Official Distance Over Time discussion thread

[Architeuthis]

I like the nod to By-Tor in S2N! 

[obscure]

I think I'm losing my mind.... God how I needed this.....


THANK YOU .. just thank you...

[Anxiety35]

Pleasantly surprised and super pleased with this release. Upon the first listen, it's by far the best MM era release in my opinion.

The record sounds inspired and fresh.

Thank you Dream Theater.

[cramx3]

I'll +1 on the thank you...


THANK YOU DREAM THEATER 

[TexansDT]

Um... let's just put it this way - I'm glad I have tickets for all three Texas shows. This is gonna sound SO sick live!

That, and I officially cannot word. WOW. 

Perhaps the greatest compliment I can pay to this album is that it makes me WANT to go to all three Texas shows, especially in the hopes to see all of the album at various points.

My God, what a tour de force.  Most of my feels have been captured in this thread, so i'll just echo that I'm a huge fan of our five dudes holing up for a few weeks to write an album, if it means this is what we'll get!!

[gmillerdrake]

so i'll just echo that I'm a huge fan of our five dudes holing up for a few weeks to write an album, if it means this is what we'll get!!

No kidding!!!

[Anxiety35]

Anyone else think Viper King would make a good encore song?

[erciccio]

Well, I was hoping for this...this album is a fuxxing grower!
At night, lights off and with the right headphones "At Wit's end" made me cry...and also Barstool has grown a lot.
Also Pale Blue Dot is now a strong like...and Out of Reach is ok.

Just don't love Room 137...appreciate they tried something different, but it's not my cup of team

My overall rating was a 7+...grown to a full 8.

[Progmetty]

20$ says Pale Blue Dot is gonna be the show opener, I dare say it's the second coming of Bridges in The Sky.

[DebraKadabra]

Um... let's just put it this way - I'm glad I have tickets for all three Texas shows. This is gonna sound SO sick live!

That, and I officially cannot word. WOW. 

Perhaps the greatest compliment I can pay to this album is that it makes me WANT to go to all three Texas shows, especially in the hopes to see all of the album at various points.

My God, what a tour de force.  Most of my feels have been captured in this thread, so i'll just echo that I'm a huge fan of our five dudes holing up for a few weeks to write an album, if it means this is what we'll get!!

I'll hoist a drink to those sentiments!

[Progmetty]

Continuing the first experience, more first hand impressions:

Barstool Warrior - where are the memorable choruses?

In my opinion, the BW chorus is the best on the album. I particularly like how the drums make it sound different the second time around

+1

[Chino]

I've listened to the album twice so far. I'm digging it for the most part. I hear a ton of Awake in this album (not saying that's a bad thing). I'm a little let down with The Pale Blue Dot, and so far Bar Stool Warrior might be my favorite. Assuming SFAM will be the second set on the upcoming tour, I expect Paralyzed to be the opener.

[faizoff]

I upgraded my gold ticket to get the VIP meet and greet and really really can't wait to hear this album and SFAM live. I really hope they play almost all songs from D/T live.

[wolven74]

Only listened to the whole thing once all the way through. Some much needed prog in this album, something I think they'd started to lack in DT and TA. I'll need to give it some more of my time, for sure. First impression is they picked the most single-isa songs for the first three tracks (well done, Inside Out) Barstool Warrior, I thought, "Ok... this is definitely a return to form." I like that JR is definitely on the album, but he isn't so much in the front of the mix on this one, and I like that a lot. Fewer keyboard solos, more playing to enhance the music, from the background, so to speak. Pale Blue Dot was a lot darker than I would have imagined, but it's fantastic. Then I got to Viper King, and thought "Fuck YES!" I've been waiting for a blues riff driven track from DT and this is fucking perfect. Love love love that track. I'm wondering though, is it a cover? Any particular reason for it to be a bonus track? I've seen reviews that say MM has found his place in the band on this album and I can't but agree whole heartedly. He definitely shines on this album. Definitely a return to form for the band.

[Progmetty]

One thing I noticed, all of the guitar solos on the album have no rhythm guitar underneath, interesting production choice which I think works really nicely.

One track I wish JP would go back in time and do that with is Constant Motion, the cool riff section that starts @ 4:03 doesn't work live cause at all cause the sound and the vibe of that riff falls out as soon as JP stops playing the riff with JR and starts playing his solo.

[Lonk]

20$ says Pale Blue Dot is gonna be the show opener, I dare say it's the second coming of Bridges in The Sky.

