Portnoy back in Dream Theater.

So, huge fan of DT up through Train of Thought.  After that, they started losing a bit of steam for me on the rest of the Portnoy records.  Once he left, I thought things really dropped off for the most part.  They still had some moments here and there, but overall, I just wasn't into them after Portnoy was out of the picture.  I agree that even at his weakest, he was still that X-factor for them.  So I'm super excited that he's back and will give them another shot.

But, that being said, there is still something that really bugs me in the songwriting that I was hoping would go away with a fresh start.  However, it doesn't seem to have left.  I'm not exactly sure how to describe it, but in a lot of their newer songs over the past few albums, no matter how a song may have started out, the chorus seems have this like happy sounding, major chord progression/riff thrown in somehow.  It wouldn't be such a big deal for maybe a song or two, but it's like it gets shoehorned into a lot of the newer songs.  Night Terror definitely has it, and even though it wasn't quite as noticeable in this second song, it still jumped out at me.  Maybe I'm the weird one and no one else has an issue with it because it's almost like it's become a signature thing for them, but most of the time it sounds forced and out of place to me.  I really wish they wouldn't revert to that in so many of their songs.

That's pretty typical for them though they do seem locked into it now.

FivePointPunk wrote: in a lot of their newer songs over the past few albums, no matter how a song may have started out, the chorus seems have this like happy sounding, major chord progression/riff thrown in somehow.  It wouldn't be such a big deal for maybe a song or two, but it's like it gets shoehorned into a lot of the newer songs. 

That is one of the biggest problems with modern-day "metal".  It's tasteless.

Pretty basic metal tune with some good melodies and Deep Purple keys. Hopefully then can build on this:

I like it, tapping into Rush Vapor Trails sound a little.