Postby Morgenthaler » Thu Oct 24, 2024 7:55 am
I usually try my utmost to stay civilized, online and elsewhere. But... Will you allow the odd rant?
You all know my affiliation with Virgil, so you know of a certain bias on my part. Anyway,
Having recently re-watched the Dream Theater "drummer auditions" of 2011, and having learned over time of the unfair process of the whole thing,
I was left with a rare need to vent my frustration. And I can think of very few places where anyone would/could understand it. So, lucky you.
To be sure, I am beyond glad that Virgil didn't get the gig. He has produced some of his best work in these past 10 years (In This Life, The Dawn Of Time and Ruination)
but also, he was never in the running, as were none of the other drummers except Mike Mangini, who had secured his place in the band before the recording of the "documentary".
Also, it seemed that Dream Theater did everything but cut off Mike Mangini's balls during his time with the band. A progressive ambidextrous powerhouse was slowly but surely reduced
to a lazy, unimaginative drummer, easily playing Portnoy's parts left-handed, blindfolded, and losing all of his own charisma and oomph in the process.
As far as my manners go, the straw that broke the camel's back, was seeing Portnoy return, not only shoving Mangini out in an ugly manner, but more so
Dream Theater just this week releasing a new track so utterly deprived of any new and exciting ideas. It was like a parody, both of their music and particularly of
Portnoy's drum parts. Honestly, I was surprised by just how boring it was, and how much it sounded like a bad Dream Theater wannabe band.
Why the f'ck did they go through all the trouble of sterilizing Mangini, only to have Portnoy return with the same 6-tuplet fills he has played for 40 years?!
What an absolute joke. I felt robbed of precious time on earth, checking out that new track.
Rant over.
Sorry.
