Again what I posted on the voicesuk.net forum.There are some great posts there, I shall gather them all and add to this.
---------------
Though this is very premature, I know the dissecting has already begun, so what all do you hear? Riffs, melodies, strings, the whole lot.

The Root Of All Evil

Toms intro - TDS 0:25 - 1:00 and of course the vocal melodies
Octavarium Title track melody 7:33 - 8:02

The Answer Lies Within

Again 8V vocal melody 2:42 - 2:48

These Walls

Nothing so far on my part

I Walk Beside You

Well its hard to pinpoint cuz it's sooo U2, mostly the vocal melodies I guess. The guitar during the chorus sounds very much like Lifting Shadows off a Dream.

Panic Attack

Ok you guys might kill me for this but in some song of St.Anger (Hear me out plz) there's this part in My World where James is singing Not only do I not know the answer, I dont even know what the question is. The riff during this part sorta resembles the intro riff of Panic Attack a little sped up. Now it's NOT a bad thing just a retarded observation.

Also there's the similarity of JP's Jaws of life & the main riff. Again my observation.

The piano part before the main chorus like over here at 1:27 - 1:43 is very Fatal Tragedy.

Never Enough

Everyone says Muse so its there somewhere or everywhere. I also hear a bit of the main riff of Just Let Me Breathe.

Sacrificied Sons

The riff that starts at 4:41 has the ACOS feel.
Someone also reported some reference in another thread dont remember which one at 7:02 - 7:32.

I'm leaving the title track for the musicians. I'm not a musician so most of the similarities I notice are purely out of what I hear and not based on notes or different progressions or time changes or whatever.

"Whoever should be found guilty of burning coal shall suffer the loss of his head." - Edward I in 1306 for pollution control.

What about that Iron Maiden moment after the guitar solo on Panick Attack? Every album should have such a healthy dose of Maiden.
 

ORIGINAL: Warbird199

In Panic Attack, a keyboard riff that starts at 27 seconds and repeats itself throughout the song sounds like the castle music from Super Mario.

 
Wow, a lot of SNES references! Never Enough has some Top Gear keys and melodies.

In Panic Attack, a keyboard riff that starts at 27 seconds and repeats itself throughout the song sounds like the castle music from Super Mario.

I Walk Beside You -- the cymbals in the first minute or so mimic the drums in FII's non-album track Speak To Me.

To manifest your dreams before you manifest your fears
To navigate beyond the treachery of self despair
To find the balance between all you sense and all you see
To find the patience and the strength it takes to let it be

Some more that were posted on voices

moliver777

EVERY SONG IS IN THE KEY OF ITS NOTE ON THE KEYBOARD ON THE BACK COVER!!!!

AWESOME!!!

F - TROAE
G - TALW
A - TW
B - IWBY
C - PA
D - NE
E - SS
F - 8VM

NUGGETS! NUGGETS! NUGGETS!



CerealsRULE
not only 8V (the track) ends with the same note as it begins, but that same note is the first piano note of TROAE and there is also the same sound effect (kinda a heart bit) so if you push the repeatbutton on your cd player you can endlessy listen to the album as the end of the last song perfectly blends in withthe beginning of the 1st one... PERFECT CIRCLE


Salmacis

Octavarium - Wayyyy too much to say about this one so I will just include the notes I jotted down as I listened for the second and third time:

00:00 - 03:48 - Floyd's "Shine On"-meets-Tangerine Dream-meets:
03:49 - Spock's Beard theme!
04:33 - Änglagård flute “Godfather” theme similarities
12:15 - Marillion keyboards with Wakeman flourishes
17:47 - Jordan’s Jingle Bells
17:55 - Spock's Beard/Neal Morse acoustic guitar break.
18:42 - Mustaine vocals with "Forgotten Sons" prayer feel
19:55 - “Godfather” theme reprise

"Whoever should be found guilty of burning coal shall suffer the loss of his head." - Edward I in 1306 for pollution control.

There is a section that I cannot find right now that where the string part sounds identical to a Dimmu Borgir tune that I can't remember the name of.  Please someone tell me you know what I'm talking about.  

When the un-numbered free emo man sees he goes *fapfapfap* because he thinks it's so yummy!

So let´s start to play with numbers...
-5 and 8 on the domino bricks
-a spider (8 legs) trapped in an Labyrinth with 8 corners ()
-an octopus (8 tentacles) with 5 fishes ( is it an accident that this very octobarn reminding picture is right to the lyrics of "Never Enough"?)
- an outline of a building with 8 corners and a star in the middle with 5 indentations
- 5 musicians doing the eighth studio album of the band

I just haven´t any clue yet of this 5:8 scale which plays a big role in this. album.

