For me, this pair of tracks is the epitome of Dream Theater. The band may have a few better songs, but these two just fully encapsulate everything that the band is about.
For myself, I love the long and senseless interludes. I think often times they do have some sort of story telling aspect to them, but a lot of times in prog they are also just a chance to do something cool. In a way, its kind of like being a Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan fan, sure maybe you're interested in the character they are playing, their acting skills, and the story that is being told, but if we are being honest, you are there for the action scenes.
Just as a note and kind of pro-tip as far as Dream Theater goes regarding harmonized solos: if you think it's two guitars, it's almost certainly a guitar and synth unison 😄
Dream Theater is a band I've never been a huge fan of, but I always find myself coming back to these two songs and A Change of Seasons. The songwriting is just so good.
Ok I've been sleeping on DT for far too many yrs But this song hooked me The music is beyond well thought out and it's well composed too A very well realized song I don't know where this falls in DT's catalogue but I like it Either way I can't waiy to at least hear the rest of the album Very good showing indeed
Check out the albums Scenes From a Memory and Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence. Those 2 were their peak in my mind, although all the albums are good. Or listen to Train of Thought if you want a little more straight forward style (probably their most "metal" album and slightly less proggy although still has their trademark complex time signatures, instrumental solos, etc).
I’d say if you like this album listen to train of thought, similar vibe, then black clouds and silver linings. If you like all those definitely listen to scenes from a memory and six degrees. The latter two are two of the best albums from the band I’d say, but a bit more harder to digest for new listeners. At least imho. Train of thought is a great starting part if you dig the more metal elements, black clouds is pretty similar to systemic chaos.
There are many "hidden complexities" found in their songs which I love discovering. For instance, Part 1's verses sound straightforward but if you don't pay attention, you don't realize they are alternating 7/4 and 6/4 every measure. They have incredible music manipulating skills to make the complex sound simple and accessible.
just finished watching the complete review. Awesome job really. About the pacing and long chaotic portion, I can certainly understand how one would feel it is too long but if you understand Dream Theater (which you mostly do), everything single note and idea is there for a purpose. Nothing is extraneous if you take it at more than face value. I interpret that section as the protagonist who has been wrestling with inner turmoil and sins starting to battle against what feels like a uphill battle only to conquer it when the final lyrical section occurs. if you kind of visually and emotionally connect the earlier lyrical story + musical story + lyrical conclusion, it all makes perfect sense. They also like to use extended instrumental chaotic sections to invoke high tension that the coming conclusion actually causes a sudden release of that tension which is welcomed and can cause emotions such as crying. Incredible.
Great reaction and analysis. Always a pleasure to hear you breaking down songs. Your Next dream theater song should be a change of seasons. You gonna love it.
Petrucci has some of the most expressive lead playing I've ever heard, such as when he slurs and slides notes. He can make a straight melody into such a vocal sound by slides, mutes, and bends.
I enjoy DT songs more when I'm familiar with their complex songs. The Dance of Eternity is a great example. It's impossible to not finger drum on whatever is within my reach when listening to it. Looking forward to the new album with Mike Porntoy back.
that "priest" comic is very cool btw, it's a shame it got stuck in copyright hell and abandoned also in retrospect it makes sense that protagonist is based on caleb from "blood" 🤔 my main association was alucard from "hellsing"
Oh man, I didn't expect this! I absolutely love your breakdowns, and DT is my all time favorite band. I have been wondering if I would see them on the channel again, and they are back in a big way with one of their amazing epics! Incredible song - there is also a killer live version of it on the Chaos In Motion DVD for anyone interested
Great reaction Bryan. I personally love the theatrical storytelling parts of progressive music as well (The Dear Hunter, Haken's first two albums) It's probably why my favorites from Dream Theater are the concept albums Scenes From a Memory, 6 Degrees and even The Astonishing. Your criticism of what I call progressive wankering is warranted. It's like Dream Theater feels they need to include all the technical stuff just to show they are Mastercraft musicians on both a song writing and technical level within the same song. Agreed that it takes away from the story telling. But to each his own.
