not just for DT.
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