A Dramatic Turn Of Events - Dream Theater
2011 - Roadrunner CD
- John Petrucci / guitars, vocals
- James Labrie / vocals
- John Myung / bass
- Jordan Rudess / keyboards
- Mike Mangini / drums
1. On The Backs Of Angels
2. Build Me Up, Break Me Down
3. Lost Not Forgotton
4. This Is The Life
5. Bridges In The Sky
6. Outcry
7. Far From Heaven
8. Breaking All Illusions
9. Beneath The Surface
"A Dramatic Turn Of Events". I don't hear it. Most of what I hear is recycled DT from the '90's: a little from Images And Words and Awake, a whole lot from Scenes From A Memory and Six Degress Of Inner Turbulence and a shift from the darkness of thier last few albums though some tracks try to capture the moral blindness theme so indicative of DT that the shadows are casting the remnants of the band's former image. Maybe the band's shadow has become a delusive image of semblance, unreal and unsubstantial. Maybe Mike Portnoy saw the light(?) as he suggested that the band take a hiatus as he recognised his burnout but his illumination wasn't seen from the other band members; free from what encumbers: ego and self-indulgence to maintain thier distinct individuality thus resulting in no cohension. Abtrusive. Lacking gravity.
However there is some glow to this album. Some tracks have a flame, hot and luminous but most have the glare of being painfully bright from the scintillations of over-complexity, void of sequence and intensity > cold and uninspired.
There's no denying the talent, for the most part of the musicians on a individual basis though the glitter and the flash become undiscernible to my hearing to the point of anxiety resulting in disengagement from the intense incandesence of excess gratification; a turning of the head due to the intense radiation of light if you will. Just unable to absorb the intricacies that are so entangled on the some of the tracks that are confusing to point of being abstrusive.
Glow:
James Labrie vocals sound better than the last ten years or so though on the ballads to me he sounds like he trying to reach Freddie Mercury but falls on his face. Again there's a certain octave Labrie reaches that sends a shimmering vibration through my spine. For me, Labrie's vocals have always been more suited to metal than prog. Him and the piano somehow don't accompany each other well. Sounds so inflated. Grandiloquent.
No Mike Portnoy background/harmony (what harmony) vocals.
Heavy expectations for Mike Mangini replacing Mike Portnoy. I think he does admirable job even though it sounds like he was put in the closet in the studio. He doesn't overplay and keeps things relatively simple unlike at times with Portnoy and his "fastest drummer in the world" attitude would detract and disconnect on some tracks.
John Petrucci's riffs.
More prog than metal.
Glare:
The keys of Jordan Rudess. I don't like to use the over used description "cheeze", but the sound and tone of his keys are the epitome of "cheeze". Lightweight in a heavy atmosphere. Nothing short of dischord. The mixing of Petrucci's riffs with Rudess' keys is like trying to mix oil and water. It just doesn't work. A bloody bamboozle. His soloing shredding is clumsy and has no metrical merit. His measure of musical rhythm and structure has no specific sequence what so ever. He enters and exits so awkwardly and has no semblance to time and length on a melodic level. Some of the great prog keyboardists go for the overkill, are pompous and bombastic but what do you call the playing of Rudess?...I don't know. I've never heard anything like this. He is the perfect example of individualism.
The riffs of John Petrucci.
The ballads. All three of them. Three too many.
Once a team that has taken on the attitude and mentallity of all-star team.
What is old is new again. I'm come away from listening to this album a half dozen times hearing basically the same old stuff. Actually some prog albums do take some time to comprehend, appreciate and understand the nuances and complexities but then again some prog albums never achieve any sence of concurrence, continuity and cooperation. A Dramatic Turn Of Events falls into the latter. Truth be told, with more listens this album has become unbearable.
You bring up some very good points on this album. I keep hearing that this album is going to grow on me but thus far...if this wasn't an album by a band that I loved so much then I probably would have written it off by now.
