Dream Theater Megathread NEW SONG POSTED!!!!!

metropolis_4 said:
I miss the days when they were more Zappa influenced and I wish they would bring a little of that fun back to their music. w Man.
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I agree with you there. This was what I had in mind way back when I wrote what I was hoping for, in this thread iirc.

And even though I'm very much loving this album, I 'liked' your post b/c I'm glad to see some...., alternate views here, since I get the distinct feeling that those who don't like the album, are simply keeping their opinions to themselves.

:beer
 
TSJMajesty said:
I agree with you there. This was what I had in mind way back when I wrote what I was hoping for, in this thread iirc.

And even though I'm very much loving this album, I 'liked' your post b/c I'm glad to see some...., alternate views here, since I get the distinct feeling that those who don't like the album, are simply keeping their opinions to themselves.

:beer
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And there were things I liked in this album, I didn’t hate it. But I do miss the band they used to be and I wish they would bring a little of that back.

There was no musical diversity in this album, it was just one low tuned metal guitar riff song after another. It felt like it could have been any metal band’s album.

I’m starting to get annoyed with Petrucci’s playing and he was my idol for so long. I feel like someone needs to take the creative reigns from him and steer them out of the guitar riff metal a bit. I’ve been hoping that Portnoy will bring some of that influence back to the band
 
Well, gather round while I defend DT and their sonic choices on the new album.

Ok, don't. I am not interested in hearing it either. :LOL:

I'll just toss this out there. It is a conceptual album with a theme, and that theme is
darkness, and night, and terror, and sleep and dreaming abnormalities--so their
choice of notes emphasizes the Whole/Half/Diminished Scale and a fuck of a lot of
Tri-tones---to my ears. They are all over the fucking place. :rawk

I think this is why a song like Broken Clock with more of a traditional Modal center
is so refreshing to me when it lands.

I've listened to the Album in its entirety a few times. I dig it. Not as much as other
DT Albums, but still thrilled to pieces they are still making music and Mike reconciled
with his brothers. :beer

I also have low, low expectations for a lot of aging/past their prime bands, too, so
there is that. I look at them like my Grandma (or Mom now). I am just glad to have
them around as long as they exist. For me, that is more than enough. To be is Life's
first and greatest reward. The rest is gravy. :chef
 
la szum said:
Well, gather round while I defend DT and their sonic choices on the new album.

Ok, don't. I am not interested in hearing it either. :LOL:

I'll just toss this out there. It is a conceptual album with a theme, and that theme is
darkness, and night, and terror, and sleep and dreaming abnormalities--so their
choice of notes emphasizes the Whole/Half/Diminished Scale and a fuck of a lot of
Tri-tones---to my ears. They are all over the fucking place. :rawk

I think this is why a song like Broken Clock with more of a traditional Modal center
is so refreshing to me when it lands.

I've listened to the Album in its entirety a few times. I dig it. Not as much as other
DT Albums, but still thrilled to pieces they are still making music and Mike reconciled
with his brothers. :beer

I also have low, low expectations for a lot of aging/past their prime bands, too, so
there is that. I look at them like my Grandma (or Mom now). I am just glad to have
them around as long as they exist. For me, that is more than enough. To be is Life's
first and greatest reward. The rest is gravy. :chef
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That's a great perspective! I'll add, they have the "Dream Theater sound" by now, and for a band to diverge from that, at this stage in their career just wouldn't be wise imo. Not saying they couldn't broaden that sound a "bit" more, but then again, it's the first album with Mike back, so they're probably going straight for familiar territory. I mean, literally in some places. In fact, I do feel the lyrical & musical references to SFAM could've been avoided, and the album would've been just fine w/o them.

And while JP could maybe stand to go a bit wider, it still brings me great joy to hear him play what he plays, at this late stage. Although I do recall hearing him saying something about listening to, or drawing from, Wagner in some part for this album. Either way, his palette is still pretty damn wide. And deep. I don't imagine it's simple to interject a bluesy pentatonic riff into the more complex riffs w/i his solos, as seamlessly as he does. :rawk

I SO hope they have at least 3 more albums in them before they stop!

Oh, and I think his tones are fantastic on this! And still evolving. I noticed it on several songs right away. I LOVE that mild distortion on BTC! To hear that coming from a Majesty/JPIIC is cool AF!
 
I’m still digging the album and am now getting to know the songs a bit more. It’s the most I’ve listened to DT since Train Of Thought, Octavarium didn’t even get this much play from me when it came out.

And yeah, for the first part of the SFAM tour Petrucci was using the camo P4 for “Home” and the P3 COW 7-string for any 7-string stuff. I’ve got some disposable camera pics of them in a box somewhere.




Edit- Just remembered, he started the tour without an EBMM at all. I recall all the hoopla when it made its first appearance over at Jemsite. If I remember right they started that tour in Europe and weren’t doing the album in it’s entirety, when they got to the states they started playing it in it’s entirety and that’s when the EBMM first showed up. The first Roseland show I was at was Feb 2000 with LSFNY taking place in August 2000, he got the drop-D and 7-string EBMM’s between that time.
 
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I like the 8 string and 7 string usage. Maybe because I have neither. :idk

I also don't listen to a ton of other "Just play a Bass already if you are going that
low," content. :hmm

I used to give lessons in the last Music Store in our little town. Sometimes children
would come and spend Summer with Grandma and Grandpa, and one Summer a
15 year old came and signed up for lessons at the Store. Said he was into Metal and
Prog. 1st lesson he showed up with an 8 String. :brick

That had to have been 2010 or so. We ended up working on Theory because he
could rip already on that thing and I had ZERO clue about how else to proceed. :idk
 
TSJMajesty said:
Haha
That's a perfect description!

