*Official* A View from the Top of the World discussion thread

[Cool Chris]

First impressions:

* This is the best first impression I've had since ADToE, and that was more of a relief that DT post-MP could put out a solid album.

* This could be my favorite Jordan effort in a long, long time.

* Not a single song that I feel will be a regular skip.

* Every song is unique, yet feels like it fits on this album.

[Madman Shepherd]

Still waiting for CM to ship the boxset......Tried to contact them but no response as of yet.
I'll have the download tonight I hope....But the boxset should have been on its way already.

That's quite sad/ironic that all of Dream Theater's sponsored posts on FB said the Deluxe box set was "exclsuive" (or however it's constantly misspelled) to Century Media (and it wasn't, a lot of us ordered ours at Laser CD, who have shipped already), but Century Media haven't even sent shipping notification emails yet?! Hopefully those who ordered from CM will actually get their orders!

-Marc.

I'm in the same boat that dream is in.

Yes, this is very ironic, frustrating, infuriating, and dumb.

[evilasiojr]

I just loved this album!! It's what I wished they would have done after ADTOE, which I have in high regards. I think everything in between had to happen, but God how I wished they released something like this album.

A few similar opinions already mentioned:

- How come some people don't like James' melodies and performance on this one? He sounds fantastic to me!

- AVFTOW reminds me of ACoS and AtC reminds me of These Walls (in a good and improved way)

- There's no way this has album has not presented fresh and new stuff

Favorites: Answering the Call, The Alien and Sleeping Giant.

Ps: Yes, The Alien is a favorite for me, what a killer song!!! 

[faizoff]

Still waiting for CM to ship the boxset......Tried to contact them but no response as of yet.
I'll have the download tonight I hope....But the boxset should have been on its way already.

That's quite sad/ironic that all of Dream Theater's sponsored posts on FB said the Deluxe box set was "exclsuive" (or however it's constantly misspelled) to Century Media (and it wasn't, a lot of us ordered ours at Laser CD, who have shipped already), but Century Media haven't even sent shipping notification emails yet?! Hopefully those who ordered from CM will actually get their orders!

-Marc.

I'm in the same boat that dream is in.

Yes, this is very ironic, frustrating, infuriating, and dumb.

Been burned on them twice with DT's release so only will order from Laser's Edge from now on.

[jayvee3]

My ranking:

1. A View From The Top Of The World
2. Awaken The Master
3. Sleeping Giant
4. Invisible Monster
5. Answering The Call
6. The Alien
7. Transcending Time


6&7 don't do much for me and 7 is pure filler. But still as a full album it's probably their best since ADTOE, hands down.

Fine if it’s not your cup of tea, but to describe Transcending Time as “pure filler” is absurd.

[wolfking]

Its funny how fans can get somewhat defensive when others don't share their positive opinion.  I don't mean to start anything but what does it matter if some don't like something others do?  It doesn't hamper enjoyment.

[Glasser]

Its funny how fans can get somewhat defensive when others don't share their positive opinion.  I don't mean to start anything but what does it matter if some don't like something others do?  It doesn't hamper enjoyment.

You are totally right. If I was the only one on the planet who liked an album it changes nothing for me. Now go put on some AC/DC!!!!! 

[wolfking]

Its funny how fans can get somewhat defensive when others don't share their positive opinion.  I don't mean to start anything but what does it matter if some don't like something others do?  It doesn't hamper enjoyment.

You are totally right. If I was the only one on the planet who liked an album it changes nothing for me. Now go put on some AC/DC!!!!! 

What in the hell is wrong with people liking that......that......band.  Bah screw ACDC and their fans!  I am smarter then all of them!

Jk.......

[erwinrafael]

Its funny how fans can get somewhat defensive when others don't share their positive opinion.  I don't mean to start anything but what does it matter if some don't like something others do?  It doesn't hamper enjoyment.

Well, it does get on the nerves a bit if the song you love the most on the album is called a filler. 

[wolfking]

Its funny how fans can get somewhat defensive when others don't share their positive opinion.  I don't mean to start anything but what does it matter if some don't like something others do?  It doesn't hamper enjoyment.

