Author Topic: Distance Over Time - TWO Years on...  (Read 30929 times)

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Offline darkshade

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Re: Distance Over Time - TWO Years on...
« Reply #245 on: April 09, 2021, 08:33:25 PM »
Distance Over Time would be a better album if the track order was different. I feel similarly about DT12.

Viper King
S2N
Barstool Warrior
At Wit's End
Out Of Reach
Pale Blue Dot

Drop the rest. A tight, nearly flawless album.

If you must beef up the play time, squeeze Paralyzed in on the 3rd track.

Offline bosk1

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Re: Distance Over Time - TWO Years on...
« Reply #246 on: April 09, 2021, 08:47:54 PM »
Nope.  It's just fine as-is.
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Offline NoFred

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Re: Distance Over Time - TWO Years on...
« Reply #247 on: April 09, 2021, 11:14:54 PM »
I could see Out of Reach before AWE, since AWE ends and PBD starts calm enough already. Otherwise I think the order works well.

Offline Enigmachine

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Re: Distance Over Time - TWO Years on...
« Reply #248 on: April 10, 2021, 02:26:39 AM »
Distance Over Time would be a better album if the track order was different. I feel similarly about DT12.

Viper King
S2N
Barstool Warrior
At Wit's End
Out Of Reach
Pale Blue Dot

Drop the rest. A tight, nearly flawless album.

If you must beef up the play time, squeeze Paralyzed in on the 3rd track.

No Untethered Angel or Fall Into the Light, but Viper King as an opener, of all things? Yea I'm going to go with a solid no on that one. Viper King is one of those tracks where, if it was actually officially on there, it'd drag down the album imo. I don't hate it but James sounds... strange on there and it's very off putting. To replace some of the most dynamic and powerful songs on the album with that just feels odd to me. If I had a bone to pick with the album, it'd be with Out of Reach's lyrics but pacing wise, it's pretty much crucial as a break between the two big tracks of the album.

Offline IDontNotDoThings

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Re: Distance Over Time - TWO Years on...
« Reply #249 on: April 10, 2021, 02:35:37 AM »
If I had to make a change to the order of D/T, it'd probably be moving At Wit's End to be the closing track. Pale Blue Dot is cool & all, but I find it a bit anticlimatic as a closer compared to At Wit's End.

Besides that, maybe adding Viper King in between Barstool Warrior & Room 137 would be nice. Viper King being relegated to a bonus track feels like a bit of a missed opportunity & that seems like a good spot to put it.

But these are basically nitpicks. The album flows well as-is.
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Online MirrorMask

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Re: Distance Over Time - TWO Years on...
« Reply #250 on: April 10, 2021, 04:03:28 AM »
Distance Over Time would be a better album if the track order was different. I feel similarly about DT12.

Viper King
S2N
Barstool Warrior
At Wit's End
Out Of Reach
Pale Blue Dot

Drop the rest. A tight, nearly flawless album.

If you must beef up the play time, squeeze Paralyzed in on the 3rd track.

A big no on this. An album like this is too unbalanced, short, and without a "hit" for lack of a better word.

It's fine for you and anyone else to make a shortened playlist with the songs you actually like, but an album with this tracklist would have bombed.
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Offline DoctorAction

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Re: Distance Over Time - TWO Years on...
« Reply #251 on: April 10, 2021, 10:47:34 AM »
It's still an album I've got pretty much no problems with as it is. Great stuff.
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Offline darkshade

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Re: Distance Over Time - TWO Years on...
« Reply #252 on: April 10, 2021, 11:31:17 AM »
Distance Over Time would be a better album if the track order was different. I feel similarly about DT12.

Viper King
S2N
Barstool Warrior
At Wit's End
Out Of Reach
Pale Blue Dot

Drop the rest. A tight, nearly flawless album.

If you must beef up the play time, squeeze Paralyzed in on the 3rd track.

A big no on this. An album like this is too unbalanced, short, and without a "hit" for lack of a better word.

