"The Astonishing" review by Mark Bravi
The day we all were waiting for finally arrived! "The Astonishing" is out today! Our friend Mark Bravi (Virtual Symmetry) was so kind to do a review just for all of us, and here it is!
Happy Astonishing day everyone!
(Italian version: https://www.dropbox.com/s/xcn…/THE-ASTONISHING-COMMENTI.txt…)...
Hey, The Wheel! Thank you so much for having me here with you to share my comments about Dream Theater's new ABSOLUTE MASTERPIECE 'The Astonishing' from a keyboardist, dreamer and big fan of JR viewpoint.
Foreword: I suggest to listen to the tracks while reading my comments.
I won't tell much about the album itself, as its chapters will be absorbed and judged differently by every one of you. So, let's get deep into it!
ACT I:
01 - Descent of the NOMACS
From the beginning we understand this will be a cinematic album; Jordan made a phenomenal job on showing us picture before our own eyes by just using sound effects. Well, I think we all know he is a Master with this kind of stuff. And that which seems like a tweak of the 'Inception' sample is really well-made!
02 - Dystopian Overture
Ok, it is clear that the harmony has been almost entirely written by JR: his chord progressions are inimitable in contemporary progressive universe. After an unsetting first section we find a magnificent unison by Petrucci and Rudess on piano, which flows into some piano arpeggios on a dramatic foundation and then into an unusual 4/4, which gives space to JR's sonic madness we all know. And here's one of the big orchestral sections Jordan loves, which Petrucci's lead guitar is perfectly mixed with a brass section and an harp in and creates curious, but very effective, contrasts. That's when, after 'The Circle of Life' and a gorgeous recall of Rudess' first tracks from the 90s, a melodically perfect solo of our Master closes an unpredictable and astonishing overture.
03 - The Gift of Music
First track released by the band some weeks ago. In this one we comprehend with certainty that the piano will have an essential role throughout the whole journey. Odd time signatures, chromaticisms, diminished chords, 'games' between synth leads and guitars... one of the most DT-style tracks of the album?
04 - The Answer
An enchanting, relatively short ballad. Splendid intersections of piano, organ and orchestra. I almost cried.
05 - A Better Life
An army's proud march, guided from a captain's shouts opens this track, but a free chant in unison with piano and violin breaks the mechanical-like steps of the marching men. I start to think that listening to the piano stem only will give me the same emotions, the whole-band performance makes me feel.
06 - Lord Nafaryus
Is some Disney animation fan out there? Ok, think about Lord Nafaryus as the main bad guy of a Disney cartoon and that this is his main theme. I don't have anything more to add.
Oh, wait. It is followed by sections which remind me of 'In the Presence of Enemies', from both arrangements and sound choices viewpoint. Everything's unpredictable (I have to resist from writing 'Astonishing' about every track, as every one of them is.)
07 - A Savior in the Square
I've never heard such an airy and spacious ballad in Dream Theater universe. The voices, constantly being added, have a unique emotional impact.
AAAAAAAAAND NOMACS come back to destroy this magical moment.
We now find ourselves among the Empire walls, trumpets play an hymn which is passed on to strings, the choir and a darker piano covered by the other instruments. After an other passage of the Noise Machines, Jordan delights us with a stunning piano performance, accompanied by a strings section and James' voice.
08 - When your Time has Come
An introduction you could hear in the golden age of music, by bands like Genesis: piano, strings, moog. Wow- This is what comes directly after A Savior in the Square and i firmly think that what I'm hearing is ABSOLUTELY NOT a digital organ. Is that rich and soft sound coming from a real and woody hammond organ?
09 - Act of Faythe
Tears are coming down my eyes. We'll never find Jordan's musical taste anywhere else, and the symphonic orchestra giving voice to it gives me the coup de grace.
I'm taking a break.
10 - Three Days
We can't do anything about it, this is not the kind of album you expect from a band like Dream Theater. It's a musical without costumes or set designs. Here one of the genres Jordan loves: LATIN. I never thought just one band could create something like this. RAGTIME? ATONALITY? SALSA? BULGARIAN MUSIC? What the hell is going on around here?
11 - THe Hovering Sojourn
Look at Jordan having fun, he seems to have turned into a baby after he discovers he can draw images with a pencil. He is playing with sounds and with our brains to make us believe music is no more. GENIUS.
12 - Brother, can you Hear Me?
Here we have a marching band, accompanied by a liturgical choir, guiding us in a procession toward a powerchord which reminds us we are listening to Dream Theater and not "Jordan Rudess and his Friends", even if I think DT would have never composed such intricate orchestrations without him. But he finds himself alone again in another touching section with James, until the whole band plays the song's intro.
13 - A Life Left Behind
Use a synth guitar sound instead of a piano and you have "Don't Look Down" from the Rudess/Morgenstein Project. I think this to be one of the few tracks which has a digital choir played by Jordan. The piano still leads the harmony, which the melody sung by James eases down on.
14 - Ravenskill
WOOOOOOH THE REBEL'S FACTION TRACK!! IT SHOULD BE SO FREAKING POWERFUL! Well, it isn't. The track begins with what I think to be the sweetest piano until now. Neverending emotions and a cute vibraphone, which keeps me from crying again. So it is opened an incredibly epic section, in which the Dream Theater we know come back in an orchestral and musical take. I'm home.