Well, it does get on the nerves a bit if the song you love the most on the album is called a filler. 

I can understand that but everyone hears things differently.  Unless you are the one that created the piece I don't see why it's such a big thing to take to heart.

[jayvee3]

Its funny how fans can get somewhat defensive when others don't share their positive opinion.  I don't mean to start anything but what does it matter if some don't like something others do?  It doesn't hamper enjoyment.

Hasn’t any of your time here made you realise that most of us Dream Theater fans are completely bonkers? I expected so much more of you Wolfking, who even are you anymore? 

[NoFred]

First impression: Jordan Rudess your table is ready (and has been waiting since 8VM). His work is fantastic here, really what a soundscape. Most creative and influential the keys have been in awhile, and they help set this album apart immediately.

[Revenge319]

The album's out in my timezone now, but I'm gonna hold off listening to it until my CD arrives.

I think the track I'm most excited to listen to is "Awaken the Master". I dunno what everyone else thinks, but I think that's one of the coolest song titles in Dream Theater's whole discography, and I'm especially excited about this song just for that cool title.

[erwinrafael]

So this afternoon, I am listening to this through Spotify to help make the songs trend. Looped this as I review for my PhD comprehensives. 

[wolfking]

Its funny how fans can get somewhat defensive when others don't share their positive opinion.  I don't mean to start anything but what does it matter if some don't like something others do?  It doesn't hamper enjoyment.

Hasn’t any of your time here made you realise that most of us Dream Theater fans are completely bonkers? I expected so much more of you Wolfking, who even are you anymore? 

Bonkers you say?  Have you seen how long I've been around here, of course I'm bonkers.  I'm at the top of the tree when it comes to insane! 

[jayvee3]

Its funny how fans can get somewhat defensive when others don't share their positive opinion.  I don't mean to start anything but what does it matter if some don't like something others do?  It doesn't hamper enjoyment.

Hasn’t any of your time here made you realise that most of us Dream Theater fans are completely bonkers? I expected so much more of you Wolfking, who even are you anymore? 

Bonkers you say?  Have you seen how long I've been around here, of course I'm bonkers.  I'm at the top of the tree when it comes to insane! 

Just call it “leading from the front”… 

[Ben_Jamin]

The Alien - Great way to start off the album with that fast drum fill. I like the JP lead in the intro, and the outro. Great intro song that got me excited to hear the next track when it was ending.

Answer The Call - That Intro and those Keyboard sounds. Sounds very Awakeish to me. Now that's a dirty riff for solo's... I am enjoying the chord progression and the melodies. JLB's vocal rhythms are awesome and compliment what Myung and Mangini are doing in the groove. Cool outro, could be extended just a tiny bit more like 5 seconds 

Invisible Monster - Not a bad song. Reminds me of Paralyzed, Forsaken, and Build Me Up, Break Me Down blended together with Burning My Soul. I feel the same way about it as I do those songs. I don't mind the Burning My Soul section

Sleeping Giant - Ooo...Pretty haunting atmospheric intro, this is exactly what I was expecting in terms of new keyboard patches. Nice guitar sound as well. Nice singalong "woah's" (Looking forward to doing this live). Yay, another Ragtime section, and this one grooves good too. The solo section makes me want to get up and dance along with the beat.  Interesting outro too, I like that bass. That did not feel like 10 minutes at all...

Transcending Time - Do I hear bells again... ....JLB hit a note that was reminiscent of his Solo album stuff, and I haven't heard him hit that as much as he does on Static Impulse and Impermanent Resonance.  , nice spyish theme. Nice ending vocals there...also...why wasn't this the single instead of Invisible Monster. Music marketing doesn't make sense to me sometimes.

Awaken The Master - Now this is tone is thick....There's that awesome groove from the sample, Loving it...I am really enjoying JR's choice of sound patches and how he decides to use them on these songs. He's using them more atmospherically and it's really noticeable in this song.

