I was hoping for some heavier songs and it seems a bit stretched out just for the sake of length (quality beats quantity).

Second half is certainly better than the first but I've only listened to it once so I need to give it more chance, recent DT albums never sink in first time round.

Couldn't even get past 2 songs and believe me I really wanted to go past it and had made up my mind earlier but it still didn't help. If I listen to this album in full, it might be the most painful 2 hours I am gonna endure this year and I really doubt if I wanna do that.

The ratings are as polarised as I expect them to be here. I hope I can drag myself to the reviewing board now because I definitely have enough things to say

Honesty, it'll probably take me years to decide what I think of this album and form an actual opinion on it. I now gave it a cautious 7/10 because I "kind of" enjoyed much of it - and I really really dig "Moment of Betrayal".

If Blind Guardian's 'And Then There Was Silence...' is the good parts of a bunch of songs crammed together, this album is what was left over.

This was nearly impossible to get through. 90% of the tracks are empty boring ass ballads. Face palm for days

Written by drummercrm on 03.02.2016 at 20:59

90% of the tracks are empty boring ass ballads.

It's actually heavier than Images and Words. Obviously written in a much different way though.

Written by Risto on 04.02.2016 at 00:56

Written by drummercrm on 03.02.2016 at 20:59

90% of the tracks are empty boring ass ballads.

It's actually heavier than Images and Words. Obviously written in a much different way though.

Did you even hear Pull me Under?

There's not a song that heavy in The Astonishing...

Written by HyperDrifter on 04.02.2016 at 18:22

Did you even hear Pull me Under?

There's not a song that heavy in The Astonishing...

Yes there is, and that song is called Moment of Betrayal. I don't even know how that is an argument. About a third of the tracks have considerably heavy moments.

My fucking god, these lyrics, this endless keyboard masturbation, these fucking cheesy choruses... 1/3rd in and I can't take this shit anymore. How far have they fallen...

EDIT: oh my fucking god I kept playing it while doing other stuff, this is fucking terrible... Even most of the solos are boring or shit...

It's all about expectations. If you are a DT fan.. you knew what was coming. Total appreciation of this effort will only manifest for anyone.. if you make the time investment to the story and its meaning. If you were sitting on the fence or even hope to relive past similar elements your not gonna like it. The majority of DT faithful have moved on.. with the band.

At the beginning of "A Better Life": why do they issue the command of "right face" when you can clearly hear the flight already marching?

Written by Risto on 04.02.2016 at 00:56

Written by drummercrm on 03.02.2016 at 20:59

90% of the tracks are empty boring ass ballads.

It's actually heavier than Images and Words. Obviously written in a much different way though.

I don't see how you can justify that. Images and Words had about 3 ballads out of 8, a much more acceptable ratio

Written by drummercrm on 08.02.2016 at 19:40

I don't see how you can justify that. Images and Words had about 3 ballads out of 8, a much more acceptable ratio

I sort of likened "A New Beginning" to "Take the Time", and "Moment of Betrayal" to "Pull Me Under", but I&W does have a heavier sound. I've been on a bit of a DT binge and have to take back some of that claim, but "90% is ballads" is a sore exaggeration.

On ballads in general, I don't care how many of them there are, if they are good. DT's ballad-y stuff has always been more or less hit and miss though.

Written by drummercrm on 03.02.2016 at 20:59

This was nearly impossible to get through. 90% of the tracks are empty boring ass ballads. Face palm for days

This^

Written by Risto on 08.02.2016 at 19:46

Written by drummercrm on 08.02.2016 at 19:40

I don't see how you can justify that. Images and Words had about 3 ballads out of 8, a much more acceptable ratio

I sort of likened "A New Beginning" to "Take the Time", and "Moment of Betrayal" to "Pull Me Under", but I&W does have a heavier sound. I've been on a bit of a DT binge and have to take back some of that claim, but "90% is ballads" is a sore exaggeration.

