Official Distance Over Time discussion thread

[Mladen]

1. A Dramatic turn of events
2. The Astonishing
3. Distance over time
4. Dream Theater

[Kotowboy]

1. The Astonishing
2. A Dramatic Turn of Events
3. Dream Theater
4. Distance over Time

Thinking about it, the overall most consistently good four consecutive albums streak in their catalogue.

What about Scenes, Six Degrees, Train of Thought & Octavarium ?

[krands85]

1. A Dramatic Turn of Events - a clear step above the others for me and my favourite since Train of Thought. BAI is also their best song since Octavarium.

2. Distance Over Time - Strong album and really consistent, but it doesn't reach the highs of ADTOE. It would be much closer if I enjoyed Barstool Warrior and especially S2N as much as everyone else seems to. 
3. The Astonishing - Very ambitious effort and there's lots of great stuff on here - so many brilliant melodies and moments. It does suffer a bit due to it's length, as I'm not that keen on so many 'lighter' songs and similar intros. I love my abridged version, but then you're sacrificing some of the story.

4. Dream Theater - When I start to think about each song on here, I find myself thinking 'this album is better than I thought'. Illumination Theory is incredible, The Enemy Inside and Surrender to Reason are great, The Bigger Picture and Behind the Veil are pretty good. FAS is a cool intro too. The other three tracks let it down though, especially Enigma Machine which is one of their weakest instrumentals and something about The Looking Glass just rubs me up the wrong way. Somehow to me, this ends up being an album that's weaker than the sum of it's parts.

[Indiscipline]

1. The Astonishing
2. A Dramatic Turn of Events
3. Dream Theater
4. Distance over Time

Thinking about it, the overall most consistently good four consecutive albums streak in their catalogue.

What about Scenes, Six Degrees, Train of Thought & Octavarium ?

Masterpiece, one song on disc 1 plus half disc 2, very good & two songs.

[Kotowboy]

4. Dream Theater - . Somehow to me, this ends up being an album that's weaker than the sum of it's parts.

Yeah it's a shame. Since they so very nearly nailed the album. They just made it too loud and the snare sound was terrible.

Imagine DT12 with the production of Distance Over Time.

D/T is like a much better attempt at DT12.

[TAC]

1. The Astonishing
2. A Dramatic Turn of Events
3. Dream Theater
4. Distance over Time

Thinking about it, the overall most consistently good four consecutive albums streak in their catalogue.

What about Scenes, Six Degrees, Train of Thought & Octavarium ?

Way too much hit and miss on 6 D's and 8V.

[Dream Team]

1. The Astonishing
2. A Dramatic Turn of Events
3. Dream Theater
4. Distance over Time

Thinking about it, the overall most consistently good four consecutive albums streak in their catalogue.

What about Scenes, Six Degrees, Train of Thought & Octavarium ?

Way too much hit and miss on 6 D's and 8V.

Yeah, that’s a weird example of a 4-album run. Images through Scenes would be much better even though I dislike FII.

[Indiscipline]

I get you, but how can a streak be “consistently good” if you dislike one album?

[ReaperKK]

1. Distance Over Time
2. Dream Theater
3. A Dramatic Turn Of Events
4. The Astonishing

Like Metallica's Hardwired I didn't think DT had an album as great as DoT in them. It's one of my favorite DT albums overall, not just mangini era.

[KevShmev]

1. The Astonishing
2. Distance over Time
3. A Dramatic Turn of Events
4. Dream Theater

A Dramatic Turn of Events would probably be my number 1 album of the Mangini era if it sounded better.  Distance over Time has sound issues as well, but the HD version of it sounds better than the HD version of ADTOE, so it gets the slight nod over it for number 2.

[fadetoblackdude7]

1. Distance Over Time - All-around grand slam of an album and destined to be a classic
2. A Dramatic Turn Of Events - Nearly tied with DoT for the same reasons. Excellent comeback!
3. Dream Theater - Very good album but just not as good as the top 2. Flawed production, as mentioned by everyone else
4. The Astonishing - I actually like this album quite a bit, and I think it has some of their strongest and most melodic material to date. Only reason it takes last spot is that I need to be in a specific mood to listen to it; I can't throw it on anytime like I can with the other albums. Also it's a bit of a chore to sit through.

[Volante99]

4. Dream Theater - . Somehow to me, this ends up being an album that's weaker than the sum of it's parts.

Yeah it's a shame. Since they so very nearly nailed the album. They just made it too loud and the snare sound was terrible.

