Redemption are an amalgamation of many things that are good about modern Prog Metal and ALL the things that are bad at the same time. "The Origins Of Ruin" was really good, but their latest disc was terrible. I don't expect much more of note to come from these guys to be honest.
Memory was very nice, but it was a FW/DT ripoff other than the vocal melodies (there's a part at the beginning that's pretty much plagiarism from APSoG, bonus points if you can find it), which were also pretty damn nice (love Ray Alder). Rest of the album not so hot though. Edit: Listening again, there is actually a suspiciously similar part to APSoG at the *very* beginning, but different enough to be considered influence instead of plagiarism. The one I meant before, though...damn, no shame.
Weeeell, Seventh Wonder's drummer just left... But I guess Portnoy likes money too much for him to join them...
Everything Redemption have ever done is a FW/DT/QR ripoff... like a Reader's Digest of Prog Metal. Still, "The Origins Of Ruin" was the cream of the crap (harshly speaking) to me. "Memory" is really good, and the other tracks all have their moments.
Hey, everyone, its been a long time since I last came here. Anyway, I think this may be good for DT musically, since Portnoy really did ruin them with his nu metal influences, we all know that's not what DT originally were/are about. I wish him luck but the band is better off without him. Great drummer, but not irreplacable. Nobody is really.
An interesting thought courtesy of Derek Sherinian: http://www.classicrockmagazine.com/news/derek-sherinian-portnoy-will-return-to-dream-theater/
Now there's a band that truly knows how to promote itself. Using this situation to do a friggin' 7 episode tv show sort of thing will only get more people interested and buying the next album. btw: Holy shit Virgil Donati is participating?
That was pretty dumb. Every episode is just gonna be some poor bastard trying to impress them and them just saying how great he is. I'm glad these people actually care so much about making it though, cuz Portnoy just looked bored as hell on the last 2 tours. I hope they can not only find a great player, but someone who can write lyrics. Portnoy's lyrics were for the most part, complete shit! And is it me, or does pretty much ever riff Petrucci makes sound the exact same? I'm talking about that palm muting distortion thing he does and he thinks he can throw us for a loop but adding in some random bits in crazy time signatures. Maybe he'll top it off with a "how many scales can you play" game.
I think Mike is a great drummer but I actually wasn't too let down when I heard the news. I agree that DT's albums havn't really been on par with their earlier work, the last one I really enjoyed was 6DOIT. Octavarium and Black Clouds weren't too bad but I think Train of Thought and Systematic Chaos are pretty weak albums. I'm hoping some new blood will inject a bit of inspiration into the rest of the guys and they come up with something a little less rehashed on the new album. I'm definately waiting for John to drop some of his generic modern metal riffs, I don't have a problem with him playing metal - he always has, but I think his riffing was a little more unique on earlier albums.
