Saw the tweet this morning so I decided to listen to it: Heap of noise. Doubt I will return to it soon.
This being said, I'm just starting to get into Dream Theater. I've tried a couple of times, but didn't manage.
In my case, it takes an album to get me into the band. People often point you to their "classic" album or some greatest hits, but it just doesn't work for me. Bands that have more colorful discography I usually started to listen by their lesser know albums (example: Meddle by Pink Floyd, Fly by Night by Rush.)
With Dream Theater it was
Metropolis Pt. 2 (which on the contrary is one of their best). Now, funny thing, just a couple weeks before I've discovered
Metropolis Pt. 2 I've listened to their
Greatest Hit... and 21 Pretty Cool Songs and wondered later which Metropolis songs were on it:
Through Her Eyes and
Spirit Carries On - two weakest songs on the album. But wait! If you think that's a bit blasphemic, wait a bit until later. I also have a few thoughts about new album.
So, I've heard first three singles from the upcoming album
Distance Over Time. Although
Untethered Angel has one of the cringiest choruses, this song really started to grow on me. Maybe it's opening an album and if, on longer distance, I started to like album general, I just can't skip or dislike on opener. I have a feeling it's going to be same with this one. Same thing with
Paralyzed, it just keeps flowing, nothing spectacular but also nothing you would frown upon and skip it.
Now,
Fall Into The Light has what I like (so far) about Dream Theater. When they just split a song and add an slower, easier part that (on the first listen) is completely unrelated to previous one. Break around 3:15 and acoustic melody has been stuck in my head for several weeks now. Nothing ground-breaking, but ear-worms like that is what makes me start to like certain band a bit better.
I don't understand such love for
Barstool Warrior and hate for
Room 137.
S2N is really cool, and from what I've heard/read on this and other boards it's Myung masterpiece. Which is really a shame because I've expected there are at least a dozen bass based songs in their back catalog (if anybody can point me to something similar it would be appreciated). I also don't understand hate for the
Viper King, since it's a bonus track and sounds like a Purple tribute. I don't get what wrong with having an extra song from original material. It's for starters a way better than having an uninspiring cover.
Some parts of
At Wit's End and
Pale Blue Dot seem like they have a lot to offer. Due to their structure, it's the only two songs I haven't fully grasped (since the album came out 2 weeks ago I've been listening to it from start to finish, without skipping or repeating certain songs.).
And then there's
Out Of Reach... A lot of you are probably going to disagree with me but ballads like
Out of Reach, Spirit Carries On, Wither and so on (there are probably more that I'm unaware of) are no different than any other pop/rock ballad slugs that got constant rotation on Top 40 on radio. That is probably one of the reasons why it took me so long to get into this band since a lot of doorways point to those same ballads. Not that anything is wrong with that type of music, but it kind paints a different picture.
Now, with this out of the way, can anybody suggest me where to go from
Metropolis Pt. 2 I would be thankful.