It's fine for you and anyone else to make a shortened playlist with the songs you actually like, but an album with this tracklist would have bombed.

That's what I mean about Paralyzed. It's the closest to a 'hit' single on the album and beefs up the album run time. None of the other tracks feel like album openers to me, Viper King is totally an album opener, but it's relegated to bonus track status when it's the most badass song they've released in over a decade. I think Untethered Angel is one of the worst album openers in the DT canon, but as a song it's alright, it's just nothing spectacular either. FITL is another Metallica rip off song, and the main riff is so jagged, it doesn't feel like it flows well most of the time, and the middle section is just The Unforgiven IV. I don't like Room 137, bottom 10 DT song for me.

The positive is that I feel like the other stuff is some of their strongest material in the post-Portnoy era, and hopefully things trend in a good direction on DT15.

Offline Ben_Jamin

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Re: Distance Over Time - TWO Years on...
« Reply #253 on: April 10, 2021, 12:10:16 PM »
Distance Over Time would be a better album if the track order was different. I feel similarly about DT12.

Viper King
S2N
Barstool Warrior
At Wit's End
Out Of Reach
Pale Blue Dot

Drop the rest. A tight, nearly flawless album.

If you must beef up the play time, squeeze Paralyzed in on the 3rd track.

A big no on this. An album like this is too unbalanced, short, and without a "hit" for lack of a better word.

It's fine for you and anyone else to make a shortened playlist with the songs you actually like, but an album with this tracklist would have bombed.

That's what I mean about Paralyzed. It's the closest to a 'hit' single on the album and beefs up the album run time. None of the other tracks feel like album openers to me, Viper King is totally an album opener, but it's relegated to bonus track status when it's the most badass song they've released in over a decade. I think Untethered Angel is one of the worst album openers in the DT canon, but as a song it's alright, it's just nothing spectacular either. FITL is another Metallica rip off song, and the main riff is so jagged, it doesn't feel like it flows well most of the time, and the middle section is just The Unforgiven IV. I don't like Room 137, bottom 10 DT song for me.

The positive is that I feel like the other stuff is some of their strongest material in the post-Portnoy era, and hopefully things trend in a good direction on DT15.

Thing is, Viper King is a song, that they just decided...Why not record this, it's fun riff and has a great energy to it. It wasn't meant to be on the album proper. As it doesn't have the same mood, style, and vibe of the rest of the album. But, hey they still liked it enough to, at least, include the song.
 
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Offline Enigmachine

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Re: Distance Over Time - TWO Years on...
« Reply #254 on: April 10, 2021, 01:00:20 PM »
How Viper King is somehow an appropriate opener but Untethered Angel isn't is beyond me. Maybe as an album opener for Deep Purple or something (if it didn't have downtuned 7 string riffs of course), but to open a Dream Theater album with a lighthearted 4 minute song about car go fast rather than one that hits right in the centre of the album's overall vibe would be pretty silly. Say what you will about the song (I happen to really like UA), but one can pretty easily see why they instantly decided it was the opener when they wrote it because it builds the momentum, has all the signature elements of the band and is highly immediate and dramatic. I second the idea that an album ordered like this would've bombed, because the tonal dissonance would've been incredibly jarring for DT.

As for FitL, I don't see how it's anything like Metallica other than maybe the intro riff and the mid-section. The actual core of the song just sounds like uptempo DT.

Offline Setlist Scotty

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Re: Distance Over Time - TWO Years on...
« Reply #255 on: April 10, 2021, 05:38:06 PM »
As for FitL, I don't see how it's anything like Metallica other than maybe the intro riff and the mid-section. The actual core of the song just sounds like uptempo DT.
To my ears, that intro riff is was more 80s era Megadeth than Metallica. The part that starts at 0:34 is a little more Metallica and the mellow section is very much influenced by the mellow section of Master of Puppets. But other than that, yeah, no real Metallica influence whatsoever.
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Offline IgnotusPerIgnotium

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Re: Distance Over Time - TWO Years on...
« Reply #256 on: April 11, 2021, 07:32:48 AM »
None of the other tracks feel like album openers to me
That's a good point regarding this album but I think it helped the live version of Untethered Angel when they skipped the acoustic intro. It grabs your attention more instantly and it does what a solid opener should do.