Systematic Chaos was the first Dream Theater album I heard, while Constant Motion (the third song of the album) was my introduction to the band. It brings back so many memories, specially because I haven't heard these songs in a long time. Thanks for the analysis! The second to last song of the album, The Ministry of Lost Souls, ends with an instrumental solo which eventually fades out while the ominous wind you hear at the end of Enemies pt.1 and the beggining of pt.2 fades in. It doesn't feel as smooth imo, but it still works.
To resond to your question about tracks fading into one another: the track that precedes PT. II on the album, The Minisitey of Lost Souls, does indeed fade into pt. II in a gapless manner, which ive always thought was a cool detail. The outro of The Ministry of Lost Souls is a very beautiful, epic guitar solo (that is based on a recurring melody in the song) which fades out into the atmospheric wind/air sounds that continues for a moment before ItPoE pt. II begins. The Ministry of Lost souls seems to have a fan favourite outro, and it is one of my favorites DT songs.
I wanna give you a huge thumb up! That you react to for example, In The Presence of Enemies pt. 2 is huge respect. Many just react to the most popular songs and miss a lot of good things on the way.
Thank you for taking the time to react to and analyze this song. (There's an ongoing debate as to if this is 1 song or 2, but the band has said it's 1). I have been a die hard DT fan since the 90s, and this is my favorite of their songs. I was lucky enough to hear this song live 3 times and they played it note for note. These guys are incredible, and I can't wait to hear the next album now that Mike Portnoy is home!
this might be my favorite dream theater song. i let my cousin borrow systematic chaos on a saturday night. sunday morning he texted me and said, "after hearing the first song, i'm definitely buying this album, even if the rest of the album is complete silence."
I think they have played both these pieces together live fully. I think the transition is pretty natural since they really composed these as one full song in the studio.
I had a huge dream theater phase when I was younger and love every single record of the portnoy era. I don't Really listen to them regularly anymore, but whenever I see a reaction to their songs, I click instantly and love it so much. They still impress me, again and again. It's such well written and composed music, and although it does meander around a bit sometimes, I can really appreciate their playfulness. Great reaction!
You might have all the 'two-parters' you want to cover selected already, but the album Known/Learned by Arcane has a great duo of tracks. Promise [Part2] being the album opener and Promise [Part1] being the closer, separated by nearly 2 hours of music.
I agree with you on the instrumental fatigue in part 2. I like the solos and love the sections before it but the way it transitions didn't work for me or the chaos riff turning every 2 bars and then repeating over and over. Aside from these few min, I feel this is an absolutely perfect epic master-class prog song with all the great elements of DT I love. Great analysis as always:)
Funny thing about DT songs, at few first listens, those wankery parts really feels just show off fillers, but in the end they are really crucial part of these songs and the mood they try to set. Without them the pieces would be incomplete.
You are correct that the second to last track of the album also has the wind at the end flowing into ITPoE pt. 2. The 2nd track, the one after ITPoE pt. 1 does not have it at the beginning. Also, I find it great how you can appreciate and respect the, frankly, gratuitous and overextended instrumental sections despite not enjoying them. Personally, they are my favourite parts of DT and adjacent bands. I agree that they usually seem out of place, especially if following the lyrical story, but as someone who doesn't know the lyrics to any of my favourite tracks with vocals, I just enjoy there being an overarching musical motif--which there is in ITpoE--while still adoring, admiring, and learning to play the almost etude-like breaks.
