Your Controversial Opinions on DT

[gmillerdrake]

The first 3 songs on DoT are great. Room 137 is the weak link.

Definitely. And the signature DT waste of time balad.

The rest of the album is 7 to 10/10.

I really like Out of Reach.

Me too.

I really like it too and I don't prefer most of their balads.  Since we're in the controversial thread, I might say it's their best one.

Agreed. This is one of the top ballads they've produced thus far IMO. 

[Ninjabait]

Another unpopular opinion I guess:

I find the vocal melodies in the Verse and Bridge sections of DT songs to be much catchier and more fun than their choruses.

[Bertielee]

Another unpopular opinion I guess:

I find the vocal melodies in the Verse and Bridge sections of DT songs to be much catchier and more fun than their choruses.

While it may be the case in some of their songs, it's not so for every song.

[Volante99]

Controversial opinion;

I'm not too excited to hear SFaM in its entirety on this tour. They played half the album, including all the good songs with the exception of Fatal Tragedy on their 2014 tour. And I could easily go another 20 years without wanting to hear The Spirit Carries On live, once agaaain. But this is also coming from a guy whose city was passed over on the Images Anniversay tour.

[Mark Levinson Jr.]

The first 3 songs on DoT are great. Room 137 is the weak link.

Definitely. And the signature DT waste of time balad.

The rest of the album is 7 to 10/10.

I really like Out of Reach.

Me too.

I really like it too and I don't prefer most of their balads.  Since we're in the controversial thread, I might say it's their best one.

Agreed. This is one of the top ballads they've produced thus far IMO.

I love Out Of Reach, and everyone I play it for seems to love it too.

[Architeuthis]

Controversial opinion;

I'm not too excited to hear SFaM in its entirety on this tour. They played half the album, including all the good songs with the exception of Fatal Tragedy on their 2014 tour. And I could easily go another 20 years without wanting to hear The Spirit Carries On live, once agaaain. But this is also coming from a guy whose city was passed over on the Images Anniversay tour.

I'm with you on that.  I'd rather have a concert mainly featuring  their new album d/t and a bunch of different songs from their catalog. I like Scenes alot but it's not my favorite DT album, I like TA way better.
They also skipped any cities nearby my neck of the woods (PNW) on the last tour as well.

[MirrorMask]

Controversial opinion;

I'm not too excited to hear SFaM in its entirety on this tour. They played half the album, including all the good songs with the exception of Fatal Tragedy on their 2014 tour. And I could easily go another 20 years without wanting to hear The Spirit Carries On live, once agaaain. But this is also coming from a guy whose city was passed over on the Images Anniversay tour.

They played the first actual song preceded by a connected instrumental, the other instrumental song of the album and the final track. That hardly qualifies as "half the album". I get your point and I understand the sentiment of not wanting to see too many times the same old stuff, but they really played 3 actual songs (or scenes, to be more precise) and one was an instrumental (but I guess for the majority of prog listeners a song without a singer is not an oddity but just a very minor detail  )

[ReaperKK]

Controversial opinion;

I'm not too excited to hear SFaM in its entirety on this tour. They played half the album, including all the good songs with the exception of Fatal Tragedy on their 2014 tour. And I could easily go another 20 years without wanting to hear The Spirit Carries On live, once agaaain. But this is also coming from a guy whose city was passed over on the Images Anniversay tour.

I'm looking forward to seeing SFAM live but I really don't want to see The Spirit Carries On. That will be a good bathroom break song.

[Volante99]

Controversial opinion;

I'm not too excited to hear SFaM in its entirety on this tour. They played half the album, including all the good songs with the exception of Fatal Tragedy on their 2014 tour. And I could easily go another 20 years without wanting to hear The Spirit Carries On live, once agaaain. But this is also coming from a guy whose city was passed over on the Images Anniversay tour.

