New Dream Theater album!

[RevDrucifer]

It's not the lack of re-inventing that does it for me, it's the lack of letting the songs write themselves. You can tell on the first several albums that the songs were written out of jamming the .... out of the general riffs and seeing where they go. They weren't a bunch of riffs organized into neat little sections.

I understand how efficient and easy it is for them to go into a studio for 2 weeks with a few riffs and come out with a whole album after. With DAW's it's so easy to arrange songs if you have a few riffs/progressions already. But it definitely takes away from the flow and feel of the song.

I don't doubt that they get inspired and still write from the heart, but there was such a beauty in the songs before that came out naturally from 4 dudes who were really in tune with each other musically and would improv jam for hours.

That said, lookin' forward to the new album bigtime! Hoping Mangini breathes some serious life in the band!

 

[BIGRIGG]

Cause it's a lot more fun than posting "this rulez" or ignoring topics about them for many of us!

Fair enough. By the way, DT "rulez" hee hee

 

[edsped]

I like all of their work generally, (except You not Me). More than anything, always hope Rudess shows a little melodic (and sonic) restraint. That sample at the start of Bridges in the Sky is terrible (the Agnus Dei sample is nice tho). It can kill the mood!

The Bridges in the Sky intro is fantastic, IMO. ADTOE is the first album where I can say I actually liked Jordan's playing for the most part. His sound palette seemed much more diverse and he chilled out on all the spastic shredding and pitch bending and played more actual melodies.

 

[thedonal]

The Bridges in the Sky intro is fantastic, IMO. ADTOE is the first album where I can say I actually liked Jordan's playing for the most part. His sound palette seemed much more diverse and he chilled out on all the spastic shredding and pitch bending and played more actual melodies.

I agree that his playing is generally more tasteful- that's a great thing.

It's just that "oooooooonnee" sample at the start that bothers me!

I love the Agnus Dei sample (wonder where this is from- I have a Klaus Schulze DVD with it used as well- was thinking it was part of an Emulator library).

That said, I listened to the album again last night and quite enjoyed it again. I'm definitely polarised on this album depending on when I listen to it! But I guess I'm like that with some of my CD collection.

I still love Breaking All Illusions- definitely my favourite on there.

 

[Don Vito]

I still love Breaking All Illusions- definitely my favourite on there.

I'm not a big DT buff, but damn this is a good song.

 

[ilyti]

Two instrumentals! String section! 20 minute song! Bass solo! This is gonna be so awesome.

 

[MetalBuddah]

If anybody is interested....this was found on Reddit and I believe translated from Spanish to English (hence the bad English). Reading these words alone makes me incredibly excited about the album since I don't think any of these words really apply to any of their more recent albums. Have a fun read!

Hey look, a week ago I received a promotional copy of DT12, since in the Octavarium tour organized concert trips to Mexico City and met the band and from Systematic Chaos I have the privilege of receiving advance copies. I leave right now my little review.
I will say that the album surprised me. It is the second concept album of the band, and is almost level with Scenes From a Memory. I'll explain a little each topic.

-False Awakening Suite: be surprised by its duration?. Epic topic that technology is at the service of melody. It's almost instrumental, if not for the voice of LaBrie background, which sounds through a weird effect that makes intelligible words. Is a topic frantic, almost like a song of my fellow The Mars Volta.

-The Enemy Inside: a very heavy. As commercial as Constant Motion, but with the darkness of Awake. LaBrie sings very aggressively here, almost 1994 disk, and Petrucci and Rudess solos are spectacular. Topic typical DT, but again, extremely heavy.

-The Looking Glass: This issue should be classified as prog-rock, progressive metal and not as. The Rush riffs quite remember, and Petrucci makes this subject one to remember. From the best of his career. Rudess does no one in this topic, but leaves some delicious riffs that seem drawn from a work of the 70.

-Enigma Machine: the instrumental. Remember Ytse Jam, because it has a pretty catchy riff around which the song is structured. Myung shines with a bass solo that far surpasses that of The Dance of Eternity, and the band leaves instrumental satisfied our cravings.

-The Bigger Picture: more prog theme with permission of Illumination Theory. The chorus makes this song epic could become an anthem for the band. Voices quite reminiscent in structure. One of the issues that surprised me, no doubt.

-Behind The Veil: a song quite slow but without being a ballad of ADTOE style. LaBrie sings dramatically here, and Rudess leaves just shut up the mouths of those who accuse him of playing without a soul. Myung leads the song with a inspiradísimas basslines.

