A Dramatic Turn of Events is so underrated

[npiazza91]

Such a great album, there's honestly not a whole lot wrong with it.  It's tightly written from beginning to end imo.  The only "weak" track I would say is Lost Not Forgotten.  Everything else ranges from good to amazing.  I never see this album get a lot of love.  Definitely the best of the Mangini era (haven't heard the whole DoT yet though).

Do you like this album?  Dislike it?  What are your thoughts?

EDIT: I forgot to mention that I just gave it another full listen the other day and it was even better than I remembered.  Probably #5 or #6 DT album for me.

[lovethedrake]

I'm not a big fan to be honest.... the only song I ever really desire to listen to is Breaking All Illusions and I don't think the vocal melodies are great on that song either.

The production is lame and the songs are just not that interesting to me. 

Still a good album overall though and they finally shaked that NU metal vibe with this album but its probably my second least favorite album by them behind SC.    All DT albums are great though.

[Lonk]

I like this album, and Lost not forgotten is one of my favorites from the album. That solo by petrucci is awesome on that song.

BAI, BITS and Outcry and LNF are my favorite from the album.

[npiazza91]

I like this album, and Lost not forgotten is one of my favorites from the album. That solo by petrucci is awesome on that song.

BAI, BITS and Outcry and LNF are my favorite from the album.

You don't like the ballads?  This is the Life and Beneath the Surface are amazing.

[Lonk]

I do like This is the Life, not so crazy about beneath the surface.

[adamack]

Such a great album, there's honestly not a whole lot wrong with it.  It's tightly written from beginning to end imo.  The only "weak" track I would say is Lost Not Forgotten.  Everything else ranges from good to amazing.  I never see this album get a lot of love.  Definitely the best of the Mangini era (haven't heard the whole DoT yet though).

Do you like this album?  Dislike it?  What are your thoughts?

EDIT: I forgot to mention that I just gave it another full listen the other day and it was even better than I remembered.  Probably #5 or #6 DT album for me.

I’m so glad you made this thread. I’ve been thinking this same exact thing lately - it just baffles me how this album is not more well-received. It’s my 4th favorite DT album after SFAM, SDOIT, and TOT. I’m not a “band shirt” kind of person, but this is the one album I would buy a shirt for, just to give it as much respect and attention as possible.

First off, my only guesses as to why this album isn’t very well received are:

1. A lot of the songs operate at a slower, drudging tempo. Outcry, BITS, OTBOA, BAI, and BMUBMD in particular move at a bit of a snail’s pace. And LNF I believe is a bit faster, but the song drags on length-wise (although I love it). And that’s not even mentioning the ballad/slow songs

2. The mix of the album is not good. Very muddy, not a lot of separation/clarity.

Aside from people just not liking the songs, I can’t think of many other issues with this album.

The only song on this album I don’t really like is Far From Heaven, and that’s only a mere 4 minutes of the album. Not even a bad song, just one I’m never in the mood for.

Broken record but BAI is my favorite of theirs in the MM era. It’s gotta be in my top 5 overall DT songs too. The thing that is so fantastic about this song is how EVERY part is great - and there are a lot of them. With most longer DT songs, there is at least one part I don’t particularly love, but BAI is so good start to finish.

On the Backs of Angels is without question my favorite DT single ever. The opening clean guitar part is so cool, and what follows is one of my favorite JP riffs. It’s just so mean sounding! Also, I love that majestic sounding buildup before the chorus. The chorus is really good - not the best ever but good enough. And Jordan’s piano part is awesome!

Bridges In The Sky is another one I love. What an AMAZING series of riffs. After JR’s intro, it just keeps hitting you with riff after riff. Really solid verses lead into one of my favorite hooks on this album. And then the “at last the time has come” post-chorus part is a highlight. Then such a great instrumental section - almost like an Egyptian sound at times.

Outcry is phenomenal! Maybe one of their most epic, grandiose choruses. The song admittedly can drag a bit in the instrumental section, but I’ve never minded this.

