Dream Theater - Octavarium
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Free Music Notes for Octavarium
Free Music Review: Another winner.
Hit: 5 Stars
I guess I am one of the lucky DT fans who actually likes all of their albums. There are only 2 or 3 songs by Dream Theater that I don't like. Luckily Octavarium has 8 songs that I either like or love and this is after listening to it only twice. Everyone knows that it takes a few listens to usually get into their songs but this time around they have really written some beautiful, energetic, and catchy as hell songs. I had no problem with Train of Thought but I am extremely happy that DT took the direction they did with Octavarium because it sounds like an awesome blend of all their old sounds combined with stuff I've never heard from this band.
1)Root of All Evil= a heavy, fist pumping, extremely rocking track with some great solos. A nice addition to the AA saga.
2)The Answer Lies Within= one of their most beautiful ballads ever written; if you liked Anna Lee and Hollow Years, this one is very similar.
3)These Walls= an amazingly catchy and progressive track, this one is probably the closest to "classic" DT; I'm thinking this could be the next Pull Me Under.
4)I Walk Beside You= a very positive and uplifting track that is surprisingly mainstream sounding; it's simplistic and commercial like You Not Me except this song is actually good!
5)Panic Attack= an explosive, fast, balls to the wall track that makes some of the songs on TOT seem slow. Awesome bass as well.
6)Never Enough= a very cool DT track although this one I have the hardest time explaining. It's pretty heavy but it also gives me a weird Matrix vibe with some of the keyboard stuff. The solos and unison section are what you'd come to expect from these guys.
7)Sacrificed Sons= a long epic track much like In The Name of God with some beautiful additions from the orchestra and another classic Dream Theater instrumental section.
8)Octavarium= an over 20 minute amazing track just like A Change Of Seasons, although they sound nothing like eachother. Octavarium is a very beautiful song with a lot of different sections that would be better to just listen to and experience rather then reading my explanation of it.
All in all, 8 great tracks making up one of my new favorite DT albums. Hope this helps.
Free Music Review: A change of music seasons
Hit: 5 Stars
Let me review song by song first:
1 - The Root Of All Evil : The old-school DT song of the disc. Petrucci's riffs and wawas of the second half of the song and Rudess's piano finale are incredible.
2 - The Answer Lies Within : One of the ballads of the disc, pretty good, the "You're gonna shine" part has a lot of Beatle influence, like Ana Lee from Falling into Infinity.
3 - These Walls : Great song, power and melodic lines fusion together to bring us an incredible product. Petrucci's solo, of a simple and beautiful melody, breaks the chaos to bring a little light to the main theme.
4 - I Walk Beside You : The love song. Reminds a lot to U2, cause of the guitar arpeggios and the drums rhythms. But the beginning and end of the song are pure DT.
5 - Panic Attack : One of the best songs of the disc. The beginning make your heart start pumping adrenaline to your system. It really generates a panic attack. The Muse and Radiohead influence are undeniable.
6 - Never Enough : Great song. Very Muse-inspirited. The filter on the voice, the electronic keyboard melodies and the guitar distortions are great.
7 - Sacrificed Sons : The political song of the disc. From the musical point, the best of the song starts 4 minutes late, where the entire bands shows why they are the best.
8 - Octavarium : What can I say about the best song of the disc. Let me quote the Genesis. "At the beginning was dark, then appear DT to bring us light!!" An amazing song. It starts with a fusion between Pink Floyd and Yes. The acoustic guitar sounds great! The 5 different parts in which the songs divides are individual pieces of art. If you listen, at the end of the track, a flute plays the "leit motive" of the entire 24 minutes-long song.
What can I say about the entire album? EVOLUTION ...only that. Perhaps to people that got trap on DT firsts albums like Images and Word or Awake, this kind of change is too drastic, but remember that DT like a progressive band it is, with metal and non-metal influences, the taste of his music is in "the change". I'm sure that a lot of Beatles fans feel disappointed when Sergeant Pepper's came out.
