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

[TheBarstoolWarrior]

This album is so sick I think I'm going to treat myself to the HD Tracks so I can upset my neighbors in 24bit.

Sleeping Giant is really growing on me. I was listening to it on the way to work and it's cool how they play with some of the musical themes in the song.

[Max Kuehnau]

yeah if HDtracks have it, go for it, well worth buying

[Uncle Rico]

Plenty of new guys here who don't take up half a page every third page on every other thread on a minor disagreement, plus a big apology post in the band subforum where it doesn't really belong. I don't mean to play forum police and I understand it may be crossing a line, but talk about main character syndrome.

When I feel bad, combative or reactive, I don't log onto DTF, I write in my journal. Oh and I agree with Uncle Rico, the View epic doesn't feel as essential as the previous ones, even though Kyo is also correct and it has plenty of new musical elements.

I'd love to see you put up with the shit I have, and live through the illness I have for the past nine years. Go fuck yourself, seriously.

[TAC]

I'd love to see you put up with the shit I have, and live through the illness I have for the past nine years. Go fuck yourself, seriously.

WTF does that have to do with anything?

Whatever it is you're dealing with I am very sorry to hear, and I hope it improves, but this is now by my count the second time you've referenced it followed by telling another valued member of the forum to go fuck themselves. Seriously man. We ALL have problems, and this is a more than comforting place to share them.

This forum has give and take and if you can't take it, don't give it. I'm sure this will be followed with my own personal "go fuck myself..", but...I, for one, CAN take it.

[hefdaddy42]

I'd love to see you put up with the shit I have, and live through the illness I have for the past nine years. Go fuck yourself, seriously.

Mora is one of the last people here I would expect to be told to fuck themselves. We don't really do that here. I already told you that I am also too old to put up with that shit, so take a week off and think about whether or not this is a place you really want to spend your time. I hope it is, because as another long time fan, you can probably add some valuable input. 

It's not always what we have to say, but how we say it. 

[SeRoX]

Well, one can be through the hardest time of their lives. Illness is probably one of the worst one and I get Uncle Rico (hope you'll be healty as soon as possible.) but I don't get that he uses that as an excuse of his high temper behavior on his nearly every post.

[wolfking]

I'd love to see you put up with the shit I have, and live through the illness I have for the past nine years. Go fuck yourself, seriously.

Somehow I don't think this place is helping you like I thought it would have.....

[Herrick]

"Dude, don't be a dick, bro".

"Fuck you, I don't care if I get banned! Fuck yourself! Why is everyone picking on me?!!!"

[KevShmev]

Nothing will likely top ACOS for me either but I think it's cool that all the mega epics offer something unique.

Agreed.  I gave A Change of Seasons a fresh listen last week when I was binging a bit of DT and it sounded as awesome as ever.  Just a flawless epic and still a borderline top 10 DT track in my book.

I do think the A View from the Top of the World titular epic is strong.  Still not sure where it stands for me among the non-ACOS epics, but it's definitely excellent.

[Dream Team]

I'd love to see you put up with the shit I have, and live through the illness I have for the past nine years. Go fuck yourself, seriously.

Rico, this place is great and you are very wrong in your assumptions about the people here. There are no arrogant jerks; we've all got some strongly held opinions but as soon as I learned to express mine with tact and sensitivity *voila* no issues.

As far as your health situation is concerned, we've all expressed our sincere empathy about that so you don't need to keep playing that card, we get it. When you resume posting I'm hoping we can all get along and have interesting discussions.

[CodyWanKenobi]

talk about main character syndrome.

I've been trying to keep my mouth shut every time I've seen one of his ridiculously arrogant posts, but holy shit I'm so glad somebody said this. 

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

I've been thinking about A View From The Top of the World a lot lately, especially with all the excitement around Mike Portnoy's return. When View first dropped, it felt like DT was pushing their technical boundaries even further, with each member getting room to showcase their insane skills. The title track alone was this massive journey, kind of reminding me of those big prog epics that defined their earlier days.

Now, a few years down the line, A View From The Top of the World has really started to stand out to me in a unique way. I feel like it's aged into a modern prog-metal classic, and I've noticed myself going back to it more often than I thought I would. There's something about the album that's grown with me over time, especially now that we're entering this new Portnoy chapter.

With Mike Mango's drumming, View had this distinct rhythm approach that added a fresh twist. Mango's precision and technicality really defined this era, bringing a different type of energy that complemented the rest of the band in a special way. Songs like The Alien and Awaken the Master—they have this tight, focused intensity that I'll always associate with Mango's contributions. And looking back, you can tell he left a mark on the band's sound that's irreplaceable in its own way.

Now, with Portnoy back, it's interesting to compare. Portnoy brings this fluidity and groove that really emphasizes those emotional beats and changes, which might bring an entirely different feel to their future music. But View stands as this amazing capstone to the Mango era, and I think it'll always hold a special place for fans who were along for that ride. Each time I listen to it now, it feels like a unique piece of DT history—both a celebration of their talent and a bold exploration of their sound.

It'd also be real interesting to see how MP would handle throne duties on the title track. I know it'll probably never happen, but man would it be awesome to see.

PS - Sleeping Giant, one of the best Mangos?   

[DoctorAction]

Yeah, you put it well. I really like it. I didn't at first. Took a couple of months, iirc. It felt dull and unsurprising to me initially. It grew very well, though.

IM still blows. 

[macneil]

I think it's definitely a strong note to end the Mangini-era on. Personally I still prefer ADTOE and DOT but Mangini's strong presence in particular makes View stand out. The Alien grew on me a lot and the title track is spectacular.