this is my favorite piece that Dream Theater ever did. it has this willingness to pull back and build on an atmosphere that they don't, uh, always choose to take. and it has this overall vibe that feels right at home in the 2007 metal scene. *and* it is a nice bit of conceptual meat to chew on! it was one of my introductions to the band, and by now I have learned to love all of their albums. but I have always thought that Dream Theater are better musicians than storytellers. this is kind of extremely consistent with them, and when they hit upon a song that has perfect execution between its concept and its music, it's a rare and incredible thing. (some fans might ask me, "what about Metropolis pt. 2?" and I say that album is a musical triumph, but The Spirit Carries On is the *exact moment* where the storytelling takes a backseat to just.. having good music. hot take here for DT nerds: The Astonishing manages to have a tighter story, and executed better, than Metropolis. and I say that with like a decade of begrudging dislike of The Astonishing. it's not my kind of album, but it is remarkably solid *as* the kind of album it is.) In the Presence of Enemies is... I mean, yeah, it's trite. it is a concept that has intrinsic depth, but *stereotypically* so, to the point that a storyteller would have to consciously dive into that depth and *find something remarkable to say within it* if he wanted to stand up to modern scrutiny. and Dream Theater does not do that! in my arc of becoming and remaining a Dream Theater fan, I have had to just flatly accept that their concepts are flavour. they contribute to the vibes of the songs. the concepts are still important, they are really good *at* giving a vibe, Dream Theater picks good concepts. but it's like.. the prog equivalent of... I dunno, some metal bands' obsession with Hell and Evil and Violence. it's not *about* the depth. it's about the flavour. (and, I mean, ItPoE quite literally is about Hell and Evil and Violence!) you have to fill in the blanks of the narrative yourself. I don't always like that, but it feels a lot more tolerable in a piece this long and involved, where the *music* can kind of give you ideas of what those missing narrative details might be. I would say this song is *inspired by* that Korean comic. the comic inspired them to make this kind of song. I would also say, and this is definitely just my armchair diagnosis, that the noodly part of the song actually needed to be *longer* and *keep developing,* it did not go far enough before it just kinda gave up and reverted to Solos. I'd even reckon they could have *cut* the Solos. (the song immediately preceding Pt. 2, titled The Ministry of Lost Souls, had this exact same problem, actually a lot more critically. it's one of the most staggeringly beautiful and tragic songs Dream Theater have ever made. it is structurally sound and heart-tugging. it is crawlingly slow and I love it for daring to be so. but then it breaks into this sinister little instrumental passage with solos on top?? and there is no indication that it has any relevance to the narrative whatsoever. it's honestly a *fantastic* instance of a sinister complicated instrumental passage, iconic, one of my favorites, *except that* I have no idea why they put it in the middle of that song. a complete clash of values. leads me to believe that Dream Theater just... really love solos. and I mean *really, really love* solos.) so. so. so, compared to that, In the Presence of Enemies's obligatory solos feel much tamer. we can at least interpret them to represent the climax of a conflict. but I do always get bored when the solos start. I have found that, to keep my attention, I have to just pay attention to the backing instruments as they reprise the very first movement from Pt. 1. so yeah. Dream Theater are musical geniuses. as storytellers, they're.. trying! and it's very charming that they are trying. I *want* them to keep trying. I loved your reaction. the song's a great vibe.
I, like many other people, was always puzzled by the seemingly incongruous solo in The Ministry of Lost Souls. I think this is because the lyrics are too oblique as to what the story is. Once you know the plot details for the song, it becomes clear that the music tries to represent elements of the story. For instance, the final soaring solo which goes up with each repetition and fades out (a bizarre choice for a cool solo like that!) clearly represents the girl's soul ascending to heaven or whatever. In my view of the song, the overlong solo, which introjects cutting out all prior material in the song, and which contains a never-stopping obsessive riff the listener can't get rid of as it moves from instrument to instrument, represents the girl's obsessive thoughts over a long period of time and her inability to let go of what happened. Tbh I don't know if the solo is just brutally self-indulgent, but this way I enjoy the whole song and specially the solo so much more.
It does both, it leads into track 2 and it leads into part 2, though it flows a tiny bit better into part 2 but that's because it was originally one song. They decided to split it into two because it was 25 minutes long.
i'm here to make a review request. i woud absolutely love if u reviewed the debut album, or a song from the album ''feast eternal'', by Yomi Ship. they are a small band, and just released their first album. i think, while they do not bring vocals, they bring a unique soundscape in their music and create very nice riffs wich makes up for any lack of vocal performance. i also truly wish for them to get more attention, because i think they deserve it. if u ever choose to review a song from the album, i woud suggest 'The Izoku', or 'Ronin's Lament'. i think these tracks show a little bit of everything u can expect to get from the album and show a good bit of what the band can offer.
I really like the digital unique sound on this album, but somehow i dont like the bass drum sound on this album. I really like the latest album mixing. the drum sounds very clear, I hope they still use similar mixing like the latest album
I used to be a big DT fan, this album is the last I truly enjoyed. Regarding the story, it's a shame that John Myung (bass) stopped writing lyrics for the band so many years ago, the few he's done are among the best. And then, with Portnoy gone, lyrics-wise their music lost a lot (to me at least). Also, the way DT tends to compose (at least in some of their albums) is to get together and just jam around and see what ideas stick. I don't think you'll find a lot of pure story-telling elements within their music.