Ok, from The Root of All Evil:

 - The opening Toms are the same as the "This Dying Soul" riff.
 - The Vocals from 4:55 to 5:16 very closely mirror those form "This Dying Soul."
 - The Solo Break at 5:18 is very similar to the one from "The Glass Prison"

All I have so far.

ORIGINAL: Sokrates

So let´s start to play with numbers...
-5 and 8 on the domino bricks
-a spider (8 legs) trapped in an Labyrinth with 8 corners ()
-an octopus (8 tentacles) with 5 fishes ( is it an accident that this very octobarn reminding picture is right to the lyrics of "Never Enough"?)
- an outline of a building with 8 corners and a star in the middle with 5 indentations
- 5 musicians doing the eighth studio album of the band

I just haven´t any clue yet of this 5:8 scale which plays a big role in this. album.

Thats a pretty interesting analysis

http://mikepetrucci.deviantart.com/

The whole thing rocks.  I think it's an exellent record.  It's light, heavy, moody, riffy, imaginative and a great collection of songs.  All praise Mike and the boys for another masterpeice.  I'd love to compare the album to other obscure music and say it taste's like chicken but I'd much rather enjoy the musical experience while actually making love to a girl.  Amen to those who understood this.  As for the rest, flame away, I know you will.

ORIGINAL: faizoff

Some more that were posted on voices

moliver777

EVERY SONG IS IN THE KEY OF ITS NOTE ON THE KEYBOARD ON THE BACK COVER!!!!

AWESOME!!!

F - TROAE
G - TALW
A - TW
B - IWBY
C - PA
D - NE
E - SS
F - 8VM

And as far as members and black keys go, JLB is the F#. I think that's kind of neat.  

during octavarium, near the end, when JLB is like speaking, before every 2 verses you can hear MP say :

(root)
(second)
(third)
(fourth)
(fifth)
(sixth)
(seventh)
(octave) bu this one is VERY faint.

in 8varium at 9:00, during the bass groove the guitar arpegio plays the melody of Anna Lee's vocal melody

DOWNLOAD for free "origin(s)" from anasazi
http://www.anasazi-prog.com/
http://www.myspace.com/anasaziprog

ORIGINAL: faizoff
Octavarium - Wayyyy too much to say about this one so I will just include the notes I jotted down as I listened for the second and third time:

00:00 - 03:48 - Floyd's "Shine On"-meets-Tangerine Dream-meets:
03:49 - Spock's Beard theme!
04:33 - Änglagård flute “Godfather” theme similarities
12:15 - Marillion keyboards with Wakeman flourishes
17:47 - Jordan’s Jingle Bells
17:55 - Spock's Beard/Neal Morse acoustic guitar break.
18:42 - Mustaine vocals with "Forgotten Sons" prayer feel
19:55 - “Godfather” theme reprise

 
The keyboard break in the middle is all Styx.  I love it muchly.
 

Dave (a UK jammer).
http://www.daveware.co.uk/

Also, the final piano strike is the same as the opening piano.

Dave (a UK jammer).
http://www.daveware.co.uk/

ORIGINAL: Dave52

Also, the final piano strike is the same as the opening piano.

Which is cool when you look at the last lyric line which says:
"This story ends where it began"
 
"sailing on the seven seize the day tripper diem's ready
jack the ripper owens wilson philips an my supper's ready
lucy in the sky with diamons dave's not here I come to save the
day for nightmare cinema show me the way to get back home
again"

I found these references so far:

Sailing on the seven seize - "seize" is exactly spoken as "seas" which would be the real meaning
Seize the day
Day Tripper - Beatles
Jack the Ripper - Morrissey
Supper's ready - Genesis
Lucy in the sky with diamonds - Beatles
Nightmare Cinema -
Cinema Show - Genesis
Get back - Beatles
Diamond Dave - David Lee Roth
Owen Wilson - an actor 
Wilson Philips - a band 
Day for night - Spock's Beard
Ripper Owens - Vocalist of Iced Earth (ex-Judas Priest)
 
CHEERZ!
 

Anyone else thought These Walls has lyrical reference to Voices? The trapped spider and lyrics like:"All emotions start to hide", "All my instincts falling into darkness", "Each time I try to speak there's a voice I'm hearing". I don't know...

