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

[Freeze]

I'm shocked at this.

I'm shocked at the positivity about the album but I'm not going to spread any more negative vibes in here.  I'm glad it's so well received.

I'll try again in a couple of weeks.

I agree. I have tried listening to AVFTTOTW a handful of times , and just end up bored each time. I find the highs on DOT much stronger (AWE, S2N, Barstool Warrior and even Out of Reach). "Answering the Call" and "Transcending Time" is ok I guess, but nothing earth-shattering. This album simply doesn't do much for me.

[Dedalus]

Me being shocked by the positivity is no different to others being shocked about my negativity.  Only difference is I'm vastly outnumbered.

You did not answer the question. Why did you expect this record to be mostly poorly received by fans?
Realize that I'm not asking why you didn't like it. Not liking something is different from most fans not liking something. I'm sure it's easy to understand the difference between one person (n=1) from a larger and significant set of a population.

To say you are overwhelmed by the positivity towards the album is a surprising statement IMO.
I'm curious to understand why.

I think it's pretty obvious that he's surprised by the positivity because he doesn't enjoy it very much.

I like that this forum is generally a pretty positive place, and I definitely don't like the kind of online community that's focused around negativity, but... One of the reasons I don't spend much time on the DT side is that it sometimes does feel like you can't say you don't like something without being interrogated.

So it works like this:
"I liked it, so most will like it too"
"I didn't like it, so most won't like it either"

Is the person the beacon of humanity? 

I have more criticism of Haken than praise. But to me it's completely obvious why the band has found more and more success and why people like it so much: they make modern prog metal, which so many like, quite consistently.
No wonder so many like it.
But I don't like it, so should I be surprised?

And I'm not interrogating anyone. This here is a discussion forum. If we don't like arguing, we're in the wrong place.
I found it curious that he expected the album to be poorly received and asked why. It's up to him to answer if he wants to.
I made it very clear that I'm not asking why he didn't like the record.

DT's new album is heavy, aggressive, energetic, with a lot of technicality (MM wins), wankery moments, long songs etc ... everything that fans, IN GENERAL, usually like.

Is it really that surprising that most people have received it positively? It seems weird to me to think otherwise.

And it's exactly because of the almost absence on TA of most of the elements I've listed that the negative reception is not surprising.

[Kotowboy]

So it works like this:
"I liked it, so most will like it too"
"I didn't like it, so most won't like it either"

Is the person the beacon of humanity? 

The worst is - " I don't like this - so nobody else is allowed to like it and i'm going to remind everyone how much i dislike it at the drop of a hat... "

[Glasser]

I'm shocked at this.

I'm shocked at the positivity about the album but I'm not going to spread any more negative vibes in here.  I'm glad it's so well received.

I'll try again in a couple of weeks.

I’m completely shocked. View is my favorite DT album now. It blows my mind how some people hear things drastically different from others.

[nobloodyname]

One of the reasons I don't spend much time on the DT side is that it sometimes does feel like you can't say you don't like something without being interrogated.

Quite.

[Kyo]

With the exception of Transcending Time, the instrumentals play over a riff or a rhythmic idea that already played earlier in the song.

I've seen these comments around here that the solo section in Transcending Time feels like it doesn't belong in there because it doesn't have anything to do with the rest of the song, so this seems like a good place to comment on it:

That riff under the solo is based on the rhythm pattern used for the main 7/8 riff of the song that is first introduced at 0:33. This rhythm is also used almost identically for the 1:42 and 3:06 sections, with just the penultimate 8th note replaced with two 16ths. Under the guitar solo they used a different mode than the major scale that defines the rest of the song's feel, which is songwriting 101 - you only get the big resolution on the return to the chorus when you create the harmonic tension before the return. But rhythmically it's exactly the same repeating pattern of 1234-123 and in all those cases they extend the 7/8 to a 4/4 at the end so you get a rhythmically straight transition to the next section. If you wanna be really picky, it's otherwise two bars with two notes added at the end of the last, but for the solo they went with just one final 4/4 bar with one note added to the riff, but the basic idea there is also the same.

