Dream Theater - Parasomnia (Atmos Blu-Ray!) - Feb 7, 2025

[Blackwood]

Ship notice from Burning Shed.

A short review I found this morning:

https://ultimateclassicrock.com/dream-theater-parasomnia-album-review/

 

[stoopid]

My copy has arrived [preordered through LaserCD]. The artwork is solid. I'm making flac now, have only heard the one song from the drumeo / Portnoy video. Will eventually get to hearing it in surround, based on prior recent surround mixes not expecting to be blown away.

 

[stoopid]

There's a lot of notes. Odd time signatures. That's all I got for now.

 

[GOS]

My copy has arrived [preordered through LaserCD]. The artwork is solid. I'm making flac now, have only heard the one song from the drumeo / Portnoy video. Will eventually get to hearing it in surround, based on prior recent surround mixes not expecting to be blown away.

Please, be blown away.

 

[Bill B]

There's a lot of notes. Odd time signatures. That's all I got for now.

LOL.... Well that's kind of the problem with their later output.... a lot of notes and pizazz but lacking melody (or whatever makes you want to listen to to a song again right after you just finished listening to it) IMO.

Mine should be here Friday I hope. And like @GOS I hope to be blown away as well, but past experience has made me skeptical too. Oh well, I was going to buy the new CD regardless (I have all the others) so what's another $40 for the deluxe version.

 

[PaulG1966]

My copy came on Monday. I haven’t posted a review because I do not want to sound negative and ruin it for other people as they have not gotten it yet. Suffice to say, I am not impressed at all. I am a big fan, too. Yes, the artwork is nice. Yes the cartoons on the bluray are nice. It’s the music I do not particularly like. The surround mix is basically 5.1 in stereo. I will wait to make further comment. I’ll give it a few more listens, too. I did post a review at the Steve Hoffman forum. As a result of how disappointed I am and how negative the review was, I have not visited the forum ever since.

 

[Bill B]

My copy came on Monday. I haven’t posted a review because I do not want to sound negative and ruin it for other people as they have not gotten it yet. Suffice to say, I am not impressed at all. I am a big fan, too. Yes, the artwork is nice. Yes the cartoons on the bluray are nice. It’s the music I do not particularly like. The surround mix is basically 5.1 in stereo. I will wait to make further comment. I’ll give it a few more listens, too. I did post a review at the Steve Hoffman forum. As a result of how disappointed I am and how negative the review was, I have not visited the forum ever since.

I'm saddened to hear that but not surprised at all.
Maybe someday when these go OOP, diehard DT completists will be willing to pay dearly for a copy.

 

[stoopid]

My copy came on Monday. I haven’t posted a review because I do not want to sound negative and ruin it for other people as they have not gotten it yet. Suffice to say, I am not impressed at all. I am a big fan, too. Yes, the artwork is nice. Yes the cartoons on the bluray are nice. It’s the music I do not particularly like. The surround mix is basically 5.1 in stereo. I will wait to make further comment. I’ll give it a few more listens, too. I did post a review at the Steve Hoffman forum. As a result of how disappointed I am and how negative the review was, I have not visited the forum ever since.

I'm just in for the musical magic trick, like you said it's been that way since probably A Dramatic Turn of Events. It's almost as if the band just fully embraced the whole 'throw a bunch of notes at you' ethos that was a hallmark but not always the centerpiece of their early/mid career albums. I'm halfway through and it's fine, the bar is pretty low for this band after it became obvious to me they were running out of ideas 5 albums ago.

 

[stoopid]

I'm saddened to hear that but not surprised at all.
Maybe someday when these go OOP, diehard DT completists will be willing to pay dearly for a copy.

I'm borderline completist, I even bought The Astonishing which is probably my least favorite of all their albums. Only rabbit hole I never went down was getting all the official and unofficial live shows. They're going to be remembered as one of the more innovative and influential bands of the last 30 years, so I see the demand always being there for these recordings.

 

[madscot]

I'm borderline completist, I even bought The Astonishing which is probably my least favorite of all their albums. Only rabbit hole I never went down was getting all the official and unofficial live shows. They're going to be remembered as one of the more innovative and influential bands of the last 30 years, so I see the demand always being there for these recordings.

I was the biggest DT fan until The astonishing, which was astonishingly shit, I still buy their albums but the love has gone, I played one song from the new album and it sounded like so many other DT songs, nothing new or original, i’ll probably get the cd but not wasting good money on the boxset to get a crap atmos mix

 

[stoopid]

I was the biggest DT fan until The astonishing, which was astonishingly shit, I still buy their albums but the love has gone, I played one song from the new album and it sounded like so many other DT songs, nothing new or original, i’ll probably get the cd but not wasting good money on the boxset to get a crap atmos mix

Parasomnia has its moments, but there's a lot of filler along the lines of exactly as you describe -- the same ole "let me speed noodle for 2 minutes" moments that have lost the 'wow' factor after having heard them do this a few 50 times before. There's some shoehorned/borderline cringy lyrics too. Not sure how that stuff ever makes it to the easel in front of James.

 

[jaap74]

I was the biggest DT fan until The astonishing, which was astonishingly shit

Reminds me of the Spinal Tap 'Shark Sandwich' review

 

[Marplot]

Nothing beats the review for the 1986 GTR self-titled album.

SHT

 

[Blackwood]

Nothing beats the review for the 1986 GTR self-titled album.

SHT

An all-time classic review and I agree... nothing beats it. I also liked the one for the first Bad English album: "Grammar is the least of their problems.” (It would be kind of funny if it was the same guy.)

Haven’t bought a DT album since Systematic Chaos. Figured I’d give this one a try. And if they want to release Images & Words in Atmos on Bluray, I'll happily place a pre-order.

 

[SharpKnight]

Parasomnia