Structural comparison of "Pull Me Under" and "On the Backs of Angels" by Dream Theater (republish)

Sep 17, 2024

Finally, after 9 years, I felt compelled to actually notate the structures of these two Dream Theater singles (from 1992 and 2011 respectively) to compare the structures which have been sorta called out as being very similar. Note that “Angels” has about a 15 second minor intro before the real intro, so that should factor into the timestamps. Green = guitar, pink = drums, purple = keyboard, blue = vocals.

It’s pretty remarkable and kind of impressive how closely to “Pull”’s timing and pacing “Angels” hews, considering the former is about 96bpm and the latter is about 142bpm. I also find it remarkable that both songs are honestly competently composed, so that rather than this coming across as a cheap trick or something, it just seems… economical. It’s a good structure! As much as I am exhausted by a lot of Dream Theater’s shtick, they really do have a hellof a backlog.