So I wish people would stop saying that riff "comes out of nowhere" or "sounds like it doesn't belong" or whatever. If anything, I'm pretty bored by this super-basic 7/8 pattern long before they re-use once again it for the solo section, so I wish they actually HAD changed things up a bit more for the solo. 

[nobloodyname]

So it works like this:
"I liked it, so most will like it too"
"I didn't like it, so most won't like it either"

Is the person the beacon of humanity? 

The worst is - " I don't like this - so nobody else is allowed to like it and i'm going to remind everyone how much i dislike it at the drop of a hat... "

You realise that literally works both ways?

(I'm potentially making it sound as if I don't like the album. I do. I think it's probably the second best of the Mangini albums.)

[425]

So it works like this:
"I liked it, so most will like it too"
"I didn't like it, so most won't like it either"

Is the person the beacon of humanity? 

I have more criticism of Haken than praise. But to me it's completely obvious why the band has found more and more success and why people like it so much: they make modern prog metal, which so many like, quite consistently.
No wonder so many like it.
But I don't like it, so should I be surprised?

And I'm not interrogating anyone. This here is a discussion forum. If we don't like arguing, we're in the wrong place.
I found it curious that he expected the album to be poorly received and asked why. It's up to him to answer if he wants to.
I made it very clear that I'm not asking why he didn't like the record.

I really don't get what's so difficult to understand. But I'll use the following example to try to illustrate: Let's say you go to a pizza restaurant with your friends. All of you like pizza and have similar preferences about what style of pizza you like. You all order the same thing. Your food arrives, and it really doesn't taste good to you. But your friends start talking about how wonderful it is. Wouldn't you be surprised that they like this pizza that, to you, is pretty poor?

That's what's happening here.

And I call it interrogation because "I don't find much to enjoy about this; I'm surprised at how much praise it's getting" is a completely normal thing for someone to say when they don't like something, and I don't suspect that someone would receive any questions like this if they said "I really enjoy this; I'm not surprised that it's getting a lot of praise"—even though that's virtually the same logic except that it's positive instead of negative.

[Dedalus]

I really don't get what's so difficult to understand. But I'll use the following example to try to illustrate: Let's say you go to a pizza restaurant with your friends. All of you like pizza and have similar preferences about what style of pizza you like. You all order the same thing. Your food arrives, and it really doesn't taste good to you. But your friends start talking about how wonderful it is. Wouldn't you be surprised that they like this pizza that, to you, is pretty poor?

That's what's happening here.

And I call it interrogation because "I don't find much to enjoy about this; I'm surprised at how much praise it's getting" is a completely normal thing for someone to say when they don't like something, and I don't suspect that someone would receive any questions like this if they said "I really enjoy this; I'm not surprised that it's getting a lot of praise"—even though that's virtually the same logic except that it's positive instead of negative.

Well... in answer to this pizza nonsense, I would suspect, given the case, that we don't like the same pizza after all.

But we don't need to continue this bummer.

If people find it surprising that a larger portion of fans liked an album that brings a lot of the band's traditional characteristics (and for that very reason it was accused of being "DT by the numbers"), so be it.

I liked TA and I would be EXTREMELY SURPRISED if it had been well received by the audience.

[Wim Kruithof]

I’m completely shocked. View is my favorite DT album now. It blows my mind how some people hear things drastically different from others.

I'm not quite sure if a View will remain amongst my favorites, but it does has an overwhelming power on me. It surely is something special.

[Dedalus]

I’m completely shocked. View is my favorite DT album now. It blows my mind how some people hear things drastically different from others.

I'm not quite sure if a View will remain amongst my favorites, but it does has an overwhelming power on me. It surely is something special.

This is a record I'm curious about how my relationship with it will be given the test of time.