Better to save the mystery than surrender to the secret

In the intro of 8V the song I first thought that it's JP playing...
But after looking into the booklet I'd say that this would be JR on Lap Steel guitar?!
 
CHEERZ!

ORIGINAL: faizoff


I Walk Beside You

Well its hard to pinpoint cuz it's sooo U2, mostly the vocal melodies I guess. The guitar during the chorus sounds very much like Lifting Shadows off a Dream.

Yeah, noticed that one too...sound pretty much like the last chorus of LSOAD!
 
CHEERZ!

Posted on the 8V Initial thoughts spoiler galore thread by the great Scotsman

Neil-o-Mac

A thought on the last section of the title track - I just figured out that the lyrics in the last section have a bit that relates to each song on the album...

"Our deadly sins feel his mortal wrath
Remove all obstacles from our path" - The Root of All Evil

"Asking quesitons
Search for clues
The answer's been right in front of you" - The Answer Lies Within

"Try to break through
Long to connect
Fall on deaf ears and failed muted breath" - These Walls

"Loyalty, trust, faith and desire
Carries love through each darkest fire" - I Walk Beside You

"Tortured insanity
A smothering hell
Try to escape but to no avail" - Panic Attack

"The calls of admirers
Who claim they adore
Drain all your lifeblood while begging for more" - Never Enough

"Innocent victims of mericless crimes
Fall prey to some madmen's impulsive designs" - Sacrificed Sons

and I think that

"Step after step
We try controlling our fate
When we finally start living it has become too late"

Might be a reference to the other parts of 8V.

WOW!

"Whoever should be found guilty of burning coal shall suffer the loss of his head." - Edward I in 1306 for pollution control.

To back up the End note thing - one repeating story
 
The kid is listening to the can at the start - talking at the end. like its all starting again.

From Voices

Artwork 5:8 stuff

black notes (band members) - 8 white notes (songs) - A full octave

a snooker table with the 8 ball

The dominos are 5 and 8 linking to the 5 band members and 8 albums

5 fish 8 octolegs

The construction diagram on the Octavarium lyrics page is in a scale of 5:8

And each corner of the Octagon goes 1:8, 2:8, 3:8, 4:8, 5:8, 6:8, 7:8, 8:8 just like the time signature to each song

5 sylables in octavarium - 5 parts in the song

Spiders legs (8)

Octagone on CD (8) - 5point star inside it

8 balls on the front - 5 birds

8 holes for the spider to get out - but he cant get out

if u count every single crow through the booklet including covers then there are 8

the construction drawing at the end of the booklet i think is of a building as it has a door and windows. this must be the octavarium that he is trapped in
 
Edit - Oh yeh and - Each song is in (or starts in) the various keys going up the keyboard. If you look at the staves in the booklet. There are the certain amounts of sharps and flats that coraspond to it

Just some details about the title track:

The main theme: C-A-G-F, C-Ab-G-F (someone said it was in F so I'm assuming without checking)

Appears slightly in the vocals of the first section
Obviusly plays a major part of the second section
Can be heard being played by the guitar while James is singing "trapped inside this octavarium" thingy
Obviously is the climax at the end of the piece

The flute theme is reprised by the orchestra right after the "trapped inside this octavarium" part

The vocal melody and chord progression of the first verse is reprised after the last lyric section with the guitar playing the melody.


Someof this might be obvious...but just putting it down.



One other thing that might worth looking at: The breaks in between songs might me made to reference each of the previous 7 albums. (Footsteps heard for Scenes from a Memory, The Whammy guitar for SDOIT, etc.)

ORIGINAL: Mike_mccabe
And each corner of the Octagon goes 1:8, 2:8, 3:8, 4:8, 5:8, 6:8, 7:8, 8:8 just like the time signature to each song

Those aren't the time signatures man, just track# out of the 8 total.  There's multiple time sigs in almost all the songs and you'd never write something in 1/8 unless it was just a single note that couldn't be fit into part of a larger measure.

My band: Sketching In Stereo
Download our new EP free!

Yeh, I didnt mean that. I just ment they are shown as the time signatures to the song. The track numbers. Should have been more clear.

But that WOULD have been cool

ORIGINAL: Mr.Petrucci

In the intro of 8V the song I first thought that it's JP playing...
But after looking into the booklet I'd say that this would be JR on Lap Steel guitar?!

CHEERZ!