This post is getting crazy long but I also LOVE Lost Not Forgotten. JP’s solo is so tasty - gives me Under A Glass Moon vibes and the phrasing is awesome. Again though, this song can definitely overstay it’s welcome and I wish it was about 2 and a half minutes shorter. But whatever I enjoy it!

And Beneath the Surface might be my all time favorite DT ballad. The chorus melody just hits all the perfect notes. I can’t really listen to it anymore because it reminds me of a rough time, but one day I will listen again and love it.

Finally, This Is The Life is a soaring, inspirational track that I love - just not often in the mood to listen to it.

Sorry for the incredibly long post. This album means a lot to me and just writing this post was almost therapeutic, as odd as that may sound.

[chudm]

i like very much this album, i understand the complains about the production-mix, but you should check the vinyl or the hd tracks, it really sounds much better, especially the cymbals and the keyboard

[Dream Team]

With better production, it could vie for favorite. As it is, it’s top 5. I love 6 of the songs, the others are good.

[lovethedrake]

I love the passion!   I think it speaks to DT's longevity and just overall awesomeness that one man's "worst album by DT" can be another man's "best album by DT". 

It seems like SFAM and I&W are generally well regarded and placed near the top of people's lists but the rest of the catalogue is simply all over the place and different strokes for different folks.

I really liked ADTOE when it first came out but for whatever reason I hardly ever get the urge to listen to it.   I think it really is the production/mix.   That makes such a huge difference.  Another thing I don't love is that I felt like this is the first album where every song seemed to turn into an epic... sometimes unnecessarily.  Everything became this big grandiose chorus and it started to make DT sound a bit generic to me and the vocal melodies became less distinctive.   I still think that is an issue on DT, TA, and even D/T despite me having all 3 of those albums ranked higher than anything after TOT.   

With all that said... I think I am going to give ADTOE a spin tonight to allow for a breather on D/T.  I'll come back with my thoughts if I have a change of opinion at all.

[Lonk]

1. A lot of the songs operate at a slower, drudging tempo. Outcry, BITS, OTBOA, BAI, and BMUBMD in particular move at a bit of a snail’s pace. And LNF I believe is a bit faster, but the song drags on length-wise (although I love it). And that’s not even mentioning the ballad/slow songs

I don’t know what you mean but BAI plays at 150 BPM and then slows down to 130BPM which is still pretty fast. OTBOA is at 138 BPM and BITS is around the same range.

[npiazza91]

Such a great album, there's honestly not a whole lot wrong with it.  It's tightly written from beginning to end imo.  The only "weak" track I would say is Lost Not Forgotten.  Everything else ranges from good to amazing.  I never see this album get a lot of love.  Definitely the best of the Mangini era (haven't heard the whole DoT yet though).

Do you like this album?  Dislike it?  What are your thoughts?

EDIT: I forgot to mention that I just gave it another full listen the other day and it was even better than I remembered.  Probably #5 or #6 DT album for me.

I’m so glad you made this thread. I’ve been thinking this same exact thing lately - it just baffles me how this album is not more well-received. It’s my 4th favorite DT album after SFAM, SDOIT, and TOT. I’m not a “band shirt” kind of person, but this is the one album I would buy a shirt for, just to give it as much respect and attention as possible.

First off, my only guesses as to why this album isn’t very well received are:

1. A lot of the songs operate at a slower, drudging tempo. Outcry, BITS, OTBOA, BAI, and BMUBMD in particular move at a bit of a snail’s pace. And LNF I believe is a bit faster, but the song drags on length-wise (although I love it). And that’s not even mentioning the ballad/slow songs

2. The mix of the album is not good. Very muddy, not a lot of separation/clarity.

Aside from people just not liking the songs, I can’t think of many other issues with this album.

The only song on this album I don’t really like is Far From Heaven, and that’s only a mere 4 minutes of the album. Not even a bad song, just one I’m never in the mood for.

