New Dream Theater

glassprison wrote:

I'm starting to get back into the band after seeing this thread. I just bought a ticket to see them on the upcoming tour where they will be playing Scenes From A Memory Pt. 2 in its entirety, plus a set of other material. I haven't seen them since they were touring with Opeth, Between the Buried and Me and another band I can't remember back when Systematic Chaos came out.

I saw that tour too! The fourth band was 3. Interesting kind of prog/pop/rock mix. The singer/acoustic guitar player is a brother to the Coheed & Cambria guy. I went to that show to see DT and Opeth and ended up buying a couple of 3's albums after that show. Hated Between the Buried and Me.

I thought this was kind of amusing. Back in November, DT released a pic of their new album art...


A few weeks later, The New York Times Magazine put out their new issue...


Intentional or not, it's funny in this day and age, folks will think noone would notice this kinda stuff.

I'm pretty sure that was posted before on this forum.

Really? I must've missed it.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Really? I must've missed it.

Nevermind. I saw it in a WhatsApp group in November.

For awhile I thought I was crazy because I couldn't find it on these boards.

I've been listening to the new album a lot and surprised by how much I like it. It's been a while since I've really gotten into a new DT album. "At Wit's End" is quickly becoming one of my favorite songs of the year. And "Out of Reach" is amazing too.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

I thought this was kind of amusing. Back in November, DT released a pic of their new album art...


A few weeks later, The New York Times Magazine put out their new issue...


Intentional or not, it's funny in this day and age, folks will think noone would notice this kinda stuff.

Yeah, that's crazy. There's a number of theories that could be thrown around--concept art leaked, NYT underestimated DT's popularity and snagged it, something about location (album was recorded in NY), Sony Music fucked up, etc etc etc--but in the end it may just be a weird coincidence. Like, really weird.

I mean, the hand is virtually identical save for some minute details.

I hope this one is better than the "Astonishing" double album. That thing bored the crap out of me. I know I said it before that I have been a fan of these guys since my senior year of high school (1992), but if this album ain't bowling me over I am done with them.

^^Adding to my last post, fun fact: the artist for the album cover is legendary Hugh Syme, known mostly for his work on Rush's covers from Caress of Steel on. He's done a number of great pieces--Cherry Pie, Hooked (Great White), Hot Wire (Kix), Tangled in Reins (Steelheart), Countdown to Extinction, and much more. And yes, Rush's Starman logo is his creation. Dude is from Canada. He also played keys on select tracks from 2112, Moving Pictures, and Permanent Waves.

And Sentinel, I'm spinning it right now and I'd be interested to hear your input. I'm saving my opinions for now for a reason I'll make clear later.

O.K. I don't know when I am picking it up, but I will check out whatever samples I can find.

This was kinda fun. Mike Mangini plays the buckets

MetalGuy71 wrote:

This was kinda fun. Mike Mangini plays the buckets

That was cool! Thanks, MG.

I used to love WAAF back in the 1990's, not just when they had Opie and Anthony and Ozone (John Osterland), but because they played a ton of killer tunes. The local station for me is 94HJY but they have always been a predictable, paint by numbers, Classic Rock station. In 1994, at 8am and driving to class, I wanted to hear Megadeth and not the same Stones tune for the millionth time in my life.

the sentinel wrote:

The local station for me is 94HJY but they have always been a predictable, paint by numbers, Classic Rock station. In 1994, at 8am and driving to class, I wanted to hear Megadeth and not the same Stones tune for the millionth time in my life.

Good lord, that's every classic rock station in America. You could probably interchange any major city's playlist with another's and no one would notice.

Since radio stations aren't owned locally, it's all the same.

007 wrote:

the sentinel wrote:

The local station for me is 94HJY but they have always been a predictable, paint by numbers, Classic Rock station. In 1994, at 8am and driving to class, I wanted to hear Megadeth and not the same Stones tune for the millionth time in my life.

Good lord, that's every classic rock station in America. You could probably interchange any major city's playlist with another's and no one would notice.

Oh, yeah, sad really. These stations all seem to be owned by the same conglomerate company and all have had the same playlist for nearly 3 decades! They act like the artists haven't released anything since 1984. Other than occasionally tuning on "House of Hair" on a random Saturday night while wifey and me are on the way home from a dinner date, I haven't listened to 94HJY in forever. I doubt things have changed.

One thing I always found funny (and further evidence of how mainstream doesn't get rock or Metal at all) is how they would have the "bumpers" between commercials and music that would promote their station in a deep voice and proudly proclaim something along the lines of "the only station that really rocks!" and then go into U2's "Still Haven't Found (What I'm Lookin' For)" song. Haha! Clueless losers. After a setup like that you need the opening guitar riff of "You've Got Another Thing Coming" or the crash of the drums of "Tom Sawyer" and not a mellow acoustic picking.

But surveys show the listeners only want to hear the same 4 Deep Purple or Van Halen songs out of a possible 300+ tunes between the 2 bands.

007 wrote:

the sentinel wrote:

The local station for me is 94HJY but they have always been a predictable, paint by numbers, Classic Rock station. In 1994, at 8am and driving to class, I wanted to hear Megadeth and not the same Stones tune for the millionth time in my life.

Good lord, that's every classic rock station in America. You could probably interchange any major city's playlist with another's and no one would notice.

I was ranting politely informing my wife the other day in the car that we could drive all the way from Philly to Los Angeles, tuning into the local Clear Channel stations along the way, and hear the same 30 goddamn songs the entire trip. It's really sad.

Mighty mighty opus, kinda sad to see them naming a beer after the masterpiece that is Barstool Warrior (come on, dudes, everyone and his cat can make a beer, make a red  wine and show me what you've got)!

Can't see anything topping this from 2019, except, of course, the new Tool, Work Of Art,The Defiants albums.  

My wife and I popped in Train of Thought last night for a resampling. Nope, still not a fan. The whole thing is just heavy for the sake of being heavy, and I firmly believe that's where they began a downward spiral. Petrucci's tone is chunky gross, Portnoy is awkward with blast beats, half the album is recycling either their own riffs or someone else's, and very little of their fusion-influenced songwriting shines through here. Nor would that last bit be very apparent for many albums to come.

I get why people love how heavy they became on that album but to me it was a turn in the wrong direction. Remember The Mirror on Awake? It was soul-crushing heaviness for sure, yet married with just the right dose of atmosphere to evoke a mood. None of that happens here, and they've refused to recapture that environment since.

Most of DT's music really sucks.

I admire them for being able to make a career out of that uncommercial style they have though. Kudos to them for all the hard work and perseverance.

Temple of Blood wrote:

Most of DT's music really sucks.

I admire them for being able to make a career out of that uncommercial style they have though.  Kudos to them for all the hard work and perseverance.

With the exception of their first two studio albums .