100% agree with the DT analysis... They are incredible, but to the point of it being just too much... I love some of their songs... but those are more concise. I think they take progressive to the point the songs can lose their groove and feel. Feels like virtuoso for the sake of it, although I also think that's what makes them so popular too... I suppose Haken are in the same direction for this...
Agreed. DT, Haken, and Meshuggah are my go-to examples of popular virtuoso music that bounces off of me. Interesting they push a different element of music to the extreme with DT excelling at musicianship, Haken having insane production, and Meshuggah going all in on rhythms. All very impressive at what they do but don't usually hold my attention past the spectacle.
So my opinion on why you didn't like that one part is this, you didn't like how it transitioned. That was your initial disgust with it and then it just didn't subside until the next section. I think that was the catalyst for why you didn't like it even though you admit it's awesome.
Oh man, I'm guessing you probably already have all the 2 part songs chosen but in case you don't. Wing for Marie pt1 and 2 by Tool give me goosebumps every time
My favorite album from Dream Theater. It's often overlooked by their really popular albums, but this one stands toe to toe with their best.
The emotion in Presence of Enemies 2, in the end, when Jordan does his keys and then Labrie comes in...its truly art on a different level.
Agreed.
Yes, I tend to agree 👍.
And this is a killer song!
This was my introduction album and I've been a fan ever since. The 5.1 version of the album is excellent.
For me, this pair of tracks is the epitome of Dream Theater. The band may have a few better songs, but these two just fully encapsulate everything that the band is about.
For myself, I love the long and senseless interludes. I think often times they do have some sort of story telling aspect to them, but a lot of times in prog they are also just a chance to do something cool. In a way, its kind of like being a Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan fan, sure maybe you're interested in the character they are playing, their acting skills, and the story that is being told, but if we are being honest, you are there for the action scenes.
Cool trivia fact. They had fans come into the studio to record the "crowd" yells on this track.
Yeah, I remember the band announcing that you could just come to the studio. Unfortunately I was like over 10k miles away.
Just as a note and kind of pro-tip as far as Dream Theater goes regarding harmonized solos: if you think it's two guitars, it's almost certainly a guitar and synth unison 😄
Thanks I was hoping someone would point that out I’ve been following Dream Theater forever and have trouble distinguishing the two sometimes
Great tip! I'll be sure to keep in the mind for future reactions
John Petrucci took his evil pills for these songs
I see you’re a man of culture
Dream Theater is a band I've never been a huge fan of, but I always find myself coming back to these two songs and A Change of Seasons. The songwriting is just so good.
Have you heard "The Count of Tuscany" ? I can recomend that song otherwise, also a long song like "A Change of Seasons"
The harmonized shredding is usually guitars+keyboards. They do it live as well 😊
Ok I've been sleeping on DT for far too many yrs But this song hooked me The music is beyond well thought out and it's well composed too A very well realized song I don't know where this falls in DT's catalogue but I like it Either way I can't waiy to at least hear the rest of the album Very good showing indeed
Check out the albums Scenes From a Memory and Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence. Those 2 were their peak in my mind, although all the albums are good. Or listen to Train of Thought if you want a little more straight forward style (probably their most "metal" album and slightly less proggy although still has their trademark complex time signatures, instrumental solos, etc).
I’d say if you like this album listen to train of thought, similar vibe, then black clouds and silver linings. If you like all those definitely listen to scenes from a memory and six degrees. The latter two are two of the best albums from the band I’d say, but a bit more harder to digest for new listeners. At least imho. Train of thought is a great starting part if you dig the more metal elements, black clouds is pretty similar to systemic chaos.
There are many "hidden complexities" found in their songs which I love discovering. For instance, Part 1's verses sound straightforward but if you don't pay attention, you don't realize they are alternating 7/4 and 6/4 every measure. They have incredible music manipulating skills to make the complex sound simple and accessible.
just finished watching the complete review. Awesome job really. About the pacing and long chaotic portion, I can certainly understand how one would feel it is too long but if you understand Dream Theater (which you mostly do), everything single note and idea is there for a purpose. Nothing is extraneous if you take it at more than face value. I interpret that section as the protagonist who has been wrestling with inner turmoil and sins starting to battle against what feels like a uphill battle only to conquer it when the final lyrical section occurs. if you kind of visually and emotionally connect the earlier lyrical story + musical story + lyrical conclusion, it all makes perfect sense.