They played the first actual song preceded by a connected instrumental, the other instrumental song of the album and the final track. That hardly qualifies as "half the album". I get your point and I understand the sentiment of not wanting to see too many times the same old stuff, but they really played 3 actual songs (or scenes, to be more precise) and one was an instrumental (but I guess for the majority of prog listeners a song without a singer is not an oddity but just a very minor detail  )

They played played Overture 1928, Strange Deja Vu, Dance of Eternity, and Finally Free WITH video...besides Home and Fatal Tragedy, that's really the MEAT of the album and there really isn't anything else on that album that's even worth playing live in my opinion. It just feels redundant. Beyond This Life is kinda meh, Through Her Eyes is no bueno, Spirit has been played to death, and One Last Time is just a transitional song.

Again, this is coming from a guy who missed the last tour, so the last non-Astonishing thing I've seen from them live was a four song SFaM suite. So I may be a bit biased.

[Max Kuehnau]

MP is the Lars Ulrich of prog.

[Lethean]

The whole album is worth playing, and I can't wait to see it. 

I would agree that The Spirit Carries On has been over played, but in the context of the whole album it's going to be great.

This probably isn't controversial, but I'd be happy with Distance Over Time being played in full on this tour too.

[Trav]

MP is the Lars Ulrich of prog.

It's funny because it's true.

[Volante99]

Ooookay, I'm gonna get mugged on the streets for this but:

"A Dramatic Turn of Events" is STILL the best Mangini-era album. Change my mind.

[jakepriest]

Ooookay, I'm gonna get mugged on the streets for this but:

"A Dramatic Turn of Events" is STILL the best Mangini-era album. Change my mind.

Yes it is.

[RodrigoAltaf]

The whole album is worth playing, and I can't wait to see it. 

I would agree that The Spirit Carries On has been over played, but in the context of the whole album it's going to be great.

This probably isn't controversial, but I'd be happy with Distance Over Time being played in full on this tour too.

Same here! I was seriously underwhelmed when UA and FITTL came out, but by the time Paralyzed was released I already had the album with the press release. Those first two songs work VERY well in the context of the album. Actually, come to think of it, I'd love for a setlist with any Mangini-era album, except The Astonishing.

[ThatOneGuy2112]

Ooookay, I'm gonna get mugged on the streets for this but:

"A Dramatic Turn of Events" is STILL the best Mangini-era album. Change my mind.

Yeah, I agree. But mostly due to BAI being so great (still my favorite track of the Mangini era).

I think DoT is slightly more consistent and has some pretty good tracks, but ADTOE is more memorable to me, at least so far.

[gzarruk]

ADTOE might have better "highs" than other MM-era albums, but it's not as consistent as DT12 or D/T imo.

[Cool Chris]

If in the right mood, I would put ADToE as my #3 DT album.

[IDontNotDoThings]

ADTOE is my least favourite of the MM-era albums.

I like most of the songs individually, but I've always had trouble getting from beginning to end without getting bored.

[Trav]

I think Falling Into Infinity is one of their best albums. I also prefer the final studio versions over the demos. But I also love all of the songs that got left off. 

[DTA]

I think Falling Into Infinity is one of their best albums. I also prefer the final studio versions over the demos. But I also love all of the songs that got left off.

Falling Into Infinity has a vibe unlike any other DT album. It's organic sounding and benefits more from mood/vibe rather than overt technicality. I think the final versions are improved over the demos (You Not Me is a huge improvement over You Or Me) and the b-sides are all killer except for Raise The Knife which sounds incomplete vocally.

[Trav]

I think Falling Into Infinity is one of their best albums. I also prefer the final studio versions over the demos. But I also love all of the songs that got left off.

Falling Into Infinity has a vibe unlike any other DT album. It's organic sounding and benefits more from mood/vibe rather than overt technicality. I think the final versions are improved over the demos (You Not Me is a huge improvement over You Or Me) and the b-sides are all killer except for Raise The Knife which sounds incomplete vocally.

Were we separated at birth??

[Volante99]

I think Falling Into Infinity is one of their best albums. I also prefer the final studio versions over the demos. But I also love all of the songs that got left off.

Falling Into Infinity has a vibe unlike any other DT album. It's organic sounding and benefits more from mood/vibe rather than overt technicality. I think the final versions are improved over the demos (You Not Me is a huge improvement over You Or Me) and the b-sides are all killer except for Raise The Knife which sounds incomplete vocally.

