new dream theater

[aramism]

not sure who here is a fan, i know a couple probably, but surely more metalheads hence less DT fans but regardless i spent the last week taking in the 2 released tracks off the new dream theater album "Systematic Chaos" (which btw will be available in 5.1) and i have to say i'm a little disapointed.


i'm a big metalhead but I always loved DT for their musicality and escape from raw metal. they try to get all gothic and weird with the song themes and i think that what results is really cheesy chorses and uninspired generic heavy riffs that make me yawn. the playing of course is remarkable to the point where it seems like there is no collevtive group of people on earth that can play like them but it's like there's gotta be more than just fast playing and 9 diffrent odd time signatures... i won't lie the instrumental sections and JP playing are unreal. i'm sure it will be a good album but it's just not the same as previous efforts and i'm convinced no album will ever come along again with the same musical spark and creativty as their 1994 album AWAKE. my favorite album of all time.


the guitar tone actually sounds good on this album as it is my favorite guitar amp in the world - mark iv. the prodcer for this album was paul northfield who produced queensryche and some rush albums. all in al my final verdict will come once i hear the album after its release in june.

 

[Deaf Ear]

I checked those two songs out too and felt a little let down. There will never be another Scenes from a Memory, but it feels like they're running out of ideas. I don't want to really criticize it until I get to take in the whole thing, but so far.......eh..

Octavarium wasn't that bad, and Stream of Consciousness was REALLY good. I hope the album as a whole turns out to be something inspiring.

 

[Kazrog]

"Constant Motion" - more wannabe Hetfield vocals, kind of weird that they've been on this Master of Puppets kick since Six Degrees. Some enjoyable shredding in here regardless, and some nice grindy riffs and Mesa Boogie tone courtesy of Mr. Mesa Boogie.

"Dark Eternal Night" - cool in-studio video, great riffing, cheesy lyrics, and god dammit, take away Mike's microphone privileges! The instrumental section is killer, although Jordan already busted out the "creepy upright piano" sound on SFAM in a similar way - although that is probably my favorite Jordan Rudess moment ever, so an encore is groovy. Petrucci is busy killing me with his guitar!

I love the production except for the way that Mike's vocals are mixed in ultra loud. Definitely going to pick up this CD!

Glad to see Petrucci growing his mop back!

 

[ThatGuitarGuy]

I would say the new CD is a grower...at first listen there were only a few parts or songs that I really liked (Forsaken is amazing...poppyish but just a good song as a whole.) The other songs have parts of it that I liked, parts that I thought were okay...overall it's a "Fun" CD. You can tell they had a blast.

Otherwise, it's not like the other CDs...I actually prefer the previous CDs if I wanted Dream Theater...but this CD is DT but evolved quite a bit. The epic song wasn't all that great at first for me, but then again I felt that way about Octavarium, and the more I listen to it the more I like it...so I dunno.

I won't blow you away like the old CDs, but I think if you give it time it'll grow on ya.

 

[ThatGuitarGuy]

Oh yeah, John Myung's Bass tone on this CD is good again! I really love how it sounds and the different effects he's getting in some songs, mainly at the end of "redemption."

 

[AudioPhile777]

I've just recently started listening to Dream Theater... I like it... not bad shtuff..

 

[With Shred]

I heard one of the new songs and although I enjoyed it, it was still somewhat disappointing. I personally though Octavarium was too. Old school Dream Theater is where it's at! Still they are extremely talented musicians though.

 

[Jaymz]

I was a bit disappointed with Octavarium after loving Train of Thought so much. Im liking what ive heard of the new one, sounds sweet. The mix of Dark Eternal Night is terrible mind, its all kick and nothing else. Constant Motion mix is really cool though. I think Ill end up taking this one over Octavarium. I like Mikes vocals and whatever Jordan touches is gold

 

[aramism]

yea i can see who it's more fun. like i said i haven't heard the entire album yet only the two released songs. i think the lyrics are super cheesy but the instrumentals are OK... but after setting the bar so high OK isn't good enough to my ears. once every couple of weeks i listen to "awake" in it's entirety on headphones just go listen to great great incredibly well rounded music!!!


he fact that there is a lack of good melody and musical depth kind bothers me . so far the new songs just sound like regular metal riffing with keyboards and long and whacky instrumentals and guitar solos. don't get me wrong i'm all about that, if anyone knows their library i love the instrumedly they play live or songs like "stream fo conciousness" and "erotomania" but even those have more thought behind them.


just my opinion. hopefully i'm wrong and the album has better songs and these 2 songs are just the 2 bad apples in the whole damn bunch (sorry axl)

 

[Jaymz]

Mike has said he dosent want to create the same album twice. This one deffo seems to be the darker side to them. Still I really like both the singles, im expecting some old school prog fest with the longer songs on the album. ALA, In the pres of my enemies. Plus im going to see them on the 9th of June! Shortlyyyyy!!!! Cant wait!! *bounce bounce*

 

[Torniojaws]

It's getting more and more generic for DT. And come one, you've done the same song's (This Dying Soul) chorus three times in a row! Give it a rest.

Some funny LaBrie-isms once again on the album, though

The Dark Eternal Night @ 1:52 - "Drifting the anal time"
In the Presence of My Enemies (Part 2) @ 5:02 - "Angels fall, all for you, hairy dick!"

 

[Jaymz]

Uve heard ITPOME?