Imagine DT12 with the production of Distance Over Time.

D/T is like a much better attempt at DT12.

Pretty sure D/T is much more compressed than DT12 (the CD/streaming versions anyway). In any event D/T has major brickwalling issues.

Although, yes, I agree the overall production is better in D/T.

[Dream Team]

I get you, but how can a streak be “consistently good” if you dislike one album?

Oh you misunderstood me. I meant it would more sense for HIM to cite Images-Scenes.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

1. The Astonishing
2. Distance over Time
3. A Dramatic Turn of Events
4. Dream Theater

A Dramatic Turn of Events would probably be my number 1 album of the Mangini era if it sounded better.  Distance over Time has sound issues as well, but the HD version of it sounds better than the HD version of ADTOE, so it gets the slight nod over it for number 2.

This list x2.

The Astonishing is a top 5 DT album for me. It's wonderful.

[DoctorAction]

1. D/T - a pleasure from front to back
2. ADTOE - some amazing tracks
3. DT12 - v nearly great but somehow v dull
4. Astonishing - brave but unbearable

D/T remains my go-to DT record. So impressed with it still.

[ThatOneGuy2112]

1. A Dramatic Turn of Events - By far the most consistent and solid of the four, and BAI is still their best song in ages. My biggest issue is that they really pad out almost every non-ballad track and I think if it had done with some trimming and kept the best moments of each song, it'd probably be in my top half of their discography for me.

2. Distance Over Time - I don't find myself returning to this one all too often, and it's pretty standard DT by the numbers, but it does have its highlights. Biggest problem for me is that it's pretty inconsistent with some real stinkers in the tracklist, and it's not exactly an ideally cohesive album experience.

3. Dream Theater - Pretty much have the same issues with this one as I did D/T, only with not as many highs and way worse production. Still, it has its moments and I do tend to warm up to it anytime I put it on; I usually like it more than I think I do.

4. The Astonishing - In its entirety, I just can't stomach it. I admire and respect the ambition because no matter how you feel about it, writing two-and-a-half hours of music is no easy feat. But I just don't care for the story, and it feels to me just one bland prog rock ballad after the other. I haven't listened to it outside of a few standout songs in years.

[Polarbear]

1. D/T - a pleasure from front to back
2. ADTOE - some amazing tracks
3. DT12 - v nearly great but somehow v dull
4. Astonishing - brave but unbearable

D/T remains my go-to DT record. So impressed with it still.

Pretty much this.

[bosk1]

Thinking about it, the overall most consistently good four consecutive albums streak in their catalogue.

Couldn't agree more.  I love all four albums.  There is no better 4-album streak, by DT or anyone else.

But as far as ranking my them in order:
1.  ADTOE:  SO consistently good from start to finish.  I have to say, other than The Astonishing, which is perhaps less consistent for very good reasons due to its format, this album heralded an unprecedented consistency from the band that continues.
2.  DT12:  It only misses the #1 spot because ADTOE is just so good.
3.  D/T:  I liked it just fine when it came out, and it has only climbed higher with more listens.
4.  TA:  I love the adventure of what they did here, and disk 1 is some of my favorite music from the band.  Despite that things about it may not have worked optimally for me, I am so glad they put this out.

[Max Kuehnau]

Thinking about it, the overall most consistently good four consecutive albums streak in their catalogue.

Couldn't agree more.  I love all four albums.  There is no better 4-album streak, by DT or anyone else.

But as far as ranking my them in order:
1.  ADTOE:  SO consistently good from start to finish.  I have to say, other than The Astonishing, which is perhaps less consistent for very good reasons due to its format, this album heralded an unprecedented consistency from the band that continues.
2.  DT12:  It only misses the #1 spot because ADTOE is just so good.
3.  D/T:  I liked it just fine when it came out, and it has only climbed higher with more listens.
4.  TA:  I love the adventure of what they did here, and disk 1 is some of my favorite music from the band.  Despite that things about it may not have worked optimally for me, I am so glad they put this out.

I agree as well. My ranking is almost identical. Rotate the bottom two and there you have it. ADTOE and DT12 are equally great IMHO. I could argue that DT12 *maaaay* score a tad bit higher to me, because of the greater complexity of the music (especially concerning Mike's, JP's and Jordan's respective parts), but ah well. Two proper bangers in a row (and I really mean bangers, top tier albums). A great relief listening to these two (especially back to back) considering what came out before MM joined.