[Wim Kruithof]

HoveringSojourn, I really like your post and agree completely.

The only 'disappointed' moment for me on the entire album, is the epic fade in the end. I really miss the bombastic endings like A Change of Seasons, Octavarium, The Count or Illumination Theory.

In one way I respect the change, in another I miss that valuable element...

[WilliamMunny]

I've been thinking about A View From The Top of the World a lot lately, especially with all the excitement around Mike Portnoy's return. When View first dropped, it felt like DT was pushing their technical boundaries even further, with each member getting room to showcase their insane skills. The title track alone was this massive journey, kind of reminding me of those big prog epics that defined their earlier days.

Now, a few years down the line, A View From The Top of the World has really started to stand out to me in a unique way. I feel like it's aged into a modern prog-metal classic, and I've noticed myself going back to it more often than I thought I would. There's something about the album that's grown with me over time, especially now that we're entering this new Portnoy chapter.

With Mike Mango's drumming, View had this distinct rhythm approach that added a fresh twist. Mango's precision and technicality really defined this era, bringing a different type of energy that complemented the rest of the band in a special way. Songs like The Alien and Awaken the Master—they have this tight, focused intensity that I'll always associate with Mango's contributions. And looking back, you can tell he left a mark on the band's sound that's irreplaceable in its own way.

Now, with Portnoy back, it's interesting to compare. Portnoy brings this fluidity and groove that really emphasizes those emotional beats and changes, which might bring an entirely different feel to their future music. But View stands as this amazing capstone to the Mango era, and I think it'll always hold a special place for fans who were along for that ride. Each time I listen to it now, it feels like a unique piece of DT history—both a celebration of their talent and a bold exploration of their sound.

It'd also be real interesting to see how MP would handle throne duties on the title track. I know it'll probably never happen, but man would it be awesome to see.

PS - Sleeping Giant, one of the best Mangos?   

Quiet possibly the most sincere and well-constructed post I've read from you on this forum.

That said, FOR ME, AVFTOTW has had the opposite effect. Revisited it last week and I now have little interest in returning to it. Every single point you made is noted (and most I agree with), but the album just fails to resonate with me on any level.

It feels, well, almost perfunctory to me. Again, I fully recognize that the album sounds amazing and was performed well...my quibbles are a 'me' issue. Still, if they'd continued on with MM, I suspect I would have not even bothered to check out their next release.

And, to echo some sentiments above, "Invisible Monster" is easily my least favorite DT single since "Rite of Passage"

The re-listen only made me appreciate what I've heard from MP and the boys that much more.

TL;DR – Good post THS808!

[Adami]

Gave it another listen.

Yea, maybe a few more parts on it I dug? But not that many. I really dug MM's drumming on this, even if most of his fills (while I'm sure are actually the most complicated fills in history) just sound like the same flurry of notes. But his beats were pretty sweet.

I think it's just the song writing I can't connect with. Some very cool riffs/moments, but overall, by Awaken the Master, I was just finding myself so bored of their approach and thinking that it was sounding extremely redundant.

I think I'm good for now with this album. Don't need more re-listens without a good reason.

[jayvee3]

HoveringSojourn, I really like your post and agree completely.

The only 'disappointed' moment for me on the entire album, is the epic fade in the end. I really miss the bombastic endings like A Change of Seasons, Octavarium, The Count or Illumination Theory.

In one way I respect the change, in another I miss that valuable element...

Agree completely with this. Had the track on in my car the other day and it's actually an outstanding track. But the ending just kills it for me - particularly when you compare it with the bombastic endings of 8V, Illumination Theory, TCOT and ACOS etc...

It almost feels unfair on my part, because, as I said, it has almost 20 minutes of great music, but those last moments of the ending just has me feel it's not on par with the other epics... Even though there truly is some great stuff packed in there...

[Jamesman42]

Gave it another listen.

Yea, maybe a few more parts on it I dug? But not that many. I really dug MM's drumming on this, even if most of his fills (while I'm sure are actually the most complicated fills in history) just sound like the same flurry of notes. But his beats were pretty sweet.

I think it's just the song writing I can't connect with. Some very cool riffs/moments, but overall, by Awaken the Master, I was just finding myself so bored of their approach and thinking that it was sounding extremely redundant.

I think I'm good for now with this album. Don't need more re-listens without a good reason.

We've already talked about this, I am similar to you on this but I did get the itch to see if I could find some more worth for me, and it's not bad, but it's not demanding my attention. Feels grey, if I were to give it a color.

[Jamesman42]

with each member getting room to showcase their insane skills.

I'm very curious here, what are some timestamps on the songs you would point to? If you don't have time for all the members, t least JM, that's my most curious point.

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

at least JM

He's solid throughout the entire album but the part where he particular shines (mostly due to not totally being buried in the mix) is the entire second half of the title track. It's not his most technical moment but it takes a lot to hold down the entire bottom half of those more tender moments in the epic. For something more technical/skillful I'd point to Transcending Time instrumental portions (though again it's harder to hear him because he is always seemingly buried in the mix). It starts around 3:45 in the song but I'd say his playing becomes more complex at the 4:00 part

[Tyrannosaurus Chicken]

This album is so sick I think I'm going to treat myself to the HD Tracks so I can upset my neighbors in 24bit.

Sleeping Giant is really growing on me. I was listening to it on the way to work and it's cool how they play with some of the musical themes in the song.

I agree, Sleeping Giant is fantastic. It's my favorite track off the album, and the album as a whole is my favorite from the Mangini era.