Broken record but BAI is my favorite of theirs in the MM era. It’s gotta be in my top 5 overall DT songs too. The thing that is so fantastic about this song is how EVERY part is great - and there are a lot of them. With most longer DT songs, there is at least one part I don’t particularly love, but BAI is so good start to finish.

On the Backs of Angels is without question my favorite DT single ever. The opening clean guitar part is so cool, and what follows is one of my favorite JP riffs. It’s just so mean sounding! Also, I love that majestic sounding buildup before the chorus. The chorus is really good - not the best ever but good enough. And Jordan’s piano part is awesome!

Bridges In The Sky is another one I love. What an AMAZING series of riffs. After JR’s intro, it just keeps hitting you with riff after riff. Really solid verses lead into one of my favorite hooks on this album. And then the “at last the time has come” post-chorus part is a highlight. Then such a great instrumental section - almost like an Egyptian sound at times.

Outcry is phenomenal! Maybe one of their most epic, grandiose choruses. The song admittedly can drag a bit in the instrumental section, but I’ve never minded this.

This post is getting crazy long but I also LOVE Lost Not Forgotten. JP’s solo is so tasty - gives me Under A Glass Moon vibes and the phrasing is awesome. Again though, this song can definitely overstay it’s welcome and I wish it was about 2 and a half minutes shorter. But whatever I enjoy it!

And Beneath the Surface might be my all time favorite DT ballad. The chorus melody just hits all the perfect notes. I can’t really listen to it anymore because it reminds me of a rough time, but one day I will listen again and love it.

Finally, This Is The Life is a soaring, inspirational track that I love - just not often in the mood to listen to it.

Sorry for the incredibly long post. This album means a lot to me and just writing this post was almost therapeutic, as odd as that may sound.

Amen brother, fantastic post!    Now you're making me want to go through every song and give my thoughts lol.

OTBOA is a great opener.  It's well written, it's paced extremely well, and it feels about two minutes shorter than it really is.  Probably the most perfectly well rounded song they have ever done.  There's really nothing wrong with it (it's just not amazing).

BMUBMD I think I prefer slightly more than OTBOA only because I LOVE that chorus (not so much the screaming part, that's just ok).  Labrie's vocal harmonies are incredible there, I just love the way he sings it.  Also the verses are pretty tight as well.  Great song.

LNF is just ok to me.  I think it's the weakest song on the album.  Great instrumental section, but it feels too long for some reason compared to the other epics (idk why) and the chorus never hooked me (I'm a sucker for great choruses and vocal harmonies).

TitL might be a top 10 or top 15 DT song to me.  Love the lyrics and the message, the guitars are beautiful, and Labrie really kills it here.

BitS is fantastic.  The riffs are awesome, the verses are awesome, and again, LOVE that chorus.  This is top 25 DT right here.

Outcry is my favorite song on the album.  It's such an oddly written song, but for me it all just works.  Love the verses, the chorus and the instrumental section, while crazy, is just a joy to listen to.

FFH would be my second least favorite on the album.  I agree with you that it's a bit weak, but the chorus is actually quite catchy.  It sounds like a song that would be in a Disney movie or something.  I can imagine Quasimodo or something singing this lol.

BAI is another great song, but I personally prefer BitS and Outcry over this one.  Again, love the riffs and the vocals harmonies here, I just like the other two epics a bit more.

BtS is incredible to me, it's up there with TitL and Outcry.  It makes me think of my last relationship because she was manic depressive and she would always leave me only to come back either that night or the next day or two days, and I never knew why she would do that to me because the good moments were incredible to be with her.  I always felt like shaking her and screaming at her and I always tried to communicate  with her why she does that.  And she would tell me she doesn't know and she won't do it anymore, but it just kept happening.  She would have emotional breakdowns and scream at me out of nowhere, I never knew when she was going to "change", she even did it in bed sometimes when we're cuddling or just after sex.  It was emotionally abusive to me and I loved her, but she never looked inside herself and realized what she was doing.  I would just sit on my bed crying sometimes.  So this song feels like it's about me and what I went through.  This song also has the honor of being the DT song that has made me cry the most (even before my relationship lol).  The lyrics are probably some of my favorite they've ever done, and you can really feel the pain and the struggle of the person through the way Labrie sings.  I just love this one.

