DT15: A View From The Top Of The World (Timeline for DT15)

[darkshade]

Curiously, I don't know what I even want from a new DT album. My fave period was Scenes - Octavarium.

But A Dramatic Turn onwards were just...The Latest Dream Theater album to me...

What actually is it about the 1999-2005 period I love so much ?

it's an interesting question.


...I guess I just put "great songs" over anything else. I'm the weirdo that loves I Walk Beside You and This Is The Life. I haven't really enjoyed a mega-song since The Count.

But i'm optimistic about A View...

Probably because the 1999-2006 period was when DT were at the top of their game, physically, mentally, musically. They had grown to be arguably the biggest underground band in the world. They peaked during Octavarium and Score and they knew it. Overall, it's really 92-06 that is the golden era of DT, they just didn't have any real disruptions from 99-06, and really until 2010. The last couple of albums with Portnoy are definitely a band unsure of where to go next, despite increasing the metal element in their music being the dominant element in their music, which is ongoing, the albums started to sound a bit formulaic. Then after MP's departure it seems the band has been content with just rehashing old material and rearranging things, and I even think some stuff on recent albums is just lazy (by DT standards) especially in song construction. Say what you want about Portnoy, while his drums in many ways defined the classic DT sound, he is also a master arranger, especially when surrounded by talented musicians like DT, Transatlantic or NMB. It's an issue I have with modern DT, because that element is missing, and when taking JP's solo albums into account, JP is not the best composer out there. He comes up with many great ideas, but putting them together without MP it is obvious why DT cannot sound like they did in the 90s or 2000s. MP had the vision that only the best bands have.

[Kotowboy]

Realize he will have put out 3 albums (solo, LTE3 and DT15) in a very short amount of time, but I do hope that the new record will not just be a copy of older material, as much as I love that.

Yes I did wonder if he would spread himself a bit thin - creatively speaking.

2019 - Distance Over Time
2020 - Terminal Velocity & LTE 3
2021 - A View From The Top OF The World

That's 4 albums in 2 years. Some things are bound to get repeated.



@Darkshade " the last two Portnoy albums had gotten a bit formulaic "

100%. I call them the treading water albums. Systematic sounded like the flip-side of Octavarium - the album had almost the same structure... And Black Clouds, whilst better imo, was more of the same.

[Kocak]

@Darkshade " the last two Portnoy albums had gotten a bit formulaic "

100%. I call them the treading water albums. Systematic sounded like the flip-side of Octavarium - the album had almost the same structure... And Black Clouds, whilst better imo, was more of the same.

I agree with this sentiment as well. I reckon, once Portnoy and Petrucci took over the production aspect of things, they treated it a bit like a production line of a factory, the Toyota methodology of writing music I'd say which had started to kill the magic of their music for me. "We have to put new music out, so we can tour." mentality, but I reckon one thing that people often miss is that Portnoy started regressing as a drummer, in terms of creativity post-FII, IMO. As evidenced by Lifting Shadows, he gave so much shit to JLB, overlooking the fact that he was going backwards as well. (Hence, the "I'm all about the feel." statements.) Drumming is a matter of taste, but, I personally do not want to hear the same fills over and over again to the point that I am able to correctly guess what is coming. LTE3 solidified, for me, the fact that Portnoy would not be able to keep up with the DT of today. The line-up change was for the better.

[erwinrafael]

The stuff in recent albums is lazy? No. They are just more ficused on writing a good song, instead of letting their musical virtuosity carry the song. At Wit's End's arrangement is lazy? S2N? Barstool Warrior? And don't even get me started on the highly complex The Astonishing album. To call the recent arrangements lazy is an insult to the band.

[Glasser]

I’ll say it again, it sounds like DREAM THEATER, yes. They did not reinvent themselves. It’s a well written, well performed and well produced album. Very enjoyable, I absolutely love it. Is it there best album? …..Maybe? Yes? No? The term “best” is way to subjective and we all have our personal preferences. It’s definitely up there in my faves for sure.

[TheBarstoolWarrior]

I’ll say it again, it sounds like DREAM THEATER, yes. They did not reinvent themselves. It’s a well written, well performed and well produced album. Very enjoyable, I absolutely love it. Is it there best album? …..Maybe? Yes? No? The term “best” is way to subjective and we all have our personal preferences. It’s definitely up there in my faves for sure.

Would you say they repeated themselves or are just rehashing old material on DT15?