I don't think I've ever read anything more wrong on this forum
That album almost killed their career haha


Also, You Or Me is waaaaay better.

[Trav]

Almost killer their career? It sold more in the than U.S. and was higher on the U.S. charts than Scenes From A Memory and Six Degrees. They were playing the same types of venues, to the same size crowds on Touring Into Infinity and the Metropolis 2000 tour. It started building up a little more toward the end of 2000 and from 2002 and onward. By the numbers, at least from the United States, it wasn't any worse than the other albums besides Images.  Portnoy is the only one from the band that I've heard really diss it.  I think a lot of fans have used that as a barometer on how to measure it as a whole.  And just because Portnoy got mad cause he didn't get is way and wanted to quit during that time, wouldn't be disaster for the band. We would learn that later.  And also, even if all of that weren't true, would it not being successful automatically make it a bad album?

[Volante99]

Almost killer their career? It sold more in the than U.S. and was higher on the U.S. charts than Scenes From A Memory and Six Degrees. They were playing the same types of venues, to the same size crowds on Touring Into Infinity and the Metropolis 2000 tour. It started building up a little more toward the end of 2000 and from 2002 and onward. By the numbers, at least from the United States, it wasn't any worse than the other albums besides Images.  Portnoy is the only one from the band that I've heard really diss it.  I think a lot of fans have used that as a barometer on how to measure it as a whole.  And just because Portnoy got mad cause he didn't get is way and wanted to quit during that time, wouldn't be disaster for the band. We would learn that later.  And also, even if all of that weren't true, would it not being successful automatically make it a bad album?

I dont use Portnoy as a barometer, it's just a bad album. Critically, commercially (it sold less than Awake which was also a disappointment), and even the majority of the super fans put it as a low mark in their career both then and today. The band even played the demo versions on the tour. Now, you can say this was ALL just Portnoy kicking and screaming, but it's pretty clear the band was going through a rough patch/identity crisis, even by listening to FII, without knowing the backstory. The album only helped in the sense that it solidified the direction they needed to go.

Now, you put this in controversial opinions, not me. You can love the album, and view it as an improvement over the original demos, I just STRONGLY disagree.

[gzarruk]

To me, they also lost some of their identity during that era. I'm not talking only about the album, but the tour as well, as they started to play A LOT of covers with no reason at all (FII was their fourth album, so they already had plenty of material to play an all original music set) and most of these songs weren't even prog. This got even worse when they started playing abridged versions of their own songs (LTL, Metropolis, Scarred, etc) but still used a considerable amount of setlist time on "classic" covers that are, to me, useless on a DT show.

[geeeemo]

ADToE is my #1 album and I love FII.  I would play both before I&W.

[pg1067]

Controversial opinion;

I'm not too excited to hear SFaM in its entirety on this tour. They played half the album, including all the good songs with the exception of Fatal Tragedy on their 2014 tour. And I could easily go another 20 years without wanting to hear The Spirit Carries On live, once agaaain. But this is also coming from a guy whose city was passed over on the Images Anniversay tour.

Overtrure 1928, Strange Deja Vu, The Dance of Eternity and Finally Free constitutes "half the album, including all the good songs"?  Putting aside the fact that I think all of the songs are "the good songs," four of 12 songs lasting about 27 minutes (out of a 77 minute album) is hardly "half the album."  I don't disagree that TSCO has been played to death, but it's a huge part of the story in context.  That said, I get that a lot of folks aren't excited about revisiting the album in its entirety.  Since I missed the SFAM tour, I'm really looking forward to this.

I think Falling Into Infinity is one of their best albums. I also prefer the final studio versions over the demos. But I also love all of the songs that got left off. 

Saying that FII is "one of their best albums" certainly is controversial, but I agree that what made it onto the album is a lot better than what didn't make it.  "You Not Me" is much better than "You or Me," and there's a reason that all of the tracks that didn't make it never made it onto any album.  They just weren't very good.

[smegolas]

Home and Dance of Eternity are actually two of the least interesting songs on SFAM.  Honesty, not trolling here.  I suspect I might be the only one who thinks this.

