Dream Theater - A Dramatic Turn Of Events review
| Band: | Dream Theater |
| Album: | A Dramatic Turn Of Events |
| Style: | Progressive metal |
| Release date: | September 2011 |
01. On The Backs Of Angels
02. Build Me Up, Break Me Down
03. Lost Not Forgotten
04. This Is The Life
05. Bridges In The Sky
06. Outcry
07. Far From Heaven
08. Breaking All Illusions
09. Beneath The Surface
Dream Theater is my favorite band. They've been for a while now. However, a lot of people classify their music as mindless wankery and dislike them because of that, and while it's true that their 2000's releases to some extent fall in that category, for a long time I never really could understand what made that so unappealing to some. However, after hearing this album, I instantly knew what they meant. Following the pretty good Black Clouds And Silver Linings, which was a huge step up from the very mixed Systematic Chaos and Octavarium, it seemed like everything was going great again for Dream Theater. However, the departure of founding member Mike Portnoy left them in quite a weird spot; he had been one of the lead writers for two decades and was one of the pillars behind their success. The band now had to prove themselves capable of writing great stuff without him, using their new drummer Mike Mangini. And I'm gonna be honest, they did anything but succeed.
The album is quite long, clocking up at 77 minutes, with four of its tracks going over the 10 minutes mark. Talking about the songs, there are a few major issues that everyone will probably notice. First off, the songwriting is ALL OVER THE PLACE. Some songs will start out with technical madness and then be stopped by our second problem: a cheesy chorus that completely breaks the rhythm, making the song as a whole way less interesting. They're definitely the worst thing on the album. There's literally only one track with an enjoyable chorus and it's "Lost Not Forgotten", a track plagued by our third problem: Petrucci and Rudess being the major composers for the album. All of the songs are based solely around the guitar and keyboard and eventually end up in a contest of who can play the most notes. It just ends up being mindless wankery, with pointless instrumental sections that add absolutely no substance whatsoever to the music.
The fourth is the random elements. Now randomness itself is not really a problem for me, although it wouldn't really fit the precise and calculated side of Dream Theater, but starting a song with Mongolian throat singing that has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the track isn't really the most well thought out decision. This is amplified by the weird keyboard sounds Rudess uses at times, most notably in "Beneath The Surface", which is already a painful enough track without it. Talking about Rudess, the keyboard is omnipresent, and it becomes quite annoying because once again, it's just pointless wankery. I'd say the most enjoyable track is "Breaking All Illusions", it's the only song here that proves that Dream Theater can still slap, although it of course has a mediocre chorus. But absolute rock bottom is hit with "Build Me Up, Break Me Down", which many rightfully said reached the level of a Disturbed song. Sorry for all of you Disturbed fans out there, but it's not a compliment.
This is a painful album to listen to, and not the greatest start to the new decade for Dream Theater.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | 4 |
| Originality: | 6 |
| Production: | 7 |
Written by Roman Doez | 29.12.2020
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
Rating:
5.8
5.8
|
Rating: 5.8 |
It seems that something like that must have happened eventually. Mike Portnoy is gone, and A Dramatic Turn of Events is the first occasion for the metal community to find out how Dream Theater fares without their co-founder and co-leader. Let me tell you straight away that it sucks. It sucks much more than I feared it would having heard the first song off the album, whose name I won't even bother to mention. Why would I want to waste time typing names of crappy songs? Read more ›› |
Rating:
7.9
7.9
|
Rating: 7.9 |
There is no denying Dream Theater has been an enormous influence on progressive music for the last two decades. Every new release of theirs usually generates a buzz among fans and media alike. But since founding member, natural leader and revered drummer Mike Portnoy left the band unceremoniously last year, the free press the band is getting has been off the charts. After an overly publicized series of auditions whence drumming instructor Mike Mangini came triumphant, expectations were at an expected all-time high. A lot of doubts and uncertainties were lingering in the air. So what? You ask. Well, it all depends who's giving you the answer. Reviews have been split across the internet spectrum. But since you're stuck with me, here are my thoughts. Read more ›› |
Comments page 2 / 2
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Comments: 52
Visited by: 134 users
| Bad English Tage Westerlund Posts: 60961 From: Sweden  |
Written by R.Boxma on 30.12.2020 at 15:38 Because i am metal head, listen metsl not just few bands, I follow scene deep and on regular bases. I know what bands i like. What i dont. So
---- Life is to short for LOVE, there is many great things to do online !!! Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die''  apos;'[image] I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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| Bad English Tage Westerlund Posts: 60961 From: Sweden |
Jon Dow. He said double bass. Only few Bassist can play bass well to impresse me, he is Dead and he plaid rock n roll
---- Life is to short for LOVE, there is many great things to do online !!! Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die'' apos;'[image] I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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| JoHn Doe Posts: 4874  |
Written by Bad English on 30.12.2020 at 16:28 I still don't know what are you talking about... 