No, it's on his new Continuum.

http://thelastepic.com/

Jesus... you people have too much fucking time on your hands. All I heard on the new album was far, far too much rehashing of riffs, melodies and phrasing. I for one, am sick of it. I don't care how "cool" some people think it is, it's tired, and dull now. DT obviously have the ability to write new shit, I just wish they would.

Call it "call back" or call TSD a "sequel" to TGP, that's fine, but for me, I'm sick of hearing the same little "nuggets" over and over again.

That said, I'm disappointed with this album. It's got it's moments, but on a whole, this would've fit perfectly after FII... and I hate FII.

<waits for the backlash>

I changed my avatar...

That's Loki, my uber-super Kittie. :)

ORIGINAL: T8H3X11

ORIGINAL: Mr.Petrucci

In the intro of 8V the song I first thought that it's JP playing...
But after looking into the booklet I'd say that this would be JR on Lap Steel guitar?!

CHEERZ!

No, it's on his new Continuum.

Na, I mean the 4-minute intro...that's definately some sort of string-instrument!
 
CHEERZ!

ORIGINAL: Honma

<waits for the backlash>

 
Look
 
a worm
 
and a hook
 
Think I'll pass

www.thefunkygibbons.net sales
http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/thefunkygibbons/

ORIGINAL: Honma

That said, I'm disappointed with this album. It's got it's moments, but on a whole, this would've fit perfectly after FII... and I hate FII.

<waits for the backlash>

 
See, now I'm the other way round.  I thought TOT was just Metallica with cleverness.  This new album feels like the good old DT are back.  This is why I got into DT.
 
 

Dave (a UK jammer).
http://www.daveware.co.uk/

ORIGINAL: Mr.Petrucci

ORIGINAL: T8H3X11

ORIGINAL: Mr.Petrucci

In the intro of 8V the song I first thought that it's JP playing...
But after looking into the booklet I'd say that this would be JR on Lap Steel guitar?!

CHEERZ!

No, it's on his new Continuum.

Na, I mean the 4-minute intro...that's definately some sort of string-instrument!

CHEERZ!

No, i also think it's Jordan.
Watch the continuum clip at his website.

Nuggets I've noticed that I don't see mentioned yet:

The ending of the Answer Lies Within has a very faint pitch bend on the piano part.  This sounds very similar to an unexplained pitch bend at the end of Pink Floyd's "Great Gig in the Sky".

At 14:10 of Octavarium in the left channel there is someone who says "This is where we came in".  This is definitely a Wall reference.  At the very beginning of the Wall someone says "...we came in".  At the very end of the Wall someone says "So this is where...".

Then where the hell dows JR plays the Lap Steel?!
I still think that it's in the 8V intro...
 
CHEERZ!

You know what I love the most about this album??

Well.....the first 6 songs are really modern and DT use a lot of influences in them, and then the last 2 songs are old school prog classics.

.......So that leaves us with an album with modern and old mixed, and its awesome.

Dunno if thats a nugget or not, but thought I would mention it anyway.

Guys the nuggets on 8V are clues to a scavenger hunt:  MP has buried yet another shorn beard somewhere on the planet.
 
Let's see if Barry can find it!

Baldrick, what begins with "Come here" and ends with "Ow"?

With all these millions of nuggets and beards around, there just has to one more, it has to be there somewhere. And I'm talking about the 'eat my ass and balls' buried somewhere in it dont ya think?

"Whoever should be found guilty of burning coal shall suffer the loss of his head." - Edward I in 1306 for pollution control.

I'm thinking that the whole album is a nugget of some sort....

The clue you say, is when MP said ''this album is just ONE BIG NUGGET''.

ORIGINAL: Lelle

ORIGINAL: Mr.Petrucci

ORIGINAL: T8H3X11

ORIGINAL: Mr.Petrucci

In the intro of 8V the song I first thought that it's JP playing...
But after looking into the booklet I'd say that this would be JR on Lap Steel guitar?!

CHEERZ!

No, it's on his new Continuum.

Na, I mean the 4-minute intro...that's definately some sort of string-instrument!

CHEERZ!

No, i also think it's Jordan.
Watch the continuum clip at his website.

Could have fooled me, that sounds exactly like a Steel Guitar.

ORIGINAL: faizoff

With all these millions of nuggets and beards around, there just has to one more, it has to be there somewhere. And I'm talking about the 'eat my ass and balls' buried somewhere in it dont ya think?

Thinking of the same, but this time it´s not a morse code I think. This would be way to simple . But before caring about this special King Nugget, I like to enjoy the new DT music for quite a while and be happy with every new smaller nugget I explore.