[Glasser]

I’ll say it again, it sounds like DREAM THEATER, yes. They did not reinvent themselves. It’s a well written, well performed and well produced album. Very enjoyable, I absolutely love it. Is it there best album? …..Maybe? Yes? No? The term “best” is way to subjective and we all have our personal preferences. It’s definitely up there in my faves for sure.

Would you say they repeated themselves or are just rehashing old material on DT15?

I thinks it’s fresh and inspired. There’s definitely a different/new feel with a lot of energy happening while still keeping it DT. Rehashing old material? I will say a hard NO to that. With all this said I’m sure there will be varied opinions of course. For me being a fan from day one and not loving all of  their albums in their entirety  (SC, FII, The Astonishing) I think the album is going to please most. I’m confident of that. The boys delivered for sure.

[TheBarstoolWarrior]

I’ll say it again, it sounds like DREAM THEATER, yes. They did not reinvent themselves. It’s a well written, well performed and well produced album. Very enjoyable, I absolutely love it. Is it there best album? …..Maybe? Yes? No? The term “best” is way to subjective and we all have our personal preferences. It’s definitely up there in my faves for sure.

Would you say they repeated themselves or are just rehashing old material on DT15?

I thinks it’s fresh and inspired. There’s definitely a different/new feel happening while still keeping it DT. Rehashing old material? I will say a hard NO to that. With all this said I’m sure there will be varied opinions of course. For me being a fan from day one and not loving all of  their albums in their entirety  (SC, FII, The Astonishing) I think the album is going to please most. I’m confident of that. The boys delivered for sure.

Sounds good! I am a huge fan of DOT, which wasn't a reinvention by any means but also had some of their best songs (Barstool Warrior, Pale Blue Dot). Maybe part of my anxiety about the album is that they've apparently had so little to say about the songwriting process this time 

[KevShmev]

The stuff in recent albums is lazy? No. They are just more ficused on writing a good song, instead of letting their musical virtuosity carry the song. At Wit's End's arrangement is lazy? S2N? Barstool Warrior? And don't even get me started on the highly complex The Astonishing album. To call the recent arrangements lazy is an insult to the band.

Agreed. Their arrangements in the last 10 years have been an upgrade over those in the 2000's, when their songs started to get overly long and have random things in there for seemingly the hell of it.  Not that sudden left turns haven't always been a hallmark of the DT sound, but they got a bit gluttonous with them on the last four or five albums with Portnoy.  The arranging and song structures have been tighter and more concise since his departure. 

[Glasser]

I’ll say it again, it sounds like DREAM THEATER, yes. They did not reinvent themselves. It’s a well written, well performed and well produced album. Very enjoyable, I absolutely love it. Is it there best album? …..Maybe? Yes? No? The term “best” is way to subjective and we all have our personal preferences. It’s definitely up there in my faves for sure.

Would you say they repeated themselves or are just rehashing old material on DT15?

I thinks it’s fresh and inspired. There’s definitely a different/new feel happening while still keeping it DT. Rehashing old material? I will say a hard NO to that. With all this said I’m sure there will be varied opinions of course. For me being a fan from day one and not loving all of  their albums in their entirety  (SC, FII, The Astonishing) I think the album is going to please most. I’m confident of that. The boys delivered for sure.

Sounds good! I am a huge fan of DOT, which wasn't a reinvention by any means but also had some of their best songs (Barstool Warrior, Pale Blue Dot). Maybe part of my anxiety about the album is that they've apparently had so little to say about the songwriting process this time 

The songwriting process I’m sure was different as the times certainly are and this was a first for us all but if I had to guess they want the music to do all the talking. We all know how they felt when they completed the album as they posted that there was something special going on with it. They NAILED it and I as well love DOT! This is DOT on steroids for sure man!

[darkshade]

The stuff in recent albums is lazy? No. They are just more ficused on writing a good song, instead of letting their musical virtuosity carry the song. At Wit's End's arrangement is lazy? S2N? Barstool Warrior? And don't even get me started on the highly complex The Astonishing album. To call the recent arrangements lazy is an insult to the band.

I didn't specify any songs, and you happened to list the better songs from the Mangini era.

The Enemy Inside is my go-to song for this argument. JP's riffing is elementary, and the main melody played by JP and JR, feels like an unfinished part, same with some of the diminished chord part with its changing time signatures, just feels like it was pasted together and not given time to marinate.

