Album Rating: 3.5 | Sound Off

It's funny because I don't think there is any record Portnoy is playing on that has rough mixing, except maybe the weird sampled drums in Images & Words. Octavarium was also not the best but very passable at least.



I think 'A View from the Top of the World' sounds pretty great though

---it undeniably stands out as darker, heavier, and more focused than a typical Dream Theater release---

These have always been my favorite DT releases. Literally had no idea this was coming out so I'm mildly hyped. Good review too of course.

"I don’t understand how such good musicians can have such bad taste."

This perfectly sums up dream theater for me.

paint by numbers dream theater. not awful but not a whiff of anything creatively fresh or exciting, even with portnoy's return. boring and forgettable prog rock, i couldnt hear a single hook or section that stood out. insert meme about asking chatGPT to make a dream theater record

not a massive knock on them, they are 35 years in and most bands at this stage coast and stay in their lane like this. Distance Over Time def trumps this as far as their output this decade goes tho

all the power to those digging it though, no shade thrown, just different strokes

Album Rating: 3.5 | Sound Off

I completely agree, I saw somewhere that they did not ignore nostalgia for this record, which I get. It sounds they just got together to pretend nothing ever happened, and I think why this sounds like it could have been released instead of A Dramatic Turn of Events in 2011 haha

I'll give this a listen considering it's the 1st DT album with Portnoy back. Will be interesting.

Album Rating: 4.0

"It's funny because I don't think there is any record Portnoy is playing on that has rough mixing, except maybe the weird sampled drums in Images & Words. Octavarium was also not the best but very passable at least."



yeah this is one of the biggest positives of portnoy returning... as soon as he left it became amateur hour on the production side of things. the difference in quality between black clouds and dramatic turn is astounding. view actually sounded pretty decent tho

Album Rating: 4.0

alright i'm jumping in lfggggggggg

Album Rating: 4.0

intro track is interesting for them. still not as big on night terror as most. of the three singles its the one that feels most remnant of the mangini era

Intro track was fun, but Night Terror absolutely slaps

Album Rating: 3.5 | Sound Off

Yeah I was surprised how much more I liked Night Terror on second listen

Album Rating: 3.0

After one full listen, I'm not completely sold. Feels like a step down from their last record, very paint by numbers as another user stated.

Album Rating: 4.0

think its kinda neat how a lot of this album seems to be about portnoy and all the time him and the band spent apart. bend the clock and midnight messiah pretty explicitly.

There are certainly some extraneous solos -that's just the price of entry with Dream Theater- but genuinely shocked at how much these songs rip

Album Rating: 4.0

This absolutely gets better after very listen, all in one go. Of course, Labrie still sounds like the weakest link, but I sincerely think it is not that bad on this record. He sticks to lower range and does not try to hit those cringy highs anymore. Production also favors him a lot.



One of the strong points for me, surprinsingly, is Rudess' more laid back and moody approach. He sure still has his wanker moments, but overall, I prefer his work here.

Album Rating: 4.0

shadow man absolutely rips. much much better than the view t/t and illumination theory

Agree with way the rating. All the singles ripped so far

Album Rating: 4.0

man i don't care what anyone says about him. nothing quite like listening to portnoy play the drums. yeah he's far from the most technically gifted prog metal drummer, and yeah he does recycle the same fills pretty frequently... but the dude is literally always playing the perfect drum part at any given moment and his feel is simply unmatched.

Album Rating: 3.5 | Sound Off

For sure, the difference in drumming between this one and the record before perfectly shows the differences between the Mikes.