Dream Theater - A Dramatic Turn of Events

I LOVE it!!! Amazing! Petrucci is back in top form with a healthy balance of melodic playing and shred. Love his phrasing and tone and this disk showcases him like I haven't heard in years! If it took Portnoy leaving to get them sounding like this, then I'm glad he's gone. Absolutely no loss of skill in the drumming department with Mangini on the kit! This has a strong possibility of becoming one of my favorite DT disks!
 
I LOVE it!!! Amazing! Petrucci is back in top form with a healthy balance of melodic playing and shred. Love his phrasing and tone and this disk showcases him like I haven't heard in years! If it took Portnoy leaving to get them sounding like this, then I'm glad he's gone. Absolutely no loss of skill in the drumming department with Mangini on the kit! This has a strong possibility of becoming one of my favorite DT disks!
Ah, glad to see you heard what I heard. Soo, refreshing, isn't it? Word has it, Mangini is also able to record WHOLE songs all the way through without stopping every two minutes much to the delight of his band mates. :D

BTW, Rick. Where is your photo for the poster? I am stalking all the hold outs, just so you know. :devil:
 
Yes, and I'm listenig to it for a forth time and it still keeps getting better! No shit! That is AMAZING!!

Hahaha!! I *just* uploaded mine. Sorry for the delay. See you VERY soon! I'll be backstage most of the weekend again, but I'm sure I'll be seeing y'all out in the Artmore courtyard after hours (and all Weds. night).
 
I've heard two songs and wow. Except for two albums(Images and Words and Scenes From a Memory) I've never been wowed by a Dream Theater album. Impressed by the instrumental talent, yes, respecting their importance in the genre, yes, but not really my favorite stuff. The two songs I've heard make me much more interested than I've been in the past. Just great songwriting.
 
I haven't heard the new album yet so I can't comment, but I'll be curious to analyze it when I pick it up on Tuesday. From Blabbermouth:


Former DREAM THEATER drummer Mike Portnoy has commented on an article written by a longtime fan of the band which points out the alleged musical and structural similarities between DREAM THEATER's new album and that of the group's breakthrough 1992 release, "Images And Words".

Thiago Campos, the Brazilian guitarist/producer/mixer/editor of "VRA! Split-Screen Covers", an online collaborative project where different artists record cover performances and post them on YouTube, penned his article after arriving at the "wonderfully shocking conclusion" that the entire "A Dramatic Turn Of Events", album — or "at least six songs" — was "written based off the charts of 'Images And Words' songs." He writes, "I know this might come across as an absurd accusation to many of you, but I wouldn't be coming out in public with this information if I hadn't done my homework, and if I wasn't confident this approach to writing the new album was a conscious/intentional decision, maybe even humorous, by the band."

He continues, "When I say the songs were 'written off the charts,' I mean arrangement-wise, their structures, sometimes even orchestrations and nuances that make the parts what they are, and their roles within the songs. This doesn't mean they will sound alike at all, because within a given guideline for arrangement, you could write virtually an infinite amount of different songs, and mainstream/pop has been doing so for decades to back me up on this statement. :)

"Some of these songs are so equal in terms of arrangements that I'm surprised more people didn't catch on to this nugget yet. Others just follow a rougher guideline (or so it seems to me at this point)."

After reading Thiago's article, Portnoy took to his own forum to write, "Well done, Thiago.... Great post and spot-on! I *immediately* noticed everything you wrote about upon my first listen... and found it all incredibly strange... If they are indeed intentional 'nuggets,' then I guess that's a pretty cool idea... However, if they were desperate attempts of secretly re-writing the past... hmm, maybe not so much... I guess only they [presumably referring to the current members of DREAM THEATER. — Ed.] will know the real reason for it..."
 
I spotted that too, some nods to Images and Words. The two songs I heard though were definitely very different. Just a part here and there. The production quality too sounds like Images and Words, a much warmer production than the past few albums.
 
Thiago Campos just fucked any bit of credibility I gave to him. He's trying to get some self promotion by way of Dream Theater.