[adamack]

Such a great album, there's honestly not a whole lot wrong with it.  It's tightly written from beginning to end imo.  The only "weak" track I would say is Lost Not Forgotten.  Everything else ranges from good to amazing.  I never see this album get a lot of love.  Definitely the best of the Mangini era (haven't heard the whole DoT yet though).

Do you like this album?  Dislike it?  What are your thoughts?

EDIT: I forgot to mention that I just gave it another full listen the other day and it was even better than I remembered.  Probably #5 or #6 DT album for me.

Amen brother, fantastic post!    Now you're making me want to go through every song and give my thoughts lol.

OTBOA is a great opener.  It's well written, it's paced extremely well, and it feels about two minutes shorter than it really is.  Probably the most perfectly well rounded song they have ever done.  There's really nothing wrong with it (it's just not amazing).

BMUBMD I think I prefer slightly more than OTBOA only because I LOVE that chorus (not so much the screaming part, that's just ok).  Labrie's vocal harmonies are incredible there, I just love the way he sings it.  Also the verses are pretty tight as well.  Great song.

LNF is just ok to me.  I think it's the weakest song on the album.  Great instrumental section, but it feels too long for some reason compared to the other epics (idk why) and the chorus never hooked me (I'm a sucker for great choruses and vocal harmonies).

TitL might be a top 10 or top 15 DT song to me.  Love the lyrics and the message, the guitars are beautiful, and Labrie really kills it here.

BitS is fantastic.  The riffs are awesome, the verses are awesome, and again, LOVE that chorus.  This is top 25 DT right here.

Outcry is my favorite song on the album.  It's such an oddly written song, but for me it all just works.  Love the verses, the chorus and the instrumental section, while crazy, is just a joy to listen to.

FFH would be my second least favorite on the album.  I agree with you that it's a bit weak, but the chorus is actually quite catchy.  It sounds like a song that would be in a Disney movie or something.  I can imagine Quasimodo or something singing this lol.

BAI is another great song, but I personally prefer BitS and Outcry over this one.  Again, love the riffs and the vocals harmonies here, I just like the other two epics a bit more.

BtS is incredible to me, it's up there with TitL and Outcry.  It makes me think of my last relationship because she was manic depressive and she would always leave me only to come back either that night or the next day or two days, and I never knew why she would do that to me because the good moments were incredible to be with her.  I always felt like shaking her and screaming at her and I always tried to communicate  with her why she does that.  And she would tell me she doesn't know and she won't do it anymore, but it just kept happening.  She would have emotional breakdowns and scream at me out of nowhere, I never knew when she was going to "change", she even did it in bed sometimes when we're cuddling or just after sex.  It was emotionally abusive to me and I loved her, but she never looked inside herself and realized what she was doing.  I would just sit on my bed crying sometimes.  So this song feels like it's about me and what I went through.  This song also has the honor of being the DT song that has made me cry the most (even before my relationship lol).  The lyrics are probably some of my favorite they've ever done, and you can really feel the pain and the struggle of the person through the way Labrie sings.  I just love this one.

Loved reading this, thank you!

First thing I realized while reading - how did I forget BMUBMD?? When the album first came out, this was one of my favorites. I don't listen to it as much these days, but I'll always love this song. The chorus is my favorite part as well. What really compliments JLB's vocals is JR's string pad chords. I think out of every DT album (aside from SFAM), JLB and Jordan in particular really just hit all of the right notes/chords in so many places on this album, and this is one of them. Some other examples are the Outcry chorus, the BTS chorus, and the BITS post-chorus part. Such good harmonization between vocal layers and instruments.