A View From The Top of The World -  Shh...The movies starting, reminds me of a movie intro. JP is killing it these leads.  , what was that sound before the vocals start? I'm loving this section with the bass groove, the atmospheric keyboards and guitars. Ooo...The Atmospheric part keyboards have a neat somber tone, and the progression of the rest of this section reminds me of the Kingdom Hearts title theme piano progression. Then the boss battle starts...   I like the ending progression as well, and the melodies. I need to hear it and focus on the lyrics more though.

Overall: This is an energetic, rhythmic, groovy album. I haven't heard them have this sound since Systematic Chaos. Reminds me of that album, with the energy of Train of Thought and Awake. It's melodious like Images and Words and When Dream and Day Unite oddly enough. I am loving the energy of this album, and am really looking towards hearing them live. They're going to 

The member I am most proud of is Jordan Rudess. He really went for creating different sounds, and these moments are found in the atmosphere of the album, this is where he is shining the most in his sound choices. I do enjoy how he taking the older sounds and utilizing them to create atmosphere by complimenting the groove and rhythm, and adding a texture for the lead melodies rather than being a lead. Though when he does play his leads, he really decided to play the melody of the song instead of scaling along in improvisation, at least it feels like he worked his solo's to me.

I am bit more bummed now I won't be seeing them next week. I would've been a bit more excited than I am now. But, I am still hyped up to be seeing them in February. Gives me enough time to learn the lyrics, since this is an album that's going to be great to sing along to live.

[erwinrafael]

Yeah, Jordan is amazing in this record. He is the reason why Dream Theater sounds better than Rush when they are doing Rush. 

Additional: Curious non-important question. When was the last time all song titles were sang in the choruses in a Dream Theater album?

[wolfking]

Its funny how fans can get somewhat defensive when others don't share their positive opinion.  I don't mean to start anything but what does it matter if some don't like something others do?  It doesn't hamper enjoyment.

Hasn’t any of your time here made you realise that most of us Dream Theater fans are completely bonkers? I expected so much more of you Wolfking, who even are you anymore? 

Bonkers you say?  Have you seen how long I've been around here, of course I'm bonkers.  I'm at the top of the tree when it comes to insane! 

Just call it “leading from the front”… 

I like that!

[Laughingplace56]

Yeah, Jordan is amazing in this record. He is the reason why Dream Theater sounds better than Rush when they are doing Rush. 

Additional: Curious non-important question. When was the last time all song titles were sang in the choruses in a Dream Theater album?

Off the top of my head, I think Falling Into Infinity is the only other album where this occurs (Hell’s Kitchen obviously not counting).

[NoFred]

Yeah, Jordan is amazing in this record. He is the reason why Dream Theater sounds better than Rush when they are doing Rush. 

Additional: Curious non-important question. When was the last time all song titles were sang in the choruses in a Dream Theater album?

In chorus? I don’t think that’s happened before. Quick trip down memory lane and only BCSL and ADTOE name check all their songs, but not in chorus (ANtR/TCoT and OtBoA/BAI to be specific)

[WardySI]

First impressions not matching standard of DOT however hearing lots of potential to dig into and can't wait now my hardcopy has arrived, but maybe just me or are there more carnival-like keys in abundance again?  Not a fan of those and  can't remember being quite so subjected to them on recent releases not since Systematic Chaos tbh, particularly in two otherwise instant favourites Sleeping Giants and the opening of Awaken The Master!?

I confess to not yet getting through everyone's comments here yet, after reading page 1 and refreshing the thread had grown by 3 more pages 

Seems I have some light reading ahead of my weekend and pleased for it too, folks here super committed 

[Dedalus]

Best music made since 1727..... Ok I'm kidding. 

I listened once and found it just OK. But as I know this can happen with DT (as I like to remember, I didn't like SDoIT the first time), I listened twice more (except The Alien and IM, as I already know).

For now:

- I don't think it's the best album of the Mangini era, because it doesn't surpass ADTOE (and I  ADTOE )
- It's certainly better than DOT.
- It's EASILY the best drum performance in the band's history.
- I enjoyed several JLB moments. There are great vocal lines.
- JM has great times too. Cool bass lines! 
- I really liked the JR who does the background sounds and soundscapes, but nothing about JR soloist caught my attention.
- JP is JP. Amen.