They also like to use extended instrumental chaotic sections to invoke high tension that the coming conclusion actually causes a sudden release of that tension which is welcomed and can cause emotions such as crying. Incredible.
Great reaction and analysis. Always a pleasure to hear you breaking down songs. Your Next dream theater song should be a change of seasons. You gonna love it.
Petrucci has some of the most expressive lead playing I've ever heard, such as when he slurs and slides notes.
He can make a straight melody into such a vocal sound by slides, mutes, and bends.
But but I thought his playing was soulless! Those people have no clue what they are talking about.
I enjoy DT songs more when I'm familiar with their complex songs. The Dance of Eternity is a great example. It's impossible to not finger drum on whatever is within my reach when listening to it. Looking forward to the new album with Mike Porntoy back.
Me too. I'm convinced that Portnoy is the best Mike!
god tier typo
@izzy_ondomink Lol, I'm sorry to say that was an intentional typo.
that "priest" comic is very cool btw, it's a shame it got stuck in copyright hell and abandoned
also in retrospect it makes sense that protagonist is based on caleb from "blood" 🤔 my main association was alucard from "hellsing"
Oh man, I didn't expect this! I absolutely love your breakdowns, and DT is my all time favorite band. I have been wondering if I would see them on the channel again, and they are back in a big way with one of their amazing epics! Incredible song - there is also a killer live version of it on the Chaos In Motion DVD for anyone interested
Great reaction Bryan. I personally love the theatrical storytelling parts of progressive music as well (The Dear Hunter, Haken's first two albums) It's probably why my favorites from Dream Theater are the concept albums Scenes From a Memory, 6 Degrees and even The Astonishing. Your criticism of what I call progressive wankering is warranted. It's like Dream Theater feels they need to include all the technical stuff just to show they are Mastercraft musicians on both a song writing and technical level within the same song. Agreed that it takes away from the story telling. But to each his own.
Systematic Chaos was the first Dream Theater album I heard, while Constant Motion (the third song of the album) was my introduction to the band. It brings back so many memories, specially because I haven't heard these songs in a long time. Thanks for the analysis!
The second to last song of the album, The Ministry of Lost Souls, ends with an instrumental solo which eventually fades out while the ominous wind you hear at the end of Enemies pt.1 and the beggining of pt.2 fades in. It doesn't feel as smooth imo, but it still works.
To resond to your question about tracks fading into one another: the track that precedes PT. II on the album, The Minisitey of Lost Souls, does indeed fade into pt. II in a gapless manner, which ive always thought was a cool detail. The outro of The Ministry of Lost Souls is a very beautiful, epic guitar solo (that is based on a recurring melody in the song) which fades out into the atmospheric wind/air sounds that continues for a moment before ItPoE pt. II begins. The Ministry of Lost souls seems to have a fan favourite outro, and it is one of my favorites DT songs.
Also, Part 1 fades into Forsaken. So CR was dead on with his guess
@@JVR10893 It's not exactly the same but it does flow really well I thought.
Dance of Eternity is only at its best, when in its surroundings of the scenes album imo. Stand alone I gravitate towards Erotomania as an instrumental
Stream of Consciousness is their best instrumental song.
I wanna give you a huge thumb up! That you react to for example, In The Presence of Enemies pt. 2 is huge respect. Many just react to the most popular songs and miss a lot of good things on the way.
Thank you for taking the time to react to and analyze this song. (There's an ongoing debate as to if this is 1 song or 2, but the band has said it's 1). I have been a die hard DT fan since the 90s, and this is my favorite of their songs. I was lucky enough to hear this song live 3 times and they played it note for note. These guys are incredible, and I can't wait to hear the next album now that Mike Portnoy is home!
Good analisys. Cool song, crazy craftmanship. Thanks for sharing, it has been a while I listened to this one. 👍
this might be my favorite dream theater song. i let my cousin borrow systematic chaos on a saturday night. sunday morning he texted me and said, "after hearing the first song, i'm definitely buying this album, even if the rest of the album is complete silence."
I think they have played both these pieces together live fully. I think the transition is pretty natural since they really composed these as one full song in the studio.
