Dream Theater: The Astonishing (now with moment of betrayal!)

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

The album is now available on Spotify

Really? Can't seem to find it yet over there!

[metrojam]

The album is now available on Spotify

It's NOT on Spotify in the UK

[Kotowboy]

It will be at Midnight...

[RoeDent]

My CD's been dispatched. Should hopefully get here tomorrow. I can't believe this is finally happening!

[Fritzinger]

https://www.metalsucks.net/2016/01/27/review-dream-theaters-the-astonishing-will-astonish-the-bands-fans-and-non-fans-alike/

Very funny review... the guy didn´t like DT too much, but he has a pen and a pencil... I mean, he loves The Astonishing.

God, it´s so silly I can´t stop laughing... but it´s good at the same time. 

4.5 out of 5.

But if you are a DT fan (like all of us), it´s 5 out of 5, and you must buy the album twice! 

This was actually the only review I saw before TA's release, because I'm subscribed to this guy's regular channel. 

OMG, sorry, but this review annoys the crap out of me, almost makes me angry. Those images and sound effects.. dude you're not doing a kinds show, this is for music fans, who want to hear information and honest opinions. And this is not funny, I think it's just annoying. I almost lost it.

Speaking of losing it.. I can't wait for tomorrow. It's 10 mins to midnight here in Germany and I should go to sleep.. otherwise I won't be able to resist listening to it in 10 mins. Night fellas, tomorrow is gonna be one astonishing day.

[BFRedrocks]

Just for grins I checked Apple Music to see if they had it yet.  They don't, but the description says, "An epic concept album, like Game of Thrones gone metal."  Hmmm...not from what I've heard folks say upon hearing it, but whatever. 

[jakepriest]

OMG, sorry, but this review annoys the crap out of me, almost makes me angry. Those images and sound effects.. dude you're not doing a kinds show, this is for music fans, who want to hear information and honest opinions. And this is not funny, I think it's just annoying. I almost lost it.

Dunno. I found the review pretty enjoyable because it was so over the top, definitely something refreshing.

[palmeiras]

I can t understand how a inteligent music fan can dislike astonishing. TA is a synonymous to inspiration

[BFRedrocks]

Just 20?

I figured 34.   

[Bertie_Wooster]

Mike Portnoy's website is down.   Probably putting up a new theme for TA

[aurorablind]

Did you order the album from Platekompaniet?

Nope. Cdon!

Edit: It`s available on Spotify in Scandinavia aswell! 

[Peter Mc]

Guitar solos and/or prominant leads are in all of these tracks:

Dystopian Overture
The Gift of Music
A Better Life
A Savior in the Square
When Your Time Has Come
Chosen
A New Beginning
Moment of Betrayal
Begin Again
The Path That Divides
Our New World

I know there is one more on disc 2 but I forget where. Some of these songs have more than one solo (Our New World, A New Beginning). I wouldn't consider that a lack of guitar solos.

Like I said, I would probably notice more on repeat listens. Would say though that that's only about one third of the songs on the album. There's plenty of significant songs on this where he does not take a solo which is almost unheard of.

I have heard much more tasty stuff from JP on second run through though. Just getting up to end of Act 1 and am enjoying the album at least 3 times as I did on first listen. Three Days is particularly awesome, especially the "Bow down to Nafaryus" bits.

[volwrath]

If you burn the HDtracks FLAC's to a CD; do they lose something or do they still sound better than the released CD?

In a nutshell: Whether that will sound better than the released CD depends whether they used a more dynamic master for the HD Tracks FLACs. Otherwise, you will lose some resolution (16 instead of 24 bits and 44.1kHz vs. 96kHz). However, whether you can hear the difference in resolution is a matter of big dispute. Hardly no-one seems to dispute the difference between masters of different dynamics.

You can certainly burn them on an audio CD. However, first you need to convert the files from 24 bit to 16 bits and from 96KHz to 44.1 KHz first. I personally use the command line tool SoX to do this, but there are lots of alternatives.