[IgnotusPerIgnotium]

What we've seen so far since MM joined the band is dropping the long song format and writing more tight and focused songs. ADTOE was the last album that saw songs that clocked above 10' and although it contained 9 songs, it was as long as BC&SL (6 songs). Not counting TA, DT the album and DoT although completely different albums they roughly have the same length, the same number of songs (not counting Viper King) and they kind of signify a new beginning considering the time they were released. Also the album titles are oddly familiar..

Out of the 4 albums with MM, ADTOE is the most 'Dream Theater' in my opinion. Breaking All Illusions was a classic from day one and highlights for me are On the Backs of Angels, This the Life and Outcry..The weakest is the self titled and TA..DoT was heavy and raw and it was those elements that caught people's ears..it has definitely some better moments than DT but again, it doesn't seem to be any different from what we've come to expect from the band since 2011..

[gzarruk]

DT12 had Illumination Theory, though (20 minute epic), but yeah, the last 2 albums have no songs in the 10+ minute range and I hope we get some of that on DT15. An album similar to ADTOE structure-wise would be a great balance (some short songs and a few longer ones), but I'm still waiting for them to write a 30 minute epic someday

As for a ranking of the last 4 albums, I find it very difficult to do, as they're all excellent and quite different from each other. I'd say that ADTOE has higher highs than DT12, but the latter is more consistent. TA is very hard to rank because it's very different and really good, but also quite long, so it's not an album you could play all the time. D/T sounds fresh and I revisit it a lot, but it does feel a bit short at times (it is) and lacking some more crazy stuff lol. My dream DT15 would be something with their current production and experimentation but with longer songs and crazier instrumental sections (think ADTOE meets D/T).

[NoFred]

(think ADTOE meets D/T).

Something like this would be perfect

[Max Kuehnau]

(think ADTOE meets D/T).

Something like this would be perfect

on steroids

[Nachtmerrie]

unfortunately for me the last 4 albums are among my least favorite DT-albums. Somehow I don't feel a lot of connection with most of the songs compared to the albums they released in nineties and early zero's which still are Peak DT for me.
This thread made me revisit DoT and DT today, both albums I hadn't heard in a while.

My ranking:

ADTOE: easibly the albums that feels most like DT I fell in love with. Breaking all Illusions is a top 10 DT song for me and On The Backs of Angels, Bridges in the Sky and Outcry are other standout songs.

DoT: very consistent but also a bit too much of the same. Pale Blue Dot, S2N and Fall into the Light are my favorites but don't come close to BAI.

DT: probably the only DT album that makes it difficult to even name a few songs I really like. Surrender to Reason and The Bigger Picture are my favorites on this album. I don't see myself revisiting this album in the near future.

TA: I admire the effort and I'm glad so many people enjoy it. It's just not for me. A lot of great tunes, a few great songs but way too long and I feel zero connection to the story. Could have been different it they had chosen multiple singers for the different characters.

[Lax]

Here's mine :
1) ADTOE : Very different songs, half of them are oustanding ! The 11-12 minutes lenght of some makes me wonder about the "no epic song argument". I love bridges in the sky and it was the best show opener I ever saw XD
2) D/T : Same feeling, reaching sadness, anger, even overjoy with viper king, half of the album is legendary and we even get dance of eternity's nephew
3) DT12 : I loved illumination theory even if the cuts between parts are preventing it from being a fluent single song. Enigma machine & Along for the ride are unique and enjoyable. The remaining isn't as impressive to me as the two other albums I mentionned...It's a little more accessible songs, a little less proggy, it's hard to put words on this
4) The astonishing : Still half outstanding, but this time the other half is a little bland, narrative tool or not, it's harder to enjoy for me and listening for one song here and there is tricky ^^

Little reminder about this opinion, I'm a guitarist and I nearly only sensible to melodies, harmonies, solos, song construction, etc...
It might be well different for an audiofile that enjoys music as a whole, exemple: how good an album is to play in the car for a long ride ^^

[Northern Lion]

Here is my ranking:

1. A Dramatic Turn of Events (I just wish it sounded better but the songs elevate it so much I can't help put put it at no. 1)
2. The Astonishing (This is one of the best albums DT has ever made, but right now I am liking ADToE more, thus the ranking)
3. Distance over Time (What a great album!  But not as good as the previous 2 in my view, I think it really could have used some longer epics)
4. Dream Theater (This has some really awesome songs that I regularly return to, but it also has some duds that I never listen to)

I do have to say though, that all of these albums contain some of my favorite DT songs.

[drod1985]

Here’s my ranking of the four Mangini albums.

