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Dream Theater: great musicianship, no soul whatsoever.


TombRaider

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Anyone into Dream Theater? I saw them live many years ago and decided to check them out and buy their back cataloge. While it is true that they are great musicians, I also think that their music lacks soul. To me, it's like listening to a computer or a machine playing the guitar and the drums. Case in point, the instrumental the Dance of Eternity.

Maybe it's the singer they have, I don't know. Or maybe it's the fact that they just don't know how to convey feelings with their amazing musicianship. Ever heard their live version of Master of Puppets? It sounds perfect from a musical point of view. They nail every note, every riff and every solo. But like I said, it's like listening to a printer.

And I know there's no accounting for taste and I know they're famous worldwide, so it's not that they suck at what they do. Because they don't. But I do think they could use a little bit more feeling in their albums.

Of course, there are exceptions in their discography, but lack of soul seems to be the rule with these guys.

Anyone feel the same?

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Not every song needs to be Since Ive Been Lovin' You. There are different ways to convey ideas and feelings and sometimes the aproach can be more intellectual rather than emotional. That said there are plenty of their songs where you can feel something more raw surfacing such as the first two songs on the album Awake.

I like Dream Theater. Them and Iron Maiden are the only two metal bands I like. Soundgarden too, if you can call them metal. They've got some pretty amazing prog metal ballads on their 90s albums: Surrounded, Anna Lee, Hollow Years, Peruvian Skies, Silent Man...

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Yeah that certainly was a plain vanilla version of "Master of Puppets."

Weren't these guys Berklee College of Music grads? I think sometimes there's an approach to music that's very... perfection orientated, and that type of musician is attracted to certain types of music education. If they have a piece of sheet music in front of them, and they are told to play that piece solo, they will play it note-for-note perfect like a computer MIDI program. But, for me (though obviously not for everyone), the beauty in music is in how a musician interprets it. Even with a piece of sheet music in front of them, some musicians have a "musical sense" about them, that, even if certain notes are dotted or cut, they might hold them or cut them a little more or less than what is technically called for, giving the music the meaning they wish to convey. If the music doesn't speak to you, doesn't get you moving or take your mind somewhere, then what's the point? So for me, I don't like musicians that have an exact read on the music, but it does work for some people. They probably think differently than I do, too, and that's cool.

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I like them, Metropolis Pt2 and Train Of Thought are some of my favorite albums. It's not all 100mph all the time. They got some nice slow jams and poppier stuff. I think people focus on the virtuosity too much and that turns them off. It's only if you're heard every album front to back, that you realize the other stuff they do. The soul is there though, you can't pull off that kind of music without it taking your everything to pull off.

Edited by moreblack
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  • 3 weeks later...

I love Dream Theater, and I actually get a lot of emotion from some of their music. Not all of it, but some. Wait For Sleep/Learning To Live always gets me. Or Surrounded. Or even The Best of Times from Black Clouds and Silver Linings.

They don't showcase a lot of emotion on a chunk of their songs, but they definitely can, and do so for me.

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Don't really know much about them. What's the deal with them? Are they like a proper band or what? Why have they done so many covers??

they are one of the biggest metal bands in the world. their albums are usually in the top 10 on the billboard charts.

as for covers they really dont do that many on their albums( that i can recall) they will do a cover and just release it as a single. they did that for the stargazer cover if i remember correctly.

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Don't really know much about them. What's the deal with them? Are they like a proper band or what? Why have they done so many covers??

they are one of the biggest metal bands in the world. their albums are usually in the top 10 on the billboard charts.

as for covers they really dont do that many on their albums( that i can recall) they will do a cover and just release it as a single. they did that for the stargazer cover if i remember correctly.

At certain tours, they've been known to play an entire album, whichever their favorite is on the day. But that's usually more for the fans, they don't release those as cds or anything.

Here's a their Dark Side Of The Moon:

I think they've also done Master Of Puppets and Number Of The Beast in their entirety.

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