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 6 / 7
Comments: 186
Visited by: 948 users
| Vonpire Posts: 471  |
Written by Daniell on 27.09.2011 at 20:02 Ohhhhhh WOWOW HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH LOLOLOLOLOL What a joke!!! This guy must be kiddin' or don't have mirrors at home.
---- Beware the Shadows of Dusk
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| Milena gloom cookie Staff Posts: 4603  |
Written by Angelic Storm on 27.09.2011 at 20:14 Sorry for crashing your reply party again, but I don't think anyone would have cared about Queensryche's latest 
---- 7.0 means the album is good
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| Angelic Storm Melodious Posts: 6675  |
Written by Milena on 01.10.2011 at 00:14 Well, you wouldn't have thought so, but one time a Queensryche fan did have a go at me for saying I didn't like "American Soldier". (which was also a terrible album) So you never know! 
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| Wes Posts: 424  |
My favorite album since Scenes From a Memory. To me personally it's at least 9/10.
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| Angelic Storm Melodious Posts: 6675 |
Written by Wes on 02.10.2011 at 23:32 I personally wouldn't put it above "Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence", but it might just be their best since then... though Im still not quite decided on that yet.
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| Daniell _爱情_ Elite Posts: 6117  |
Usually, when I'm disappointed with an album, I give it some listens, and once I'm sure of my opinion, I never come back to such an album. When I'm reviewing an album, I give it a mandatory number of listens and never go back to it. So, theoretically, I should never listen to DToE again. But since I love Dream Theater, I keep coming back to DToE, hoping that things will finally click into place and I will get how great this album is. I really want to like an album by one of my favourite bands. But, I'm sorry to say, DToE leaves me completely indifferent over and over again.
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| Angelic Storm Melodious Posts: 6675 |
Written by Daniell on 03.10.2011 at 17:34 If I'm really disappointed with an album, I'd find it very difficult to listen to it more than once, so you're better than me... lol
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| Quinaitor Posts: 51  |
Written by Daniell on 03.10.2011 at 17:34 I feel EXACTLY THE SAME, I've really tried to love the album, but it is impossible, IDK if the fact of knowing that the drummer is not MP is making a strong distorsion in my mind, still I just do not love the album, I like it as I like every album that is "likeable"... but this one is for the ages only on the fact that without MP... DT is not DT... at least not in their first attempt...
---- Metal is flowing through my veins...
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| Quinaitor Posts: 51 |
Written by Angelic Storm on 03.10.2011 at 18:36 Thing is that with only 1 listening is really hard to fully appreciate the album, I mean the first time I gave a listen to black metal, I thought it was a piece of shit... but after several numbers of listenings... I really love it... the point is that ADTOE is nothing more than a 6 points album... that's it... at least to me... and I'm a heavy fan of the band... actually it was my favorite band...
---- Metal is flowing through my veins...
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| Angelic Storm Melodious Posts: 6675 |
Written by Quinaitor on 04.10.2011 at 20:17 Well, the first time I heard death metal, I found it very hard to listen to, same with black metal. But now love both genres. As for albums, if I think it's average/okay, then I probably will give it repeated listens to see if it might grow on me. Especially if it's a band I like, or something unique. If I really dislike an album though, then I probably won't listen through the whole thing again. As for ADTOE, I think it's definitely worth more than 6, though Im still a bit undecided as to where exactly Id place it alongside their other albums...
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| Quinaitor Posts: 51 |
Written by Angelic Storm on 04.10.2011 at 20:23 Uhm the main problem with ADTOE is that is an album from DT... wich IMO (not a fan opinion but the objective one) is a band that has made all astonishing albums, on and on, over and over, every release is a masterpiece, not all 10's but of course they are terrific albums every single one of them. That's why ADTOE is the worst album... People on DT is hard and they keep telling that after 6DOIT they have made nothing but shit... Thing that I strongly disagree.. ADTOE is a 6 album with a 7 TOPS... since every other album is a certain 8 at least.
---- Metal is flowing through my veins...
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| Linak I Own You Bitch Posts: 4173  |
Yes!! i like this review!! i haven't heard the album... haha, but i totally, totally agree!... or do I? Well I just might... Whatever, the fact is I've come to trust the first review i read about an album I want to hear. usually I mighty disagree, it's a curse that has happened since people thought Maleventum was baad, cause I liked liked it, and it's been going on for years, but now, oh boy now I think I might just totally agree with it. i'll stop now otherwise I'll end up sounding totally girly, right? hohh, cause mike portnoy was tehh hottie of the band riight? NOT! i've always had a thing for asian bassists, HAH! mi-i-ike, i lack youu
---- Stick this up your fucking pee-aitch-dee.
