A few good tunes, a few average, overall not a bad listen.

An average music by Petrucci.
No one can question his technical skills but his music has no soul. Anyway, he isn't Satriani, right?

Pretty good, not Petrucci's best but I dug it a lot more than the last DT album. Also production stood out to me as good.

The album is decent and there is not weak instrumental track however, nothing has changed in Petrucci's universe since the early 2000s. There is no evolution of playing or style, on the contrary, the technicality is less which is why I rated it as a 7 rather than an 8. If it was a new guitarist or at least not Petrucci, I would give it an 8.
This album doesn't add any new side of Petrucci's playing and if I compare it to Kiko Loureiro's latest, then it's evident that Kiko tried to innovate and incorporate a new style to his playing which is Djent.
My favorite tracks are "Gemini" and "Temple Of Circadia" followed by "Glassy-Eyed Zombies" and the typical yet nice "Out Of The Blue" (I think x number of players have done these solos over the same bluesy chords minus some shredding). The only 2 track that is somehow not typical of Petrucci's style is "Glassy-Eyed Zombies".

Cannot tell it's a bad album. But it's the same thing since the time of Dream Theater. Petrucci did not change anything. More like presentation of his techniques.

Excellent album! What are you guys expecting? John Petrucci will play his style, and I love that style.

Written by Mountain King on 01.09.2020 at 15:46

The album is decent and there is not weak instrumental track however, nothing has changed in Petrucci's universe since the early 2000s. There is no evolution of playing or style, on the contrary, the technicality is less which is why I rated it as a 7 rather than an 8. If it was a new guitarist or at least not Petrucci, I would give it an 8.
This album doesn't add any new side of Petrucci's playing and if I compare it to Kiko Loureiro's latest, then it's evident that Kiko tried to innovate and incorporate a new style to his playing which is Djent.
My favorite tracks are "Gemini" and "Temple Of Circadia" followed by "Glassy-Eyed Zombies" and the typical yet nice "Out Of The Blue" (I think x number of players have done these solos over the same bluesy chords minus some shredding). The only 2 track that is somehow not typical of Petrucci's style is "Glassy-Eyed Zombies".

Upped it to 8. I gave a few listens recently and I appreciate some other tracks like "The Oddfather". "Gemini" was one of my favorites but keeps getting better, especially that nice acoustic passage in the middle and that main Angra-like lick.

Written by Mountain King on 18.04.2023 at 10:09

that main Angra-like lick.

That one's an absolute bugger to play on guitar too