[gzarruk]

Yeah, they totally need Portnoy's great arranging skills that gave us masterpieces such as the albums by Adrenaline Mob and Sons of Apollo

[darkshade]

Yeah, they totally need Portnoy's great arranging skills that gave us masterpieces such as the albums by Adrenaline Mob and Sons of Apollo

I did say MP is especially a masterful arranger when surrounded by talent, and I like Sherinian. MP can only do so much with what he's given in any one project.
To be honest, I haven't really checked out AM much and never heard SoA, just based on all the negative reviews and the little I heard from AM didn't do anything for me.

[jayvee3]

The stuff in recent albums is lazy? No. They are just more ficused on writing a good song, instead of letting their musical virtuosity carry the song. At Wit's End's arrangement is lazy? S2N? Barstool Warrior? And don't even get me started on the highly complex The Astonishing album. To call the recent arrangements lazy is an insult to the band.

I didn't specify any songs, and you happened to list the better songs from the Mangini era.

The Enemy Inside is my go-to song for this argument. JP's riffing is elementary, and the main melody played by JP and JR, feels like an unfinished part, same with some of the diminished chord part with its changing time signatures, just feels like it was pasted together and not given time to marinate.

Nah - you could easily make this argument for many other songs such as “The Root of all Evil”, which, while I understand was a part of the AA saga thing, was just basically a rehash of riffs we’d already heard in the Glass Prison and This Dying Soul, and is pretty second rate to either.

In fact, it got to the point by that stage where I felt the whole AA saga was getting a bit stale and wished it was just kind of done. And to this day, I have very little interest in listening to it as a whole suite. TDS, TROAE and Repentance could literally have their time cut in half (repentance could be cut to 2 minutes, it just doesn’t interest me). And I think this is where I feel the writing was not so much lazy, but just stale. The Mangini-era has been a complete breath of fresh air to me in comparison to this time period…

[BeatriceNB]

@Darkshade " the last two Portnoy albums had gotten a bit formulaic "

100%. I call them the treading water albums. Systematic sounded like the flip-side of Octavarium - the album had almost the same structure... And Black Clouds, whilst better imo, was more of the same.

I agree with this sentiment as well. I reckon, once Portnoy and Petrucci took over the production aspect of things, they treated it a bit like a production line of a factory, the Toyota methodology of writing music I'd say which had started to kill the magic of their music for me. "We have to put new music out, so we can tour." mentality, but I reckon one thing that people often miss is that Portnoy started regressing as a drummer, in terms of creativity post-FII, IMO. As evidenced by Lifting Shadows, he gave so much shit to JLB, overlooking the fact that he was going backwards as well. (Hence, the "I'm all about the feel." statements.) Drumming is a matter of taste, but, I personally do not want to hear the same fills over and over again to the point that I am able to correctly guess what is coming. LTE3 solidified, for me, the fact that Portnoy would not be able to keep up with the DT of today. The line-up change was for the better.

This, this and this. I can't agree more 

Realize he will have put out 3 albums (solo, LTE3 and DT15) in a very short amount of time, but I do hope that the new record will not just be a copy of older material, as much as I love that.

Yes I did wonder if he would spread himself a bit thin - creatively speaking.

2019 - Distance Over Time
2020 - Terminal Velocity & LTE 3
2021 - A View From The Top OF The World

That's 4 albums in 2 years. Some things are bound to get repeated.

[...]

It depends of the musician. Some artists release multiple albums in a year, without repeating ideas (Zappa, King Gizzard, Omar Rodríguez-López, Toby Driver; the usual names, but with one thing in common, they're experimental musicians)

[nikatapi]

I agree with the comments about Portnoy. His playing has stopped progressing after SDOIT i think, and indeed i know exactly what he will play 90% of the time these days.
Happened with LTE3, new NMB album, and pretty much all his projects ever since he left DT.

This is why i'm also happy to see that drum production has been improved on DoT and the upcoming album, because MM's playing has been so underappreciated, and there's a fault to the production as well, many of his embellishments and cymbal work went unnoticed in the mix. Seeing him perform live gave me a new found appreciation for his dynamics and ideas.

Now for Petrucci spreading himself thin creatively, i think that's not the case, he has some great ideas, but he's not really pushing the boundaries like he used to do back in the 90s, fusing jazzy/fuzion elements. He has more or less been set in his style.
I also think this has to do with age and the range of influences he has at this time.