 

[aramism]

i'm pretty sure the album is leakedm. i'm debating whether i should exert the effort to try to find it. i'm just gonna wait until it comes out in a couple of weeks though. according to MP the album is more diverse than the two singles released so far...


the reason why the "this dying soul" chorus repeats itself is because it is all part of abigger picture.


the glass prison
this dying soul
the root of all evil

are all about mike portnoy's former alcohol addiction. the 12 steps of the AA program that helped him through his addiction are all visited through all these songs. i'm not 100% sure but i think there are 2 more songs left to complete the 12 steps given that each song covers like 2-3 of the steps. that's why they share some riffs and melodies because its all one big song kind of. i thoght that the root of al evil kinda was weak compared to the first 2 songs but that's just me. TGP riff witht the arpeggios is flat out to me

 

[Matt Smith]

You and I share the same opinion, aramism. Awake is one of my favorite albums of all-time, too. And it's not that I'm wanting another Awake or I&W (heck, those two albums (and ALL DT albums) were vastly different from each other anyway). I think a lot of us older fans just miss the sense of structured, purposed writing that the early material had, where even the crazy instrumental sections were very musical and built toward something as opposed to random solo tradeoffs and crazy riffs with no real purpose. To put it another way, it almost seems like a "checklist" way of writing (solo tradeoff: check; crazy unison bit: check; heavy mosh riff bit: check) instead of letting the music naturally flow to wherever it wants to go. That started creeping in when Jordan joined and they started writing on the spot in the studio as opposed to demoing and writing and arranging and changing parts for months prior to the recording phase.

There are still cool moments here and there, but that's about it for me.

 

[Torniojaws]

that's why they share some riffs and melodies because its all one big song kind of.

I'm aware of that, but it reeks simply of laziness if you don't even bother to compose new stuff. It's like Metallica doing the chorus of Enter Sandman on three consecutive albums, because it talks about James' nightmares

And yeah, the full album leaked a few days ago.

 

[Jaymz]

DT are anything but lazy

 

[sparkyness]

Oh yeah, John Myung's Bass tone on this CD is good again! I really love how it sounds and the different effects he's getting in some songs, mainly at the end of "redemption."

I've yet to hear a Paul Northfield album with less than a killer bass tone. He also engineered stuff produced by Peter Collins (Queensryche, Suicidal Tendencies) like "Empire" and "Art of Rebellion", along with his own productions/co-productions (Rush, I Mother Earth, Porcupine Tree, etc). and he always gives the album a drool-worthy bass sound. Haven't heard the new album yet but it's about time someone gave John Myung a killer tone.

I read an article in Bass Player mag many years ago with Paul Northfield talking specifically about his bass compression techniques. I know he splits low/high end and compresses each separately/differently, and wish I could dig that one up for another read.

 

[Nitronium Blood]

I hate it when you homies talk abt these ultra-cool new songs but don't post links to them.

 

[aramism]

myspace.com/dreamtheater



the download links are somehwere too lazy to look so just listen to them here. one of the songs is called "constant motion" it is on the main songs menu on the top right.


the other song is just the video with some studio footage it is in the video section it will say "the dark eternal night" video... or just visit http://www.roadrun.com/artists/dreamtheater/video.aspx




constant motion has the cool porcupine tree type chorus. but it also has that really really really cheeeeesy trivium sounding chanting chorus and pre-chorus. i hate trivium.


the dark eternal night has the cool middle section but once again i feel that DT took a back seat to their songwriting and the songs flow in a different way. they are too fabricated and metalized. the song structures are too riff oriented. i mean this is good for "regular" songs and good bands like nevermore, etc. good heavy bands but what set dream theater apart and to me made them superior musicians as well as songwriters was the complex yet melodic and lush/vivid songwriting. and this element has been absent so far on these songs. their musiciansship and abiloity to rock will always be there but their magic is reallllllly lost.



ps - +1 on myung bass tone. best since awake.


also JP's solo towards the end absolutely rips and owns on "constant motion" and his riffing during the instrumental on "TDEN" is very jeff loomish

 

[Where She Wept]

You and I share the same opinion, aramism. Awake is one of my favorite albums of all-time, too. And it's not that I'm wanting another Awake or I&W (heck, those two albums (and ALL DT albums) were vastly different from each other anyway). I think a lot of us older fans just miss the sense of structured, purposed writing that the early material had, where even the crazy instrumental sections were very musical and built toward something as opposed to random solo tradeoffs and crazy riffs with no real purpose. To put it another way, it almost seems like a "checklist" way of writing (solo tradeoff: check; crazy unison bit: check; heavy mosh riff bit: check) instead of letting the music naturally flow to wherever it wants to go. That started creeping in when Jordan joined and they started writing on the spot in the studio as opposed to demoing and writing and arranging and changing parts for months prior to the recording phase.

There are still cool moments here and there, but that's about it for me.

You just said what i feel way more eloquently than i could. i saw them on the TOT tour and was bored as hell. watching them play something off TOT then do "only a matter of time" was a "holy crap!" difference in songwritting. there were still vocals on all the complex stuff vs. the: verse, chorus, verse,chorus (singer walks off stage) 5 min jam, verse, chorus, end.

I do miss the keys too, Jordan Rudess just seems to double the guitar parts and kets buried in the mix. He has mind blowing talent but i'd rather see Kevin Moore or Derek Sherinnian back.

Awake is my absolute fav with Metropolis pt2 a close second, everything after that has been downhill

The reason loved the bands music is because they did all this progressive stuff but still wrote amazing songs. now it's like they have to push themselves, and the songs are more about being technically challenging than good. so does this makeme a hyppocrite with my Sig?