Speaking of surprises, I'm surprised I don't have too many problems with this record.
It's a heavy record with a lot of LTE-like instrumentals and I usually have problems with that kind of DT.

But for some reason it works, and I'm not exactly sure why. As Stadler's aphorism would say "I just liked it." 

Time will tell whether one or five years from now I will continue to think the same.

[Wim Kruithof]

Dedalus,

since I became Dream Theater-obsessed, I dived (dove?) in each album plenty of times. But I found out that all of them are remarkable and revisit-worthy. Some more than others - to me - of course, but they' all have beautiful elements. And the onces that didn't moved me at first sight, I became to love.

But a View hit me right from the getgo, so much more than Distance Over Time did, so my expectations rise with each sunset.

[Stadler]

Me being shocked by the positivity is no different to others being shocked about my negativity.  Only difference is I'm vastly outnumbered.

You did not answer the question. Why did you expect this record to be mostly poorly received by fans?
Realize that I'm not asking why you didn't like it. Not liking something is different from most fans not liking something. I'm sure it's easy to understand the difference between one person (n=1) from a larger and significant set of a population.

To say you are overwhelmed by the positivity towards the album is a surprising statement IMO.
I'm curious to understand why.

I think it's pretty obvious that he's surprised by the positivity because he doesn't enjoy it very much.

I like that this forum is generally a pretty positive place, and I definitely don't like the kind of online community that's focused around negativity, but... One of the reasons I don't spend much time on the DT side is that it sometimes does feel like you can't say you don't like something without being interrogated.

I sometimes feel this way as well.

[Stadler]

Me being shocked by the positivity is no different to others being shocked about my negativity.  Only difference is I'm vastly outnumbered.

You did not answer the question. Why did you expect this record to be mostly poorly received by fans?
Realize that I'm not asking why you didn't like it. Not liking something is different from most fans not liking something. I'm sure it's easy to understand the difference between one person (n=1) from a larger and significant set of a population.

To say you are overwhelmed by the positivity towards the album is a surprising statement IMO.
I'm curious to understand why.

I think it's pretty obvious that he's surprised by the positivity because he doesn't enjoy it very much.

I like that this forum is generally a pretty positive place, and I definitely don't like the kind of online community that's focused around negativity, but... One of the reasons I don't spend much time on the DT side is that it sometimes does feel like you can't say you don't like something without being interrogated.

So it works like this:
"I liked it, so most will like it too"
"I didn't like it, so most won't like it either"

Is the person the beacon of humanity? 

I have more criticism of Haken than praise. But to me it's completely obvious why the band has found more and more success and why people like it so much: they make modern prog metal, which so many like, quite consistently.
No wonder so many like it.
But I don't like it, so should I be surprised?

And I'm not interrogating anyone. This here is a discussion forum. If we don't like arguing, we're in the wrong place.
I found it curious that he expected the album to be poorly received and asked why. It's up to him to answer if he wants to.
I made it very clear that I'm not asking why he didn't like the record.

DT's new album is heavy, aggressive, energetic, with a lot of technicality (MM wins), wankery moments, long songs etc ... everything that fans, IN GENERAL, usually like.

Is it really that surprising that most people have received it positively? It seems weird to me to think otherwise.

And it's exactly because of the almost absence on TA of most of the elements I've listed that the negative reception is not surprising.

So you write this, but then there's this:

I'm shocked at this.

I'm shocked at the positivity about the album but I'm not going to spread any more negative vibes in here.  I'm glad it's so well received.

I'll try again in a couple of weeks.

I’m completely shocked. View is my favorite DT album now. It blows my mind how some people hear things drastically different from others.

Now, I don't know Glasser personally, but he's a long-time fan and seems like a really nice guy, etc.   But why is his shock any different?   

Why is no one confused about HIS shock, when regardless of what site we're on, we're really talking about PERSONAL reactions to a particular piece of art?

