Portnoy vs. Mangini 

I am shutting off comments on this video as of 11/07/2023 in light of the news that Portnoy has returned to Dream Theater. For that reason, I consider it pointless to keep the Mangini vs. Portnoy drama alive. I made this video for two reasons: 1) I was disappointed with how Mangini was sounding from 2013-2017, 2) I felt the backlash against Portnoy in certain factions of the Dream Theater fandom was unfair. For those who didn't understand my logic in parts of the video, I wanted to contrast some things Mangini did which I didn't like with how Portnoy would have sounded in a similar context. I believe there was a big improvement in Mangini's sound when the band did Distance Over Time. Unfortunately, his potential in the band was still being flattened by the quality of the vocals. This video got way more views than I ever expected, got in the ballpark of 10,000 likes, and even got an unexpected comment from Jon Sudano. While I stand by the things I said in the video, I think it's high time Mangini got a reprieve. I wish him nothing but the best, and A Dramatic Turn Of Events is still a top 5 Dream Theater album for me.