I had a huge dream theater phase when I was younger and love every single record of the portnoy era. I don't Really listen to them regularly anymore, but whenever I see a reaction to their songs, I click instantly and love it so much. They still impress me, again and again. It's such well written and composed music, and although it does meander around a bit sometimes, I can really appreciate their playfulness. Great reaction!
You might have all the 'two-parters' you want to cover selected already, but the album Known/Learned by Arcane has a great duo of tracks. Promise [Part2] being the album opener and Promise [Part1] being the closer, separated by nearly 2 hours of music.
I agree with you on the instrumental fatigue in part 2. I like the solos and love the sections before it but the way it transitions didn't work for me or the chaos riff turning every 2 bars and then repeating over and over. Aside from these few min, I feel this is an absolutely perfect epic master-class prog song with all the great elements of DT I love.
Great analysis as always:)
Funny thing about DT songs, at few first listens, those wankery parts really feels just show off fillers, but in the end they are really crucial part of these songs and the mood they try to set. Without them the pieces would be incomplete.
You are correct that the second to last track of the album also has the wind at the end flowing into ITPoE pt. 2. The 2nd track, the one after ITPoE pt. 1 does not have it at the beginning.
Also, I find it great how you can appreciate and respect the, frankly, gratuitous and overextended instrumental sections despite not enjoying them. Personally, they are my favourite parts of DT and adjacent bands. I agree that they usually seem out of place, especially if following the lyrical story, but as someone who doesn't know the lyrics to any of my favourite tracks with vocals, I just enjoy there being an overarching musical motif--which there is in ITpoE--while still adoring, admiring, and learning to play the almost etude-like breaks.
this is my favorite piece that Dream Theater ever did. it has this willingness to pull back and build on an atmosphere that they don't, uh, always choose to take. and it has this overall vibe that feels right at home in the 2007 metal scene. *and* it is a nice bit of conceptual meat to chew on! it was one of my introductions to the band, and by now I have learned to love all of their albums.
but I have always thought that Dream Theater are better musicians than storytellers. this is kind of extremely consistent with them, and when they hit upon a song that has perfect execution between its concept and its music, it's a rare and incredible thing. (some fans might ask me, "what about Metropolis pt. 2?" and I say that album is a musical triumph, but The Spirit Carries On is the *exact moment* where the storytelling takes a backseat to just.. having good music. hot take here for DT nerds: The Astonishing manages to have a tighter story, and executed better, than Metropolis. and I say that with like a decade of begrudging dislike of The Astonishing. it's not my kind of album, but it is remarkably solid *as* the kind of album it is.)
In the Presence of Enemies is... I mean, yeah, it's trite. it is a concept that has intrinsic depth, but *stereotypically* so, to the point that a storyteller would have to consciously dive into that depth and *find something remarkable to say within it* if he wanted to stand up to modern scrutiny. and Dream Theater does not do that!
in my arc of becoming and remaining a Dream Theater fan, I have had to just flatly accept that their concepts are flavour. they contribute to the vibes of the songs. the concepts are still important, they are really good *at* giving a vibe, Dream Theater picks good concepts. but it's like.. the prog equivalent of... I dunno, some metal bands' obsession with Hell and Evil and Violence. it's not *about* the depth. it's about the flavour. (and, I mean, ItPoE quite literally is about Hell and Evil and Violence!) you have to fill in the blanks of the narrative yourself. I don't always like that, but it feels a lot more tolerable in a piece this long and involved, where the *music* can kind of give you ideas of what those missing narrative details might be.
I would say this song is *inspired by* that Korean comic. the comic inspired them to make this kind of song.
I would also say, and this is definitely just my armchair diagnosis, that the noodly part of the song actually needed to be *longer* and *keep developing,* it did not go far enough before it just kinda gave up and reverted to Solos. I'd even reckon they could have *cut* the Solos. (the song immediately preceding Pt. 2, titled The Ministry of Lost Souls, had this exact same problem, actually a lot more critically. it's one of the most staggeringly beautiful and tragic songs Dream Theater have ever made. it is structurally sound and heart-tugging. it is crawlingly slow and I love it for daring to be so. but then it breaks into this sinister little instrumental passage with solos on top?? and there is no indication that it has any relevance to the narrative whatsoever. it's honestly a *fantastic* instance of a sinister complicated instrumental passage, iconic, one of my favorites, *except that* I have no idea why they put it in the middle of that song. a complete clash of values. leads me to believe that Dream Theater just... really love solos. and I mean *really, really love* solos.)