[MetalJens]

I had to log in here just to say that I think the new album is absolutely amazing, after spending a few weeks with it! DT has been my favourite band since 1999, and I love most of their albums, but I currently think this is one of their best 

Usually there are a few songs I don't care so much for on a DT album, but not on this one. They are all great or amazing, and it is really hard to pick a favorite 

I really love the mix on this album as well as the songwriting. I am also getting a bit of I&W-Awake-ACOS era wibes with this album, just more modern sounding, which is a really cool mix

[Kyo]

Let's say you go to a pizza restaurant with your friends. All of you like pizza and have similar preferences about what style of pizza you like. You all order the same thing. Your food arrives, and it really doesn't taste good to you. But your friends start talking about how wonderful it is. Wouldn't you be surprised that they like this pizza that, to you, is pretty poor?

How about this - you go to a pizza restaurant with your friends. You get the most wonderful pizza, spicy (but that's what the description said) and very obviously made with a lot of care. Most people enjoy it very much, but there's the odd guy who complains that it's too spicy because he actually prefers his food mild. Then there's the guy who's complaining that he didn't get a vegan salad because that's really what he likes about his favorite pizza joints. And then there's somebody who says that to really keep him interested, the restaurant should've been offering falafel and some awesome cocktails - all of his favorite restaurants these days do, after all! The people in the kitchen are excited about the balance of ingredients and tastes they have come up with and can't wait to serve the new recipe they're so proud of to lots of other customers, but some reviewer for the local paper can't bring himself to find more positive words than "nothing I haven't tasted before".

[hefdaddy42]

I'm shocked that anyone is shocked about anything.

[Dedalus]

Me being shocked by the positivity is no different to others being shocked about my negativity.  Only difference is I'm vastly outnumbered.

You did not answer the question. Why did you expect this record to be mostly poorly received by fans?
Realize that I'm not asking why you didn't like it. Not liking something is different from most fans not liking something. I'm sure it's easy to understand the difference between one person (n=1) from a larger and significant set of a population.

To say you are overwhelmed by the positivity towards the album is a surprising statement IMO.
I'm curious to understand why.

I think it's pretty obvious that he's surprised by the positivity because he doesn't enjoy it very much.

I like that this forum is generally a pretty positive place, and I definitely don't like the kind of online community that's focused around negativity, but... One of the reasons I don't spend much time on the DT side is that it sometimes does feel like you can't say you don't like something without being interrogated.

So it works like this:
"I liked it, so most will like it too"
"I didn't like it, so most won't like it either"

Is the person the beacon of humanity? 

I have more criticism of Haken than praise. But to me it's completely obvious why the band has found more and more success and why people like it so much: they make modern prog metal, which so many like, quite consistently.
No wonder so many like it.
But I don't like it, so should I be surprised?

And I'm not interrogating anyone. This here is a discussion forum. If we don't like arguing, we're in the wrong place.
I found it curious that he expected the album to be poorly received and asked why. It's up to him to answer if he wants to.
I made it very clear that I'm not asking why he didn't like the record.

DT's new album is heavy, aggressive, energetic, with a lot of technicality (MM wins), wankery moments, long songs etc ... everything that fans, IN GENERAL, usually like.

Is it really that surprising that most people have received it positively? It seems weird to me to think otherwise.

And it's exactly because of the almost absence on TA of most of the elements I've listed that the negative reception is not surprising.

So you write this, but then there's this:

I'm shocked at this.

I'm shocked at the positivity about the album but I'm not going to spread any more negative vibes in here.  I'm glad it's so well received.

I'll try again in a couple of weeks.

I’m completely shocked. View is my favorite DT album now. It blows my mind how some people hear things drastically different from others.

Now, I don't know Glasser personally, but he's a long-time fan and seems like a really nice guy, etc.   But why is his shock any different?   

Why is no one confused about HIS shock, when regardless of what site we're on, we're really talking about PERSONAL reactions to a particular piece of art?

But who said there is a difference? Just because no one questioned him?

So here we go: Glasser, people are different, so it's not surprising that some people don't connect with a record that we think is good. Why does this surprise you?

