Rock and Heavy music!

[Darfy]

I was "removing the dust" from an old Dream Theater's underrated song, Scarred.
It has to be one of the most hard rock DT's songs, plus there's a great guitar solo at the end, it's worth a listen:
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Awake is an incredible album. It has this certain type of dark atmosphere to it that lasts throughout the whole album. Erotomania is my long-time favorite, but honestly I don't think it has a single bad song. Well actually the same applies to all Dream Theater albums that were made prior to Portnoy's departure, apart from the one they made back in Majesty days. The new albums with Mangini sure do have their moments, Breaking All Illusions is a wonderful song for example, but overall the albums are definitely weaker. Mangini is a great metal drummer and has a lot of merits but especially on live DVDs he lacks feel and groove, badly. It's almost like the playing is coming from a drum machine rather than a human. Plus that Portnoy always was the front man of the band and in live he had his own little show going on in the back constantly and it was fun watching him do his stuff. You should check out their 20th anniversary DVD Score, if you haven't already. I'd say it's their best live performance, LaBrie nailing every note and they have an orchestra in the back and all. Good days, DT will never be the same again..

[Quickplay]

I was "removing the dust" from an old Dream Theater's underrated song, Scarred.
It has to be one of the most hard rock DT's songs, plus there's a great guitar solo at the end, it's worth a listen:

Awake is an incredible album. It has this certain type of dark atmosphere to it that lasts throughout the whole album. Erotomania is my long-time favorite, but honestly I don't think it has a single bad song. Well actually the same applies to all Dream Theater albums that were made prior to Portnoy's departure, apart from the one they made back in Majesty days. The new albums with Mangini sure do have their moments, Breaking All Illusions is a wonderful song for example, but overall the albums are definitely weaker. Mangini is a great metal drummer and has a lot of merits but especially on live DVDs he lacks feel and groove, badly. It's almost like the playing is coming from a drum machine rather than a human. Plus that Portnoy always was the front man of the band and in live he had his own little show going on in the back constantly and it was fun watching him do his stuff. You should check out their 20th anniversary DVD Score, if you haven't already. I'd say it's their best live performance, LaBrie nailing every note and they have an orchestra in the back and all. Good days, DT will never be the same again..

yeah i agree with you, Portnoy had more "soul" and he's always been a funny guy, but i think also Mangini is a nice person and has great skills.
The early albums are of course something special, but a good thing is that i've found a remarkable improvement in the last albums ("A dramatic turn of events" and "Dream Theater") compared to the previous ones. Not considering the very last "The astonishing" because i only listened to it once and i don't remember the songs yet.

The live you mentioned was good indeed, i also liked the Live scenes from New York (really long!) and in particular Live at Luna Park, which i got in blu ray and totally enjoyed in HD: here LaBrie's voice surprised me, he managed to hit some notes he haven't tried in the last years and it was well performed overall.
Looking forward to buying the last one "Breaking the fourth wall"

[Darfy]

Dynazty - The Human Paradox

Heard this one on the radio the other day and even though I rarely listen to metal as straightforward as this, it struck me right away. The chorus is just sooo catchy and epic and the vocalist is just phenomenal. I'm stunned they don't have any more views than this because their style is really suitable for a pretty wide audience.

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At first it sounded like a Slipknot song's intro, then definitely changed, it's a strange mix of metal and pop i'd say xD

An applause to the drummer

[Darfy]

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@Quickplay: I've been aware of Winery Dogs ever since they started it in 2012, but after years and years of listening to DT, in some strange way I wasn't comfortable with MP being in a different band so I guess I never gave these guys a change. A while ago I bumped into them and thought oh what the heck and for my surprise I found out their stuff is not bad at all, I must admit. It does feel strange to see MP play in a trio, using a small kit and playing less complex music, but damn the energy he gives out is really something. The other two are pretty incredible as well, Sheenan the bassist pulls off some pretty killer licks and Kotzen the vocalist/guitarist is just outstanding, he has pretty unique style as he never uses a pick. And what a voice, you could say it's almost an exact copy of Chris Cornell's. Check them out!!

