Dream Theater

I listened to the stream once yesterday. It was definitely a different kind of album, with lots of lighter, proggy moments; and the epic at the end gave me chills down my spine, which usually doesn't happen the first time I hear an epic, even Octavarium didn't do much for me on first listen.

I'm going to wait til this weekend and get my copy before I listen again, but I can't wait to get it.

Although I like the new album, it feels like a step down from ADTOE, IMO. I'd put it about on par with Octavarium (it reminds me of it too, in how it's made up of mostly shorter songs with a 20-minute epic at the end).

Cybion wrote: Catcher10 wrote: Cybion wrote: Well, hello everyone!! As far as I understand, Steven Wilson doesn't really dig Dream Theater; and unfortunately nothing is going to change because they have a contract with Roadrunner records, which caters to a mainstream metal community, making it almost necessary for them to have a loud mix.  I am really pleased with this album even though I didn't really care about either single, there are other good songs in there that make up for it.  ...and Illumination theory is a masterpiece. Cheers!   A mixing engineer, producer I don't think has to "dig" the band they are working for, I am sure it could help.......What is needed, as you note about the loudness issue, is someone who understands how to mix the apporopriate levels.   Bob Ludwig, master sound engineer, has worked on recordings by everyone from Rush, Nirvana ,Led Zep, Madonna, Hendrix to Clapton.....a gazillion others he has worked on. I would be shocked if he "dug" them all. I do not believe the record label that is releasing the album has say so on who the artist can use to work on an album. This part is always contracted out, read the liner notes on most albums......there are many entities involved in making a record. I was talking about Steven Wilson in particular, as he will not work with someone if he doesn't like them, he is the art guy who will choose his project kinda guy.  I understand your point as I am a recording engineer and often find myself working with stuff that I wouldn't have chosen to participate on. At that point it is all about frequencies and making sounds happen. Loudness standards keep changing and that is hurting music in general. I Don't really think that changing the producer will change anything because, as I pointed out before, their label will manage their final sound, which is meant to be delivered to the ipod community, guys with earbuds, car stereos, iphone mono speakers and so on. This is not wrong, but in this case, going to +6db does make a difference, and sadly, people like me (us?) feel rather disappointed because we take the time to listen through the moods and nuances in the music, and that is gone. That aside, once again.. Illumination Theory is an amazing song, it goes everywhere, it's all over the place, LaBrie uses every single trick in his book, and in the end, the entire song is somehow coherent. A MA ZING!

Edited by Catcher10 - September 17 2013 at 12:18

At least they still remember how to write SONGS, not these 15-min long wackos

Edited by SharpenTheeTeeth - September 17 2013 at 06:13

Ambient Hurricanes wrote: Oh my gosh looking glass is beautiful. Oh thank you Dream Theater, it's been a rough few days but you have made me so happy I want to dance around my campus in my bathrobe wearing my underwear on my head and singing "Along for the ride" at the top of my lungs.

"The Looking Glass" is Dream Theater's "Limelight" and I f**king love it.

timothy leary wrote: If you look at the ratings on the new album there about 7 or 8 1 star ratings and if you investigate a little further some have rated all the studio albums with one star. My favorite is a guy who has rated 75 dream theater albums with 1 star. Illegal downloader maybe or never actually heard the albums he rated. What is my point? No band instills love and hate like Dream Theater.

Catcher10 wrote: Cybion wrote: Well, hello everyone!! As far as I understand, Steven Wilson doesn't really dig Dream Theater; and unfortunately nothing is going to change because they have a contract with Roadrunner records, which caters to a mainstream metal community, making it almost necessary for them to have a loud mix.  I am really pleased with this album even though I didn't really care about either single, there are other good songs in there that make up for it.  ...and Illumination theory is a masterpiece. Cheers!   A mixing engineer, producer I don't think has to "dig" the band they are working for, I am sure it could help.......What is needed, as you note about the loudness issue, is someone who understands how to mix the apporopriate levels.   Bob Ludwig, master sound engineer, has worked on recordings by everyone from Rush, Nirvana ,Led Zep, Madonna, Hendrix to Clapton.....a gazillion others he has worked on. I would be shocked if he "dug" them all. I do not believe the record label that is releasing the album has say so on who the artist can use to work on an album. This part is always contracted out, read the liner notes on most albums......there are many entities involved in making a record.

If you look at the ratings on the new album there about 7 or 8 1 star ratings and if you investigate a little further some have rated all the studio albums with one star. My favorite is a guy who has rated 75 dream theater albums with 1 star. Illegal downloader maybe or never actually heard the albums he rated. What is my point? No band instills love and hate like Dream Theater.

Well, hello everyone!!

^ It's funny, because the mix is my biggest problem with this album. If we had more dynamics, and the keys and bass  were just a bit higher in the mix, it would be a thousand times better. (Actually the bass is pretty decent on this one. It could be higher but really, I think it's fine, and Myung shines in certain parts of most songs).

But even still, I've listened to most of the songs at least twice now, and I think I'm comfortable saying this is the best Dream Theater album since Scenes From a Memory. It's consistent, and the band is made much better by the brevity of the songs. But the best thing for me is that they actually wrote a few songs I can legitimately categorize as "happy". What a breath of fresh air. And the subject matter of the lyrics is much less cringe-worthy this time around.

First time in a long time I haven't been disappointed by one of my favorite bands.


Edited by stonebeard - September 16 2013 at 11:22