Offline darkshade

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Re: Distance Over Time - TWO Years on...
« Reply #257 on: April 11, 2021, 08:54:11 AM »
To my ears, that intro riff is was more 80s era Megadeth than Metallica.

Six of one, half dozen of the other.  ;)

Offline Ben_Jamin

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Re: Distance Over Time - TWO Years on...
« Reply #258 on: April 11, 2021, 11:29:45 AM »
As for FitL, I don't see how it's anything like Metallica other than maybe the intro riff and the mid-section. The actual core of the song just sounds like uptempo DT.
To my ears, that intro riff is was more 80s era Megadeth than Metallica. The part that starts at 0:34 is a little more Metallica and the mellow section is very much influenced by the mellow section of Master of Puppets. But other than that, yeah, no real Metallica influence whatsoever.

I hear more of an Unforgiven influence. It's like they made the Chorus to Unforgiven, a power anthem. The guitar tones are similar to me, and I hear that more than Master of Puppets.
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Offline Trav86

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Re: Distance Over Time - TWO Years on...
« Reply #259 on: April 12, 2021, 09:05:12 AM »
I’m never really in the mood to listen to it much these days. When I do, it doesn't blow me away as it did two years ago.  Barstool Warrior and At Wit’s End are great songs.
I think it's a better album than the two that came before it. It's a “better” album than WDADU but I think I enjoy WDADU more.
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Offline bosk1

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Re: Distance Over Time - TWO Years on...
« Reply #260 on: April 12, 2021, 10:00:21 AM »
Had to log some serious miles for work last week, so this was one of many albums I was able to revisit at appropriately ludicrous volume, and it was a good reminder that this is a really, REALLY solid album.  Changing anything on it just wouldn't make any sense.
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Offline ReaperKK

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Re: Distance Over Time - TWO Years on...
« Reply #261 on: April 12, 2021, 10:34:36 AM »
I just listened to it again for first time in a few months. Fantastic album.

Offline Ben_Jamin

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Re: Distance Over Time - TWO Years on...
« Reply #262 on: April 12, 2021, 11:00:55 AM »
Had to log some serious miles for work last week, so this was one of many albums I was able to revisit at appropriately ludicrous volume, and it was a good reminder that this is a really, REALLY solid album.  Changing anything on it just wouldn't make any sense.

It really is...The tracks flow great into each other. Although I don't really prefer the first 3 tracks. They have a place in the album. They're still good songs, and great live.

For me the album really kicks off at Barstool Warrior.

But, now Its been quite awhile. The ending to At Wit's End could've been introduced a bit earlier, it has a bit too much silence between the ending of the song and the special raw ending. If it was like a couple seconds shorter, it'd work fine with the pacing. I think this is what messes with the flow for some people.

Out of Reach is great as well. It's a nice power ballad that I would love to hear live someday. Maybe a one-two punch of this and Surrender To Reason.
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Online MirrorMask

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Re: Distance Over Time - TWO Years on...
« Reply #263 on: April 13, 2021, 08:03:42 AM »
But, now Its been quite awhile. The ending to At Wit's End could've been introduced a bit earlier, it has a bit too much silence between the ending of the song and the special raw ending. If it was like a couple seconds shorter, it'd work fine with the pacing. I think this is what messes with the flow for some people.

Indeed, I think it would have been better if it was a gradual transition from the "full" version into the raw, demo ending, a crossfade basically. I remember editing it that way for my own compilations.
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Offline Ben_Jamin

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Re: Distance Over Time - TWO Years on...
« Reply #264 on: April 13, 2021, 08:24:59 AM »
But, now Its been quite awhile. The ending to At Wit's End could've been introduced a bit earlier, it has a bit too much silence between the ending of the song and the special raw ending. If it was like a couple seconds shorter, it'd work fine with the pacing. I think this is what messes with the flow for some people.

