DREAM THEATER The Astonishing

American prog metal veterans Dream Theater are finally back with their long awaited rock opera entitled The Astonishing, a massive 2 hours plus opus that for sure will be subject to discussion among their fans. I suspect it will split their fanbase as well, where those preffering the heavier side of the band might be disappointed while fans of their more epic and atmospheric side probably will appreciate The Astonishing a lot. It is definitely different to anything else in the Dream Theater catalogue, but yet it sounds unmistakable Dream Theater how strange that may sound. It is a rock opera and the orhcestral, musical- and cinematic inspired elements are much more dominant than ever before, like it or not but those elements are natrual ingredients of a rock opera. Personally I belong to the group of fans considering The Astonishing as one of Dream Theaters finest moments ever. The amount of piano and orchestral based material really allows James LaBrie to shine, and the way he interprets the different characters in the story is nothing less than impressive. The song material is impressingly strong and during the albums 130 minutes and 34 songs I never get bored, not even after having heard the album more than 20 times. There's actually no point in trying top pick favorite tracks as albums like this needs to be consumed as on piece, it's demanding for sure and I can to a certain degree understand those who feels becomes too much but on the other hand that's the beauty and the curse of a rock opera. I love every minute of The Astonishing and I simply can't wait to hear i performed live in it's entirety in Oslo Konserthus on February 28th.

Diskografi: 

'The Astonishing' 2016

'Dream Theater' 2013
‘A Dramatic Turn Of Events’ 2011
‘Black Clouds & Silver Linings’ 2009
‘Systematic chaos’ 2007
'Train Of Thought' 2003
'Six Degrees Of inner Turbulence' 2002
'Scenes From A Memory' 1999
'Once In A Livetime' 1998
'Falling Into Infinity' 1995
'A Change Of Seasons' 1995
'Awake' 1994
'Live At The Marquee' 1993
'Images And Words' 1992
'When Dream And Day Unite' 1989