DT USA was very fortunate to listen to Distance over Time in its entirety before its release. We can tell you that you are in for an amazing and exciting ride! Dream Theater has the best formula in D/T. Â The perfect combination of their newer sound, while still revisiting and celebrating their classic roots. Distance Over Time has some of the most killer riffs in all of the discography, some of JP’s most emotional solos yet, JM upfront and loud, the best MM sound, JR playing in his classic, throwback DT style, and JLB truly shining. There are some deja-vu moments and familiarity, but they take you in a completely different, and refreshing, direction. Overall, you get a real sense of community and satisfaction in this album. It really gives off that feeling that the band is happy and working together harmoniously. The energy is palpable with all of us as well… there is this excitement we haven’t seen in years.
Distance Over Time grows with every listen, our favorites have shifted a couple of times.
The album kicks off with Untethered Angel, which also happened to be the first single released. There is a real throwback vibe to this song and it brings us one of those JP vs JR solos we love, and fans of LTE come to expect.
This tune has a very catchy chorus and different styles throughout. Untethered Angel is about overcoming your fears, and not allowing fear to stop you from succeeding.
Paralyzed had us at first listen! This is one well written song with killer riffs, and a beautiful and haunting vocal melody by James. Â This is a song that can certainly help widen the fanbase and welcome new fans to Dream Theater. We felt it was the perfect choice for the 3rd single, and our prediction for a Grammy nomination. This song is about overcoming your own emotional roadblocks or what paralyzes you in life. It has one of our favorite melodies by JR, and one of our favorite solos by JP.
Fall into the Light was the second single for D/T. A killer Metallica-inspired riff really kicks off this song. This is one of two songs John Myung wrote lyrics for in the album. This song is about realizing what is important in life, and how if you really want to succeed at something you have to be spiritually connected to it as well. This has one of JPs most emotional solos yet, and the melodic interlude in the middle of the song is simply amazing. One of our favorite song endings too.
Barstool Warrior has such a nostalgic 70’s & 80’s prog feel to it. You can hear JP’s love for Rush in the intro, and this song evokes a lot of memories about prog of yesteryear while still managing to sound fresh and new. We think this song is about reminiscing about the past and wondering how fate, or luck might have played a part in how life has turned out for this barstool warrior. It’s also about letting go and not being stuck in the past, and finally realizing where you belong. We know this will be the highlight of the album for many fans. This song truly takes you on a journey from beginning to end.
Room 137 is one of those songs that will absolutely grow on you. It starts off with a very heavy, aggressive riff, and it progresses into what can only be described as a “Beatlesque” chorus section. We were a little bewildered by this song at first, Â but have really grown to love and appreciate it. The contrast between the heaviness of the song and the catchiness of the chorus really gives this song an interesting angle, and we can say this is something completely new for DT. This is the first time Mangini contributes to the lyrics and this song is about someone obsessed with patterns, numbers and hidden messages.
S2N is another hard hitting song with one of our favorite bass riffs in the album. It’s the second song Myung contributed lyrics for. S2N stands for Signal to Noise, which in science it is a ratio that compares the signal that is desired to the background noise. If the noise is too high the signal is not received. We think this song is about reducing all that outside noise in your life, what is stopping you from really focusing on what you want to achieve. There is so much outside noise with constant news, and social media that is becomes information overload. This song tells us that the answer is to reduce that noise so that our true message is revealed. Mangini really stands out on this song which has a real LTE feel to it, and even some Rush’s Cygnus X1 undertones. One of the most complex songs in the album.
At Wit’s End quickly became our favorite track in the album. It starts off with such an aggressive, dizzying riff and then takes you on a journey, a story about the aftermath of abuse, and a victim not wanting her past trauma to interfere with her current relationship. At the same time you have her partner helping her thru it and wanting to save the relationship. This song was written by James and the emotional subject is well reflected on the song’s writing. You feel a gamut of emotions listening to this song, from despair and sadness, to frustration and anger, and ultimately moving to hope and trusting love to get you through difficult things. The music is as complex as the subject matter and this song is a stand out.
Out of Reach is a beautiful ballad and a welcome change of pace in the album. James creates a wonderful texture with his soft vocals in this love story about a person that is just out of reach. The accompanying melody on this song is really touching and it creates a feeling of warmth and love. Such a well written ballad that really gets the guys in touch with their more melodic side.
Pale Blue Dot is in our opinion the epic masterpiece of the album. Everything you would expect from a song based on Carl Sagan view of space and our responsibility to Earth and humankind. Every part of this song is truly epic- from the fantastic riffs, to the dizzying JR and JP solos in an extended instrumental section, from the military style, imposing drum and bass beats, to James’ heartfelt belting of the lyrics. This is another journey- you float thru space, feel the sheer grandiosity of the Universe, travel thru space, and come to realize how truly small we are in our little pale blue dot. At the end of this amazing journey, we come to realize that we really need to focus on kindness, there’s no one there to save us from ourselves. Only we can do that. It really doesn’t get any more epic than this.
Viper King is really such a fun song. A real departure from the rest of the album, and probably the reason it was left as a bonus track. We are very happy it was released. You can tell the guys really enjoyed playing this song in the studio. It has a very rock n roll, blues feel to it.
With Distance Over Time, Dream Theater proves that they can deliver all the things we’ve come to love about their classic sound, while still continuing to grow. This album truly has a synergy and feel that had been missing. It’s a rekindling of that enthusiasm from the past, and that organic feel to the music. It’s familiar but innovative. Complex but deeply emotional. We loved going on this journey and we hope you will too.