15 - Chosen
'Forsaken''s piano with reverse reverb, but smoother, which opens an other ballad in this first act. At this point we should have felt the style of the album in some way and we may have understood which direction Dream Theater want to take, guided by Jordan's inspiration.
16 - A Tempting Offer
Well, we have not. If I should direct a horror/thriller movie, I would use this track as its soundtrack. The emotional impact given by the choir, the dry and aggressive piano, the sound effects, the distorted organ, and the parts of the other instruments are incredible. The orchestral section closing the track helps the listener release the tension built earlier.
17 - Digital Discord
But NOMACS keep on bothering us, this time with trumpetings, spectral pads and error sound of various kind.
18 - The X Aspect
A ballad with a constant crescendo, which is closed by... come on, it's easy... I think you'll guess this one.
BAGPIPES.
It was predictable, right?
19 - A New Beginning
And here are our beloved Dream Theater, with a track that makes me think about a metal version of Banco del Mutuo Soccorso. Dream Theater are back and with them, in an aggressive instrumental section with a furious 'Snarling Pig', comes the first short organ solo!!
20 - The Road To Revolution
As in every theatrical act worthy of its name, it has its open, epic, hymn-like closure with a celestial choir. For the first time in this album, inside a Pink-floydish section, we can hear a Mellotron (probably the Memotron inside Rudess' 'Studio A')
ACT II:
01 - 2285 Entr'acte
300 years after the foundation of the band I'm surprised 'Illumination Theory' influenced the music of that time, as we can deduce from the first seconds of this track. This overture leaves to every orchestra section its free expression time. I don't know what else to say about Jordan. I bow to you.
02 - Moment of Betrayal
Second released track out of the album, second track of the second act. Is it a coincidence, that the "second tracks" are the most Dream-theater-like?
03 - Heaven's Cove
The piano for the first time can not be heard in the first half of the track. The sounds choice in this track is PERFECT, for what concerns both the intro pads and the lead overdubbing the melody that is being played by the piano in the second half of this track. The organ is damn aggressive and it blends perfectly with the overall mood. A more muffled piano closes this fusion of atmospheres.
04 - Begin Again
Jordan and John Petrucci are and will always be an unbeatable couple and this track proves it. The piano fits perfectly with John's suffering lead and later with his classical guitar. A ballad with a more pop feel than the other ones, but able to give amazing feelings.
05 - The Path that Divides
NOMACS now know music is beginning to make listeners more sensitive and they do not like it, but for the first time they are more rhythmic and decide to take part to the track in contrast with the sweetness of the strings section. It is followed by one of the heaviest sections of the album until now. The distorted organ doesn't disappoint us and one of Jordan Rudess "signature setups" reminds us which band are we listening to. Suddenly Emerson Lake & Palmer make an appearance among sound effects which bring us inside a sword fight, presumably between the two factions.
06 - Machine Chatter
...but I don't think NOMACS like classics. For the first time we hear a drum machine, which also plays odd time signatures. These NOMACS are unconsciously learning from Rudess.
07 - The Walking Shadow
Chromaticisms, we haven't heard since 'Stream of Consciousness' came out, peep out here and there in this terrifying track. The rest is only to be listened to.
08 - My Last Farewell
A piano caressed by a strings section brings us inside this melancholy stream, that the event we "heard" in the last seconds of the previous track created. The full band, instead, gives us moral support asking us to keep strong and to not let us down, above all as soon as Jordan has a pure crazyness attack and floors us with one of his burning solos.
09 - Losing Faythe
Petrucci's guitar is the one leading the other instruments in this ballad, which takes us to the best years of Pink Floyd. The electronic piano used by Jordan in this track is magnificent. Yours is the comment about the rest.
10 - Whispers on the Wind
Ladies and Gentlemen, Jordan Rudess on piano, James LaBrie on vocals and the softest strings section.
11 - Hymn of a Thousand Voices
The piano gets clearer and a violine introduces us to a track that reminds a lot of 'Solitary Shell'. The hymn in the second half of this track is so moving, that my eyes fill up with tears another time. Pure Hate and pure Love are what I am feeling right now towards Jordan.
12 - Our New World
A rock track with a very simple structure, in which the organ fills perfectly the already massive sound of Petrucci. A few strings are played in this track, but it is excellent for a song like this.
13 - Power Down
NOMACS are having some troubles with elaborating the music played by Dream Theater and with creating something to overcome it. Even the machines go short circuit after the distorted marimba solos by Rudess.
14 - Astonishing
Since the beginning we feel the happiness hovering after the death of the Noise Machines and we are witnessing once again the huge ability of Jordan in bringing emotions on the keys of a piano. All the emotions we felt throughout the journey are concentrated into this final track and JR's setups choice is spot-on, as always.
Now excuse me, but I have to be taken to have a transplant, as this enormous wave of emotions made my heart explode, but I'd love to live enough to feel again all I felt.
Thank you again so much to the guys of The Wheel for having me here and for giving me the opportunity to share with you what my corrupted mind went through during my FIRST LISTENING SESSION of 'The Astonishing'.
Marco "Mark" Bravi (Virtual Symmetry)