1. Distance Over Time - I know it may seem like recency bias, but this is basically everything I’ve ever wanted out of a Dream Theater album. It’s got the right balance of prog vs. metal, fantastic production, better arrangements, and fun concise (for DT) songs. Mangini’s best album as well.

2. DT12 - This was the path that led to DoT, a little more proggy with more concise songs. Production suffers, which brings it down a notch.

3. ADTOE - I think this album suffered from lack of input from other band members. Drums sound too basic. But still some fun songs, and a step in the right direction after Portnoy’s departure

4. TA - Too long for its own good. There’s some great work in there, but I find it tiring to sit through all of the fat in order to find it.

[Trav86]

1. ADTOE-Strong and inspired. I loved it the day it was released and still do.
2. D/T-Strong but waning. Everything is great, but nothing amazing.
3. TA-One hell of an effort but there isn’t a standout song on the whole thing.
4. DT-This hasn’t stood the test of time at all for me. Nothing bad. Nothing all that great either.

[Kotowboy]

Couldn't agree more.  I love all four albums.  There is no better 4-album streak, by DT or anyone else.

Leviathan - Blood Mountain - Crack The Skye - The Hunter.

[IDontNotDoThings]

Couldn't agree more.  I love all four albums.  There is no better 4-album streak, by DT or anyone else.

Leviathan - Blood Mountain - Crack The Skye - The Hunter.

Morningrise - My Arms Your Hearse - Still Life - Blackwater Park 

but we're getting very off-topic now

Edit: Also how tf did I forget Dark Side Of The Moon - Wish You Were Here - Animals - The Wall 

[Max Kuehnau]

Couldn't agree more.  I love all four albums.  There is no better 4-album streak, by DT or anyone else.

Leviathan - Blood Mountain - Crack The Skye - The Hunter.

Morningrise - My Arms Your Hearse - Still Life - Blackwater Park 

but we're getting very off-topic now

well, it's not surprising, since we're all waiting for DT15 to be made (and released). (well, maybe not everyone here, but I'm sure some of us are. I certainly am.)

[darkshade]

ADTOE - The best of the post-Portnoy era, if anything because it's closest to the Portnoy-era sound, Mangini had no involvement in the writing. Sound is terrible. Songs have great parts and I over-listened when it came out, but it feels a little DT-by-numbers now.
DoT - Fun album. The whole is better than the sum of it's parts, imo. Sound is OK, a little too compressed, but Rudess is up front in the mix.
DT - The sound production is very cold to me, and and the mix is too hot. Makes it hard to enjoy the music. While it has amazing sections, especially the beautiful ambient and orchestral sections, I don't feel like the epic Illumination Theory is a cohesive piece of music. My favorite part of the album is the hidden track at the end *shrugs* the only song I feel works on this album is Behind The Veil.
The Astonishing - So many mixed feelings about this album, and it's way too long. Best sounding mix of the Mangini-era band. After almost 5 years of this album existing, while I think the first overture is one of their best things under the DT banner, I'm just not into much of the material, even the better tunes. TA is my least favorite DT album for me.

All are basically in my bottom 5 Dream Theater albums, with the debut somewhere in there. I feel like Portnoy grounded a lot of JP and JR's ideas. As opposed to describing the music as "too" technical, I feel like modern songs sometimes suffer from weird flow and/or awkward transitions, as crazy ridiculous as they be to play/perform, from a listening perspective it just doesn't vibe with me as much. I also haven't been into whatever sounds or patches Rudess has been using lately, though I thought some cool stuff popped up in DoT and he has been using more organ since Portnoy left, which is good. Maybe it's because he's getting older, but I'm not into whatever filter or reverb JLB uses. I miss the clean, dry vocals of the 90s/00s albums. I remember listening to either Six Degrees or Train of Thought a little while back, then put on DoT and I turned it off within a couple of songs because I couldn't listen to the vocals right after listening to the older album.

[Dream Team]

Hilarious the band names that were dropped in this thread instead of Beatles, Sabbath, Purple, Zeppelin, Maiden, Metallica, etc.

[IDontNotDoThings]

Hilarious the band names that were dropped in this thread instead of Beatles, Sabbath, Purple, Zeppelin, Maiden, Metallica, etc.

Why would we discuss those bands in a Dream Theater thread?

[Max Kuehnau]

Hilarious the band names that were dropped in this thread instead of Beatles, Sabbath, Purple, Zeppelin, Maiden, Metallica, etc.

Why would we discuss those bands in a Dream Theater thread?

it's the DTF Derailment Algorithm (TM)