Free Music Review: Didn't have any expectations, hence the reason I love it
Hit: 5 Stars
I know better than to have expectations any time DT puts an album out. Since every album is unique, this album stands on it's own. This album has some heavy metal, prog, pop, and much more. I love DT's approach on this one. I happen to really enjoy the opener, The Root of All Evil. This song rocks hard. Sure they use a bit from Dying Soul, but I thought it was cool. Don't forget that part of Metropolis was used in Home, and nobody complained then. The Answer Lies Within is a great song. It is very mellow, and beautiful in it's own right. There is no shredding on this one, but who says that DT has to shred on every song anyway. Hell, Another Day and Surrounded are popish songs that are awesome, yet nobody seemed to complain about those either. These Walls is another heavy tune, and is probably one of the stronger songs on the album. I Walk Beside You has a similar vibe to U2, but I really like this song. If anyone has seen the 5 years in a livetime video, DT does a similar sounding song in their unplugged show in Holland. I'm not sure what the song was called, but it said something like "Tell Me What You're Thinking". That song was awesome, and so is I Walk Beside You. Panic Attack is a very heavy tune that is fun to listen to. Never Enough has an awesome solo section where Petrucci and Rudess play in unison. If you listen carefully, you will hear some of the best soloing I've heard Petrucci do. Sacrificed Sons is a very beautiful song. It begins pretty mellow, but builds up to a fury. This is one of the best songs on the album. Octavarium is a beautiful song. There are too many textures to name. Many of DT's influences can be heard. People have bitched about this, but every band plays, to some extent, like their influences. Since I do not believe that DT has a best album, I love this one as Octavarium. It floors me that people keep complaining that the album isn't IAW or Awake. Good hell, those albums were great. Any clone of them would make them lose their meaning. Likewise for everything that DT has done. Don't listen to this album with any exceptations. That way, you will love this innovative offering by the great Dream Theater.Free Music Review: Runner up for best album
Hit: 5 Stars
Well in 1999 DT came out with their best and maybe THE best album that was Scenes of a Memory. Best piece of musical art ever, had a story (very rare) and all songs ran in sync with one another. In this CD, it tries to capture that minus the story. All songs were nicely constructed and had good and intelligent lyrics.
Good to see that the skills they aquired from side projects, like LTE, came up in this album. Finally. Fast riffs and nice piano works came up here.
1)The Root of all Evil- A good opener to a DT cd. Long and very instramental. Finishes the "This Dying Soul" saga and does it nicely. 9/10
2)The Answer Lies Within- Well im still looking for it. Personally i don't like this types of songs other than the ones in MP2. 4/10
3)These Walls- Good song with good build up parts, but for some reason they oddly sound like the ones used in a The Used song. DT did it better though. 8/10
4)I walk Beside you- If this song was in MP2:SFAM, no one would bitch cuz it would fit nicely. But for some reason the "pop likeness" Though its radio friendly, thats fine. Good lyrics and good song. 8/10
5)Panic Attack- Best song, has all of DT's strong points in it. 10/10
6)Never Enough- Was the first song i heard from Octavarium and is a good one. But is seems like an Post-Panic Attack song. But more of a good thing never hurts. 7/10
7)Sacrificed Sons- A bit late in its concept but always a nice touch. Awsome guitar work and nice instamental with vocals. 7/10
8)Octavarium- Haven't listened to this song as much as i wanted to becuase i have to commit 24 minutes for it. It is a nice song with alot of guitar work and shows the skills of Rudess from his latest solo work. Nice closer and I hope it closes the DT concert im going to in August. 8/10
Alot of people cuss this CD becuase its different. But then again I thought Train of Thought was an amazing CD. I enjoy all DT works and own most of their cds. They never let me down.
Free Music Review: TO ALL THE HATERS YOU GUYS ARE A BUNCH OF IDIOTS
Hit: 5 Stars
To all the people not sure what side to take since your reading mixed reviews, some people just like to trash everything and dont know what good music is, take my word there's no way in hell that you won't atleast enjoy this album, you'll love it
Now, to all the people dogging this album:
you're all a bunch of complainers, ur way too critical in rating this this album, always complaining about something, too much shredding, not enough shredding, too heavy, not heavy enough, and some of you say Dream Theater has lost it. The only people that have lost it is all you complainers. YOu should all thank Dream Theater for getting better and better because their last few efforts have by far been their best. Images and Words was a good start (some good songs), Awake was not the great, very overated, with the exception of some good songs, Change of Seasons sucked, Infinitiy sucked even more. The turning point was SCenes from a memory, and then 6 degress (mainly the Glass Prison and the 42 minute masterpiece), Train of Thought was everything that i wanted: awesome songs, shredding, and very heavy. Now a lot of you say it had just too much shredding, now the shredding was perfect but the songs were VERY good, and this latest album, which a little more keyboard heavy just continues to prove my point. They have just gotten a lot better with time. SO ALL OF YOU STOP WHINNING AND STOP BEING SO BLIND, and one more thing how could some of you say songs 1 and 2 be skipped? song #1 until now, so far, is my favorite song. And song #2 is a an awesome ballad that, like one of you said, you'll be singing it over and over. one of the two best songs on the album, and the 24 minute epic ender is just amazing. And one more song, i agree that the song "Panic Attack" should be rated in the top DT songs ever, along with the Mike Portnoy's AA Trilogy songs (Glass Prison, Dying Soul, and Root of All Evil, also just about all of TOT, the 42 minute 6th degree, and this album
DT rules NOW