[Quickplay]

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@Quickplay: I've been aware of Winery Dogs ever since they started it in 2012, but after years and years of listening to DT, in some strange way I wasn't comfortable with MP being in a different band so I guess I never gave these guys a change.

yeah same happened to me, indeed i never really listened to them.
The singer voice indeed reminds me of Cornell ehe, even if i prefer Chris.

Talking about Portnoy being in a trio, have you ever heard about the Liquid Trio Experiment?
The story behind this experiment is curious: it started as a quartet, the "Liquid tension experiment", which was a kind of Dream Theater 2.0 since the line up was formed by Portnoy, Rudess and Petrucci (according to MP's intentions it should have been Steve Morse if i remember right, but he was busy)...only the bassist wasn't one of them.
They recorded a few albums, one of their famous songs is Acid rain, which DT sometimes played live in their concerts.

Reading on wikipedia about them i've found a funny story about one of their concerts, when there was a problem with Rudess' keyboards...so the others started improvising and they ended up playing each others instruments lol (you can read about this here)
I guess you can say that these guys can't get caught unprepared!
If you've never seen Rudess playing guitar or Portnoy playing the bass, then head to the end of this video:

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[Darfy]

Talking about Portnoy being in a trio, have you ever heard about the Liquid Trio Experiment?
The story behind this experiment is curious: it started as a quartet, the "Liquid tension experiment", which was a kind of Dream Theater 2.0 since the line up was formed by Portnoy, Rudess and Petrucci (according to MP's intentions it should have been Steve Morse if i remember right, but he was busy)...only the bassist wasn't one of them.
They recorded a few albums, one of their famous songs is Acid rain, which DT sometimes played live in their concerts.

Heh actually I found out about Liquid Tension Experiment before Dream Theater. I used to listen to King Crimson a lot back in the day and ended up checking if any of them were doing other projects and found out Tony Levin was in this all-star group called LTE. Universal Mind caught me immediately and I thought to myself "damn I want more of that fast and incredible playing" so that's how I got to know about DT.

I liked the first two LTE albums equally but the third they made without Petrucci just lacks something.... maybe Petrucci?

Reading on wikipedia about them i've found a funny story about one of their concerts, when there was a problem with Rudess' keyboards...so the others started improvising and they ended up playing each others instruments lol (you can read about this here)
I guess you can say that these guys can't get caught unprepared!
If you've never seen Rudess playing guitar or Portnoy playing the bass, then head to the end of this video:

Never bumped into that clip before, but more importantly never knew that the Wizard can rock the guitar too! Once you master the fingerwork I guess it makes no difference what instrument you apply it on

[Darfy]

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[Darfy]

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Symphony X - Oculus ex Inferni & Set The World On Fire (The Lie of Lies)

What's Symphony X? Progressive metal, traditional heavy metal, power metal, neoclassical metal and symphonic metal put together. Sounds fun! What's also fun and fascinating (apart from the great playing) is the interesting themes their albums have. Most of their albums are concept albums and they deal with stories from epic poems such as Divine Comedy, Paradise Lost and Homer's Odyssey or ancient mythology, astrology and other known literature in general as well.

Oculus ex Inferni and Set The World On Fire are the albums first two tracks but even as split into two they make an excellent combo and you could think they're just one song. The finale at 7:40 is super badass.

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They've always sounded to me a mix of epic/power/progressive metal indeed... they for sure have a unique sound

[LukaZ]

https://youtu.be/uGcsIdGOuZY

[Runey]

Linkin Park - Breaking the Habit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2H4l9RpkwM

A little bit of Nu Metal.

[MeltdowN]

Linkin Park - Breaking the Habit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2H4l9RpkwM

A little bit of Nu Metal.

I love this song!

[Runey]

Linkin Park - Given up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O27CH14D_tc

Linkin Park - One step closer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrTJJXkeo4E

Smashin'

[Darfy]

Deep Purple - Time For Bedlam
New single from the legendary group Deep Purple. Pretty dark lyrics for their style but this definitely takes me back to their stuff from the 70's. Vintage vibes!!