Dream Theater - The Astonishing

New song is out! I don't know what to think of it yet...........

I liked the concept album Scenes from a Memory a lot, but I still haven't been able to properly plow through that double disc album (Inner Turbulence), and I bought that in the year of release. I think there's a good song somewhere in there. That's also the last DT album I bought. They lost me there. Or rather, I have been unable to digest it and therefore haven't felt the need to move forward.

I still enjoy their 90's albums, especially Images & Words.

Give train of thought and a dramatic turn of events a shot. I find those albums alot more palatable than 6 degrees was.

Train of Thought is great! Certainly one of my faves from them. Lari, the first disc of Six Degrees is terrific, while the second is okay.

I think this new song is good. It reminds me of all eras of the band without sounding like just one.

Temple of Blood wrote:

Eyesore wrote:

Most concept albums are goofy as hell.

Why don't I hear comments like these when ICED EARTH does it?

I doubt their storytelling/songwriting will be any worse than those.

The only Iced Earth concept I've ever praised is the Gettysburg trilogy, which is brilliant.

Another new tune:

Some people say that DT stole the concept from a band called Mindcage. Mindcage released their debut album Our Own Devices in 2013. Anyone here knows Mindcage?

tul wrote:

Some people say that DT stole the concept from a band called Mindcage. Mindcage released their debut album Our Own Devices in 2013. Anyone here knows Mindcage?

Not familiar with Mindcage, but if the accusations are true, that's a pretty ballsy/stupid thing for DT to do, especially in this day and age when everything is so easily available for folks to judge.

I seriously doubt DT ever listened to Mindcage.

Well, it's not as though Dream Theater have come up with a super original concept for this album.  So it's entirely possible that it has some elements in common with Mindcage's concept by pure coincidence, but that was more than enough for DT-bashers to have a go at them.

Here's what I gathered from a review of Mindcage's Our Own Devices album...

Quote :

Our Own Devices is a steampunk fantasy tale put to spirited progressive power metal. It concerns a dystopian world of clockwork, passionless, efficiency devoid of the "virtues of arts, music, and spirituality." It's in desperate need of a hero to release the world from it's burden. That hero is The One Constant, Arabella Vash, who hopes to awaken society from their perpetual slumber and save the human race.

And here's a summary of the DT's The Astonishing...

Quote :

The Astonishing is a two act concept album that, as described by Rolling Stone, "centers around a band of rebels trying to defy an oppressive empire, with music playing a central role."[2] The story has eight main characters: Emperor Nafaryus, Empress Arabelle, Daryus, and Faythe of the Great Northern Empire and Evangeline, Gabriel, Xander and Arhys of the Ravenskill Rebel Militia.[11] It was inspired by Petrucci's love of franchises such as Game of Thrones and Star Wars, as well as his observations on the role of technology in modern-day society; in an interview with Billboard, he explained, “I was thinking of all of the things now that people used to do that they don’t do anymore because they’re automated or done by robots: lots of jobs, self-driving cars coming right around the corner ... My thought was, ‘What would happen if with all the advances in technology in music that music [became] all artificial?’”

Soooooo, kinda similiar. I guess? I dunno. I don't see me listening to either of the albums in question anytime soon, so let the Mindcage and DT fans fight it out.

I'm still more surprise that more folks haven't given Dave Mustaine any sh*t for stealing Iced Earth's album title. Metal fans are so weird.

And to save you some time, here's a Mindcage video for you...



Dream Theater should steal some fashion tips from these guys. James LaBrie needs some shoulder pads.

"centers around a band of rebels trying to defy an oppressive empire, with music playing a central role."

ahem....



"Attention all planets of the solar federation, attention all planets of the solar federation, we have assumed control, we have assumed control..."

Yeah, no kidding. A band like them ripping off Rush so blatantly this far into their career is just pathetic.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

I'm still more surprise that more folks haven't given Dave Mustaine any sh*t for stealing Iced Earth's album title. Metal fans are so weird.

Yeah, Dave's an ol son-of-a-bitch for "stealing" a super creative one-word album title. Plagiarism of the highest degree, I say!

S.D. wrote:

"centers around a band of rebels trying to defy an oppressive empire, with music playing a central role."

ahem....



"Attention all planets of the solar federation, attention all planets of the solar federation, we have assumed control, we have assumed control..."  

I was thinking in the negative context and it made me think of this album:


"The album's somewhat rock-operatic story tells of a future where rock music is outlawed by a fascist government and the "MMM (the Majority for Musical Morality)". The story's protagonist, Robert Orin Charles Kilroy (DeYoung), is a former rock star who has been imprisoned by MMM leader Dr. Righteous (Young). He escapes using a disguise (according to the album's famous song "Mr. Roboto") when he becomes aware that a young musician, Jonathan Chance (Shaw), is on a mission to bring rock music back."


This could be DTs Kilroy Was Here.

It's all variations on a pulp sci-fi theme.

That Mindcage song isn't bad. I wonder how many people have now checked out the band because of the rip-off claims, and I can't help but be a little cynical and wonder if someone's trying to drum up some publicity for Mindcage.

And their album was released in September 2013, while according to Wikipedia, John Petrucci began working on the story in mid-2013. So the timeline doesn't really work.

S.D. wrote:

It's all variations on a pulp sci-fi theme.  

It's all Heavy Metal Poisoning is what it is......... Sorry, I couldn't help myself........

chewie wrote:

S.D. wrote:

It's all variations on a pulp sci-fi theme.  

It's all Heavy Metal Poisoning is what it is.........   Sorry, I couldn't help myself........

No worries - as far as the jokes go, don't let it end!!!!!

I did see an interview that Pertucci said the 2112 was an inspiration for this album.

thejokeriv wrote:

chewie wrote:

S.D. wrote:

It's all variations on a pulp sci-fi theme.  

It's all Heavy Metal Poisoning is what it is.........   Sorry, I couldn't help myself........

No worries - as far as the jokes go, don't let it end!!!!!

I did see an interview that Pertucci said the 2112 was an inspiration for this album.

I wouldn't be surprised. He is a huge Rush fan, after all. He just doesn't like when they do medleys. "Medley, Smedley"

Made it eight tracks through this album. It is rather awful. I believe every single song has a choir on it.

The prog is weak with these guys anymore. Their sole ambition is to be a loud, overproduced, gaudy, and derivative euro power metal doppleganger. I gave Scenes from a Memory a spin shortly after and there is just zero comparison.

You know, I got this a few weeks back on it's release day and spun it throughout the weekend. I have been meaning to do a review in my mini review thread, so I guess I will do that now.

I didn't even make it thru 15 minutes...

It seems as though they had a good (if unoriginal) idea for a concept record but didn't put a whole lot of effort into it.