DREAM THEATER — The Astonishing (review)

DREAM THEATER — The Astonishing album cover Album · 2016 · Progressive Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
0.5/5 ·
Unitron
Dream Theater - The Astonishing

"The Astonishing" is the thirteenth studio album by progressive metal band Dream Theater. Dream Theater is probably the most famous progressive metal band, achieving success in the early 90's with their hit song 'Pull Me Under'. While I'm not really a fan of progressive metal, I do love many of the early bands of the genre including Dream Theater. However, I do feel that Dream Theater's recent albums have been rather flat-sounding and uninspired. But, low and behold, Dream Theater has released a new album and are trying something new. So, with an album title like "The Astonishing", what could possibly go wrong?

Well, I can say one thing. It sure is astonishing, astonishingly bad and cluttered. The album is pretty much a mix of typical sappy DT ballads, pointless interludes that really don't fit in well, songs typical of the band since Portnoy left, and a couple songs that are actually pretty damn good. Those two songs are 'Three Days' and 'A Moment of Betrayal'. Both songs have a strong symphonic metal feel, and 'Three Days' has some swing elements reminiscent of Diablo Swing Orchestra. LaBrie gives a stellar vocal performance on this song, backed by some of Dream Theater's best riffs in quite a while. One thing I must compliment is the improvement on the percussion side, Mike Mangini's drumming finally doesn't sound as flat and seems to have a lot more feeling this time around.

Seeing as this is a concept album/rock opera, how's the story? Well, to sum it up quickly, imagine the cheesiest and most cliched RPG game you can think of. Then, think of the cheesiest and worst Disney movie you can think of. That's practically "The Astonishing". It's pretty much New Dream Theater mixed with a Disney musical and cliche RPG. It doesn't help that it's a double album that lasts over two hours. It's like they had maybe 40-45 minutes of decent/good material, then stuffed the rest of it with boring sappy ballads.

So, unless you like Disney musicals, symphonic double concept albums that are really long, are a Dream Theater fanboy/fangirl, or are suffering from insomnia, I would not recommend this. It's not the worst album I've ever heard, but it's certainly among the most boring. Hope you found this review helpful.

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Unitron wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Thanks. I don't want to sound like one of those Portnoy-fanboys, but I do think that he had a lot more feeling and emotion in his drumming than Mangini. To me, Mangini's drumming has just seemed technical for technical's sake with no real feeling.
Nightfly wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Not getting a lot of love this album, understandably so. Mike Portnoy must be pleased...lol. Well said.
Unitron wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Thanks, this is probably the most humorous review I've written.
adg211288 wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Good summary. Totally agree.

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