Also - that is so crazy that BTS has a connection with you like that, as I was in a similar (though different) relationship situation at the time of this album. It was a very difficult relationship because the main issue was out of our hands, so there was never any love lost. Anyway though, I would sit and try to record a cover of this song every night to try to cope with the pain I was going through. I'm not really a singer so I was never satisfied, but this whole situation just left a stain on this song, and has made it really difficult to return to. It's one of the most beautiful songs ever, by and band IMO.

One final note - I really like DOT. But the weakest part of the album to me is the choruses, and I feel like that is where ADToE really shines. I feel like this is a big reason that I pretty heavily prefer ADTOE.

[cygnusx1jg]

I like this album very much. Had many thoughts about it after the first listen, but the one thing I remember and that stands out is not having to hear Portnoy open his big trap and attempt to sing background vocals, which was the one and only thing I despised about their tunes. OK, I can tolerate TGP, but that's as far as I'll go.

[adamack]

1. A lot of the songs operate at a slower, drudging tempo. Outcry, BITS, OTBOA, BAI, and BMUBMD in particular move at a bit of a snail’s pace. And LNF I believe is a bit faster, but the song drags on length-wise (although I love it). And that’s not even mentioning the ballad/slow songs

I don’t know what you mean but BAI plays at 150 BPM and then slows down to 130BPM which is still pretty fast. OTBOA is at 138 BPM and BITS is around the same range.

True, I guess I just mean compared to some of their earlier stuff. There are no burners on this album like The Glass Prison, Panic Attack, This Dying Soul, etc.

Maybe it's more of the vocals I'm thinking of and not the song tempo. The chorus vocals on BMUBMD, Outcry, BITS and OTBOA could be a bit draggy to some perhaps. I could have sworn I've heard something like this as a complaint somewhere, so I'm just trying to piece it together.

Again though, I don't feel this way personally and I'm more so just trying to think of every last little reason someone could dislike this album, because it's hard for me to fathom.

[Herrick]

I think it's one of their best albums. I think it's the best since Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence. I've no deep thoughts to justify that opinion though. Sorry.

[npiazza91]

I didn't want to make a new topic, but I'm listening to Systematic Chaos again right now (it's been a while) and...I'm really not feeling it.

ITPOE Part 1 is pretty good.  Not much else to say about it, solid song.

Forsaken is also a solid song.  Nothing amazing though.

CM is my second favorite on the album, but I wouldn't say it's top tier DT.  It's great, but not amazing.

TDEN is...just ok.  Not a big fan of Mike's backing vocals on this one, and it's just a weird song overall.  Prettu cool instrumental section though.

Repentance is a nice song, but it overstays its welcome and I'm bored by the end.  That outro is just way too long.  Shave 3 minutes off and you've got a really good song.

PoW is decent, but doesn't do a whole lot for me.

TMOLS sounds beautiful, but did this one really have to be 15 minutes long?

ITPOE Part 2 is my favorite song off the album, I love this one.  Not quite amazing though, just short of being amazing.  Probably make my top 30.

To be honest, this album might go down to my #13 (it was previously my #12).  I thought another listen would make me appreciate it more, but I like it even less now.  I think I like WDADU more than it, so I'm gonna switch the two in my album ranking.

I think Labrie is pretty weak on SC and that's what holds it back for me.  He doesn't get a lot to do with his voice as far as harmonies and hitting high notes.  ITPOE Part 2 has his best moments imo.  And this album seems to be both heavy and experimental at the same time, but also has songs like Repentance and Prophets of War, so the entire album just has a strange, awkward flow to it.  The choruses and hooks are pretty lackluster too I think.

I gotta give The Astonishing a full listen sometime (never heard it all the way through).  Because there's a chance that SC might move to last place for me.  It's just not that great of an album.  Still better than a lot of other stuff because it's DT, but compared to their other works, I really don't care much for it.

Gonna give DT12 another listen now, since it's been awhile for that one too.

[erciccio]

ADTOE is indeed a beautiful album.

IMHO the main reason why it's underrated it's because it was the first without MP.
And do you remember all the ridicule discussions about the fact that the song structures were copied from Images and Words?
All those "fans" stating that without Portnoy they were lost and had to copy from the past?
Looking back to this discussion now, it sound incredibly stupid...

