they should make their own stuff cus that is the heart of the musak.

what Red song did they steal from?

Album Rating: 3.2

Feed the Machine

Album Rating: 3.0

The Red song is better too.

LOL okay!

Album Rating: 3.0

It seems like a trend to hate on this album because of the Red "rip-off". Seems like most of those people refuse to even give the rest of the album a try and they don't WANT to like it because of the whole Red thing. It's a shame because it's a great album in my opinion.

Album Rating: 3.2

Dream Theater fans are used to the band liberally borrowing from their influences. I doubt it makes any difference to fans at all. The people 'hating' are the same ones that could find 100 more reasons to talk shit.

Album Rating: 3.5

"That song's main riff was stolen from Red."

When the song started, I seriously thought: "Did I put Red there on my playlist?"

But in all honesty, Dream Theater has put their hands into "stealing" many times before in the past. There was this track called "Raw Dog" in the God of War III EP. It's intro had unbelievable resemblance with BlessTheFall's "2.0" and the main riff was simply snatched from Six Feet Under's Victim Of The Paranoid. I can swear I heard the lead from "A Nightmare To Remember" AGES ago. The same goes for the orchestra-thingy in "The Best Of Times".

Such a colossal band, and yet they steal ideas.



"It should go without saying that Mike Mangini is a technically proficient drummer, but he is also entirely bland."

I'm not sure if you know it, but actually, Mike Mangini did not write the drum parts. Petrucci was the one who wrote the drum parts even before Mangini even joined the band. Mangini did add his own flavor to it, but only to already written bland drum parts. Mangini himself said that he was more comfortable this way because he did want to simply step into the band as a new guy and start interfering with the creative process of the other band members.

But yes, the drum parts were BLAND! Sure, DT's drumming has been getting more and more bland over the years, but this was a new level of bland drumming. And the drum recording sucked. The bass drum sounded so bad, almost like hitting a plastic container.



But yes, did I enjoy listening to LaBrie's vocals and Jordan's keyboards on this records or what! I think Mike Portnoy's leave gave the DT members a lot of space to do what they've been wanting to do with their own instruments for some time now.



Other than the "Mike Mangini being entirely bland", I can't really argue with the review. Great Review. Whether or not Mangini is bland, we'll probably find out on the next DT album.

Album Rating: 3.0

"Sure, DT's drumming has been getting more and more bland over the years, but this was a new level of bland drumming."



Now I agree with most of what you said, but to this... really? Have you not listened to BC&SL? Portnoy KILLS it on that album.

yeah drumming on black clouds is aweosme. Oh and this is much better than systematic chaos, that albums sucks.

Album Rating: 3.5

"Now I agree with most of what you said, but to this... really? Have you not listened to BC&SL? Portnoy KILLS it on that album."



I'm not too sure about that. The drums are very normal. Sure, they're fast and there's continuous double-bass, but on black clouds, he took a more "heavy metal" approach to his drumming rather than the old "progressive metal" approach he used to take. Aside from the intro of, maybe, "The Shattered Fortress", there's not much memorable drum parts there.

Album Rating: 3.5 | Sound Off

They didnt steal a riff, they basically recreated the same formula. But this isnt really a new thing for them to do, they basically did the same thing a couple times when Portnoy was in the band. They even seam to steal from themselves in certain cases, take Lost not Forgotten for example, its basic structure is almost exactly like Under a Glass Moon. So what, this is old news.

the vocalist fucking sucks ass

Album Rating: 3.0

Build me up, Break me down is such an annoying song. Album is good... just good but boring

Album Rating: 3.5 | Sound Off

This album is great, but WHY DOES IT SOUND SO MUCH LIKE IMAGES AND WORDS? THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE CLASSIC!

Album Rating: 3.0

"I'm not too sure about that. The drums are very normal. Sure, they're fast and there's continuous double-bass, but on black clouds, he took a more "heavy metal" approach to his drumming rather than the old "progressive metal" approach he used to take. Aside from the intro of, maybe, "The Shattered Fortress", there's not much memorable drum parts there."



Fair enough... I just really enjoyed the drums in A Nightmare to Remember and The Shattered Fortress, but I see where you're coming from.

Album Rating: 3.5

Can get kinda saney after a while. Still, its Dream Theater so its good.

James Labia

Album Rating: 3.0

i'd give him a lick

Album Rating: 3.5

Mike Mangina