[geeeemo]

Home and Dance of Eternity are actually two of the least interesting songs on SFAM.  Honesty, not trolling here.  I suspect I might be the only one who thinks this.

Home in my top 5 DT songs. I am a late DT bloomer - 3 years a fan now- and Home was one of the Hooks that got me. Now I don't care for instrumentals as much, so I agree on the last point.

[MirrorMask]

Home and Dance of Eternity are actually two of the least interesting songs on SFAM.  Honesty, not trolling here.  I suspect I might be the only one who thinks this.

The Dance of Eternity is not "interesting" just because there are no vocals and that's a huge drawback for any instrumental (yes, I know to the general progster I might sound like a flat earther). Home is a masterpiece and is, symbolically, the real "Metropolis pt. 2 if it was a single song".

Speaking of that, the only minor downside of having Scenes from a Memory is that we didn't get a proper "Metropolis part 2" song, in the same vein of the original. But then again, rather than having a bloated 25 minutes bigass piece, I welcome Scenes from a Memory as a full album.

[smegolas]

Home and Dance of Eternity are actually two of the least interesting songs on SFAM.  Honesty, not trolling here.  I suspect I might be the only one who thinks this.

The Dance of Eternity is not "interesting" just because there are no vocals and that's a huge drawback for any instrumental (yes, I know to the general progster I might sound like a flat earther). Home is a masterpiece and is, symbolically, the real "Metropolis pt. 2 if it was a single song".

Speaking of that, the only minor downside of having Scenes from a Memory is that we didn't get a proper "Metropolis part 2" song, in the same vein of the original. But then again, rather than having a bloated 25 minutes bigass piece, I welcome Scenes from a Memory as a full album.

DoE is nothing to do with being an instrumental.  I love instrumentals.  The barbershop and the buildup from 3.50-4.30 is pretty cool, but the rest, meh.  And I know everyone loves Home, but I could never get into it.

Part of this has a lot to do with how much I love the rest of the album, which is possibly my favourite of all time.  This was reaffirmed recently when I listened to it to compare to D/T and thought, man, Scenes is way better.  And I love D/T.

[pg1067]

Home and Dance of Eternity are actually two of the least interesting songs on SFAM.  Honesty, not trolling here.  I suspect I might be the only one who thinks this.

The Dance of Eternity is not "interesting" just because there are no vocals and that's a huge drawback for any instrumental (yes, I know to the general progster I might sound like a flat earther). Home is a masterpiece and is, symbolically, the real "Metropolis pt. 2 if it was a single song".

Speaking of that, the only minor downside of having Scenes from a Memory is that we didn't get a proper "Metropolis part 2" song, in the same vein of the original. But then again, rather than having a bloated 25 minutes bigass piece, I welcome Scenes from a Memory as a full album.

I agree with the first paragraph.  As far as not having an actual Metropolis Part 2, I guess the answer to why that didn't happen is that that's how the writing for SFAM happened to go.  Given that the original demo version was "a bloated 25 minutes big[]ass piece,"  I don't really have a problem at all with what we got.

[KevShmev]

To me, they also lost some of their identity during that era. I'm not talking only about the album, but the tour as well, as they started to play A LOT of covers with no reason at all (FII was their fourth album, so they already had plenty of material to play an all original music set) and most of these songs weren't even prog. This got even worse when they started playing abridged versions of their own songs (LTL, Metropolis, Scarred, etc) but still used a considerable amount of setlist time on "classic" covers that are, to me, useless on a DT show.

Even worse was the decision to put Metropolis on the 5 Years in a Livetime video release and then cut if off right before the ending.  Yeah, give us almost all of the song and then cut it off before the end.  That made no sense whatsoever. 

[Kyo]

Even worse was the decision to put Metropolis on the 5 Years in a Livetime video release and then cut if off right before the ending.  Yeah, give us almost all of the song and then cut it off before the end.  That made no sense whatsoever. 

And let's not forget that the mediocre footage they used for Metropolis barely included Myung playing his bad-ass tapping spot.

All this while the Japanese Awake tour show, excerpts from which they *did* include, featured a perfectly filmed complete performance of the piece.