All happy now? 

[Wim Kruithof]

this thread is gaining a tension that’s neither liquid or an experiment…

[Dedalus]

Dedalus,

since I became Dream Theater-obsessed, I dived (dove?) in each album plenty of times. But I found out that all of them are remarkable and revisit-worthy. Some more than others - to me - of course, but they' all have beautiful elements. And the onces that didn't moved me at first sight, I became to love.

But a View hit me right from the getgo, so much more than Distance Over Time did, so my expectations rise with each sunset.

I'm shocked that I skipped your comment.

Personally I'm not a fan of all discography. I think two records are the lowest point in their career: SC and BC&SL. I recently listened to them both, as I'm listening to the entire discography and my opinion remains. I like very few things on these two albums.

I think this last record has more interesting things that will make me come back to the album in the future. Time will tell.

[LKap13]

Sleeping Giant is the musical cousin of...... Three Days

[Elite]

Sleeping Giant is the musical cousin of...... Three Days

no, it's not

[Dedalus]

Sleeping Giant is the musical cousin of...... Three Days

They are brothers, as they are children of the same parents.

[425]

Let's say you go to a pizza restaurant with your friends. All of you like pizza and have similar preferences about what style of pizza you like. You all order the same thing. Your food arrives, and it really doesn't taste good to you. But your friends start talking about how wonderful it is. Wouldn't you be surprised that they like this pizza that, to you, is pretty poor?

How about this - you go to a pizza restaurant with your friends. You get the most wonderful pizza, spicy (but that's what the description said) and very obviously made with a lot of care. Most people enjoy it very much, but there's the odd guy who complains that it's too spicy because he actually prefers his food mild. Then there's the guy who's complaining that he didn't get a vegan salad because that's really what he likes about his favorite pizza joints. And then there's somebody who says that to really keep him interested, the restaurant should've been offering falafel and some awesome cocktails - all of his favorite restaurants these days do, after all! The people in the kitchen are excited about the balance of ingredients and tastes they have come up with and can't wait to serve the new recipe they're so proud of to lots of other customers, but some reviewer for the local paper can't bring himself to find more positive words than "nothing I haven't tasted before".

Okay, but this doesn't describe wolfking. These irrational types who dislike an album just because it's not the style they expected exist, but that does not mean that everyone who doesn't like a particular album is one of them.

It's actually possible for an album to be in a style a person likes without them liking the album. If it wasn't, then every person who likes even one AC/DC album would like all of them, and we know that's not true.

[fischermasamune]

My general evaluations, all subjective:

> After a few 5 or 10 listens, this album started to grow. I really like it now, very diverse and interesting. I like that every song has memorable vocal hooks. Although true that there is no F# or whatever in this album, I like JLB work, he is good throughout.

> I enjoyed the (relative) focus on rhythmic elements. I used to greatly enjoy (I still do, but I also used to) MP drumming for its style and energy and complications, but this is even better. I'm very happy MM filled this album with Mangini-isms. [People complain he overplayed; to my taste, if I had to choose less or more, I would prefer he played even more.]

> The only song which is below the others is Invisible Monster. I think it would fit 100% in an album I like less, like Systematic Chaos, or even ADTOE or DT12. Sadly, the chorus sticks to one's mind like a bad pop song. Still, it has good riffs and some good moments.

> There are two vocal lines I don't like much: the first, flat verse of The Alien (I imagine the idea is that it simulated an audio transmission in space, but either way), and the "You're never more alive" verse in AVFTTOTW, which doesn't fit with the rhythm.

> Lyrically solid, except the "ticking bomb"-"ticking clock" repetition across SG and TT. On the other hand, I enjoyed the thematic connection of ATM and AVFTTOTW.

> I tried to understand why people have complained on TT's solo being out of place. However, any time I would set oout to listen to the song, I would get distracted, and realize that the song ended and I had forgotten to pay attention to the solo! After a very conscious effort, I think it is a very good, and very fitting solo. I like Dream Theater because of the breadth of the songs, the full amplitude they reach, so I enjoyed such variety in TT.

