So... my copy finally came and I had a good spell in the car yesterday to listen to it through. I will be giving it additional spins, but I made a very grave mistake after the first listen. I listened to "The Great Adventure" (or at least the first disk of that album, and about three songs on disk two).
It provided some really clear contrast.
Dream Theater was always a top tier band for me, up until September of 2010, and recently (within the last week or so) I was burning my CDs (and even DVD audio) to my network drive. Really blown away by revisiting some old favorites, and even had a new perspective on some of them (About To Crash comes to mind). This album is certainly a step in the right direction after The Astonishing (which didn't click for me) and generally I liked this. I loved Jordan and James. But there are a couple not minor criticisms: One, Mangini. I get it; monster, technical wizard, etc. etc. It's just not the same, man. That bass drum is so... loud, for lack of a better word, it just overpowers, and again, I'm always sort of left with a clinical admiration, but no goosebumps. It just seems so .... jarring to me. There are too many moments like the intro to Pale Blue Dot where you can almost hear him counting, and not enough like Out Of Reach where the song guides the players, and not the other way around.
Two, Petrucci. Sho'nuff, he plays his ass off, and technique wise, he runs the gamut from blistering unison lines to some very Gilmour-esque solos (might be one of his best, from the solo perspective). But the rhythm sound is just so predictable. He just keeps going to that really compressed, really overdriven growly bass sound and it's boring. The start of Paralyzed. The start of Room 137. The verse of Pale Blue Dot. I want some of that Petrucci who was channeling Alex Lifeson on "Learning To Live" or better yet, "About To Crash". There was some of that on DT12 (The Looking Glass, I think it was) and a little here - the intro to Barstool Warrior - but not enough for my taste, at least not in comparison to the heavy, growling rhythm that dominates this album.
Three, melodies; admittedly, I'm a melody guy. I don't need "choruses" per se, but I do need those moments like "Voices" and the "without love, without truth... there can be no turning back!" section of Fatal Tragedy, where the melody sticks in my head and informs the music that comes after it. No doubt, compositionally, DT are an exceptional band, but for my taste, there need to be more moments like in Barstool Warrior: "Call it bad luck... call it fate... Call it stuck here the rest of my days..." (The prechorus in Viper King is close). I don't know if that is a conscious choice on their part, or a swing and a miss in terms of intent.
End of the day: very good, not great, so far. Goosebump moments: zero, so far.
Contrast this to the new Neal Morse album. I had two goosebump moments in the first overture! Excellent mix of vocalists to create a real sonic tapestry. I am braced for the inevitable "Mike has drummed this album four times in the last five years" but it works. He is mixed well, in the context of the other members, and it seems as if all occupy their own space in the sonic field. There is some typically strong playing from Mike, but it's never jarring and never works against the music. Lyrically it's... ah who cares. I don't really listen to this (or DT) for the lyrics, but the melodies... I can't sing one track off the DT yet other than that chorus from Barstool Warrior (probably my favorite song on the record so far) but I have been singing "I Got To Run" for most of the day (and if I wasn't it would be one of "Venture In Black" or "Hey Ho Let's Go", as I'm not sure where one ends and the other begins).
I don't know if it as simple as the arranging skills of Portnoy, though I think not, because many of the criticisms I have of Dream Theater apply to Sons of Apollo. That could be the "compartmentalizing" that Mike does ('this is my trad prog album, this is my prog metal album, this is my..."), but I would love to hear this band playing the D/T material (meaning, hearing D/T using TGA setups/sounds) and I think it would make a world of difference. Goosebump moments: About six, so far.
I'll give both albums several more listens, and I'm going to see DT live (but passing on Neal Morse this time around), but these were my initial impressions.