Dream Theater - Systematic Chaos (W/Dvd) (Spec)
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Free Music Notes for Systematic Chaos (W/Dvd) (Spec)
Free Music Review: What Train of Thought should have been.
Hit: 5 Stars
I've been a Dream Theater fan since 1992 when a friend of mine gave me his copy of Images & Words because in his words "It's got way too many keyboards".
I was in a MASSIVE progressive rock/music phase around this time which began around 1987 and lasted until about the late 90's in which I had an epiphany that a lot of the progressive music that I had really indulged in really sucked in a lot of respects. But Dream Theater is one of those bands that I've stuck with through thick and thin. This is a band that can sometimes exhilirate at their best (see their 1994 album Awake) and perplex, counfound and/or annoy me at their indulgent worst (see Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence).
But as a life long musician myself, it always thrills me to hear musicians who aren't afraid to shine from a player perspective because frankly, a lot of current musicians in most of the emo or mall-core bands are just horrible. (I started playing classical piano when I was 6 and electric bass when I was 14 along with saxophone/drums as well. I'm 32 at the moment BTW). I like to actually hear a real well written song along with that as well though, and not just endless noodling.
I thought that as songwriters that Dream Theater really reached a high water mark for them as a whole on their last release Octavarium. They eased off the bombastic/progressive nature of their music for the most part and just tried to write great SONGS. While I realize that a lot of Dream Theater fans hate their 1997 release Falling Into Infinity, I've always felt that that release captured some of their best songwriting even if the overall whole fell short of what the band and some fans wanted.
Systematic Chaos however sees the band returning much more to the dark/metalliac elements of their album Train of Thought which came out before Octavarium. This album is much more heavy compared to the comparatively pastoral lush sounds of Octavarium.
But whereas it's got the heaviness that Train of Thought, the actual songwriting is much, much stronger than that release. In fact, this is the album that I really think that the band was shooting for on TOT.
All of the elements that DT fans have come to love (and their almost equal number of detractors loathe them for) are present. Soaring almost operatic vocals courtesy of James Labrie. Blisteringly fast dual keyboard/guitar solos by Jordan Rudess and John Petrucci respectively. Equally fast but grooving bass work by the soft spoken John Myung. Stellar and amazingly complex drum work by Mike Portnoy.
The lyrics are also a step up in the right direction for the band as well with James Labrie writing one track of lyrics and Mike Portnoy & John Petrucci coming up with the rest.
The surprising heaviness of this release after the much more melodic Octavarium might come as a huge shock for people expecting them to continue on in that direction for a bit, but seeing as this is their 1st release for their new record label Roadrunner records (which is a long running metal label), perhaps they felt like they needed to deliver something that a metal fan of other bands on the label's roster would dig.
Regardless of their motives for the direction of this album, this makes up for the frustrating and sometimes mediocre Train of Thought and sees the band, like on Octavarium, hitting yet another career high water mark the likes that bring to mind their magnum opus (at least IMO) Awake.
While there's absolutely nothing here to convert somebody who hasn't already gotten into the band, longtime fans will eat this up.
As for the 2 disc "special edition", this sees DT taking fan service to an almost unheard of level. You get on the bonus DVD a 93 minute(!) documentary shot and edited by Mike Portnoy that gives a very detailed and entertaining look at the band while they wrote/recorded this album all at once in the studio.
You also get the entire album on the DVD as well mixed in 5.1 surround sound. While I'm lacking a good surround sound sytem at the moment, this is really a cool move on their part.
The deluxe edition only runs 5 dollars more so I would just pick up that one instead rather than just the regular CD version.
Free Music Review: The joy of disorder
Hit: 5 Stars
Somehow, Dream Theater never ceases to amaze me. They've reivented progressive rock since mid-to-late 80s and they are capable to keep on writing extraordinary music and keeping their musicianship intact.
Mixed reviews about their music are very common, and that's what makes them more interesting. Some metalheads dislike their proggier (and sometimes pop) vein, and proggers are not often keen on their metal side. Dream Theater is not the kind of band to please everyone... they do what they want and no one does it like them.
Every new Dream Theater album is a whole experience for the listener. Whatever you thought of a past album, you don't know what will come in the next one. When they released "Constant Motion" as a single I understood they are going to continue exploring their heaviest side. Then I saw the "Dark Eternal Night" video at YouTube and I found that piece so heavy and yet so virtuosistic that I couldn't wait to have the album in my hands.
The result: another awesome piece of music. The epic, the symphonic, the experimental, the mellow and the heavy are all blended together in Systematic Chaos.
1.- In The Presence Of Enemies Part 1: What a starter! First thing that comes to mind is the Liquid Tension Experiment revisited, until James' voice appears. Many fans keep on harassing him, but I've always had him as a great singer, and this album proves it again. He signs in a more comfortable fashion, not so extremely high. The piece ends and you stay in suspense... obviously you need part 2.
2.- Forsaken: A piece a little more "modern", if such term can be used. The piano and strings from Jordan give a great atmosphere to the vampiresque lyrics.
