Dream Theater

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
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So...I finally listened to The Astonishing AND I really like it. Yes, it's very ballad-heavy (like listening to two hours of The Spirit Carries On - but that's not a bad thing!). Yes, the lyrics are ludicrously lame and cheesy. Yes, Myung and Mangini do basically nothing. But I really appreciate the theatricality of it all and I am now interested in seeing the show.

LaBrie really outdoes himself with the amount of varied singing he has to do here and gives a fantastic performance. However, I can't help but feel like the whole album would be more successful as a full rock opera with different vocalists. Personally, I would choose:

NARRATOR/XANDER/GUARDS/TOWNSFOLK - James LaBrie
ARHYS - Roy Khan
GABRIEL - Tommy Karevik
NEFARYUS - Russell Allen
FAYTHE - Floor Jansen
ARABELLE - Anneke van Giersbergen
DARYUS - Marco Hietala

You'd have to change some of the inflections, maybe add some more operatics for the ladies (or not, cause LaBrie), but I would really love to hear this with different vocalists.
 
JLBS best performance in Ina long time for sure, but I still think not hiring some female singers (at the very least) was a mistake. I like your picks although I would have JLB as either Arhyss or Gabriel. BTW does Arabelle have any dialog in this?
 
Not hiring female singers was definitely odd. I know James has always done it in the past and I respect the decision to have him interpret all the characters, but it would have sounded way better with some female voices.

Arabelle does have lines, for sure:
http://imgur.com/a/KtSid

She usually sings on the songs with Faythe, which makes it even weirder since LaBrie is skipping between two different female voices in the same song...

As for my picks for Arhys and Gabriel...the first time I heard James singing as Gabriel I thought, "Tommy Karevik would sound great singing this." And then I thought, "But so would Roy Khan...but Roy Khan is older and Arhys sounds like the older brother to me...and they both sang for Kamelot and so them being brothers would be really cool...cause their voices sound similar enough for it to work...."

EDIT: But on second thought, Allen and Lande would also sounds pretty awesome as Gabriel and Arhys due to their pretty similar timbre. LaBrie sounds really creepy as Nefaryus and I'd be willing to keep him as the main villain. Maybe let Tommy do all the narrator parts and Xander, except he'd out-vocal-run everybody by the second track and the listener would be wondering why the narrator has so many soulful vocal runs.
 
Setlist from Thursday's show:

Act I
Descent of the NOMACS
1. Dystopian Overture
2. The Gift of Music
3. The Answer
4. A Better Life
5. Lord Nayfarus
6. A Savior In The Square
7. When Your Time Has Come
8. Act of Faythe
9. Three Days
The Hovering Sojourn
10. Brother, Can You Hear Me?
11. A Life Left Behind
12. Ravenskill
13. Chosen
14. A Tempting Offer
Digital Discord
15. The X Aspect
16. A New Beginning
17. The Road To Revolution

Act II
18. 2285 Entr'acte
19. Moment of Betrayal
20. Heaven's Cove
21. Begin Again
22. The Path That Divides
Machine Chatter
23. The Walking Shadow
24. My Last Farewell
25. Losing Faythe
26. Whispers on the Wind
27. Hymn of a Thousand Voices
28. Our New World
Power Down
29. Astonishing

SOURCE

Damn. It looks like they're doing the new album only and literally nothing else. It will be interesting to see how well that goes over as the tour goes on.
 
This works like a charm as a wallpaper. DT's imagery can be quite a spectacle at times.

bcsl-wallpaper.jpg
 
I decided to compile a DT top 10 just because making lists is sometimes fun. Spots 10-7 are very approximate and some stuff that was left out might make it to the top 10 but this will do for a first try.

10) Illumination Theory - A song with many memorable and dear parts to me. The first section is slightly weak but from the orchestra part up till the very end, increasingly beautiful. The vocals and guitar shine.

9) The Glass Prison - Awesome heavy instrumental work going on in this one. The riff at the 6 minute mark is the epitome of simple yet majestic chugging.

8) A Nightmare to Remember - An energetic opener to an epic album. The clean part in the middle with the chiming guitars and the vocal harmonies is gorgeous. The song's biggest flaw is that it drags on too long, but some repetition of the song's awesome main themes helps to bring the attention back.

7) Metropolis I - Old-school DT at its best, I can't give a better explanation at this point.

6) Breaking All Illusions - One of the songs that first got me into DT and the second best song they've made in the last decade. The chorus is one of the best in their catalogue.

5) Another Day - A more simplistic yet supremely catchy tune. Everything is in the right spot and the sax adds a lot. James really delivers here.

4) Home - The way this song builds up is miraculous and the vocals play a large part in it. The middle moaning part is a bit of a letdown but the solo section grabs me right back. A great display of aggressivenss and melody.

3) Octavarium - A vast experience of a song, takes me through many different feelings and ends in a fantastic grand finale with one of JP's best solos. Jordan's big synth parts are spot-on and the whole instrumental section is praiseworthy.

2) Finally Free - Another song that played a part in me becoming a DT fan. It is the perfect climax to a wonderfully dramatic album. Finally Free manages to captivate with each of its parts and never loosens the tension.

1) The Count of Tuscany - The magnum opus of Dream Theater. From beginning to end, a one-of-a-kind array of atmosphere, melody and heaviness. From a blistering intro to the most epic finale a song has had the pleasure of knowing, everything sounds precisely as it should. TCoT is an adventure!

All in all:
Scenes: 2 songs
Black Clouds: 2 songs
Images and Words: 2 songs
Octavarium: 1 song
Six Degrees: 1 song
Dream Theater: 1 song
A Dramatic Turn: 1 song

By length:
Short (<7 min): 1
Medium (7-14 min): 5
Long (14 min<): 4
 
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Another listen today while cleaning the kitchen.
It might be the few beers, but that feeling when the album "clicks" came and now I can safely say The Astonishing is worth.
:clap::rocker:
 
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