-Surrender To Reason: other track hard-rocker in the vein of The Looking Glass. Mangini plays here quite "classical", remember the same Neil Peart. Rudess creates at all times great atmosphere, showing a talent for the support that we saw in ADTOE and to a lesser extent in BC & SL.

-Along For The Ride: another surprise. A theme halfway between ballad and ragtime craze. The song is based on the alternation between a calm verses and some great riffs with constant changes of time misplaced all get caught, you'll see.

-Illumination Theory: the mother of all epic. Dream Theater collects orchestrating epic Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence and the sum of a component and the overall neoclassical instrumental madness. The band breaks during the middle section of the topic, and this is where the disc finally explodes. I do not speak more of this topic for spoilearles not everything that happens, but I will say that rival Octavarium and A Change of Seasons.

A gem that deserves even go so far untouchable Top 4 of the band.

 

[rifft]

Sounds like this is going to be a great album; I'm getting pretty excited for it!

 

[wankerness]

I remember a similar advance review like that for St. Anger that made everyone think it was going to sound like Meshuggah crossed with Slayer. I remember all this talking about how Lars' snare being the most awesome, metal thing in the world, etc. It was clearly from someone who had heard the album, but had described it in the most ludicrously positive way possible and as soon as the actual album came out and all the real reviews and fan reactions started happening it looked like it was a good example of someone promising to write an incredibly positive review in exchange for getting the attention for being the first to report on it.

So yeah, what I'm saying is, I wouldn't be surprised if that's an accurate description, but I would take it with a big grain of salt, haha. I'll keep my expectations low and hopefully be surprised instead of keeping them high and thus being disappointed if it's not Awake Pt 2.

 

[Dayviewer]

^ if somebody can find that then it will make my week

Looking forward to this record, single goes live tommorow right?

 

[wankerness]

^ if somebody can find that then it will make my week

Looking forward to this record, single goes live tommorow right?

I found it, I'm sure glad they archived the ol' Opeth forum going back to 2001.

Close-up's Martin Carlsson leaves an exclusive report from the studio north of San Francisco where Metallica's working on their new album "St. Anger".

I swear on the bible, on my mother's grave or whatever - the following text is nothing less than the complete truth. This statement needs to be made, quite simply because you're probably not going to believe me. I almost wonder if I've really listened to the new Metallica album "St Anger" myself, or if somebody has been playing a trick on me and played me some new, exciting aggro-band. You see, "St. Anger" is a chock, one of music history's greatest! It is as if "Load" and "Reload" has been deleted from the map, as if the Black Album never existed, as if the Metallica we've come to know never really existed. The five songs (all of which are as of yet untitled but the title-track) I've heard exhibits a sound so EXTREME and raw that all you can do is sit there chocked with your jaw on the floor.

I'm not joking.

Twenty journalists are gathered in the control-room of the studio north of San Francisco. We get comfortable. The air is vibrating with excitement, and then? BAM!! The first song (working title: Frantic) kicks in with hypnotic, almost industrial Slayer-riffs. What the .... is going on? "You live it or lie it", chants James Hetfield and goes on with "my lifestyle determines my death style". It is ultra-tight metalcore like it has never been performed before. Lars ulrich's fat drum-sound is replaced with an oilrig-similar snare that's usually reminiscent of robotic industry-metal. "Do I have the strength?", a wondering Hetfield screams in the middle of the chaos. It is a maddening Blitzkriegstrategy with attack-waves of battering riffs, attacking from every angle for five minutes and 54 seconds.

I'm not joking.

The war as just begun, and I really mean THE WAR, because this music would be the perfect soundtrack to the media coverage of the war on Iraq. The title-track blazes away with a ultra-fast bulldozermosh that leaves Max Cavalera far behind. We are talking monster-metallized punk from another planet; a twisted and overdosed Dischange just released from rehab! We are talking beyond sound-speed, especially regarding the drum-work. The double-bass pounds away mercilessly and Lars Ulrich's use of the snare are almost -get this!- blast-beats!! It's going to be interesting seeing him trying to repeat this live - if the dane is usually soaked from sweat and carried to the lodge after traditional concerts, then he's going to need an oxygen-mask and hospital personnel to wake him back to life after this. Following this amazing intro comes a softer part where Hetfield sings "St. Anger around my neck, he never gets respect." This ten second long part, recurring a couple of times in the seven minute and 24 second long song, is the only part that could be classified as soft. The Producer Bob Rock (also on bass) assures me that this is the calmest, most stripped-down part on the whole album. WOW! A riff similar to "Creeping Death" follows. Hetfield howls ".... it all and ....ing no regrets" (an exact recapitulation of the classic in "Damage Inc." ). Towards the end of the song he screams "I need to set my anger free"... and this is exactly what he and Metallica does: releasing all their anger.

