Dream Theater - A Dramatic Turn Of Events review
| Band: | Dream Theater |
| Album: | A Dramatic Turn Of Events |
| Style: | Progressive metal |
| Release date: | September 07, 2011 |
| A review by: | Daniell |
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
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?
I will save a lot of time this way at least. Not having to type seven names of songs saves a lot of typing time, which I can otherwise spend picking my nose and admiring the yield that came form my private excavation. It'll be also more interesting than the dubious pleasure I was privy to while I was giving the album my mandatory 10 listens. I'm a coffee guy, so caffeine always manages to keep me awake. If it hadn't been for this legal drug, I'd never have finished listening to this turd of an album.
During the ordeal of listening to A Dramatic Turn of Events I pricked up my ears only twice. "Lost Not Forgotten" is half-decent, and its chorus has some bite in it, making the song at least memorable. "Breaking All Illusions" is the only trace of Dream Theater's former glory - adventurous, intriguing, surprising, with a great, well-composed, labyrinthine guitar solo. The only really outstanding song, the only pearl among swine.
The rest of the songs are a gray mass containing craploads of forced, uninspired instrumental wankery, multiple showoff passages, incredibly drawn out fragments, boring singing and flat, lifeless choruses. Sometimes the songs are sickeningly sweet and reek of badly disguised desire for radio exposure, sometimes they are overly complicated, but put together using unmatched parts, resulting in a bigger mess than my 3-year-old niece would make if I left her in the kitchen for 2 hours. All the inspiration that Dream Theater had this time around went into 2 songs. And what the hell is wrong with Jordan Rudess? He crammed his damn keyboard passages into every nook and cranny he could find in every song, and when there was no room to cram, he put the goddamn thing on top. The omnipresence of his instrument is extremely annoying and makes the album even worse. I know he is a virtuoso, but must he prove it five times per minute?
Come back Mike, please.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | 5 |
| Originality: | 6 |
| Production: | 8 |
 | Written on 21.09.2011 by Writes overly honest and totally subjective reviews when fancy strikes him. Which is not often. Which is probably good, all things considered. |
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 ›› |
Rating:
5.0
5.0
|
Rating: 5.0 |
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. Read more ›› |
Comments page 2 / 7
Comments: 186
Visited by: 948 users
| Daniell _爱情_ Elite Posts: 6124  |
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| Daniell _爱情_ Elite Posts: 6124 |
Written by jhook on 22.09.2011 at 05:20 Exactly. 5.8 means less than "good", which in turn means "mediocre". Unless you think that "mediocre" implies "good"?
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| malaikat Posts: 405  |
I dunno, I found this album enjoyable. I never really liked DT, although I listened to almost all of their albums, and this one seems more or less the same as others - enjoyable listen for a few spins, some standard, yet uninspired technical prowess, and that's it. And I really think that 5.8 is a decent rating. Although a pleasant album, there isn't a single section, note or a song that stands out. With all due respect towards the band members, being a good player doesn't neccesarily mean you're a good songwriter.
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| qlacs "The Quaker" Posts: 1552  |
To me, as a non-DT fan nor a constant listener, the album was enjoyable for once. I can't blame the drummer for what he does, the problem lies within the songwriting actually. A few songs are good, but as it was said before there are no real highlights. The only song that caught me is "On The Back Of Angels", probably because it reminds me of some classic DT songs (Pull Me Under, Take The Time). Anyway, I think of rating it between 6 and 7.
---- 
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| Mikyz Posts: 711  |
It's a good review, DT's glory days are long past, this album only serves to showcase their individual talent, it's not as good as it is attractive.
---- Laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone.
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| Nicko's Nose Posts: 492  |
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| silenius Posts: 532  |
They just took a slab of freshly made extrement and slabbed it on a record, buuuuuu!
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| Milena gloom cookie Staff Posts: 4603  |
Written by wrathchild on 22.09.2011 at 09:20 Well he can long as hard as he wants but he's not coming back. Mangini fuckin' quit his job to join DT - teaching on that same university they dropped out of years ago. He's the only dude in this whole shabang that's earning my respect instead of losing it. Go MM!
---- 7.0 means the album is good
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| Twisted Zoul Posts: 3 |
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| Raziel X Posts: 117  |
This review sounds almost like a review of hardcore tarja fan of new NW album  ... just like that this guy is bashing an album when mike is not on it, lol... while there cant be full objectivity in a review, agreed, a review too one-sided is not a good one  this sounds more like a spit of a guy frustrated that he didnt get exactly what he wanted... which doesnt mean the album is bad... if you ask me i like their modern stuff, and im not a DT fanboy... you may as well call Tolkien boring, and that will say it all LOL but whatever, I dont mind other opinions as long as they are stated in a civilized manner... no wonder that some ppl cant take metal reviews seriously, when the bad reviews are peeping with words like turd and other niceties
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| Daniell _爱情_ Elite Posts: 6124 |
There were 3 fucks in the early draft of this review. I can only imagine the feedback if they appeared in the final version  Some people should seriously remove sticks from their arses...