> This album might not have "extremely memorable" solos (a subjective category), such as the Razor Edge's solo or the one in TBOT. On the other hand, they are good in general.

> I've read complaints on the "chugga-chuggas" in many songs. Since they typically happen in the first verse only, and I enjoy a good chugga-chugga (and each one is good), I think they are appropriate and help build the instrumentation.

> No ballad was needed. To my taste, there were enough soft moments to balance the whole.

> In numbers (rounding up when in doubt):
TA: 9/10
ATC: 10/10 (the best song)
IM: 7/10
SG: 8/10
TT: 9/10
ATM: 10/10
AVFTTOTW: 10/10

[RodrigoAltaf]

Sleeping Giant is the musical cousin of...... Three Days

Yes, one of those distant cousins that don't even know each other exist.

[hunnus2000]

Well I have been trying to absorb this album but it has been sporadic because I started back working from home just about the time it was released so I lost an hour round trip in the car to really dig my teeth into it. I was able yesterday to listen to the epic.

I love the album and everything about it and I agree with much of the comments about hearing musical moments from previous albums. They seemed to borrow from themselves quite a bit on this but it doesn't lessen my enjoyment of the album though.

Overall - two  for me.

Also, my Blu-Ray/Picture book came to day (finally) and I love it and so does the wife. The documentary may finally get her over the hump of the loss of the great Neil Peart. The reason it took so long was because I took the advice from forum members on where to order but I didn't do my research. The company was reputable but it shipped from the UK. Oh well.......

[bosk1]

But why is his shock any different?

I think it was adequately addressed by Dedalus.  But to put it more bluntly:  They are different because this is a fan forum.  The default position here (unless the band radically changes what they do) is to like new product from them since this place's purpose is for fans to congregate.  If someone here has a strong negative reaction, that is and should be pretty surprising.  It doesn't mean they are "wrong."  But it does mean they are probably in a small minority.

[wolfking]

I'm shocked at this.

I'm shocked at the positivity about the album but I'm not going to spread any more negative vibes in here.  I'm glad it's so well received.

I'll try again in a couple of weeks.

Why? OK, you didn't like it. But be surprised by the good reception? And why would it be otherwise?

When I first heard TA I thought "Oh... this is going to be torn apart"... but this record is the opposite.

It's very easy to understand and even predict a good reception here.

Me being shocked by the positivity is no different to others being shocked about my negativity.  Only difference is I'm vastly outnumbered.

You did not answer the question. Why did you expect this record to be mostly poorly received by fans?
Realize that I'm not asking why you didn't like it. Not liking something is different from most fans not liking something. I'm sure it's easy to understand the difference between one person (n=1) from a larger and significant set of a population.

To say you are overwhelmed by the positivity towards the album is a surprising statement IMO.
I'm curious to understand why.

Stop trying to dissect my comment and read more into it than what I wrote.

Me being shocked by the positivity is no different to others being shocked about my negativity.  Only difference is I'm vastly outnumbered.

You did not answer the question. Why did you expect this record to be mostly poorly received by fans?
Realize that I'm not asking why you didn't like it. Not liking something is different from most fans not liking something. I'm sure it's easy to understand the difference between one person (n=1) from a larger and significant set of a population.

To say you are overwhelmed by the positivity towards the album is a surprising statement IMO.
I'm curious to understand why.

I think it's pretty obvious that he's surprised by the positivity because he doesn't enjoy it very much.

I like that this forum is generally a pretty positive place, and I definitely don't like the kind of online community that's focused around negativity, but... One of the reasons I don't spend much time on the DT side is that it sometimes does feel like you can't say you don't like something without being interrogated.

Thank you, exactly this.

[gzarruk]

Still, nobody hates DT more than DT fans...






(except maybe the #MPWarriors )

[wolfking]

I'm shocked at this.