Next you burn the resulting WAV files to CD, just be sure no 2 second gaps are added by the burner software.

Whether this will sound better than the released CD depends on the dynamic range of the HD Tracks version. We don't seem to know yet whether the HD Tracks version is indeed more dynamic; On the previous Dream Theater releases (SC, BCaSL, ADToE, DT) this was the case, however "Breaking The Fourth Wall" has exactly the same Dynamic Range as the CD.

Therefore, provided the HD Tracks version of The Astonishing is more dynamic than the CD version, it will still be more dynamic after the conversion process to 16/44.1.

In fact I created mp3 versions of the previous four studio albums' HD Tracks versions in 16/44.1, and in my opinion they sound noticably better than the CD version.

This is my answer!

[pcs90]

Like I said, I would probably notice more on repeat listens. Would say though that that's only about one third of the songs on the album. There's plenty of significant songs on this where he does not take a solo which is almost unheard of.

I have heard much more tasty stuff from JP on second run through though. Just getting up to end of Act 1 and am enjoying the album at least 3 times as I did on first listen. Three Days is particularly awesome, especially the "Bow down to Nafaryus" bits.

That part in Three Days is awesome, as is the ending.
What is interesting is of the 4 times Jordan has some sort of synth lead solo, 2 of them are on songs where JP does not have a solo.
I would say more than 1 3rd considering there are 5 nomac tracks. But I agree there are important songs with no real solo. There are only 1 or 2 places I really think a solo could fit though, a lot of the songs would sound odd with a guitar solo added to them IMO. Like Three Days for example, I just don't know where one could go.

[Kotowboy]

LISTENING NOW 

[ResultsMayVary]

Just 20?

Results may vary.

[Kotowboy]

  I like the West Side Story section in Dystopian Overture

[ResultsMayVary]

Mike Portnoy's website is down.   Probably putting up a new theme for TA

Not sure if serious.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

Mike Portnoy's website is down.   Probably putting up a new theme for TA

Makes sense, given Lord Nafaryus was very inspired by Mike Portnoy.

[Kotowboy]

People online are complaining that the album is mostly softer songs.



I could not care less about that.

I'm on " A Better Life " and I love it so far

Much better production that DT12.

[Kotowboy]

omfg.

Lord Nefaryus. LaBrie is big time channeling Freddy Mercury 

This album is amazing so far !

[Darkstarshades]

MP is probably crying cuzz JP never had this idea with him.

[Kotowboy]

A Saviour In The Square.

DAT INTRO 

[rumborak]

For me, the track that completely stands out is Our New World. That is DT at its best. Like, easily beats anything they've done in the last 5 years. And more.

[Darkstarshades]

A Saviour In The Square.

DAT INTRO 

What, is it so bad it made you cry?

[Kotowboy]

noooooooo

[Kotowboy]

Act of Faythe now.

Ahhhh. When a 4th is played and it resolves to a 3rd.

[pcs90]

A Saviour In The Square.

DAT INTRO 

What, is it so bad it made you cry?

more like so amazing...

[Pragmaticcircus]

noooooooo

What's wrong Kotow, revenge of the sith?

[Milzinga]

The album is now available on Spotify

Not for me!

[Kotowboy]

Is it midnight in your country ?

[rumborak]

Act of Faythe now.

Ahhhh. When a 4th is played and it resolves to a 3rd.

That's been one of my criticisms. This album is a bit "death by plagal cadence".

[dvargas]

People online are complaining that the album is mostly softer songs.



I could not care less about that.

I'm on " A Better Life " and I love it so far

Much better production that DT12.

Just wait.... It is pretty mellow

[craig1928]

this album is fucking amazing, best since SFAM IMO

[DreamerTV]

For me, the track that completely stands out is Our New World. That is DT at its best. Like, easily beats anything they've done in the last 5 years. And more.

If that track is not going to break into radio stations i'll lose any hope in human kind (the very little i still have)