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| andreosokin SOUNDERY Posts: 227  |
Hey Daniel, I haven't bought the new album yet, but the review is awesome and hilarious Not sure I would put such a low rating to it, but we'll see after my first 3-4 listenings
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| jmz Posts: 5 |
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| malaikat Posts: 405 |
Written by jmz on 22.09.2011 at 14:00 I always thought MetalStorm was the most prog/experimental/avantguarde oriented metal-dedicated site out there. I myself found a shitload of awesome prog bands just by reading random reviews by staff members and guest reviewers. Besides, how can you say that DT is never rated high, with "Metropolis" holding rating 9, "Images and Words" 9.1, and "Awake" 8.7? If the album is good, it's rated good. You can't just give all DT albums a 10 just because those guys studied at Berklee. And, frankly, most of DT fans are in fact people who care only for "teh mad skillz" of band members, not so much for the actual songs and such. And the songs on this album are boring, despite their musicianship.
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| Lit. Account deleted |
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| Panterica Posts: 341  |
Break All Illusions is a great song and it deserves to be in a better album cause I'm sure as hell not gonna buy this one. What a shame though... Oh well, at least I got Opeth's new album...
---- Li'ed - Prog-Metal from Jerusalem https://open.spotify.com/artist/7aZWDrAAvDSLMaSmDSE8zA https://www.facebook.com/LiedBandMusic http://lied-band.bandcamp.com/
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| Slayer666 Posts: 2466  |
Written by Daniell on 21.09.2011 at 23:19 Of course it's biased, duh. I mean, you wrote about YOUR opinion on the album, ffs. Oh, wait, reviews are actually supposed to be a well-explained opinion. Never mind. Butthurt fans, continue whining. I only have a tiny problem with the review myself. It seems that the tone of the review is much harsher than the rating itself... 5.8 implies almost average, but you pretty much nuked it, which I fully agree with. Boring beyond belief. This is exactly what happens when prog bands forget they're supposed to be making music, not recording the exercise of their "mad skillz".
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| Daniell _爱情_ Elite Posts: 6124 |
Written by Slayer666 on 22.09.2011 at 15:23 I suppose my rating was upped a bit due to flawless musicianship and good production that this album undoubtedly has. If I were to assess only song quality, it'd have to be a 4.8
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| jhook Posts: 37 |
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| sonykov Posts: 6  |
Written by Darth Mitchell on 22.09.2011 at 00:58 you are not the only one, i like the album very much, and i totally disagree with people who said that this album is a mess up all because of portnoy's departure, i love portnoy, but i also love mangini, and this guy is too much of a drummer, he is a beast, listen to the chorus of "Lost not Forgotten", he plays it with 3 different styles, i am not saying that portnoy can't do such a thing, but mangini some how has a techniques that portnoy lakes, however, petrucci himself said in audition that " he -mangini- can do with one limp that others do with two", and could someone tell how often do you find in DT previous albums that much of dynamics in double bass drums playing, so lets not rely any messes or lakes in this album on portnoy's departure, and please keep in mind that he was the one who chosen to leave, maybe i agree with the review in the points considering rudess. and finally IMO Mangini is a more technical and generally better drummer than Portnoy. i gave the album 10 (mainly on that performance)
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| Prometheus Posts: 63 |
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| sonykov Posts: 6 |
Written by Daniell on 21.09.2011 at 23:19 sorry but it is biased to Portnoy, it is so obvious  "come back portnoy" LOL
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| sonykov Posts: 6 |
Written by Risto on 22.09.2011 at 02:01 totally agree with you 
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| Daniell _爱情_ Elite Posts: 6124 |
Written by Prometheus on 22.09.2011 at 15:46 Valium, cupcake, valium. Before you explode.
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| Prometheus Posts: 63 |
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| VPeter Posts: 1451  |
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| jmz Posts: 5 |
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| bodomroy Posts: 56  |
A review can´t be objective but points yes, it´s maths. 9+5+6+8 = 28 / 4 = 7. Reviewer hates jordan's keyboards and its presence, so i think performance and production can´t score 9 and 8. Doesn´t like singing too and it seems that only one guitar solo its well built so the review doesn´t follow the logic of the points.
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| Introspekrieg Totemic Lust Elite Posts: 2749  |
Didn't like this one either... I was kind of confused by the praise being heaped on elsewhere. Not saying I don't see what people could like about it, it's just, something is missing. Very unfulfilling after several listens, a few moments here and there. I love JR's keyboard work however salient it may be...
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