@Glasser, i was wondering from a technical point of view, is there a level of complexity in the album similar to what we heard in The Alien? Are there any mind-bending instrumental parts?

[Dedalus]

The stuff in recent albums is lazy? No. They are just more ficused on writing a good song, instead of letting their musical virtuosity carry the song. At Wit's End's arrangement is lazy? S2N? Barstool Warrior? And don't even get me started on the highly complex The Astonishing album. To call the recent arrangements lazy is an insult to the band.

Exactly. Especially about the bold part.

Yeah, they totally need Portnoy's great arranging skills that gave us masterpieces such as the albums by Adrenaline Mob and Sons of Apollo

 

[Kilgore Trout]

LTE3 solidified, for me, the fact that Portnoy would not be able to keep up with the DT of today.

Sure, Portnoy regressed, but how could he not keep with the DT of today, which is a simplier and less inspired version of the DT of the past? It's not like they're asking Mangini to play anything special. You can like the change of direction toward a more concise songwriting and a less metal music, but if they had asked Portnoy to follow the guidelines, he would have been perfectly fine.

[erwinrafael]

The stuff in recent albums is lazy? No. They are just more ficused on writing a good song, instead of letting their musical virtuosity carry the song. At Wit's End's arrangement is lazy? S2N? Barstool Warrior? And don't even get me started on the highly complex The Astonishing album. To call the recent arrangements lazy is an insult to the band.

I didn't specify any songs, and you happened to list the better songs from the Mangini era.

The Enemy Inside is my go-to song for this argument. JP's riffing is elementary, and the main melody played by JP and JR, feels like an unfinished part, same with some of the diminished chord part with its changing time signatures, just feels like it was pasted together and not given time to marinate.

Well, it is not like they never did something like that before. Endless Sacrifice is one example. It's structure is basically a rehash of Peruvian Skies except they hyper-extended the solos.

[nikatapi]

LTE3 solidified, for me, the fact that Portnoy would not be able to keep up with the DT of today.

Sure, Portnoy regressed, but how could he not keep with the DT of today, which is a simplier and less inspired version of the DT of the past? It's not like they're asking Mangini to play anything special. You can like the change of direction toward a more concise songwriting and a less metal music, but if they had asked Portnoy to follow the guidelines, he would have been perfectly fine.

Good luck getting portnoy to play the alien.

[abydos]

LTE3 solidified, for me, the fact that Portnoy would not be able to keep up with the DT of today.

Sure, Portnoy regressed, but how could he not keep with the DT of today, which is a simplier and less inspired version of the DT of the past? It's not like they're asking Mangini to play anything special. You can like the change of direction toward a more concise songwriting and a less metal music, but if they had asked Portnoy to follow the guidelines, he would have been perfectly fine.

Good luck getting portnoy to play the alien.

The good thing is that he wouldn't have to as that song is quite boring. Given his abilities and what he's done and played, is it really beyond his ability to learn that stuff if he really wanted to and put the time to do it?

[Kilgore Trout]

Good luck getting portnoy to play the alien.

We're not asking him to play Mangini's parts, we're asking him to keep up with what the others are doing, and they're doing nothing special in The Alien, or at least nothing Portnoy hasn't already played to. He would have a written simplier drum parts in the same style as Mangini's, and that would have worked. He's done that plenty of time before, for more complex songs.

[erwinrafael]

LTE3 solidified, for me, the fact that Portnoy would not be able to keep up with the DT of today.

Sure, Portnoy regressed, but how could he not keep with the DT of today, which is a simplier and less inspired version of the DT of the past? It's not like they're asking Mangini to play anything special. You can like the change of direction toward a more concise songwriting and a less metal music, but if they had asked Portnoy to follow the guidelines, he would have been perfectly fine.

As a drummer, all I can do is roll my eyes when I read claims that the drumming in 2010s DT is simpler. There is a reason why you barely see any good drum covers of these new songs in Youtube.

The good thing is that he wouldn't have to as that song is quite boring. Given his abilities and what he's done and played, is it really beyond his ability to learn that stuff if he really wanted to and put the time to do it?

He can not even be bothered to play live A Nightmare To Remember in a manner that approximates the studio version. Or even his own kick drum patterns in SFAM.

[Kilgore Trout]

As a drummer, all I can do is roll my eyes when I read claims that the drumming in 2010s DT is simpler. There is a reason why you barely see any good drum covers of these new songs in Youtube.

