The Drums Are Done!!!!

ORIGINAL: ganpondorodf

Their stuff up to then was so good, then FII was just so... ehhhh.  Completely underwhelming.  If it wasn't for Hell's Kitchen, I wouldn't even keep the album on my MP3 player.

 
Wow. To me, Lines In The Sand and Trial Of Tears are two of Dream Theater's best songs ever! I can understand some DT fans not liking You Not Me (though I like it), but how can DT fans not like these two songs?
 
Oh well, to each his own....

ORIGINAL: NobodyImportant
Oh well, to each his own....

This. FII is my favorite DT album, SDV my favorite of awake, I do enjoy YNM and I don't like SC.

I'm like the antithesis of your typical DT fan, yet I am one. Let's just all patiently wait for the release of the album and discuss then. There's A TON of (new and old) Music out there to keep us entertained

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The cool thing about FII is that it's a rock album. Barely any metal elements at all.
I wish DT would deviate from their typical sound and style at least THAT far again.

ORIGINAL: Maxi

SDV my favorite of awake

 
Space-Dye Vest is one of those songs that didn't grab me for quite a while, and for years I thought it was the weakest song on Awake. Then all of a sudden it clicked, and now I love it! It's a great track with great feeling, so much so that now I don't understand why it took me so long to "get" it.

SDV was the song that got me into playing piano. I love it as a piano piece, and I love to play it, but I never listen to it as a part of Awake. It ends with Scarred.

ORIGINAL: Maxi

ORIGINAL: NobodyImportant
Oh well, to each his own....

This. FII is my favorite DT album, SDV my favorite of awake, I do enjoy YNM and I don't like SC.

 
Haha, that sentence is exactly the same for me. 

You are already done with all the drum tracks? How is that possible.....? The creativity and greatness comes that quick?

ORIGINAL: citametsys soahc

SDV was the song that got me into playing piano. I love it as a piano piece, and I love to play it, but I never listen to it as a part of Awake. It ends with Scarred.

For me it was Through My Words.

And the song I first hated and later loved..... you're not gonna believe it. Metropolis part 1.

 Hey Mike, what do you say about the people who think the last few DT albums have been copying Muse and other bands like that? Honestly, I dont see a problem with it...thats what musicians do...take from other musicians. Get solid ideas, and morph them into your band/style or whatever. 
 
 A lot of people on blabbermouth.com have been talking about how the last few albums have been about taking other DT albums and trying to create more of the same. So like, how do you feel about that?
 
 

ORIGINAL: EML

 Hey Mike, what do you say about the people who think the last few DT albums have been copying Muse and other bands like that? Honestly, I dont see a problem with it...thats what musicians do...take from other musicians. Get solid ideas, and morph them into your band/style or whatever. 

 
I think Joe Satriani might have a problem with it

ORIGINAL: ebrown

Didn't they go into the studio only a month ago? Please, Portnoy, for the sake of the fans, take some time to write quality material.

WTF are you trying to say? DT wrote ToT in three weeks. And correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Rush write the whole Hemispheres album in about two weeks? Both are kick ass albums, IMHO. When it comes to writing and/or recording, there shouldn't be a set timeline on when music automatically becomes 'quality material.'

So now i will kindly say STFU.

ORIGINAL: tst4eko


WTF are you trying to say? DT wrote ToT in three weeks. And correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Rush write the whole Hemispheres album in about two weeks? Both are kick ass albums, IMHO. When it comes to writing and/or recording, there shouldn't be a set timeline on when music automatically becomes 'quality material.'

+1

With that kind of logic, one of the greatest albums of our generation would be Chinese Democracy.

Oh and tst4eko, when did you become an Oklahoma City Thunder fan? I thought you were a lifelong Celtics fan?

We'll still have her song to sing. Sing softly, bring me to the lake. Sing softly, sing me to the lake.

Well, Images & Words took years to come up with, right?

I'm not saying, the longer the better, but in my opinion, certain frame of time gives the written work a little more perspective that could help it to a better direction. Incidently... my favorite DT records are When Dream and Day Unite, Images and Words, A Change of Seasons.

Others have good stuff too, but mainly coated with the bland stuff.

My favorite songs in other albums would be...

Innocence Faded in Awake... the guitar parts are awesome, but the song still sounds like just riff after another. I know the guys can say "Well, we intended it that way", and that's cool. In my opinion, it's still messy.

Hell's Kitchen in Falling Into Infinity... this song's got an awesome atmosphere. Still, you know, it's kinda repetative. It couldn't stand alone, it's a song that completes something else. And messy as hell. I've played it with drums back in the day, and though I absolutely can see the math behind it, it's still a mess. This wouldn't fit on Images & Words for instance... not that it would have to, but it just lacks all the elements but one... the atmosphere. That's what I loved in Falling Into Infinity... the softness. The same thing in Images & Words... a ton of soft keyb leads and pads, why doesn't Rudess use any of those?

