I think a music video of the guys grilling meat in a spaceship would get lots of views
Hilarious. John with his smoker, serving quality burgers and BBQ chicken to extraterrestrial friends. I love it.
I'm three listens in so far. Like most of you, it didn't capture me entirely through the first listen. I am happy with Mangini's and Myung's mix improvements. Myung sounds wonderful, and Mangini sounds like an absolute monster on this track. There are things that he is doing with the hi-hats that are just borderline alien themselves.
I actually like Jordan's feel here. It's elegant, and settled into the rest of the groove appropriately. A little meedly-meedly action that I thought I had grown tired of, but it brings back memories of Six Degrees for me, so I really can't complain.
The outro had a Finally Free thing going on with it, but I don't mind that.
That's the thing though. My ears didn't walk into this expecting absurdly different. The production is beautiful and sonically, this is our Dream Theater playing their fucking dicks off. You get your gritty riffs, your highs, your lows, and if you find yourself feeling an urgency or desire to listen multiple times in order to dissect everything that is happening, then that's a victory not only for us fans, for the boys as well.
Speaking of expectations, I think it's insane to think that you're going to hear something absurdly different in terms of James' range at this point. He is 58 years old and the fact that he bring forth the energy that is displayed here is more than enough for me. Is it safe for the most part? Probably, but I'm also of the opinion that some songs don't require dangerous maneuvers off the diving board. That said, I think James' approach here works well. Is he, or the lyrics for that matter, a highlight? No, absolutely not. The way everything strings together, the way that only Dream Theater can pull off, is the true highlight.
This, to me, is their strongest single since "On The Backs of Angels".
TREMENDOUS unison by John and Jordan too. A showstopper moment for this song.