After many months of anxiously anticipating Dream
Theater’s new release, it is finally here! All
those months of hoping for greatness really built
up my expectations to an almost impossible level to
please, and Dream Theater has pretty much met most
of those expectations. It has everything that a Dream
Theater fan enjoys: Odd times galore, crunchy guitar
riffs, soaring melodies, John Petrucci’s signature
shredding, Portnoy’s unbelievably, almost melodic
drum patterns, and great song writing.
This is much more of a standard Dream Theater release
than their last effort, Octavarium, which was a great
record, but a little disappointing with its lack of
solos, odd times, and longer arrangements (which really
is what most Dream Theater records are all about).
There is still the Muse influence here, but it definitely
isn’t as strong.
The first track, In the Presence of Enemies Part1
is a nine minute part of a twenty five minute epic
that concludes with the sixteen minute long track
at the end of the album. I listened to the tracks
separately, and together, and it looks like they made
the wise choice of keeping them separated as the Part
1 is a great opener, and Part two is a great closer.
The very beginning of the track starts off with a
unison that is almost impossible to pin a time signature
on, and then proceeds into a fairly long instrumental,
which grows into a jaw dropping unison of Rudess,
Petrucci and Portnoy, which lets you know this is
going to be a little more technical than their last
effort. Then comes the main theme, which is, of course,
absolutely gorgeous, played by Petrucci, who adds
in some bluesy fills. It is really a unique track
that is a much better starter than The Root of All
Evil. Lyrically, it is also one of Petrucci’s
better efforts.
Forsaken, the second song is the shortest on the
album, but it still contains everything that makes
a Dream Theater song great. The riff is freakin’
sweet, featuring some awesome harmonics every once
in a while. It has a great bridge, and it might contain
my favorite Petrucci solo, which features an amazingly
lyrical beginning, and maintains the lyricism in and
out of his lighting fast picking.
The riffs and melodies in Constant Motion, the third
song, are something that I have grown to like over
a long period of time. When I first heard the song,
I didn’t like hardly any of it. Now, I love
the Metallica-esque riff that kicks in at forty seconds,
the chorus, Petrucci’s and Rudess’ solos
(both of which are an absolutely insane display of
just about every technique there is), and Portnoy’s
groove at four minutes into it (it’s so long
and fast, that it’s amazing he can repeat it
every time perfectly).
The Dark Eternal Night is by far the heaviest song
on the album paying a bit of a tribute to DimeBag
(R.I.P.) in the beginning riff. What separates it
from Pantera however, is its complete odd meter onslaught,
which has definite echoes of Dance of Eternity. It
is unquestionably the most technical song on the album,
and the riff near the end before the solos is one
of the fastest and craziest critters I’ve ever
heard.
Repentance continues Mike Portnoy’s AA Saga,
and starts out with the Tool-ish sounding riff from
This Dying Soul (you will hear it two minutes into
This Dying Soul), but instead of going for a riffing
and shredding extravaganza (I.E. Glass Prison, and
This Dying Soul), or an all out rocker (I.E. The Root
of All Evil), the band decided to pay tribute to Pink
Floyd on this one, which was a great choice. It is
the much needed breather after The Dark Eternal Night,
and the musical textures in the song are very lush
and dramatic providing space for the contemplative
lyrics that deal with forgiveness and repentance.
It also features Petrucci showing off his melodic,
and tasteful side in a very Gilmour influenced solo.
It isn’t as long or drawn out as the solos to
The Spirit Carries On, or Lines In the Sand (which
in my opinion are two of the greatest solos ever recorded,
that take you to another world emotionally), but it
is nonetheless extraordinary to listen to. The song
then plays the Tool-ish motif again while there are
fragmented clips of musicians like Steve Vai, Neal
Morse, Joe Satriani, Daniel Gildenlow, and others
confessing and asking for forgiveness for things that
they have done to wrong anyone. The harmonies then
come in, singing “Ahhhh” while the song
moves thoughtfully forward until it eventually ends
with a few more voice over tracks. It may go on a
bit too long, but just by a little more than thirty
seconds or so.
Our country’s current political problems are
addressed in the Muse inspired Prophets of War, the
next song on the album, which was written by Labrie.
Fortunately, it steers clear of being preachy. Instead,
it maintains intellectual integrity while asking difficult
and pressing questions that should be addressed. The
Muse influence is definitely there, and it’s
for the better. The song’s verse and chorus
are both incredibly catchy, so it is safe to say this
is Dream Theater’s pop song on the record.
The Ministry of Lost Souls, which follows Prophets
of War begins with a powerful orchestral sounding
theme, then slows down into a chord progression that
maintains the main sound of the theme until Labrie
comes in sounding great singing the verse with some
great melodic phrasing, till the song slowly starts
gaining momentum into the chorus. The breathtaking
unison between Rudess and Petrucci near the end of
the song is probably the high point of the album.
More than a unison, it is a really a harmonized solo
that completely seeps with emotion, melody, and virtuosity
at the same time. The song finally slows back down
for Labrie to lyrically close out the song followed
by the main theme played beautifully by Petrucci till
everything fades out.
Finally, The Presence of Enemies Part 2 begins very
slowly building much like the previous track into
a very heavy set of riffs. The song doesn’t
bring anything new to the plate, but it has a lot
of Dream Theater goodies in it like a crazy instrumental
section full of odd times, and some more crazy solos,
and brings back the jaw dropping unison heard in part
1, as well as the great sounding main theme.
Every single track on the album has something to
savor and to be listened to over and over again. I’ve
probably listened to the album through about four
times already, and each time, I enjoy it and appreciate
it more. There is insane prog, bone crushing riffs,
beautiful, melodic melodies, and even some pop elements
here and there. It is definitely the most diverse
of any Dream Theater record, and probably among the
best, although that is hard to say being that nearly
every record by Dream Theater is mind blowingly awesome.
Key Tracks:
Reviewed by Mark Chenoweth |