Honestly, I would bet it's the closer/encore. While listening to it it has that feel. Also, I don't know what they did previous to SC, but since SC, every album tour ends with the album closer (Not counting encores).

SC: In the presence of the enemies
BCSL: The count of Tuscany
ADTOE: Breaking all illusions (I know Beneath the surface is the album closer, but would not be a good end to a show)
DT12: Illumination Theory

TA we all know how that went.

[Progmetty]

I get what you're saying Vmadera00 but I got a gut feeling about this and the reason I trust my gut feeling is that I had one about Bridges in The Sky being the opener before the ADTOE tour and brushed off as unlikely then when the news started coming in live from the first show I thought "Damn I should have made a bet"

[Chino]

JR feels a bit more subdued than previous albums although I don't mind it...and that's not to say that he doesn't have some cool parts. Just feels like he worked on 'atmosphere control' of the songs which worked out great.

I think that JR's pieces on DOT are just more tasteful and instead of hitting a million notes, he is hitting the notes that he needs to hit.
While a bit under the radar, his parts are still pretty damn good.

I agree...I'm not saying I didn't like what he's doing on the album. I think it's perfect. It's very measured. In fact, they all seem very measured and intentional in their playing. No real 'wasted' time or over playing. Just concise and well thought out.

When my dad was teaching me music when I was younger, one of the first things he said was "the notes you don't play are just as important as the ones you do", implying that you don't need to play a million miles an hour to sound good or full.

[RoeDent]

This is wonderful to see all this love for Dream Theater again, after it feels it was lost a bit in the three years since The Astonishing.

I will say that, as much as I love The Astonishing, it absolutely feels like an outlier now as far as their albums go. Distance Over Time, in terms of the conciseness of the songs, definitely feels like a natural evolution of the process they started on DT12.

[MasterLomaxus]

After listening through it all again, I really love this album. Part of it have some "vibes" from a band called The Third Ending.

[TAC]

I love JP's solos. It's not 1000 notes per second all the time.
Like at 5:55 of AWE when he comes out of nowhere with this amazing sounding solo.

ALL of this. For me personally, it is the most soulful JP has sounded in a very long time. That solo isn't even all that complicated. But the notes resonate with the vibe of the song...

I always get laughed at when I mention Gary Moore, but many of JP's solos, especially like the soulful ones on D/T, are what my ears make me think of.

[TAC]

My largest 'gripe' with TA is that I feel like I can't just listen to a song from it. It's all or nothing for me. But, when I do get the chance to listen to it....it's such a great album choc full of insane music moments.....and MM outright and utterly KILLS it on that album.

I get this, but I can usually listen to chunks of the album and be good with it.  Because who has time to listen to an album that long on a regular basis?

I would put my 15 song 68 min Astonishing Abridged against anything in their discog.

[bill1971]

Ok, after hearing it three times. It sucks, where is Portnoy??

I'm kidding. What a super incredible album. Loved every second of it. Mangini, you are the man!!!!! I have been a fan of his from the start but he never disappoints. The whole band is firing on full cylinders.

01. Untethered Angel...great opener
02. Paralyzed  One of my favorites on the album, straight rocker, sorta, for DT at least. :
03. Fall Into the Light Very Metallicaesque, love the pacing of the song, drums are killer!!
04. Barstool Warrior  Kind of hard to characterize but I love it.
05. Room 137 Not typical DT but I like the vibe
06. S2N  DT meets 1970's Rush!
07. At Wit’s End Very moving song, great instrumentation
08. Out Of Reach Has not clicked yet, but not bad
09. Pale Blue Dot Masterpiece!! I chuckled with happiness at some of the instrumentation
10. Viper King (Bonus track) I am not sure why this is a bonus track and not just put it after Room 137 and before S2N. Reminds me of FII song, but better.

[rumborak]

RYM places the album between ToT and 8V. Which is another way of saying it's the best album of the last 16 years, that's impressive.

[bill1971]

I upgraded my gold ticket to get the VIP meet and greet and really really can't wait to hear this album and SFAM live. I really hope they play almost all songs from D/T live.

Agreed if they played

1. Distance over time album
2. Breaking all Illusions or Bridges in the Sky

Encore

3. SFAM
4. The Glass Prison

I would be happy.

[The Walrus]

Quite possibly my favorite Mangini era DT album.