I'm not joking.

Song number three starts up like an updated "Ride the Lightning": MEga-fat thrash-metal in midtempo speed. The vocalist spits: "It and you can look out ............s, here I come!". Sepultura's "Roots"-era sound reminiscent in this song, with the refrain "It world" repeated again and again. Before the song ends at five minutes and 51 seconds, Hetfield shouts "enough, enough, enough"

I'm not joking.

Have you missed the complex song-structures of "And Justice for All"? Compared to this around eight minutes long piece (working title "Monster" ), the songs of the 1988 album seem more like simple Ramones' ditties. A progressive blanket of sound that warms like a massive and super-intricate Tool, only a thousand times heavier! Hetfield chants over a delicious part that goes into what could be called a chorus with some use of fantasy: "We the people, are we the people?". This phrase is repeated two times and "some kind of monster" three times before the singer concludes "this monster lives". There is actually something here that could be called groove, not entirely unlike Pantera although vastly heavier. The guitars are so damned insane, so damned evil, so damned incredible! The fact is that there isn't anything remotely like a traditional guitar-solo in any of these five songs. Hetfield and Kirk Hammett use their instruments like surgical tools. The guitars shrieks and scream as if Tom Morello and Kerry King made a deal and decided to take the Devil's music not one but ten steps further.

I'm not joking.

The most wicked part is however the last, whose working-name is "All Within My Hands". A very strange piece with an instrumental intro of one minute and fifteen seconds. The tempo is ultra-fast, taking so many twists and turns that you get all dizzy. "All Within My Hands" is shouted and then sung in an Alice In Chains manner. And the ending? MAN OH MAN! Like a possessed madman Hetfield screams "Kill kill kill kill!!" ad absurdum - we're talking deranged shrieks coming from a psychopathic Tom Araya (think Slayer's "Kill Again" only even more insane). You'd think it was over after that. But no. It is like watching an exciting thriller with so many surprises that you finally don't believe an ending is forthcoming. Yes, after a heavy-as-lead finale it winds down at eight minutes and 55 seconds.

I'm not joking.

20 Journalists finally leave the control-room and look at each other. No one needs say anything; the looks say it all: What in god's name have we just experienced? That Metallica, once tired old farts, have made a complete 180, and now sound like a bunch of hormone-reeking bucks in heat, is the most incredible thing that's happened in music history. "St. Anger" is the real "Reload". "St. Anger" doesn't sound like anything the group has done before, it hardly even sounds like Metallica. "St. Anger" is a modern, super-brutal metal-album that is going to chock and knock the entire music world. Melodies? Nope, there's not much here that reminds one of traditional melodies or arrangements such as verse, bridge, chorus. The 10th of June could become known as the day that shook the world. If you haven't catched on yet:

I'm not joking.

Martin Carlsson

http://www.closeupmagazine.net/metallica.php

EDIT: That link is dead, but that was posted on the Opeth forum on March 31, 2003.

 

[Don Vito]

Was he joking?

 

[tedtan]

Thanks for digging up that St. Anger "review", wankerness. I'm not sure if that was a paid ad or just the deranged ranting of a crackhead, but I needed a good laugh.

Back on topic, hopefully the DT album will live up to the hype. This could kick some serious ass if it does.

 

[UltraParanoia]

That review is magic!

I dont have my hopes set to high. I didnt enjoy ADTOE, but with Mangini writing maybe that'll change things up a bit.

So far though, the solo James Labrie rules & I'm happy with that

 

[Daf57]

Dream Theater to Drop New Single Today!

Dream Theater to Drop New Single Today | News @ Ultimate-Guitar.Com

 

[the_heretic_divine]

Ok,what time is this supposed to happen?

 

[Daf57]

Ok,what time is this supposed to happen?

They don't say in the article ...

 

[Kurkkuviipale]

They don't say it in Facebook either. Just that we will be provided with links when it hits the air. Also it's 10.30am in NY right now, so I guess I'm keeping hopes high for 12am, haha.

 

[Goro923]

It's up. 7 string song. Weird time sigs. Verse reminds me of Rush. Me happy so far.

Song premiere: Dream Theater's 'The Enemy Inside'

 

[samclarke669]

Dream Theater Premiere: The Enemy Inside | Prog Magazine

So far this sounds AMAZING!

Edit: Oops! Ninja'd!