the systematic chaos cover is littered with references.(ITT enlightenment waits)

as most (if not all) of you know, the official album cover for dream theater's next full-length studio album, systematic chaos, has been released.

i thought that dream theater would give up on blatant allusions to modern idolized people, concerns, ideals, products and anything of the sort.

i thought that dream theater would at least be able to manage an album cover free of references, outside of ideas related to the album.

i thought that dream theater would be original.

i thought wrong.

here is the originality-be-damned album cover in question.


Tthe first thing you notice are the meandering highways rolling in every which direction. hmm... meandering. wandering freely.

as if they are carefree.



so here we have
reference number one: the timeless gordon lightfoot single 'carefree highway'

let's move on, shall we?

The second thing you'll notice is the cornucopias of enlarged ants that are populating the album cover (and considerably).

hmm. interesting, you might say. but nothing unoriginal.
well, do these words sounds familiar to you?

And all the little ants are marching
Red and black antennas waving
They all do it the same
They all do it the same way

that's right. dream theater made a reference to the dave matthews band song 'ants marching' on their damn album cover.

reference number two: dave matthews band

perhaps the most disruptive part of the album cover is the red-and-white street sign in the foreground with the majesty symbol in the center of it. doesn't seem like anything special.

look again, honkey.

is it just me, or does the shape of this sign bear a striking resemblance to the TITLE OF THIS ALBUM:



reference number three: damien rice

now, do me a favor and look to the far right side of the image, on the highway nearest to the top. see a familiar symbol on its side? let me help you out:


another striking resemblance:



who even KNOWS how much dt is being paid for their advertisement habberdashery.

reference number four: honda

one of what i believe to be the most pivotal parts of the album cover is the sky. it greatly contributes to the grimy, industrial, dismal feel of the album cover.



i'm sure i'm not the only one to notice this.
but i'm sure i'm not the only one to also notice the alikeness between the sky in this cover and the sky in a pair of pelican covers (it actually seems as though the systematic chaos cover is a combination of both):



reference number five: pelican

now. in the upper left area of the cover, there is a lone ant on a distant highway.

but wait. before you shrug it off as not unlike the rest of the album cover, compare the ant's size to the streetlight beside it.
that ant is fucking HUGE. know what else features massive ants?
none other than the 1977 film empire of the ants (written by dtf's own h.g. wells).


reference number six: empire of the ants

for my final piece of evidence, i will ask you to look at the largest portion of highway on the cover.
see anything? nothing?
flip it sideways.

you may still see nothing, but i know what I see: a shameless advertisement of my boys, the chicago bears.



reference number seven: the chicago bears

that about wraps it up. i don't even need a clincher statement. the evidence speaks (and awes) by itself. take from it what you will. but give me credit. i hope i've opened the eyes of some of you.

wtf

Re: the systematic chaos cover is littered with references.(ITT enlightenment wa

I think it rules sideways. maybe it's just me...

Re: the systematic chaos cover is littered with references.(ITT enlightenment wa

prmanentmorning,

This thread holds no meaningful information. Stop being a blockhead.

some posts aren't worth responding to. this one is so unworthy that i have to respond to it.

But, this thread rules.

Re: the systematic chaos cover is littered with references.(ITT enlightenment wa

No, I agree completely. Looks way more awesome on the side.

5 stars


One of the best posts I've ever read

Great, your 2nd thread back and you are already using homosexual slurs, cut it or you will be banned again.

I <3 you Nick.

Oh hi, just posting in an open thread.

Re: the systematic chaos cover is littered with references.(ITT enlightenment wa

lol great thread, fucking DT can't make anything original.

Re: the systematic chaos cover is littered with references.(ITT enlightenment wa

You have totally outdone yourself this time, Prm.

thanks nick. you're an okay dude.

PM this is fucking awesome, i love you.

Re: the systematic chaos cover is littered with references.(ITT enlightenment wa

ffs then it gets UNLOCKED after I made a new thread, well here it is again:

Re: the systematic chaos cover is littered with references.(ITT enlightenment wa



This is awesome

Re: the systematic chaos cover is littered with references.(ITT enlightenment wa



Good job.
And I dig the sideways look too.

Re: the systematic chaos cover is littered with references.(ITT enlightenment wa

I chuckled.

Re: the systematic chaos cover is littered with references.(ITT enlightenment wa

Hahahaha...this has to be a joke.

This is gonna be the best album ever.

Exactly...how could DT do this and expect to get away with it?

Re: the systematic chaos cover is littered with references.(ITT enlightenment wa

they just had to ruin it with the fucking ants

Re: the systematic chaos cover is littered with references.(ITT enlightenment wa

It's not April Fools anymore though?!

streeeettttcccchhhhhhhhhh

Re: the systematic chaos cover is littered with references.(ITT enlightenment wa

2.5 Stars

Very intriguing and insightful, but not insightful enough...the letdown upon realizing that the references are not tied together to predict the album's theme is overwhelming, and ultimately, the final impression the article leaves.

wtf.

norbert88

sequels exist for a reason

Re: the systematic chaos cover is littered with references.(ITT enlightenment wa

Dude, I'm sorry. I didn't know this was intended to be a cliffhanger. I look forward to reading the full results of your thorough and meticulous research.

Again, my apologies.

Re: the systematic chaos cover is littered with references.(ITT enlightenment wa

The sideways look is infinitely better.

rumborak

One of the greatest posts ever.

[me=Vehod]breaks into applause, looks around and sees that he's all alone in clapping, and stops.[/me]

Re: the systematic chaos cover is littered with references.(ITT enlightenment wa

YET.

oh no! i've said too much!

Excellent thread.

How the hell are you in my crew? Get that shit out of there.


Anyway, I loled.

I love how all the failures are the ones posting "this is stupid" or "is this a joke?".

That was phenomenal.

But you must be missing something. There should be eight nuggets in the cover.

Holy mother of christ

This is the worst thread I've ever seen.

Yeah, this.

PM wins

I haven't said enough.

Exactly. They are either too far detached from their DT fandom or, apparently, n00bs.

How are you guys not getting this? Fantastic job, PM. *applauds*

Re: the systematic chaos cover is littered with references.(ITT enlightenment wa

I thought that I heard you laughing.

Re: the systematic chaos cover is littered with references.(ITT enlightenment wa

That's me in the corner.

rumborak