Indeed, I think it would have been better if it was a gradual transition from the "full" version into the raw, demo ending, a crossfade basically. I remember editing it that way for my own compilations.

Yup, it ruins flows of my playlists too. I do that to songs that have these extended outros. I did that with Illumination Theory, I took out the "easter egg" ending.
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Offline Kotowboy

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Re: Distance Over Time - TWO Years on...
« Reply #265 on: April 16, 2021, 12:42:39 AM »
I like the length of D/T. Not every album has to fill up the CD.

Also i'm glad there was no 15+ minute song at the end as i'm really bored of those too. IMO they haven't done a truly GREAT song over 15 minutes since Octavarium.

The Count Of Tuscany comes closest but it's still nowhere near.

A song being 20 minutes long doesn't make it MOAR EPICK ! And you can tell on Illumination Theory they were trying their best to stretch it out with all the riff

soup in the beginning with no connective tissue and the TCOT copy pasta ambient section in the middle.

Offline Enigmachine

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Re: Distance Over Time - TWO Years on...
« Reply #266 on: April 16, 2021, 03:10:31 AM »
Yeah I think the funny thing about D/T is that it's one of the few DT albums that you can casually play in full without having to set aside a massive chunk of time for and still feel like you're getting a very full experience. The only two others that have that quality are really just WDaDU (despite being the shortest DT album, it still feels substantial imo, regardless of what one may think of its quality) and I&W.

Offline kirksnosehair

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Re: Distance Over Time - TWO Years on...
« Reply #267 on: April 16, 2021, 07:16:31 AM »
I have really tried to get into this album and I do like it, but overall it was kind of disappointing.  There are some flashes of brilliance on it for sure, with Barstool Warrior and even parts of Pale Blue Dot showing some of the old Dream Theater and I just hope the new album heads more in that direction. 

Offline bosk1

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Re: Distance Over Time - TWO Years on...
« Reply #268 on: April 16, 2021, 08:39:47 AM »
It is the 3rd out of the last 4 albums where EVERY single song is strong and there aren't any where I lose interest.  To me, that is a pretty amazing feat.  When I was getting into music in the '80s, the norm was for an album to have maybe 3-4 solid songs, and the rest to just be "there" to fill space.  Yeah, the better ones did a bit better than that, but still usually had a few that most people didn't really care for.  The new albums may not have those "instant classics" that reach the highs of some of DT's classic songs.  But they are so consistently good from start to finish that I don't even care.  D/T definitely fits that mold.  I kind of took a break from it for a little while because of all the new music I have gotten in the last few months, and after recently revisiting it, I am blown away all over again by how good it is.
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Offline darkshade

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Re: Distance Over Time - TWO Years on...
« Reply #269 on: April 16, 2021, 09:56:27 AM »
Yeah I think the funny thing about D/T is that it's one of the few DT albums that you can casually play in full without having to set aside a massive chunk of time for and still feel like you're getting a very full experience. The only two others that have that quality are really just WDaDU (despite being the shortest DT album, it still feels substantial imo, regardless of what one may think of its quality) and I&W.

For a long time I split up listening sessions for the 2 discs of 6DoIT, each being under an hour long.

Offline Setlist Scotty

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Re: Distance Over Time - TWO Years on...
« Reply #270 on: April 16, 2021, 12:41:14 PM »
I have really tried to get into this album and I do like it, but overall it was kind of disappointing.  There are some flashes of brilliance on it for sure, with Barstool Warrior and even parts of Pale Blue Dot showing some of the old Dream Theater and I just hope the new album heads more in that direction.
If the new LTE is any indication (which not only feels like a continuation of the other LTE albums, but classic DT, IMO), then you may get your wish.
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Offline darkshade

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Re: Distance Over Time - TWO Years on...
« Reply #271 on: April 16, 2021, 02:07:52 PM »
I have really tried to get into this album and I do like it, but overall it was kind of disappointing.  There are some flashes of brilliance on it for sure, with Barstool Warrior and even parts of Pale Blue Dot showing some of the old Dream Theater and I just hope the new album heads more in that direction.
If the new LTE is any indication (which not only feels like a continuation of the other LTE albums, but classic DT, IMO), then you may get your wish.