[Pettor]

I can easily say that no other Mangini-era album have a first impression as complex and thick as this. Great first impression and can already see everything growing. Anyway comments during first listen:

The Alien
To make everything as fresh as possible I have avoided listening to this one over the last weeks. Initial impression was that it should have been better but now it really grows on me. Surely helps knowing some of the sections to appreciate them. No doubt a banger!

Answering The Call
Cool intro with great Rudess keys. The structure and main melody feels a lot fresher and coherent than the singles. The trading solo part felt a bit out of place and wished they done something more interesting than this quite classic trope (guitar, then keyboard and finally together). Overall a great song and would definitely been a great choice for single!

Invisible Monster
The first vers is the best part of the song. It's nice that vers 2 is different but doesn't pick up the best parts from vers 1. Chorus is getting better and better but I still think DT could have improved on it. Structurally it's one of those songs that just feels standard. It doesn't do anything to spice up the overall feeling. On ADTOE nearly every song works like that and it bothers me a bit in the Mangini-era. However I do like the song overall, just not gonna be a favourite but rather a song working for the flow of the album.

Sleeping Giant
Intro is similar to Invisible Monster. Intro riff really leaves a cool impression and the instrumental is 🤘 Lot of great stuff that I want to digest! Love the Dark Eternal Night piano 😅 I think this one will grow and grow into a favourite.

Transcending Time
OMG, the way it sounds like Into The Looking Glass is weird. Almost in a way where it mess with my head. Usually when people say DT did a rush song I don't think they are accurate, but this one IS A RUSH song. In a good way! Solo is a bit forgettable and would have helped the song overall.

Small paus before the "big ones":
- The tunes that wasn't released as singles really stand out
- Everything sounds coherent yet different!
- There's no instantly memorable guitar solo so far. Barstool Warrior took me of guard on D/T and is still one of my all time favourites.
- Compared to the first impression of D/T this is much more complex and grower material.
- There's just TONS of stuff to digest. ADTOE felt like an album with potential but dragged down by generic structures and to few stand out moments. This is without a doubt more in the line what I wanted.
- I have no problem to believe this will be the best Mangini era album together with D/T.

Awaken The Master
Oh yeah, here we go! Love the intro. The guitar riff and Rudess organ hitting each other off is 🤘🤘! Great melodies and grooving in this one. Funny how I thought this would sound like ITPOE and it really has nothing relating to that. Great tune that I want to get back to asap! Thought I would write much more but can't since I haven't wrapped my head around any of it.

A View From The Top of The World
I thought I would write tons of stuff for this but forgot how hard it is to get a first impression of an epic. Specially this one that is so different in it's dark sound. It is NOTHING like I thought it would be. And that's not an issue at all, I just thought it would be happier and easier for some reason. First impression however is fantastic. They managed to create something very different from the other epics and this just feels like their most mature one. It feels very coherent.

Final thoughts:
- This feels like Queen's Innuendo for some reason. It's very mature and dark.
- In the best way possible this album reminds me of SDOIT. What I love about SDOIT is the no-compromise nature of it. SDOIT has arguably very few casual moments (I do love those as well) and this album just reminds me of that. It doesn't bother restricting itself and the melodies are rather grower nature than instantly digestable.
- Surely fans can't complain about this one lacking fresh ideas 😁
- Coherent. That's a word that pop up.
- This album is D/T without limitations.
- Fidelity is fantastic. Everything sounds clean, big and vibrant. Miles above ADTOE and DT12.
- DT really is a fantastic band. No other band can release an album like this.

[JLa]

Won't be able to listen until tonight, but I got the artbook delivered this morning. Wow, it looks good! Fingers crossed the music is as good as the packaging!

[nikatapi]

Really cool to see everyone enjoying the album. What i can say from personal experience is that this is a grower, first listens for me were a bit underwhelming, probably due to the amount of music, this is a very dense album.
After a bunch of listens, and getting familiar with the material, it becomes more and more interesting.