3.- Constant Motion: Yes, it does sound like Metallica, because Dream Theater never hide their influences. However, Metallica can only dream of playing this heavy nowadays. Although is very much of a guitar driven song, the keyboard solo by Jordan does good for headbanging.
4.- The Dark Eternal Night: One of Dream Theater's heaviest and most chaotic (hence the album title) songs ever. Every one of the musicians show what they're capable of in terms of speed. They outgrew themselves on the heavy side with this one, just check the background for the guitar solo, it's as heavy as any Symphony X track.
5.- Repentance: It's time to bring things down a bit. Continuing the saga that started with "The Glass Prison", "Repentance" explores a mellower side. The ending, although a bit long, serves for very nice evocative feelings. Masterly!
6.- Prophets Of War: A recent influence for DT has been Muse, one of the most interesting bands nowadays. They already explored this influence with "Never Enough", from Octavarium (2005), and now they take it one step forward with this track, which also features some powerful backing vocals, provided by Mike, John Petrucci and a group of fans.
7.- The Ministry Of Lost Souls: The strings on this one are quite epic. It's a slow song untill the middle typically expected instrumental part, where both Jordan and John Petrucci make their instruments smoke with amazing solos. The final guitar melody is simply beautiful.
8.- In The Presence Of Enemies Part 2: John Myung starts this track with a Roger Waters kind of riff, playing octaves. This piece ends the album in a great prog-epic fashion, where Jordan even plays a Moog that sends chills down your spine.
Whatever anyone can write here, there's nothing like hearing for yourself. This special edition comes with a DVD where you can see the band recording the album. I assure you it will make you like it even more!
The dream keeps on coming true.
Free Music Review: A Magnum Opus after 20 years of Prog-Metal
Hit: 5 Stars
I have been following DT since 1994 when I was introduced by a friend who played Images and Words in a car ride home from school. That was 13 years ago and DT remains the only band I simply do not get tired of listening to.
They were formed in 1985 and here we stand in the year 2007 and 10 studio albums later with Systematic Chaos which I think is arguably their finest work to date.
Some of their previous releases took a little time invested listening for the tracks to grow on me. They always did and I always grew to love the music. Systematic Chaos stands out for me as a DT album which I LOVED on first listening. I mean I think I nearly blew the speakers out in my house the first time The Dark Eternal Night started piping through my system.
Some standout tracks on Systematic Chaos:
In the Presence of Enemies - Part 1: First track on the album and a great opener for DT as it has a very progressive feel to it with a complicated riff that they play with in several different forms leading up to James LaBrie cutting into vocals at 5:13. For some reason, 'clean and crisp progressive metal' comes to mind when thinking about this track.
Forsaken - Opens with a creepy sounding piano sequence from Jordan Rudess which would find itself at home in a movie like "The Exorcist" and then explodes with the rest of the band playing a variation of that theme. The lyrics are very creative and spell a story of a person being visited at night by a 'forsaken' who tempts the victim to give themselves up. This song has a more ballad type feel and you are tempted to sing along with this one.
The Dark Eternal Night - If In the Presence of Enemies is clean and crisp, then this song is its antithesis sounding grungy and ballsy. It starts with John Petrucci on a seven string guitar playing a filthy riff. The vocals cut in at 1:11 with LaBrie and Portnoy together distorted and angry. This is a song where your volume knob has a mind of its own and speaker companies may make some money in replacement parts. This wouldn't be out of place on a Megadeth album and I think DT may find some new fans with this tune.
A note on the 5.1 mix on the bonus DVD...this isn't just the music cloned on the surround and center speakers. The music has actually been mixed. You will hear panning and splitting of vocals and instruments. The bonus DVD is well worth having if you are fortunate enough to have a surround system.
The documentary on the DVD is the only thing I wasn't entirely happy with. While it was cool to see how the songs take shape, there were a few things that bothered me. For one, if you watch this with a good sounding subwoofer, be ready to turn it down during the interviews with John Petrucci as they were done in a very windy alley and subwoofers will lovingly reproduce all that wind making the interview almost impossible to sit through. The second thing is a bit nitpicky, but I feel they should have future proofed the documentary a little better by filming it in a 16:9 aspect ratio. Widescreen TVs will be ubiquitous in the near future as prices continue to tumble. It would have been nice not having to watch it in pillar box format on my tv.
Most bands don't last 20 years. If they do, they are tired sounding and probably ready to hang it up. DT is in their prime after 2 decades, and if they continue to make albums like this, the fans will respond with good album sales and sold out shows. I hope to see a 30th anniversary tour in the future.
If you are new to DT I can't think of a better way to start than picking up Systematic Chaos
Free Music Review: To buy or not to buy the Special edition?
Hit: 5 Stars
Okay, there are already a spate of great reviews out there. This review focuses purely on whether to pay a little extra for the Special Edition.
In brief - don't hesitate - if you have a home theater system - get the Special Edition! No hesitation. The 5.1 Surround Sound mix of the album is a sonic delight. At the moment on Amazon (11/08/07) you are only paying a dollar more for the Special Edition. You get a double CD disk with embossed Special Edition outer sleeve (slightly raised title and imagery - very cool!) - you get the Stereo CD with booklet PLUS a DVD with an insightful 90 minute documentary which also has the entire album in 5.1 Surround Sound.