so.
so.
so, compared to that, In the Presence of Enemies's obligatory solos feel much tamer. we can at least interpret them to represent the climax of a conflict.
but I do always get bored when the solos start. I have found that, to keep my attention, I have to just pay attention to the backing instruments as they reprise the very first movement from Pt. 1.
so yeah. Dream Theater are musical geniuses. as storytellers, they're.. trying! and it's very charming that they are trying. I *want* them to keep trying.
I loved your reaction.
the song's a great vibe.
I, like many other people, was always puzzled by the seemingly incongruous solo in The Ministry of Lost Souls. I think this is because the lyrics are too oblique as to what the story is.
Once you know the plot details for the song, it becomes clear that the music tries to represent elements of the story. For instance, the final soaring solo which goes up with each repetition and fades out (a bizarre choice for a cool solo like that!) clearly represents the girl's soul ascending to heaven or whatever.
In my view of the song, the overlong solo, which introjects cutting out all prior material in the song, and which contains a never-stopping obsessive riff the listener can't get rid of as it moves from instrument to instrument, represents the girl's obsessive thoughts over a long period of time and her inability to let go of what happened.
Tbh I don't know if the solo is just brutally self-indulgent, but this way I enjoy the whole song and specially the solo so much more.
The prog extravaganza is awesome, I always struggled with the vocals though. Another fine analysis.
It does both, it leads into track 2 and it leads into part 2, though it flows a tiny bit better into part 2 but that's because it was originally one song. They decided to split it into two because it was 25 minutes long.
i'm here to make a review request.
i woud absolutely love if u reviewed the debut album, or a song from the album ''feast eternal'', by Yomi Ship. they are a small band, and just released their first album. i think, while they do not bring vocals, they bring a unique soundscape in their music and create very nice riffs wich makes up for any lack of vocal performance. i also truly wish for them to get more attention, because i think they deserve it.
if u ever choose to review a song from the album, i woud suggest 'The Izoku', or 'Ronin's Lament'. i think these tracks show a little bit of everything u can expect to get from the album and show a good bit of what the band can offer.
Part where he said, systemic chaos, and then I left
I really like the digital unique sound on this album, but somehow i dont like the bass drum sound on this album. I really like the latest album mixing. the drum sounds very clear, I hope they still use similar mixing like the latest album
Excellent reaction to an excellent pair of songs.
FYI that pause in part 1 you heard was a software glitch? That pause is not part of the song.
I used to be a big DT fan, this album is the last I truly enjoyed.
Regarding the story, it's a shame that John Myung (bass) stopped writing lyrics for the band so many years ago, the few he's done are among the best. And then, with Portnoy gone, lyrics-wise their music lost a lot (to me at least). Also, the way DT tends to compose (at least in some of their albums) is to get together and just jam around and see what ideas stick. I don't think you'll find a lot of pure story-telling elements within their music.
100% agree with the DT analysis... They are incredible, but to the point of it being just too much... I love some of their songs... but those are more concise. I think they take progressive to the point the songs can lose their groove and feel. Feels like virtuoso for the sake of it, although I also think that's what makes them so popular too... I suppose Haken are in the same direction for this...
Agreed. DT, Haken, and Meshuggah are my go-to examples of popular virtuoso music that bounces off of me. Interesting they push a different element of music to the extreme with DT excelling at musicianship, Haken having insane production, and Meshuggah going all in on rhythms. All very impressive at what they do but don't usually hold my attention past the spectacle.
Excelente reacción, te recomiendo A Change of seasons de Dream Theater saludos
You should check out Seeds by Exotic Animal Petting Zoo
So my opinion on why you didn't like that one part is this, you didn't like how it transitioned. That was your initial disgust with it and then it just didn't subside until the next section. I think that was the catalyst for why you didn't like it even though you admit it's awesome.
Oh man, I'm guessing you probably already have all the 2 part songs chosen but in case you don't. Wing for Marie pt1 and 2 by Tool give me goosebumps every time
First
Your content would be so much more watchable if wasn't for the near constant uptalk in your sentences. Ah well..