THE ASTONISHING

This album is the definition of comedy. It simply isn't your average progressive metal album. From the very first moments I heard James' incredibly-autotuned voice I knew it was going to be one hell of a ride, to top it off, its over two hours long!

Let's start off with the good because, inevitably, in 130 minutes of music there must be some remarkable moments. Dystopian Overture works pretty well to be honest, and it ends up being one of the best tracks of the album. Lord Nafaryus (Yes, that's the main villain's name) has James LaBrie becoming a Disney villain, in the literal sense. It's a pretty catchy tune and you can easily tell James' having a lot of fun.

Three Days is absolutely the funniest song the band has ever made. It starts with LaBrie singing like a cartoon villain working on his next plan, only to start ranting about the main character for the following minutes. He then, uhh, does an evil laugh?! Th-then he starts singing through a megaphone his master plan and then there's a jazz big band blasting out of nowhere?! Have I gone insane?!?!

The X Aspect is a pretty cool ballad. Yeah. Nice bagpipes! A New Beginning starts off very good but the ending solo is boring and drags on for way too long. Heaven's Cove is pretty good and overly dramatic (with some of the cheesiest lyrics I've heard) even if it copies On The Backs Of Angels too much. The Path That Divides is actually amazing, the ending chorus sends chills down my spine!

Two stars however, because I could only mention seven good tracks and everything else is insanely un memorable garbage. Why did the album have to be so long?! If you trimmed the record (and removed those useless NOMAC beep-boop tracks) it would actually be pretty solid. Hmm, has Dream Theater learned The Flower Kings' bad habits?

For fans only.

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