Dream Theater - "The Astonishing"

Dream Theater - The Astonishing
2016, Roadrunner

DISC ONE:
1. Descent of the Nomacs
2. Dystopian Overture
3. The Gift of Music
4. The Answer
5. A Better Life
6. Lord Nafaryus
7. A Savior In the Square
8. When Your Time Has Come
9. Act of Faythe
10. Three Days
11. The Hovering Sojourn
12. Brother, Can You Hear Me?
13. A Life Left Behind
14. Ravenskill
15. Chosen
16. A Tempting Offer
17. Digital Discord
18. The X Aspect
19. A New Beginning
20. The Road to Revolution

DISC TWO:
1. 2285 Entr'acte
2. Moment of Betrayal
3. Heaven's Cove
4. Begin Again
5. The Path That Divides
6. Machine Chatter
7. The Walking Shadow
8. My Last Farewell
9. Losing Faythe
10. Whispers on the Wind
11. Hymn of a Thousand Voices
12. Our New World
13. Power Down
14. Astonishing

Oh gosh... yeah... um... no thanks, guys. When I first heard about The Astonishing I was looking forward to it. It sounded like it could be good. Well... I honestly don't know. I just know it's not for me. It's a two-and-a-half hour theatrical music extravaganza. The problem is that there's nothing in the way of hooks or memorable melodies. There's not even any interesting progressive stuff to hold your attention. It's just this big, bloated, self-indulgent musical that takes up way too much of my time and doesn't give me anything for it. Granted, the music is executed with the precision and talent that you come to expect from Dream Theater, but as I said, most of it isn't very interesting and is only there to prop up the story.

And oh my word... the story.

It's supposed to be some epic battle between good and evil, I guess. What it really is, however, is every trope you've ever seen from Super Nintendo-era Final Fantasies. There's the evil king and his special daughter. Naturally, she's the love interest for the hero - the "chosen one" who can save the world through the power of friendship music. And they've wasted so much money and resources on this nonsense. Are these guys, like, thirteen? The name of the evil emperor is Nafaryus. Flippin' Nafaryus. Really?! Oh, and there's Faythe. Good grief guys.

Ugh. Some people might like this but I would much rather just have a good album. Please don't do this again. I'll give you guys one more album to impress me again but then I'm tapping out.

Useless Fact: I guess there's a website where you can explore the characters and the world the album takes place in. For people who've never played Final Fantasy, I guess.