I was talking about the music in general, not the drumming. There is no question that Mangini is a better drummer than Portnoy on a technical level. But I totally understand why a drummer would not have any desire to take the time to learn such uninteresting parts.

[erwinrafael]

Or maybe they just can not get their heads around how in the verse of the Alien that "sounds" simple, the snare and hi-hat is playing 4/4, but the kick drum is playing along with the guitar in 17/16.

P.S.

This guy who studied under Mangini broke down the drums of the Alien excellently.

https://youtu.be/uC3tiQqyICQ

[Kilgore Trout]

Or maybe they just can not get their heads around how in the verse of the Alien that "sounds" simple, the snare and hi-hat is playing 4/4, but the kick drum is playing with the guitar in 17/16.

If they "can't get their around" this, they suck at drums. It requires strong limb independancy to play, but it's nothing complicated to understand. That is one of Mangini's main tricks with DT: a bass drum pattern that follows guitar and bass with more straightforward snare and cymbals on top (with accents on two or three). Djent bands use that all the time, in more complicated ways.

[erwinrafael]

Or maybe they just can not get their heads around how in the verse of the Alien that "sounds" simple, the snare and hi-hat is playing 4/4, but the kick drum is playing with the guitar in 17/16.

If they "can't get their around" this, they suck at drums. It requires strong limb independancy to play, but it's nothing complicated to understand. That is one of Mangini's main tricks with DT: a double-bass pattern that follows guitar and bass with more straightforward snare and cymbals on top (with accents on two or three). Djent bands use that all the time, in more complicated ways.

he did not even double bass that section

[Kilgore Trout]

he did not even double bass that section

English is not my native langage. I was thinking "bass drum pattern".
You're being pedantic and hostile, you're cherry picking because you have no arguments to bring, so let's end this farce of a conversation now.

[Kocak]

LTE3 solidified, for me, the fact that Portnoy would not be able to keep up with the DT of today.

Sure, Portnoy regressed, but how could he not keep with the DT of today, which is a simplier and less inspired version of the DT of the past? It's not like they're asking Mangini to play anything special. You can like the change of direction toward a more concise songwriting and a less metal music, but if they had asked Portnoy to follow the guidelines, he would have been perfectly fine.

Good luck getting portnoy to play the alien.

The good thing is that he wouldn't have to as that song is quite boring. Given his abilities and what he's done and played, is it really beyond his ability to learn that stuff if he really wanted to and put the time to do it?

At this point, he'd have to pull a Neil Peart and go relearn rudiments to be able to do that.

[darkshade]

The stuff in recent albums is lazy? No. They are just more ficused on writing a good song, instead of letting their musical virtuosity carry the song. At Wit's End's arrangement is lazy? S2N? Barstool Warrior? And don't even get me started on the highly complex The Astonishing album. To call the recent arrangements lazy is an insult to the band.

I didn't specify any songs, and you happened to list the better songs from the Mangini era.

The Enemy Inside is my go-to song for this argument. JP's riffing is elementary, and the main melody played by JP and JR, feels like an unfinished part, same with some of the diminished chord part with its changing time signatures, just feels like it was pasted together and not given time to marinate.

Nah - you could easily make this argument for many other songs such as “The Root of all Evil”, which, while I understand was a part of the AA saga thing, was just basically a rehash of riffs we’d already heard in the Glass Prison and This Dying Soul, and is pretty second rate to either.

In fact, it got to the point by that stage where I felt the whole AA saga was getting a bit stale and wished it was just kind of done. And to this day, I have very little interest in listening to it as a whole suite. TDS, TROAE and Repentance could literally have their time cut in half (repentance could be cut to 2 minutes, it just doesn’t interest me). And I think this is where I feel the writing was not so much lazy, but just stale. The Mangini-era has been a complete breath of fresh air to me in comparison to this time period…

I think that's a bad example, because as you stated, TROAE is part of the Twelve Step Saga, and reprises riffs and melodies from previous songs. You must hate long epics that do the same thing, too.

Another example of either laziness or lack of ideas, is on LTE3, if it isn't call backs to the first two LTE albums, many of the sounds seem to be ripped straight off the Systematic Chaos album. The last tune on LTE3 is a bit different sounding, but the main theme sounds unfinished.

