New Dream Theater album announced, hurrah

Alterlifeson

Like Answering the call. Not a fan of the first two singles. I listened to the title track and liked it, not as good as their previous ‘epics’ though. 

Very sensible move to keep LaBrie in his lower/middle register though. His best performance in some years. The 8 string song seems a bit of a wasted opportunity. Nothing particularly special to me. 

Octahedron

I just can’t get into it.
I’ve tried. But I just can’t. 

Such a dull and uninspiring album IMHO.

The Astonishing was also terrible. There’s a few good tracks on Distance Over Time. But largely everything after the self-titled album has been just too much.

I think they need to just drop Mangini and bring Portnoy back to be honest.

No issue with MM as a drummer… 
MP era songwriting was just way better.

Bezzer

If you think the problem is Mangini and bringing Portnoy back would solve it then you haven’t listened to Petruccis latest solo album.

I quite like A View … but no, it’s not their best album.