---- I thought the two primary purposes for the internet were cat memes and overreactions.
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| Oracles Posts: 130 From: Poland  |
Written by Roman Doez on 29.12.2020 at 19:25 The Astonishing for me was an album too long, but didn't lack good songs on it. I just cut the album down from the songs I thought were filler into something more manageable and it's good album once you do that. I recommend doing the same.
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| Oracles Posts: 130 From: Poland |
Written by Bad English on 30.12.2020 at 16:27Going into a comment section of a band you don't like is dumb though...
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| JoHn Doe Posts: 4874 |
Written by Oracles on 30.12.2020 at 18:51  thanks 
---- I thought the two primary purposes for the internet were cat memes and overreactions.
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| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist Posts: 21306 From: Canada  |
Written by Oracles on 29.12.2020 at 19:23 You really think someone would do that? Just go on the internet and joke about Disturbed?
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist Posts: 21306 From: Canada |
Written by Oracles on 30.12.2020 at 18:51 How else are we supposed to inflate our post count.
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| R.Boxma Posts: 165 From: Australia  |
Written by Bad English on 30.12.2020 at 16:27 Lol I bet you wish you had more than one pair of ears.. That way you could listen to multiple albums at once  We're all metalheads here mate and your listening exposure is so wide you probably heard Dream Theater only once in your life and there you made your judgement and moved on to the next 100 bands. Some albums take a bit of time to get used to and then you get blown away with how great they really are. How many killar bands have you rejected because they didn't appeal to you the first time you heard them? It's the albums that appeal to us immediately that end up becoming the boring ones in the end but the ones that take a few spins to get into are the ones we love the most! Wouldn't you agree?
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| R.Boxma Posts: 165 From: Australia |
Written by JoHn Doe on 30.12.2020 at 18:39 I was talking about how.. Well I think Fates Warning Parallels drummer did not use "double-bass drumming" but used a lot of hih-hat work. But I think that BE thinks I'm talking about the double bass that the symphony often use (you know it looks like a giant violin)...
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| Bad English Tage Westerlund Posts: 60961 From: Sweden |
Negative. DT is old old band, did listen in teenage years a lot, never could get into, its not my band then.when my list was maybe 20 bands.
---- Life is to short for LOVE, there is many great things to do online !!! Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die'' apos;'[image] I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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| RaduP CertifiedHipster Posts: 8628 From: Romania  |
I close my eyes for one second and bam 40+ comments on a review of an old Dream Theater album
---- Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking One day there will be no heart at all?
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| nikarg Posts: 7039 From: Greece  |
Written by RaduP on 31.12.2020 at 09:12 And to think that it's doez's first review. How many comments are under your first review? I have one in mine and... it is also mine. So pathetic
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| JoHn Doe Posts: 4874 |
Written by R.Boxma on 31.12.2020 at 06:10 BE specifically quoted me and mentioned me for some reason, I just don't get what he is saying. I don't know and don't give him too much credit anyway TBH.
---- I thought the two primary purposes for the internet were cat memes and overreactions.
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| RaduP CertifiedHipster Posts: 8628 From: Romania |
Written by nikarg on 31.12.2020 at 10:47 That's it. Only reviewing Dream Theater from now on.
---- Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking One day there will be no heart at all?
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| Roman Doez Hallucigenia Posts: 913 From: France  |
This review was a success I'll forever be known as the guy who got 40+ comments on his first review
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| JoHn Doe Posts: 4874 |
Written by RaduP on 31.12.2020 at 11:55 please start with Awake (1994). it's my favorite from them. 
---- I thought the two primary purposes for the internet were cat memes and overreactions.
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| RaduP CertifiedHipster Posts: 8628 From: Romania |
Written by JoHn Doe on 31.12.2020 at 13:59 Mine as well.
---- Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking One day there will be no heart at all?
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| JoHn Doe Posts: 4874 |
Written by RaduP on 31.12.2020 at 14:05 
---- I thought the two primary purposes for the internet were cat memes and overreactions.
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| darkvortex Posts: 3 From: France  |
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| Bad English Tage Westerlund Posts: 60961 From: Sweden |
Written by nikarg on 31.12.2020 at 10:47 and you wrote it by your self hehhee
---- Life is to short for LOVE, there is many great things to do online !!! Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die'' apos;'[image] I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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| tintinb Posts: 1807 From: India |
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