While that could be true, a big reason LTE3 is so good compared to DoT, TA, DT12, and ADTOE, is a certain someone who isn't in the band anymore. I think it's a little more than obvious at this point.

Offline Kotowboy

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Re: Distance Over Time - TWO Years on...
« Reply #272 on: April 16, 2021, 02:35:12 PM »
Chris Collins :emo:

Offline darkshade

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Re: Distance Over Time - TWO Years on...
« Reply #273 on: April 16, 2021, 02:40:08 PM »
Chris Collins :emo:

It's all been downhill since he left.

Offline Dedalus

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Re: Distance Over Time - TWO Years on...
« Reply #274 on: April 16, 2021, 02:59:00 PM »
So has "LTE = the good DT" already started?  :lol

Who would have guessed?  :biggrin:

Offline Enigmachine

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Re: Distance Over Time - TWO Years on...
« Reply #275 on: April 16, 2021, 03:04:31 PM »
For a long time I split up listening sessions for the 2 discs of 6DoIT, each being under an hour long.

Well the difference in Six Degrees' case is twofold. One is that, technological limitations aside, the album was meant to be listened to as a whole and the second issue is that even when you split things up, it's not like things aren't still daunting in their own way. On the first disc you get 5 tracks averaging comfortably over 10 minutes and on the second you get a 42 minute conceptual suite. Let's be fair, if you have the stomach for one of these, you might as well go for the full package unless you're short on time.

Offline Setlist Scotty

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Re: Distance Over Time - TWO Years on...
« Reply #276 on: April 16, 2021, 07:28:18 PM »
So has "LTE = the good DT" already started?  :lol

Who would have guessed?  :biggrin:
That's not what I meant by my post. But I will say this: listening to the new LTE definitely feels like a continuation of where they left off in 1998. And it also gives me the same feeling as listening to all the DT from SDoIT on back. So having just finishing that album, it's not hard to imagine that some of that experience may rub off on the new DT.  ;)
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Offline Dedalus

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Re: Distance Over Time - TWO Years on...
« Reply #277 on: April 16, 2021, 08:09:28 PM »
So has "LTE = the good DT" already started?  :lol

Who would have guessed?  :biggrin:
That's not what I meant by my post. But I will say this: listening to the new LTE definitely feels like a continuation of where they left off in 1998. And it also gives me the same feeling as listening to all the DT from SDoIT on back. So having just finishing that album, it's not hard to imagine that some of that experience may rub off on the new DT.  ;)

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Offline KevShmev

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Re: Distance Over Time - TWO Years on...
« Reply #278 on: April 17, 2021, 09:11:12 PM »
So has "LTE = the good DT" already started?  :lol

Who would have guessed?  :biggrin:
That's not what I meant by my post. But I will say this: listening to the new LTE definitely feels like a continuation of where they left off in 1998. And it also gives me the same feeling as listening to all the DT from SDoIT on back. So having just finishing that album, it's not hard to imagine that some of that experience may rub off on the new DT.  ;)

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Offline Super Dude

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Re: Distance Over Time - TWO Years on...
« Reply #279 on: April 18, 2021, 11:25:06 AM »
I'm listening to it for the first time today, and I'm going to be honest: I'm not a fan. I have not really loved a DT album since Systematic Chaos and I have kind of disliked the albums from the self-titled onward, and unfortunately this has not been any different. It's so overly aggressive that it never really feels like you get time to breathe or even think about what you're listening to.

Also I miss proggy DT, like on BCSL or Octavarium. Fuck. /rant
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