I think it just comes down to the simple fact that the heart and soul of Dream Theater's sound is Portnoy, Petrucci, and Rudess (obviously they made a couple albums without Rudess that worked just fine to say the least, but the writing style and approach was obviously different pre-1999). So I am a bit reluctant to say that Portnoy is the magic sauce, as they still made pretty good music without him and Rudess/Petrucci are still the ones actually writing the riffs, but there was certainly something missing on the last few albums and breaking that core writing partnership is probably what caused that (I think I would feel the same if either Petrucci or Rudess exited the band instead of Portnoy).
"She said, 'It's really not my habit to intrude // Furthermore, I hope my meaning won't be lost or misconstrued // But I'll repeat myself at the risk of being crude...'"
...well, at the risk of being crude, I can help but feel like it's indeed the "Balls" Paradigm - Portnoy gives his project certain edge that some of the more effeminate bands like DT and Neal Morse sorely need, especially in order to play progressive
rock and progressive
metal.
It might be beause of his dynamic drumming and the way he makes the toms sound, but I also argue that must be because of himself as such; he is certainly the most
passionate, with the most obvious care given about everything, even after quitting drinking he still is the most abrasive member, or at least he looks like it (certainly less agreeable than most of the members of the groups and especially than Mangini) and I know this isn't rational, but instinctively, it
somehow shows in the music itself.
He's
daaaaayngerous. In the words of Billy Gibbons, "
he's bad, he's nationwide." He's probably the only person in the entire combination of DT and Neal Morse-ensemble groups of people who has any idea what it means to live with demons, if you know what I mean.
I mean, ADTOE was already much softer, cleaner... "sissier" album than nearly anything previous (even
Octavarium, which is half radio pop) and while it worked
for that one album, it's become quite a bit of a problem over time. I liked DT12 and even The Astonishing to a degree, but despite the latter being such a huge departure and experiment, it all still felt like the band is missing someone
pushing them.
In other media, we call this "protection from editors", meaning you've got big and you can do whatever you want and the result is often ... iffy. I feel in music it might be similar, once you "make it", you need
internal incentive to do greater and better things and maybe for his hyperactivity, maybe for his goat-like stench of manhood he emits or whatever else, he seems to me as able to provide it.
The other thought I've had is that maybe this reunion is about a decade overdue. You can probably find speculation in this very thread about Mangini not being long for the band back toward the end of the DT12 era. Not coincidentally, around this time Portnoy started to appear in public with former members (mainly Rudess) and I think many would agree that the intrigue around both Dream Theater and Mike Portnoy projects started to wind down.
I feel like nearly every reunion is long overdue, possibly combined with the fact that nowadays it's not really in fashion to admit mistakes, humble yourself or anything else - you have to double down, grit your teeth and go the obviously wrong way until it's absolutely unavoidable. Nightwish should have reunited with Tarja in 2013 (especially with Jukka and Marco still in the band), Rhapsody are in the state where
the former and the current singer can release an album together (because hey, why not) before Staropoli and Turilli work in the same studio and so on.
I wonder about the alternative history where the reunion actually happens in 2015 and we get some sort of weird frankenstein of Parasomnia, Similitude, and The Astonishing.
Now you made me think about DT and Morse doing a project together. Considering the fact my favourite Morse album already has Portnoy and Rudess on it, I don't see it as an exceptionally bad fit and honestly, Morse's pop-tune sensibilities is exactly what
Parasomnia is missing, because DT seem to not possess these anymore.
If anything, the Neal Morse Band output was more consistent, enjoyable and altogether replayable than anything DT have released recently and I'm glad we got that, but I'd exchange that for still-in-the-momentum Dream Theater in a heartbeat.
BTW this is not to take anything away from Mangini. I think he brought a lot of interesting ideas and dimensions to the band, but he clearly wasn't allowed to be anything more than a caretaker for the drum role and he even says as much in the documentary about his audition. He understood the assignment and did what he needed to do, but it doesn't seem like JP/JR (or the DT organization as a whole) had any interest in filling the void that Portnoy left and that hurt them especially starting with The Astonishing.
Definitely not, I like his personality and even his playing, it's just he was a bad fit (I mean, if I look at it with hindsight, of the drummers they considered - or at least pretended to consider - I think Portnoy would be much better replaced, say, with Wildoer or even Donati, someone more "out there" and with a more strongly-coming personality) and combined with the bad sound, lacklustre attitude from the rest of the band (they're not getting any younger after all), some questionable choices and overall drop of quality that might have happened even with Portnoy, it did the band no favours and unfortunately created this antiseptic version of whatever it was I loved about the band. "AI Theater", kinda.
)