I agree it was exaggerated, but that's what it felt like. I even fast forwarded through most of them and it still felt like an eternity But hey at least I am listening to I&W for the first time in years... man I forgot how awesome this album is

Nice!

I do not dislike it... but I do not love it either... it´s kinda Meh for me... I was expecting more, since I love DT...

Written by Mariocalin on 31.01.2016 at 11:34

Written by Metren on 30.01.2016 at 18:01

Written by Mariocalin on 30.01.2016 at 17:45

Some people just would want the same album all over again. That's not fair in my opinion. A band evolves. I Love classic hits of DT but I also like this new era. Not as much as the old yes, but it's good too.

Poor Quality? Dont make me laugh please.

I agree that a lot of the time, people like sameness and familiarity. The fact that remakes, reboots, sequels etc. do so well when it comes to the films being released nowadays is a testament to that.

However, that isn't always the case with films or with music. I for one do appreciate when bands change their style or approach towards songwriting itself, in some cases I yearn for it. When I say that later DT albums are of poor quality, I don't mean that they are poor because they are different, I mean that they poor because the songwriting isn't anything impressive in my ears.

Also, when I have a choice between an unoriginal (style-wise) album, that has quality songwriting and a more original album, that has poor songwriting, I will always prefer the unoriginal one with good songwriting. That's just me though.

What makes you like this album enough to give it a 9, though? I'd really like to know. After all, maybe you do hear something on it that I haven't noticed or paid attention to yet.

A well and risky idea executed really well in my opinion. I am a huge fan of DT and I'm probably overrating it. When i got into the story of the album I started to enjoy it so much. It's really important to judge this album with lyrics in front of you.

And the music quality is out of any doubts. Ok, it's a bit plane in some occasions and the bass is not relevant in many cases but besides these things it's a good record, better than the old ones with Mangini.

Greetings!

Now I am listening to it for the fourth time, I have to agree with you! Following the story at http://www.dreamtheater.net/theastonishingtracks really helps.

Not that I know more about the concept, story and characters a lot better, it all fits together a lot better! This record is definitely a grower.

Not an easy album to get into, given the length, but after at least 5 or 6 spins the whole thing starts to come together and you start finding lots of interesting details to the music. I think DT did a great job with this album, something out of the norm. There a lots of soft intros, but there is also plenty of heavier stuff, the solos are quite good too.

Epic and balladish, more hard rock than metal, album tryin´to be metal version of Pink Floyd - The Wall and there are also influences of their Scenes from a Memory and 6 Degrees of Inner Turbulence albums. Targeting to music, ballads are mainly boring, production is too flattering ( especially drums level ) , JLBrie vocals are slumbering and soft with a little passion, whole album is moderate and undue in terms of DT, 7,5 stars is right. There are 6-7 great songs , others are average. Appreciate DT tried to give us an experiment album, effort and success is however "frozen" and dampened.

Haters gonna hate

It's sad because I don't really want to hate this band. But the music doesn't give me other choice.

I think it's time to go away

Don't like it

Contender of the worst album of the year for me. Sound like a disney soundtrack lol

Written by Maco on 25.03.2016 at 07:24

It's sad because I don't really want to hate this band. But the music doesn't give me other choice.

You seemed to like two of their other albums though. You should try Train Of Thought Most "modern" DT bores me too.

Written by LeKiwi on 13.04.2016 at 23:41

You seemed to like two of their other albums though. You should try Train Of Thought Most "modern" DT bores me too.

I know "Train Of Thought". It's decent but not as good as their older albums.

Written by Maco on 14.04.2016 at 00:45

I know "Train Of Thought". It's decent but not even as good as their older albums.

For me it's on par with IaW and Awake and is better than Metropolis. Anyway, I just thought I'd tell you in case you hadn't heard it. So I take it you've heard most of their releases?

Since I like DT a lot, I re-visited this album yesterday to see if my initial opinion formed after about 10 listens is still valid.
Well, not only is it still valid. I disliked the album even more this time around! I've adjusted the rating accordingly.