Anyway.

BOI is easily in my top 5.
Outcry and BiTS are also epic and beautiful.
BMUBMD, LNF and ONBoF are all solid and interesting.
As concerns the ballads, I don't love too much TITL, while I think that OOH is a beautiful "intro" to BAI.

Beneath the Surface is a gem, in particular the lyrics...
I was reading to the stories from other people above, and I am also very "linked" to this song..but coming from a different perspective.
I fell deeply in love with a girl, and we had an affair...but we both had an official partner.
We promised our-self we would find the courage to leave our partners and try to live our story in full, "but that moment never came"....
The lyrics are very deep, and generic enough to be adapted to many similar situations.

Overall I like ADTOE more that D/T mainly thanks to the ballads and the choruses...that are a bit lacking in D/T.

Final consideration: I think the original title of the album was supposed to be "Bridges in the Sky", and "Bridges in the Sky" was to be called "Shaman's trance" but they changed their mind at the very last moment.
The cover idea was IMHO based on the initial album title....
Just a guess.

A.


 

[1neeto]

I think it’s a solid album. LNF pushes the mindless instrument wankery line (I believe it’s called the “tickle part” around here), but it doesn’t truly cross it when adding the fact that it is Dream Theater. OTBOA is a great song and can’t ignore the fact that it was nominated for a Grammy. TITL is hands down one of their greatest ballads. I rank it right next to Another Day which is my favorite DT ballad. Outcry is easily my favorite from that album. It’s such an uplifting song musically and lyrically, it’s empowering. I rank that album in my top 5 consistently. 

[legenden1]

Love the album. Not too keen on OTBOA but the rest is fantastic. The second part of TITL is DT at their very peak and Outcry is the musical sequel to Metropolis Pt 1 and just as good. The album is definitely in the top 5 for me

[erwinrafael]

I like this album amd it has my favorite DT song (BAI). What's preventing me from ranking it very high is that I am used now to limited-wankery DT. BAI is long but every passage is purposeful. Other songs, however, still has wank carry-over from previous two abums.

[krands85]

I still love this album, still my #3 by DT, though SFAM isn't far behind. Lots of great songs, including their best since Octavarium - Breaking All Illusions. So many great moments and sections all over the album too. The only song I don't really like is FFH - ballads tend to be my least favourite songs on albums anyway, but this one for some reason doesn't do anything for me and I don't really enjoy it. Sonically the album isn't ideal either, but at this stage that's not really a surprise.

[Pettor]

For me A Dramatic Turn of Events comes out as a bit of a missed opportunity. I still like it, but there is quite a lot missed potential in there. The overall mix is way to dry and really the opposite of organic (just listen to D/T and the difference is huge). Mangini sounds like a drum machine (hate to say it but really does for me), but there is also something strange where there keys often gets muddy in the overall mix. Breaking All Illusions is a favorite song but there is still annoyances that some aspects could have been better, like the mix of the keys. If they had the sound and drumming of D/T it could actually have been pretty damn awesome

My biggest issue is that the grooves are missing throughout the whole album and that makes the album less fun and kinda boring at times. LNF and Outcry never lifts more than being long songs with some instrumental sections being there because they kinda need to. It lacks a bit of playfulness and at times I just which the band could have freaked out and done something crazy. It feels confined.

LNF is one of the worst epics they have done, Breaking All Illusions is one of the best epcs they have ever done. On The Backs of Angels is one of the best singles they have released, BMU, BMD is one of the worst singles (songs) they have ever released. Beneath The Surface is one of the best ballads ... period.

[Architeuthis]

Love this album!  I haven't listened to it in quite a while as it mysteriously disappeared, along with my Live at Luna Park bluray.  I've searched and searched and still haven't found either one after over a year, or maybe two.
  I hate having to re-buy something but that's my only hope of hearing it again at this point.

[Mladen]

I put this album right behind the big three. It's a classic.