Wow! You play the opening bars of the album on 5.1 and keyboards swirl around your head left and right - Portnoy crashes a hole through the wall in front of you and as the full power chords fill the room you are instantly aware of one of the most exciting mixes I have ever heard of a DT studio album. Simply stunning. So heavy, heavy, heavy with a bottom-end the shakes the foundations but with the clarity and precision of all instruments combined that is far more evident in 5.1 than what you hear on stereo.
Paul Northfield has done wonders with Petrucci and Portnoy to provide a great mix for the stereo album - but this is even more noticeable on 5.1. Brilliant stuff! Not since Liquid Tension Experiment have the bass and drums sounded so in your face!
For Portnoy fans - many of the complicated drum fills spiral across the speakers with such separation yet always centred on the front stage. When James's voice is first heard - the band is spread in panoramic sound - but his crystal clear notes slice through that centre speaker. Spine-tingling!
That voice cutting through is particularly evident on 'The Dark Eternal Night' where grunge chorus voices are sunk into the bedrock of the track but James's solo voice cuts through the mix almost with a cocoon of silence separating his voice from the heaviest riff I have heard for a long time.
Listen to the beautiful opening minute of 'Repentence' - and you'll instantly never want to listen in stereo again. The 5.1 does such a brilliant job of conveying the heaviness of the bass and bass drum against the cutting crisp plucked guitar notes. Awesome!
Yes, 5.1 is maybe an exaggerated sound stage but it is so fitting to this music. At the same time let me assure the purists that the bulk of the ten-ton solid bass and drums are slap in the middle as you expect them with the voice dead center. But be ready for some great surprises as chorus voices go behind you; spoken voices of repentence to extreme 180 degrees left and right, riffs spinning and John's lead breaks soaring.
The documentary is an added bonus where we see both serious conversations and boyish banter courtesy the band jester, Mike Portnoy. What I found the most interesting was how Mike included ever major drum fill, lead break both guitar and keyboard that is crucial to the album. So you see all landmark solos actually being recorded in the studio. Some of the vocal recording and visuals of laying down chorus voices was fascinating as well as funny at times. It's great this documentary is added as a bonus - but in summary - the reason you should get the Special Edition is simply an amazing 5.1 mix. (Plus you can always keep the spare stereo CD for your car or PC!)
5 Stars for extra value and the best heavy rockin' 5.1 mix in the business!
Free Music Review: VERY SOLID ALBUM! my fav dt album sinse six degrees
Hit: 5 Stars
yes my friends you read correct. this album is defidently dream theater's strongest album sinse six degrees of innner turbulence. it is pretty much a mix of all of DT's best sides. best of their prog,metal,and more calm rock sides all mixed in one. and this is also their best playing sinse six degrees. the emotion from scenes is also brought back at times. jordan really shines on here. and petrucci plays some of his best solos ever! and the new 25 min epic is amazing!
here is a short song by song review,
In the prescense of enemies pt 1 - 5/5 -
amazing opener! Very Progressive track! opens up with a 5 min intromental insanity. sounds like a more heavy edged metropolis pt2! after a emotional transistion james kicks in about 5 mins into the song. after about 4 mins a crazy unisink between petrucci and rudess strats up. than there is a very smooth transistion into the next song.
Forsaken - 4.5/5
forsaken is a great track. its a more straight folward song. but its not like the slower songs on octavarium (witch i thought dragged a bit) this song is more like their classic ballads. just a bit heavyer. very catchy song
Constant Motion - 5/5
i love constant Motion its such a cool heavy progressive song! dream theater's metallica influence can clearly be heard on this song, but it is cool. i love the instromental section on this song. killer petrucci solo!
The Dark Eternal Night - 5/5
this is by far the heavyest song on the album. it has the style of TOT, but its more on the progressive side, and is done much better than TOT. The instromental section is sick! reminds me of dance of eternity! awsome song. one of the best on the album
Rependance - 5/5
a very moody more calm song. really well done vocal's. petrucci plays some tasty stuff on this song! reminds me of opeth's damnation. really cool track
Prophets Of War - 4/5
A good strange song. it is more straight folward than the other songs, and my least favorite from the album, but still a great song!
Ministry Of Lost Souls - 5/5
One of the highlights of the album! a great song with a great story to it. It has a scenes from a memory feel to it. very powerful synth useage. the 14 min epic song starts of very mellow, and eventlly transits into a heavy instromental section wich last quite a few mins. Petrucci plays a great damn Guitar solo! The song eventully transits into the emotional ending. and starts to fade off to john petrucci's amazing emotional catchy guitar line. mikes does some crazy drum fills over it.
In The Presense Of Enemies pt 2 - 5/5
part 2 of the epic is just as amazing as the first part. it starts off where the first left off. The track starts off calm and moody, and more vocal driven. It begins to built up, and it eventully builts to a verry proggy hard rock sound. than the song builts into a really heavy metal section, and the frighting instromental section kicks in for about 5 mins. That transists into the melodies from pt 1 of the song. and that conludes the song.
GREAT ALBUM!