[darkshade]

Or maybe they just can not get their heads around how in the verse of the Alien that "sounds" simple, the snare and hi-hat is playing 4/4, but the kick drum is playing along with the guitar in 17/16.

P.S.

This guy who studied under Mangini broke down the drums of the Alien excellently.

https://youtu.be/uC3tiQqyICQ

None of that technical stuff matters if it doesn't lift a song, or just plain sound good. I haven't listened to the Alien but I've listened to the previous 4 Mangini albums.

[darkshade]

The stuff in recent albums is lazy? No. They are just more ficused on writing a good song, instead of letting their musical virtuosity carry the song. At Wit's End's arrangement is lazy? S2N? Barstool Warrior? And don't even get me started on the highly complex The Astonishing album. To call the recent arrangements lazy is an insult to the band.

I didn't specify any songs, and you happened to list the better songs from the Mangini era.

The Enemy Inside is my go-to song for this argument. JP's riffing is elementary, and the main melody played by JP and JR, feels like an unfinished part, same with some of the diminished chord part with its changing time signatures, just feels like it was pasted together and not given time to marinate.

Well, it is not like they never did something like that before. Endless Sacrifice is one example. It's structure is basically a rehash of Peruvian Skies except they hyper-extended the solos.

I've made the joke before, that Endless Sacrifice is really Peruvian Skies pt 2, Sacrificed Sons is Endless Sacrifice pt 3, and The Ministry of Lost Souls is Sacrificed Sons pt 4.

Difference is, that was only one song per album, not the entire album, for 4 albums in a row. TA is SDoIT stretched out too thin and lacks a single good song out of context.

[Lonk]

It depends of the musician. Some artists release multiple albums in a year, without repeating ideas (Zappa, King Gizzard, Omar Rodríguez-López, Toby Driver; the usual names, but with one thing in common, they're experimental musicians)

You are right, it is easier for experimental or improvisational musicians to put out more music.

In 2015, Buckethead put out 118 albums, a total of 58 hours of music(almost 59). He released an album a day during October of that year as a Halloween special 

[Stadler]

Yeah, they totally need Portnoy's great arranging skills that gave us masterpieces such as the albums by Adrenaline Mob and Sons of Apollo

Saying that, even sarcastically, and ignoring all the other GREAT albums that Mike helped put together since 2010 is like saying "all the restaurants in New York City suck!" because there's a McDonalds in Times Square.   Neal Morse for one would heartily disagree with you.

[Stadler]

@Darkshade " the last two Portnoy albums had gotten a bit formulaic "

100%. I call them the treading water albums. Systematic sounded like the flip-side of Octavarium - the album had almost the same structure... And Black Clouds, whilst better imo, was more of the same.

I agree with this sentiment as well. I reckon, once Portnoy and Petrucci took over the production aspect of things, they treated it a bit like a production line of a factory, the Toyota methodology of writing music I'd say which had started to kill the magic of their music for me. "We have to put new music out, so we can tour." mentality, but I reckon one thing that people often miss is that Portnoy started regressing as a drummer, in terms of creativity post-FII, IMO. As evidenced by Lifting Shadows, he gave so much shit to JLB, overlooking the fact that he was going backwards as well. (Hence, the "I'm all about the feel." statements.) Drumming is a matter of taste, but, I personally do not want to hear the same fills over and over again to the point that I am able to correctly guess what is coming. LTE3 solidified, for me, the fact that Portnoy would not be able to keep up with the DT of today. The line-up change was for the better.

But this:  "I personally do not want to hear the same fills over and over again to the point that I am able to correctly guess what is coming" doesn't necessarily mean this: "the fact that Portnoy would not be able to keep up with the DT of today."  I don't think that is a fact at all, that's just your opinion based on, well, I can't answer that because I don't know you.   

I'm not knocking Mangini, he's clearly a spectacular drummer and maybe he is technically more proficient than Portnoy (I'm not a drummer; I wouldn't know how to measure that) but I know personally, I don't care for the style (particularly his use of the bass drum(s)) as much.   Whether Portnoy can "keep up" or not isn't really the point; the point is to make music that others can enjoy, repeatedly, over time, isn't it?  And for me, I love that "epic" style, that tension and resolution, and often that DOES include knowing - anticipating - exactly what is coming next.   As you said, it's all taste, but taste only goes so far.  I struggle with this idea of commenting on someone else's ability based largely on whether I get what I'm hoping to hear from a particular piece of music or not.