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| Adaeha Posts: 1  |
Totally disagree with this review. Personally I think this is the best album DT have done since ToT. I'm kinda sad that MP had to leave, as he was a most excelent drummer, but if this is the direction him leaving has put the band in, then I'm happy. The only downer to this album for me is Lost Not Forgotten, but even then DT have done much worse (Repentance anyone? :I)
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| nb Posts: 248  |
I found this album to be very enjoyable. It has all the DT elements you could hope for and it is still progressive metal, not soft prog rock like some people said. I found the guitar and keyboard work to be excellent, the bass is very much there (I still have to pay more attention to it), the vocals are very catchy, the drums are also nice, however they seem a little low in the mix. Overall a very nice effort from DT.
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| Ahto Posts: 76  |
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| Daniell _爱情_ Elite Posts: 6117 |
Written by Ahto on 10.11.2011 at 23:13 Let me ask you something... ARE YOU FUCKING NUTS? Opinions vary, you know.
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| Ahto Posts: 76 |
Written by Daniell on 10.11.2011 at 23:21 Im sorry i didnt mean to freak out like that.. i dont even post comments too often but today i just finished listening to this album then i wanted to check it on MS and your review simply didnt make any sense.. i mean, come on!! its so obvious that you just closed your eyes and attacked DT.. im thinking its probably because you like Portnoy a lot and couldnt take his departure. But if you make Portnoy read your review he will probably laugh... yeah just laugh
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| Daniell _爱情_ Elite Posts: 6117 |
Written by Ahto on 10.11.2011 at 23:32 Wrong, wrong, wrong. I do not idolize Portnoy. I was merely pointing out that after his departure DT released one of their worst (if not the worst) albums. That's all about Mike Portnoy's role in my interview. I can understand why you love the album. Please try to see why I hate it. So, again, opinions vary, you know.
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| ScnD361 Posts: 73 |
I think this is their best album after "Images and Words", "Train of Thoughts" and "Awake". I'm not sure if i feel this because the departure of Portnoy, i only enjoy the music and this album is great!  .
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| freetrader0000 Posts: 5 |
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071  |
Written by [user id=2084] on 04.03.2012 at 07:35 And does that make it any better? Nope, it doesn't.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996 
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| @gent_-_orange Posts: 905  |
Written by [user id=2084] on 04.03.2012 at 07:35 If the "Go compose your own album" was taken seriously no one on this site would be allowed to review / pass judgement on an album, and yeah a lot of time and effort probably went into this record, just as a lot of time and effort probably went into Lulu or the Newest Morbid angel album and they still suck, TBH you could replace the words Dream theatre with Metallica or Morbid angel or any band for that matter and the statement would make just as much sense and it doesnt change the fact people shit all over those records.
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| Cynic Metalhead Ambrish Saxena Posts: 7651  |
Written by [user id=2084] on 04.03.2012 at 07:35 Respectably yes...but still a shit album to dump it.
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino Staff Posts: 18439  |
The "compose your own album" thought is something I would expect from a pissed off 6 year old.
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| ErikDavidWhite Posts: 3 |
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| Tristus Scriptor Rancid Reviewer Posts: 293  |
No comment. (...dammit - can't help myself... 8.1!) Now you know why "no comment".
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| Daniell _爱情_ Elite Posts: 6117 |
Written by Tristus Scriptor on 02.12.2013 at 21:58 Feel free to comment.
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| Tristus Scriptor Rancid Reviewer Posts: 293 |
Written by Daniell on 03.12.2013 at 09:34 Nah. I'm not an arguing baboon like most of the internet. Haha.  And I have enough opportunity to say what I feel on my own metal website. (No, I'm not advertising.) But I'm quite the Metal Storm fan, and enjoy a good lot of the more mature and objective reviews on this site, along with a lot of the staff's "ways". But I will say - unless there's something just audacious and horrid going on with a band's choices that I cannot ignore; I would rather give praise to professionals' artistic output. And by the way...I rarely even listen to Dream Theater anymore. My favorite is Awake. So, I feel I've done well as to not comment (or comment minimally) about THIS review, but about my own personal policies. Hails to all!
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