The Dance of Eternity in Scenes From a Memory. This song is great, because it really stands on it's own. Other songs on this record don't... in my opinion. Not in the way that I prefer as the Dream Theater way. Beyond This Life in my opinion is boring as hell, but then again I've only played it with drums. Now that I mentioned that, Scarred is also boring as hell IMO. And I CANNOT understand why everyone likes it so much. I've asked, but it just doesn't make sense to me. Anyways, The Dance of Eternity is stingy. It's just hard and bitter... kinda like the middle part in Metropolis part I, now that I think of it. I fell in love to Dream Theater because it had that softness aspect in the songs TOO. That's why this kind of songs rarely cut it for me, but this is so great otherwise that I like it more than anything else on this album. Other than that, those songs are really much about bringing forwards the story... and the story is great, but I just wanted to here more stuff like in The Dance of Eternity.

Solitary Shell in Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence... yeah I know it's just a part of this song, but I didn't listen it that way. I had to think about this for a while, because this album really doesn't have any highlights. It was like... meh. I can't quite put my finger to it, because every time I start thinking of this album, I just get bored. The same thing as with Falling Into Infinity... in a way. This didn't sound like any of the Dream Theater that I liked. The songs are just bland.

Honor Thy Father in Train of Thought... just great melodies and... well this song's got idea... although the middle part kinda distracts the listener from it. Other songs on this album... I mean I like the heavy stuff too, but like the guys said, it's VERY one-dimensional. I could've said I liked Vacant, but I don't. It's as bland / one-dimensional as any other song on the album and that's that. If I wanted to listen songs like that, I'd listen Mullmuzzler. Then the 5 minute shred sessions in some songs... I'm really not a fan of them, although the can get funny too. After this album I though that's it with Dream Theater for me. How wrong I was.

Never Enough in Octavarium... now this is another album I really liked... but not as much as those three. The song Octavarium is mostly great too, and I Walk Beside You... umm... These Walls -- all great songs... but only good Dream Theater songs. Never Enough had that something... it was a whole. And it had that kick-ass middle part with keyb/guitar unison. It had atmosphere so it was very well constructed. These Walls and I Walk Beside You were great songs as wholes too, but they lacked something that Never Enough has. Well, then again Never Enough seems to lack something that those songs have, but I still like it the most.

The Ministry of Lost Souls in Systematic Chaos... to be honest with you, first time I heard the songs of this album in youtube... I though it was a joke. In the Presence of Enemies was the true joke to me. I didn't like it one bit. Not even the heavy metal aspect, because it was just... agghh. Yeah. And then before the verse comes, there's this huge ascending guitar/drum part that had the drum fill I'd heard a thousand times already going through the exactly same toms in same order and the usual Petrucci-stuff... I thought it would end in some huge explosion, but NO. It just like... faded away. They just slowed down and that was that. The anticipation and then lack of a climatic end to those fireworks made me feel like puking. It was just the worst compositional thing I had ever heard (well, maybe I'm exaggerating, but you know). Well, Constant Motion is a great metal song, now that I listen it with a perspective... but most of these songs had just nothing on me. I didn't like the riffs, I didn't like the themes, and overall was just more bland than 6 degrees. The Ministry of Lost Souls was a nice song mostly because of the keyb intro and then the acoustic riff... but that's it. It was nice.

Now, I seem to have issue with these songs altogether. Like, I know that AA is a huge thing in Mike's life, but every time I've heard those riffs, I've thought "give it a rest already." That subject is depressing as hell. Why does this band want to depress people? Writing evil and sad and dark lyrics and riffs... why not writing about what you love instead of what you hate... you know... just for a change. This is my wish, but I know also that I can't make people do stuff just because I want so. And everyone's gotta do what they do. I just like Dream Theater overall so much, I'd like to hear some of that love in their songs once in a while... and with a twist!

Images And Words was great, because those songs had stuff that was definately not safe, but still didn't seem out of place. NOW, I think the songs are done so that they are safe... but when they put something that is like... progressive... it sounds out of place.

Yeah, that's my... few cents.

ORIGINAL: Narek
Oh and tst4eko, when did you become an Oklahoma City Thunder fan? I thought you were a lifelong Celtics fan?

Now that I have a permanent NBA team in my state to call home, I support my Thunder too. So much so that I'm a season ticket holder. I drive 200 miles round trip to every home game.

Needless to say, when the Celtics came to town November 5th to play against my beloved Thunder, I was at odds on who to cheer and root for, lol! I almost went as far as supporting both teams by wearing one of my Celtics shirts with my Thunder cap. I decided against that, not knowing for sure how my fellow neighboring season ticket holders would react. So I played it safe and cheered on my Thunder on the outside, while rooting for my Celtics on the inside, lol!

The Thunder put up quite a battle, leading by 8 points at the end of the 1st quarter. Then the C's remembered they were defending champs, lol. However, the C's only won by 13 points, so the Thunder kept it pretty close. I figured it would be a 30+ point blowout.

So long story short; I'm still a lifelong Celtics fan, my friend, and will continue to bleed Celtic green 'till the day I die. Now there's just some Oklahoma blue, orange and yellow mixed in, lol!

man, this excites me...  I look forward to listen to this.