new DT

[Kenneth R.]

To be honest, I don't feel even the slightest notion that anything has changed with this new song. Godawful keyboard patches, plodding riffs, drums that could have been played by Portnoy, thoroughly non-memorable chorus and instrumental section and at least three minutes too long for what the song is trying to convey. Don't like it.

Agreed, for the same reasons.

Why do seem to be the only one who thinks FTI is god awful with the exception of Lines in the Sand which is just good, and not great? That album was not Dream Theater. I really dont know what to think of this song. Im hoping it will grow on me like how ToT did (which i now believe is their best album since 94) I like hearing the bass, Petrucci isnt wanking, and....thats it. I dont hate the keyboards but i just think JR tries to hard to stand out. Yes JR, we know you are awesome, but you dont need to use those wacky sound effects, a simple synth or piano sound will do just fine. I wouldnt say this song is simplified and easily accessible compared to alot of prog today. I listened to it twice today and still hardly remember any of it.

That's exactly why I hate most "Prog". "Look at me! Look at me! I'm a virtuoso but I got an F minus in melody!" Lines in the Sand was probably the best song that band EVER did.

The thing that makes Morse and Transatlantic superior is not Portnoy, but Morse in the former and Morse and Roine Stolt in the latter, many other drummers would do just as well playing their compositions...

yes. There's a lot of reasons why Transatlantic are awesome. Portnoy is just there for the ride.

 

[maestro41]

Agreed, for the same reasons.

That's exactly why I hate most "Prog". "Look at me! Look at me! I'm a virtuoso but I got an F minus in melody!" Lines in the Sand was probably the best song that band EVER did.


yes. There's a lot of reasons why Transatlantic are awesome. Portnoy is just there for the ride.

I'm a virtuoso but I got an F minus in melody!"

That's a good one but I think in DT's defense that JP has come up with some very decent melodies. I really like the beginning phrase in his solo during "Another Day". I realize that is a solo and not a melody necessarily, but its played with melody and melodically in my opinion.

 

[metalxmetalx]

Well I'm not impressed either. It's meh. Not bad, but I hear nothing really fresh here. This song sounds like it could have been taken from one of their last few albums. In other words: Zzzzzz. Not much prog......ress.
This album may or may not be a step in the right direction. Will have to hear more.

The End of Innocence by Symphony X was posted on Youtube 2 months ago and has had about 121,000 views, and I've liked it since the first listen (yes, it's very accessible). On the Backs of Angels by Dream Theater was posted 2 days ago and has had up till now about 300,000! Funny thing is, I listened to it 5 times and can't remember much about it.

 

[maestro41]

The End of Innocence by Symphony X was posted on Youtube 2 months ago and has had about 121,000 views, and I've liked it since the first listen (yes, it's very accessible). On the Backs of Angels by Dream Theater was posted 2 days ago and has had up till now about 300,000! Funny thing is I listened to it 5 times and can't remember much about it.

Maybe the same is true for the listeners. lol
I like the song; it makes me curious as to the sound of the album. It has a very clean sound I guess you could say; a clean and clear mix.

 

[The Stormbringer]

I agree. I don't know why people reference that album as a highlight. To me, it was a low point.

Yeah, FII has experienced a strange resurgence in popularity over the last few years it seems. I've never liked it either... "Hell's Kitchen" and "Trial Of Tears" are really great, the rest including "New Millennium" is hardly worth mentioning. I used to LOVE "Lines In The Sand", but nowadays it feels incoherent to me and doesn't go anywhere, although the individual parts are nice.

 

[maestro41]

Yeah, FII has experienced a strange resurgence in popularity over the last few years it seems. I've never liked it either... "Hell's Kitchen" and "Trial Of Tears" are really great, the rest including "New Millennium" is hardly worth mentioning. I used to LOVE "Lines In The Sand", but nowadays it feels incoherent to me and doesn't go anywhere, although the individual parts are nice.

I dont know man, I disagree; I like NM and Anna Lee and Under Peruvian Skies. Its cool, Myung uses a Chapman Stick on that album.

 

[Detective Clarence Beauregard]

One of the reasons I enjoy FII so much is because of Myung. He is able to breathe and groove so much more than on their other albums. The music on this album is just more organic and has more feeling to me than much of their other work.

That's exactly why I hate most "Prog". "Look at me! Look at me! I'm a virtuoso but I got an F minus in melody!" Lines in the Sand was probably the best song that band EVER did.

While I don't think Lines is the best song they've ever done, it certainly has a ton of melody, and a great solo. But you are spot on about the virtuoso statement. I'll take a band or musician with a great sense of melody over someone shredding out a solo with no feeling any day.

One of the reasons I can barely stomach most DT after FII (Train of Thought was good, though) is because they progressively got lower and lower "grades" in melody. It became so much about challenging themselves to play things that were more and more complex that they forgot about the songwriting. I blame Rudess (the pattern started after FII), but I honestly don't know how much he factors into the overall songwriting.

 

[Progbass]

One of the reasons I can barely stomach most DT after FII (Train of Thought was good, though) is because they progressively got lower and lower "grades" in melody. It became so much about challenging themselves to play things that were more and more complex that they forgot about the songwriting. I blame Rudess (the pattern started after FII), but I honestly don't know how much he factors into the overall songwriting.