Also, listened to the instrumental mix that's on the boxset, and i do miss James a lot. His performance is overall very good on this album, and stays in a range where his voice doesn't sound strange or full of effects, and i like that.

[wolfking]

This hype is actually getting me excited now.  Wish I skipped out for a lunch break now today to grab a copy!

[WardySI]

This hype is actually getting me excited now.  Wish I skipped out for a lunch break now today to grab a copy!

JB got theirs on time mate no mean feat considering the Covid caused mail delays albeit suspect it had less to do with DT but Elton John being on the same label and in the same deliveries 


Awaken The Master BASS BASS BASS

[wolfking]

This hype is actually getting me excited now.  Wish I skipped out for a lunch break now today to grab a copy!

JB got theirs on time mate no mean feat considering the Covid caused mail delays albeit suspect it had less to do with DT but Elton John being on the same label and in the same deliveries 


Awaken The Master BASS BASS BASS

Sweet mate.  Good to know I can head out tomorrow and return home with it. 

[Pettor]

Second spin and I just need to praise the audio quality on this one. A bit early to say if this is the best sounding DT album or not but I am definitely sure that it's one of them.

[Dedalus]

Answering The Call
Cool intro with great Rudess keys. The structure and main melody feels a lot fresher and coherent than the singles. The trading solo part felt a bit out of place and wished they done something more interesting than this quite classic trope (guitar, then keyboard and finally together). Overall a great song and would definitely been a great choice for single!

I totally agree.

The music is great, but the solos not so much.

[nikatapi]

Second spin and I just need to praise the audio quality on this one. A bit early to say if this is the best sounding DT album or not but I am definitely sure that it's one of them.

True, it's one of the best sounding for sure. Definitely the best with MM, i like how all instruments have space and also come to focus when needed. At last MM's quirky stuff with the cymbals is easily audible, and JM is present at all times.

[Pettor]

My ranking:

1. A View From The Top Of The World
2. Awaken The Master
3. Sleeping Giant
4. Invisible Monster
5. Answering The Call
6. The Alien
7. Transcending Time


6&7 don't do much for me and 7 is pure filler. But still as a full album it's probably their best since ADTOE, hands down.

Damn opinions always vary but calling 7 pure filler surely is hard for me to wrap my head around 🤔 If you said 4 I would at least kind of understand you but 7, regardless of being a favourite or not, just doesn't qualify as filler in any definition I try to come up with. But DT seldom does anything I can call filler actually even if I don't like the song.

[Wim Kruithof]

I'd never thought I'll actually could have a new all time favorite but this one might come there, someday. LaBrie is continue within his range and as long as he is, his voice is absolute beautiful to listen to. A perfect vocal line suits him very well. Overall the album feels familiar, like they've thrown some Awake-juice over it, but it also feels like A Dramatic Turn of Events, somehow. Dream Theater at their very best.

Answering the Call has such an outstanding riff / stream beneath it, I'd never heard it before and when Petrucci is starting the solo, all of a sudden Lie comes in. Unbelievable track, really is. For sure classic-Dream Theater, wrapped in a modern package. I wonder how it would sound with an orchestra within. Transcending Time is so unbelievable pretty which - as said here before - brings sadness and happiness al in once. The melody makes the hair on my arms all rise up for minutes in there and what a beautiful chorus. One of the most inspiring songs I can relate to, right now. But even the Alien and Invisible Monster are so much more beautiful, being packed in this album as a whole. For now I can't rank the epic and relate it to the others. It is so beautiful and complex, so it deserves multiple listening to and digesting.

Answering the Call, Transcending Time and A View are the songs that I love the most, after a few spins...

What to me also had a great influence on me till this releaseday is the forum here. When Distance Over Time came out I wasn't active on the forum yet and wasn't aware of it. I learn a lot from the band, by reading threads and it for sure is another way to express me being this hooked for life, on Dream Theater. Big thanks to those involved...

[AboutToCrash]

Reaching for the summit
on the threshold of defeat
Rightfully joining
THE RANKS OF THE ELITE 🤘 *Headbanging ensues*