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#DECENT OF THE NOMACS FREE#
Feel free to share your playalongs and covers! If you do, please follow the Reddiquette about self promotion.Please flair your posts using the flair selection panel under the post.Avoid spam, submit only contributing and constructive posts.Keep an eye out and visit frequently for the very latest news and discussion about the high-prog gods, Dream Theater. We provide updates and pinned threads regarding all information available about the new album. This subreddit dedicated to lists (this sub has a list fever), videos, links and intelligent discussion regarding Dream Theater, the prestigious and veteran pioneering forefathers of the next generation of progressive metal. Highly recommended.Frequently Asked Questions! The Beginner’s Listening Guide Common song and album abbreviations And with fans already sharply split on whether it screams masterpiece or massive failure, Dream Theater’s 13th studio effort sees the band’s reach meet its grasp. With The Astonishing, it’s the music that matters. And I think many listeners will forgo the fantasy for the tunes. Instead, such sci-fi concepts serve as window dressing and are not essential to the story, itself dispensable for those who prefer focusing on the music. In fact, Petrucci could be criticized for not fleshing out the NOMACs. Its timeless themes of forbidden love and societal oppression transcend the dystopian backdrop. In one sense, these songs constitute the band’s most powerful adventure in years, layering actual symphonic instrumentation - even bagpipes! - atop contemporary rock performances.Īs they proved on the Score DVD, the symphony-meets-rock blend can work seamlessly.Īnd despite some initial misgivings, the story works.
But don’t worry, there’s still virtuosity aplenty.įans craving Train of Thought heaviness will be disappointed, as The Astonishing favors prog over power. Some solid rockers (“The Gift of Music,” “Moment of Betrayal”) mix with even more ballads (“The Answer,” “When Your Time Has Come”) that rank among the band’s best lighter-waving material (think “Anna Lee,” “Through Her Eyes,” “Surrounded,” “Beneath The Surface,” etc.).įans weary of Petrucci and Rudess’ scalar gymnastics have their wish, as each song serves a purpose with surprisingly few indulgent solos. What we have here is nothing short of greatness, arguably Dream Theater’s best album since Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence. But not nearly as cheesy as the album’s uber-cringeworthy pre-release emails and Facebook updates made it sound. What amounts to blips and buzzing (no, not the latest Radiohead release) is what constitutes music until Gabriel strums a guitar and raises his voice, which threatens Emperor Nafaryus, charms his daughter Faythe and stirs a Romeo and Juliet subplot.Ĭheesy? Definitely? Echos of 2112, I hear you say? Absolutely.
#DECENT OF THE NOMACS ZIP#
Mechanical orbs called NOMACs (Noise Machines) zip through the skies, showering their own “music” upon the landscape. The world has become a dystopia ruled by an emperor removed from the otherwise impoverished society. The plot is simple: about 300 years in the future, a man named Gabriel stuns his community with music, a luxury that’s been forgotten since his village is more focused on foraging for food than artistic enjoyment. Instead, guitarist John Petrucci and keyboardist Jordan Rudess have crafted melodies that stick in your head, songs mostly stripped of shred and arrangements meticulously matching the storyline that Petrucci wrote before approaching the band with his concept. What we have here is something to celebrate, a double-disc triumph that could have crumbled beneath the weight of its own ambition. With The Astonishing, the dream team has delivered a rock opera pitting musical expression against governmental tyranny, savior against oppressor, iPod against NOMAC. RATINGS: A = must own B = buy it C= average D = yawn F = pukeĭream Theater has outdone itself - and that’s saying something for a band known for hourlong epics, symphonic ambition and time changes that would have given the late Cliff Burton whiplash.īut the prog-metal juggernaut has done just that.
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