There's a section in Once in a LiveTime where he's using that guitar for Just Let Me Breathe! I love that guitar. Thinking of it, I wonder why he hasn't done that graphic on a JP/Majesty. :unsure:
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Not sure it works with the JP body but it'd probably be cool if it were made to fit across a Majesty
iu


Tosin gave him an Abasi guitar with a P1 finish-
iu
 
DrewJD82 said:
Not sure it works with the JP body but it'd probably be cool if it were made to fit across a Majesty
iu


Tosin gave him an Abasi guitar with a P1 finish-
iu
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Wouldn't matter to me, b/c knowing EBMM, they'd all be gone before I even found out. (Not that I'd have even wanted one of the 50 10th anniversary Majesties they made. And were all gone the same day! $4000 for a solid finish is a little extreme, imo.)
 
la szum said:
I like the 8 string and 7 string usage. Maybe because I have neither. :idk

I also don't listen to a ton of other "Just play a Bass already if you are going that
low," content. :hmm

I used to give lessons in the last Music Store in our little town. Sometimes children
would come and spend Summer with Grandma and Grandpa, and one Summer a
15 year old came and signed up for lessons at the Store. Said he was into Metal and
Prog. 1st lesson he showed up with an 8 String. :brick

That had to have been 2010 or so. We ended up working on Theory because he
could rip already on that thing and I had ZERO clue about how else to proceed. :idk
Click to expand...

I’m going to snag an 8-string eventually. I won’t drop a ton of cash on one, but Ibanez has some that I wouldn’t scoff at too hard for the amount I’d end up using it.

Whenever I start playing my 7-string consistently, I can see how some guys make the switch to 7’s entirely.
 
la szum said:
I like the 8 string and 7 string usage. Maybe because I have neither. :idk

I also don't listen to a ton of other "Just play a Bass already if you are going that
low," content. :hmm

I used to give lessons in the last Music Store in our little town. Sometimes children
would come and spend Summer with Grandma and Grandpa, and one Summer a
15 year old came and signed up for lessons at the Store. Said he was into Metal and
Prog. 1st lesson he showed up with an 8 String. :brick

That had to have been 2010 or so. We ended up working on Theory because he
could rip already on that thing and I had ZERO clue about how else to proceed. :idk
Click to expand...
I grew up musically in the middle to late 90s, as such Vai, Petrucci, Dino, and the lot were a big influence on me and I quickly found 7 string to be my natural instrument. That hasn't changed in 25 years. It's a great variation on a wonderful instrument.
 
Funny. When I think of 7 stringers I think more of Korn and rhythmic bashing away
on one string, with the occasional bleeps and bloops from a Whammy, than I do of
virtuosic guitar playing.

:sofa


My bad. :wat

You definitely wield the 7 like a Beast. :beer

I think Vai was the first time I became aware of a 7 string guitar---with the Universe. :unsure:



:beer
 
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la szum said:
That's definitely peak diversity for DT, in my opinion. Both in terms of Petrucci tones
and songwriting.

I bet Sherinian had at least a little something to do with that. :idk
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FII is def in my top 3. Have to really consider the album carefully to see if it's my favorite, but it's the one that got me started. PMU and I&W in general, I was like, "meh." A few years later I heard New Millenium, and I was like, WHO IS THIS? WHAT? This is Dream Theater???

I borrowed the CD, and took it right back the next day, because I went right out and bought my own copy!
 
FII is such a DT outlier to me---from the songs to the guitar tones. I love it. Just odd
for me to listen to because I hear the most Rectifier of all of Petrucci's Rectifier tones.

My hunch is Petrucci and Portnoy still don't love the Album. :LOL:

I was working in a Record Store (that also sold Jacksons and Marshalls) in 1990-93
when Images & Words came out. Made an instant impact on me and my friends. So
cool, because there was not much New Wave Prog at the time. Just Rush and Yes
both doing their thing. Nothing that was Progressive and Heavy.

Such a cool time in music. You could have DT and then a band like White Zombie
come out in the same year and both kind of blow up in their own ways. I miss
that kind of popular diversity in music.
 
I listened to Parasomnia again, I felt I owed it a second chance.

Still just kinda meh for me. I love hearing Portnoy with them again! And there are some good songs, but I stick with what I said before.

I think I’d like the album better without Dead Asleep or the Shadow Man. Honestly both times I listened to those I checked to see how much longer was left because it felt like they just dragged on forever. Dead Asleep just about put me to sleep.

Shadow Man just feels like a bunch of random disconnected sketches that don’t really belong together. It doesn’t feel like a cohesive piece to me. It meanders and there’s nothing tying it together.

I listened to Trial of Tears after and that is the DT I seriously miss! That guitar solo in that song is :chef and it actually feels like an interesting and cohesive piece of music that goes through different movements that actually fit and belong together.
 
la szum said:
My hunch is Petrucci and Portnoy still don't love the Album. :LOL:
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With all the drama they were dealing with between the band and their label I wouldn’t be surprised if they still had some hard feelings about that era.

One other thing I was thinking listening to Trial of Tears - when was the last time DT grooved? They used to have songs that had these cool grooves in them, but I can’t remember the last time I heard that from them
 
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