Top 3 moments for Distance over time

[Vandalism]

Let's post our top 3 moments on the album with time stamps. They can be anything a riff/transition/lyric/actor exclamations

Mine are

At Wit's End - 5:23 - The muted guitar riff and soft vocals that lead to the final guitar lead section. Vintage DT!

S2N - 2:10 - Keyboard arpeggios over palm mutes. Totally unexpected but totally works! Shows their ideas are still so fresh!

Pale Blue Dot - 5:55 - This is the Mangini stamp on the album! Only he would come up with something like this in the middle of a flashy complex instrumental section!

[SeRoX]

1- Barstool Warrior: Where the solo section ends and James comes in ..."Promises made..."

2- At Wit's End: Second verse of James' vocals.

3- At Wit's End: Fade-Out Outro

[krands85]

I might be stretching the definition of "moment" a bit, but ones that first come to mind:

At Wit's End outro solo, especially the bend at around 7:20 - someone mentioned it in another thread
Fall Into the Light - mellow middle section, especially the part from around 4:00
Untethered Angel - JP and JR trading off around 3:43-4:26

Also some briefer parts I love:
Untethered Angel - The riff at about 2:05
At Wit's End - the riff around 5:23 and how the keyboards come in, plus the 10-15 seconds from around 5:43
Still need time with the album to come up with more, especially on the tracks I haven't taken to as much as my favourites - although somehow I haven't listed anything here from PBD, which is my favourite song 

[Lax]

Wow ! (not this one) this is so hard to choose !

I'll try to choose the minimum :
-FITL solo section, between the metallica vibes, unissons and crazy organ solo
-At wit's end from the piano to the end But the whole song is a masterpiece
-First half of PBD is from outer space But the whole song is fantastic

But how to avoid talking about S2N's groove, Barstool, 137, and VIPER KING which was one of the most effing enjoyable surprises I ever felt !

[Zydar]

The middle section of Fall Into The Light
The outro solo of At Wit's End
The intro to Barstool Warrior (reminds me of I&W)

[mikeyd23]

First couple moments that come to mind -

Middle section of FItL

The "deafening" section of AWE.

The outro solo of AWE.

The MM drum fills in PBD.

[fischermasamune]

Fall Into The Light 3:16 - 5:11
Very beautiful, really makes the song unique. Excellent choices by Petrucci in notes and tone, a great, tender and consequential journey. Upon hearing it in the single, I became very confident the band would deliver tasteful music in the album.

At Wit's End 5:23 - 8:18
Beautiful and powerful, lyrically and instrumentally. Remembers me of some songs on Awake such as Voices and Scarred. The heavy riff starting this part already signals that what comes next is meaningful. The guitar solo is very beautiful, comparable to the ones ending Octavarium and The Best Of Times.

Pale Blue Dot 5:31 - 6:40
I really like the sequence here, remembering the best instrumental sections such as Fatal Tragedy and Metropolis Pt. I: The Miracle And The Sleeper. There are some chaotic parts, with "stacatto keyboard attacks", those pseudo-random sequences of notes that the band often comes which ultimately are well-crafted and make a lot of sense, ending with a beautiful resolution binds them all together.

(These are actually my three favorite songs on this record. It's my belief that had these songs been released earlier in their career, they would have a status in the fans' hearts similar to Learning To Leave, A Change Of Seasons and Trial Of Tears).

[RoeDent]

There are waaay more than 3 amazing moments on this incredible album, and I haven't really memorized time stamps yet, so I'll hold on this for now. But the thread's a great idea.

[Ninjabait]

01. At Wit's End - DEAFENING DEAFENING SHUT IT OUT
02. Fall Into the Light - middle section
03. S2N - outro riff

[The Walrus]

I think, right now, all 3 of my moments would come from Pale Blue Dot, but I can't even narrow it down to 3 yet. I think it's the best song Dream Theater has written in a long time, possibly since The Count of Tuscany.

- when JP's lead takes over after the first round of vocals, it gives me an image of a camera panning from the Earth out into fields of stars, beautiful stuff
- the pairing of lyrics and vocal melodies make this song heavy and dark as hell, and they're poetic to boot ("A lonely point of light captured in a final glance / This isolated speck hurling through the cosmic dark" are amazing lyrics)
- Mangini from 5:50 to 6:02. Wow.
- that whole instrumental section is just mindblowing. That guitar/synth duet at 6:15. WOW!
- simple but memorable riff, unobtrusive keyboards outside of the solo madness - great decision to reel it in

It's too good. Not to take away from the rest of the album, but seriously, what a freaking good song this is.

[Bertielee]

I think, right now, all 3 of my moments would come from Pale Blue Dot, but I can't even narrow it down to 3 yet. I think it's the best song Dream Theater has written in a long time, possibly since The Count of Tuscany.

- when JP's lead takes over after the first round of vocals, it gives me an image of a camera panning from the Earth out into fields of stars, beautiful stuff
- the pairing of lyrics and vocal melodies make this song heavy and dark as hell, and they're poetic to boot ("A lonely point of light captured in a final glance / This isolated speck hurling through the cosmic dark" are amazing lyrics)
- Mangini from 5:50 to 6:02. Wow.
- that whole instrumental section is just mindblowing. That guitar/synth duet at 6:15. WOW!
- simple but memorable riff, unobtrusive keyboards outside of the solo madness - great decision to reel it in

It's too good. Not to take away from the rest of the album, but seriously, what a freaking good song this is.

I really had trouble getting into it on the first few listens. Now, I find it fantastic! It's ominous!

B.Lee

[RAIN]

Paralyzed - Intro
Barstool Warrior - Intro
Pale Blue Dot - Star Wars Imperial March Theme

[nicmos]

S2N - unexpected Owen Wilson (frankly, that whole instrumental section up to that point, love the By-Tor thing too)

Fall Into the Light - transition out of slow middle section with the drum roll into the keyboard solo

Untethered Angel - transition into the second verse and second verse through B-section/bridge/pre-chorus thing

[MirrorMask]

- The verses of At Wit's end (Deafening, deafening) leading into the chorus (and of course the chorus itself)

- Fall Into the Light's mellow solo section, especially when the heavy guitar comes in reprising the main riff of the section, that's a singalong at concerts

- Barstool Warrior's intro and "Promises made" section

bonus: wow 

[The Jester]

At Wit's End - 5:23 - The muted guitar riff and soft vocals that lead to the final guitar lead section. Vintage DT!

That part is just majestic. I would happily listen to it over and over again. It's probably my favourite part of the new album.

[CDrice]

I'm not sure if these are my definite top three moments, but they're the three that comes to my mind right now.

- In the intro of At Wit's End when it opens up. By that I mean the moment when the guitar drops the beginning riff an octave down and Jordan starts playing some chords on piano.
- The drumming in S2N.
- James vocal perfomance on Paralyzed.

But there's so many cool moments on this album that tomorrow this list could maybe change.

[RoeDent]

- Instrumental break in Fall Into The Light. From the slow guitar solo to the faster organ solo, it reminds me of Spock's Beard's Waiting for Me, whose instrumental break has a similar structure.

- The middle vocals in Room 137.

- Instrumental break in Pale Blue Dot. I know they were going for a more concise approach, but I love that they still had room for one super-proggy freakout instrumental. Easily their best complex break since Outcry. Metropolis, Outcry, Pale Blue Dot...the trinity.