[mikeyd23]

Killer songs, if the production and mix were better, it would have aged more favorably. Still a really good record though.

[kaos2900]

Killer songs, if the production and mix were better, it would have aged more favorably. Still a really good record though.

This. Prime example of how bad production can limit the quality of an album.

[KevShmev]

Killer songs, if the production and mix were better, it would have aged more favorably. Still a really good record though.

This sums it up for me.  I don't listen to it that much anymore because the mix really bugs me (too dry and muddy, like others have said), but the songwriting is mostly excellent.  I'd probably consider this a top 5 Dream Theater album, with no questions asked, if it sounded a lot better, but as is, I usually still put it in the mid tier range (6th to 8th best).

[bosk1]

Fantastic album.  It ranks at #3 for me, right behind Six Degrees and SFAM (even with probably the weakest track in the last 10 years closing it out).  I wouldn't call it "underrated" at all since people generally rate it pretty high.

[kaos2900]

Is the HD tracks version of the album any better? I know it will never happen a re-mixed version of ADToE and DT12 with at least the drum sound from DOT would greatly improve those two albums.

[Shooters1221]

I didn't think it was underrated here in the forum. I can't review all posts but I always felt the majority here to give it a  Maybe I'm wrong. I personally love that album.

[chudm]

Is the HD tracks version of the album any better? I know it will never happen a re-mixed version of ADToE and DT12 with at least the drum sound from DOT would greatly improve those two albums.

yeah, the HD tracks of ADTOE sounds pretty good, the drums and keyboard sounds better

[Fritzinger]

I think the only problem this album has is its sound. Everything else is awesome.
Plus, On The Backs has become one of my favorite DT songs.

[Dreamer]

Mt fave DT album. On The Backs of Angels, Outcry and especially Breaking All Illusions are just jaw dropping.

[RuRoRul]

Happened to be listening to Lost Not Forgotten as I read this thread, for the first time in a while as it's not one of my favourites, but still was thinking about how it has a clear identity and has a pretty good deliver of what it wants to do - a DT song with some chunks of real unrepentant technical noodling with some fun galloping riffs in a song a generally grand sweeping but somewhat dark theme. And it is indeed one of the weaker songs on this album.

I don't really know how highly it's rated by most as I thought it was recieved pretty well, but considering that I don't see ADTOE often mentioned as the benchmark to compare other MM era DT, I'd agree it's probably somewhat underrated. For me, This Is The Life is probably the weakest link on there, I feel it sits in a bit of an odd middle ground for what style of song it is and nothing in it strongly resonates with me - but it's stil a solid song and pretty comparable to a lot of DT 12. Far From Heaven serves very well as a short ballad and as introduction to Breaking All Illusions. But Breaking All Illusions needs no introduction (literally), it stands just as well alone as it does listening as part of the album or with Far From Heaven before it. It's the best song of the MM era so far and if I was compiling a song ranking it may be able to muscle its way into my Top 5 Dream Theater songs, which is quite a feat.

Bridges In The Sky and Outcry are both excellent songs too. I maybe don't find myself listening to them as much lately as I did a few years ago, I think that Outcry's instrumental section, while enjoyable, doesn't compliment the rest of the song as well as I'd want it to for it to be among my most listened to DT songs  - compare with say Breaking All Illusions, if I get a notion to listen to a part of BAI or I hear a single bit of it I know I want to hear the whole thing. Or same thing with Metropolis Pt 1.  But I'd still rate Outcry among the top tier of DT songs from this decade, and Bridges In The Sky too although I know I tend to be in the minority for preferring Outcry over BITS.

So I do rate A Dramatic Turn Of Events pretty highly in my album rankings, I think it's a good, fun and varied listen as a complete album and has several very strong individual songs. It's stronger in that regard than DT12, impressions after a week or so is that Distance Over Time is closer to ADTOE in that respect but time will tell if that lasts or if it grows on me even more, but I expect ADTOE will still remain my favourite from the MM era.

[Progmetty]

Masterpiece, I had no idea it was underrated!