I actually think rudess did a good job on SFAM still, but yea downhill after that. He used to have good sense of melody, if u listen to rudess & morgenstein project or his older solo stuff.

 

[PurpleDink]

My thoughts exactly. Plus LaBrie kind of grates on me these days. He... drags... out... these... lyrics...
way... too... much. Just some more run-of-the-mill DT.

God i hate when he does this. I dont know if the banal vocal phrasing is his fault or JPs but its starting to get annoying. You can almost copy and paste the phrasings in others songs like that one dragonforce greatest hits parody on youtube.

 

[Postulate]

That's exactly why I hate most "Prog". "Look at me! Look at me! I'm a virtuoso but I got an F minus in melody!" Lines in the Sand was probably the best song that band EVER did.

It's not all about melody, though. I'm good without one. If anything DT's sense of melody is too traditional and they're totally products of the arena rock / AOR age.

 

[prman]

People here don´t dissect the "goods" in SymX songs as thoroughly as the "bads" in DT songs.

 

[Marwen]

It's not all about melody, though. I'm good without one. If anything DT's sense of melody is too traditional and they're totally products of the arena rock / AOR age.

+1

 

[Xtopher]

I actually think rudess did a good job on SFAM still, but yea downhill after that. He used to have good sense of melody, if u listen to rudess & morgenstein project or his older solo stuff.

Scenes from a memory is their best for me (after I&W) and it is also true that their journey downhill came from that point forward but you can´t say six degrees of inner turbulence had no melodie, come the fook on man, that song is full of great melodies.

 

[PurpleDink]

Some songs can pull off not having a melody really well. Flemenco Sketches and Dance of Eternity come to mind first. But theres a difference between these two songs and other DT songs. The 2 try NOT to have a melody.

 

[Postulate]

Listened to it again, and I definitely enjoy it. The band is more relaxed.

Good:
-Mangini mixed lower
-Rudess playing more tastefully, not competing with Petrucci for space (and even playing with him in mind ex. at 4:22) + piano interlude
-Melodies are more relaxed, makes the transitions less jarring
-Petrucci's solo ~6:20 doesn't waste notes

Bad:
-Labrie's voice isn't aging well
-His phrasing is also awkward and obvious
-The last time the chorus is repeated seems unnecessary, sort of drags it down
-Rudess' parts may be better written but the sounds he uses are still inappropriate & cheesy (ex. intro at ~1:30, nahhhh....)
-Transitions are only less jarring because the melodies are less in-your-face...doesn't mean they're written any better in some spots (ex. the transition from the intro into the first verse, or ~3:54)
-Myung is still hard to hear...I was totally unaware of his playing most of the time.

Overall, enjoyable. If this was the weakest track and the rest turned out to be mindblowing, I'd buy it. But not if all of them are this quality.

 

[donKyle]

I liked the beginning, but that's it.

Most of my friends like Dream Theater, but I can never get into their music.

 

[PurpleDink]

^^ omg This and if anyone disagrees they are just flat out wrong.

jk....kinda...not really.:Smug:

 

[_Gentleman of_the Snow_]

It's not all about melody, though. I'm good without one. If anything DT's sense of melody is too traditional...

Agreed! I thought I was the only one who thought that their melodies, chord progressions, etc. were way too traditional. They rarely choose interesting notes in the cores of their songs.

 

[SyXified]

The thing that makes Morse and Transatlantic superior is not Portnoy, but Morse in the former and Morse and Roine Stolt in the latter, many other drummers would do just as well playing their compositions...

While I personally consider Morse the single greatest songwriter in the prog world and beyond by leaps and bounds, I do not think Portnoy is just "along for the ride" with respect to his work on Morse's solo material and Transatlantic. Particularly in Transatlantic I don't think it would be just as good without him, both from a purely drum-part perspective and from a writing perspective.

Let's face it, most drummers are not major contributors to the writing process, but if you watch the Whirlwind making-of documentary, Mike has a lot of good input in structuring the music and figuring out what ideas should stay and which should go. I also think his drumming, with Transatlantic in particular, is pretty much exactly what the doctor ordered. He doesn't get completely self-indulgent like he does with LTE or DT, and the production on the drums makes it so they don't overwhelm everything as they do in the aforementioned groups.

I thought Portnoy showed an amazing maturity in his drum work on The Whirlwind. From Dancing with Eternal Glory on, a drummer could have literally ruined the album by getting too showy or tromping all over the space of the other instruments, and instead Mike helped make that one of the most glorious endings to an album I have ever heard.

I think Stolt's work with Transatlantic is brilliant--I love when the guitar is used more as a support instrument to the keyboards than the other way around (which is something that was often true of DT on images and words and completely vanished by the time Moore left the band). Stolt also adds that cool atmospheric, nearly hippie-esque vibe that is essential to the Transatlantic sound. That said, Stolt is absurdly boring outside of TA. The Flower Kings always teeter on the verge of being interesting but somehow never take the plunge out of ultimately boring and vanilla.

So either it's a testament to Morse somehow getting the best out of everyone, or it's just that those guys in TA happen to have some perfect synergy. In that respect, I wouldn't tinker with it under any circumstances; what Portnoy brings to the table is working. This is a band that had a fantastic debut, wrote a follow up that was literally twice as good, and then 10 years later wrote a follow up that was twice as good as THAT; that just doesn't happen.