The processing on JLB's vocals finally works. It works so well on this album. The composition, the sound of the guitar, it all works well, there is a very robotic vibe to this album but not robotic in a bad way - it sounds sleek, futuristic, almost cybertronic at times, like Haken if Haken didn't go way overboard with that style. The artwork I think represents this very well.

Everybody's firing on all cylinders on this album. Jordan, strangely, stands out the least to me - he's crazy in the instrumental sections but for the most part I'm more fascinated with the riffs, JMX's bass lines, Mangini's drumming, and JLB's vocal characteristics more than him.

At Wit's End's main riff is monstrous. Pale Blue Dot is phenomenal. Paralyzed sounds like a JLB solo tune, in a good way. S2N and Room 137 are really cool. And the instrumental section of PBD... Wow. Just wow.

I loved The Astonishing and still do, but I think this one takes the cake for me. It's concise, it's to the point, it's interesting, it's fresh.

[Ben_Jamin]

Yup...i knew id love this album. So far im enjoying it all. Highlights are S2N, At Wits End, Room 137, and Pale Blue Dot.

I honestly wouldn't mind if they played mostly D/T, and only 3-4 older songs. This album is just that good. Now I have to wait a month to see them live in Denver. Its close enough to the beginning of the tour, so I might go in blind with the set.

[NoseofNicko]

RYM places the album between ToT and 8V. Which is another way of saying it's the best album of the last 16 years, that's impressive.

The rating is gonna keep going down though. Fuck RYM.

[TheOutlawXanadu]

RYM places the album between ToT and 8V. Which is another way of saying it's the best album of the last 16 years, that's impressive.

The rating is gonna keep going down though. Fuck RYM.

Pretty much this. I don't personally care about the album's rating, but generally speaking, RYM always rubbed me the wrong way.

[rumborak]

The rating is gonna keep going down though. Fuck RYM.

Why? Looking at the ordering of the albums they seem to arrive at very sensible ratings. And if D/T gets a bit closer to 8V, If that's how people feel about it, what's wrong about that?

[Dream Team]

JR feels a bit more subdued than previous albums although I don't mind it...and that's not to say that he doesn't have some cool parts. Just feels like he worked on 'atmosphere control' of the songs which worked out great.

I think that JR's pieces on DOT are just more tasteful and instead of hitting a million notes, he is hitting the notes that he needs to hit.
While a bit under the radar, his parts are still pretty damn good.

I agree...I'm not saying I didn't like what he's doing on the album. I think it's perfect. It's very measured. In fact, they all seem very measured and intentional in their playing. No real 'wasted' time or over playing. Just concise and well thought out.

When my dad was teaching me music when I was younger, one of the first things he said was "the notes you don't play are just as important as the ones you do", implying that you don't need to play a million miles an hour to sound good or full.

Wow, never heard that one before. Fact: Jordan’s playing has been extremely tasteful for the last 4 albums. But it’s one of those things people never let go of . . .

[Bertielee]

I'll get into a meaty in-depth post when I'm on my laptop.
The short version is; I'm totally floored by how good this album is.
The combo of JM and MM locked in together, coupled with the sound
of their instruments is mind blowing. Add in JP's tone and a stellar
overall production, along with insanely great compositions and
what you get is magnificent ear candy. I never thought I'd feel this
way again about a DT album. There were several occasions when the
hair was standing up on the back of my neck. Goosebumps man.
Kudos to DT.

Amen to that my friend! And I never thought I would see emtee love a DT album again...

B.Lee

[NoseofNicko]

The rating is gonna keep going down though. Fuck RYM.

Why? Looking at the ordering of the albums they seem to arrive at very sensible ratings. And if D/T gets a bit closer to 8V, If that's how people feel about it, what's wrong about that?

RYM is full of people who despise the band and hate-listen to their albums just to give them 0.5/5.

[TexansDT]

My largest 'gripe' with TA is that I feel like I can't just listen to a song from it. It's all or nothing for me. But, when I do get the chance to listen to it....it's such a great album choc full of insane music moments.....and MM outright and utterly KILLS it on that album.

I get this, but I can usually listen to chunks of the album and be good with it.  Because who has time to listen to an album that long on a regular basis?

I would put my 15 song 68 min Astonishing Abridged against anything in their discog.

Not to get off-topic, but do tell. (The tracks you included, that is.  )

[fadetoblackdude7]

To the people who ordered the standard jewel case version: does yours have the bonus track on it? I ordered this version specifically to not have it, but it’s on there anyway 😂