I can't say I'm a detractor, per se, as there are plenty of songs on the five records that I really enjoy, and I've seen them more in that era than in the pre-Mangini era. But in terms of sitting down and enjoying an album, I almost always - well, always - go to the MP era.
FOR ME - and I am only expressing MY opinion here - the MP albums had wankery under the guise of songs and melody and concept. I found the wankery in the last five records to be more unabashed, and straightforward, and I missed that melding. There are too many songs in the last five records where I'm distracted by the pure technicality as opposed to admiring it. I don't listen to music to listen to an Olympic event. There is at least ONE song on every one of the last couple records where I'm like "are we getting paid by the note here?" and to be a little unfair, but it's the way I feel, that is most often directed at Mangini, and within that, most often directed at the bass drum. It just feels like every album has more moments of "a world record 7,824,921 bass drum hits in 30 seconds", and I'm looking for more moments of "however many bass drum hits it takes to get the emotion across".
I'm not looking to (re)start any arguments, here, it's just what I hear for better or worse.
Topic: If YOU were writing the set list for the next DT tour... (Read 10489 times)