I'm shocked at the positivity about the album but I'm not going to spread any more negative vibes in here.  I'm glad it's so well received.

I'll try again in a couple of weeks.

I agree. I have tried listening to AVFTTOTW a handful of times , and just end up bored each time. I find the highs on DOT much stronger (AWE, S2N, Barstool Warrior and even Out of Reach). "Answering the Call" and "Transcending Time" is ok I guess, but nothing earth-shattering. This album simply doesn't do much for me.

Yep.  DOT is much stronger all round.

[wolfking]

One of the reasons I don't spend much time on the DT side is that it sometimes does feel like you can't say you don't like something without being interrogated.

Quite.

And this is happened every time I bring my views up on the ask him.  According to many people here, I wounding all of them personally for not liking it.

[wolfking]

I got up to IM on my 3rd listen to this album and switched it off.  For me, this album is one of my all time biggest disappointments when it comes to a band I love.

Hey Wolfie, honest question, but didn't it kinda sound like in the Maiden thread that you had already made up your mind about this album before you heard it? Maybe that's having a little bit of an effect?

I knew this was a possibility but I made it pretty clear that I was going to do everything in my power to go into it with an open mind.  I feel I achieved that the best I could.  That's why I'll keep trying.

[wolfking]

So it works like this:
"I liked it, so most will like it too"
"I didn't like it, so most won't like it either"

Is the person the beacon of humanity? 

I have more criticism of Haken than praise. But to me it's completely obvious why the band has found more and more success and why people like it so much: they make modern prog metal, which so many like, quite consistently.
No wonder so many like it.
But I don't like it, so should I be surprised?

And I'm not interrogating anyone. This here is a discussion forum. If we don't like arguing, we're in the wrong place.
I found it curious that he expected the album to be poorly received and asked why. It's up to him to answer if he wants to.
I made it very clear that I'm not asking why he didn't like the record.

I really don't get what's so difficult to understand. But I'll use the following example to try to illustrate: Let's say you go to a pizza restaurant with your friends. All of you like pizza and have similar preferences about what style of pizza you like. You all order the same thing. Your food arrives, and it really doesn't taste good to you. But your friends start talking about how wonderful it is. Wouldn't you be surprised that they like this pizza that, to you, is pretty poor?

That's what's happening here.

And I call it interrogation because "I don't find much to enjoy about this; I'm surprised at how much praise it's getting" is a completely normal thing for someone to say when they don't like something, and I don't suspect that someone would receive any questions like this if they said "I really enjoy this; I'm not surprised that it's getting a lot of praise"—even though that's virtually the same logic except that it's positive instead of negative.

Thanks mate, you're summing me up perfectly.  Great analogy.  I'm not sure why my views are such s big deal to people.  Accept it and enjoy the album ffs.

[wolfking]

I really don't get what's so difficult to understand. But I'll use the following example to try to illustrate: Let's say you go to a pizza restaurant with your friends. All of you like pizza and have similar preferences about what style of pizza you like. You all order the same thing. Your food arrives, and it really doesn't taste good to you. But your friends start talking about how wonderful it is. Wouldn't you be surprised that they like this pizza that, to you, is pretty poor?

That's what's happening here.

And I call it interrogation because "I don't find much to enjoy about this; I'm surprised at how much praise it's getting" is a completely normal thing for someone to say when they don't like something, and I don't suspect that someone would receive any questions like this if they said "I really enjoy this; I'm not surprised that it's getting a lot of praise"—even though that's virtually the same logic except that it's positive instead of negative.

Well... in answer to this pizza nonsense, I would suspect, given the case, that we don't like the same pizza after all.

But we don't need to continue this bummer.

If people find it surprising that a larger portion of fans liked an album that brings a lot of the band's traditional characteristics (and for that very reason it was accused of being "DT by the numbers"), so be it.

I liked TA and I would be EXTREMELY SURPRISED if it had been well received by the audience.

Well stop continuing it then.