Dream Theater - Train of Thought
|
List Price: Our Price: $4.42 You Save: $9.54 (68%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $3.99 (click here) Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Canadian Music Store
Free Music Notes for Train of Thought
Free Music Review: The Sound Of Perfecton
Hit: 5 Stars
I've already read a number of the reviews of the latest from Dream Theater on here and they as varied as can be. Much like any band's new release (especially in the metal genre), it's goes directly under the microscope for close examination for any differences from previous outings and, more often that not, how far a departure it is from said person's favorite catalog album. From my readings, everyone has what they consider to be the quintessential Dream Theater album and I, as well, have my own - Metropolis Part II: Scenes From A Memory. However, I thoroughly enjoyed "Six Degrees" after a few listens and went into "Train Of Thought" with no expectations other than to enjoy it.What I got was; in my opinion, the spiritual successor to "Scenes". I will admit, I read some news posts that lead me to believe that this album was going to be heavily influenced by Metallica and be more straightforward overall and that scared me some. I feared that the superb balance of melody and technicality was going to be submerged in an attempt to appease mainstream rock radio. Luckily, I was wrong and "Train Of Thought" is classic Dream Theater, through and through...albeit a bit heavier.
The opening riff of "As I Am" bears similarity to the first track on Acid Bath's "When The Kite String Pops" album and though it's the most "radio friendly", it opens a glimpse of the technical precision that emerges as the CD moves forward. Once again, all talent here is very present and accounted for. Mike Portnoy's fluent and rapid fire drum mastery is nothing short of breathtaking and he proves once again why he is a close second to the crown held by Neal Peart of Rush. Every instrument is in perfect symmetrical balance with one another and even when one player as at the far end of the spectrum playing something that most people don't care to fathom, the rest of the rhythm section can be playing something elementary and simple and everything will remain in complete harmony with each other.
My only complaint is the hip hop tendencies that rear their ugly head in the 2nd and 3rd songs. Though they are few and far between, James LaBrie breaks into these occasional rap-like fits that do little to compliment the song overall. If anything, they give the listener a momentary scare, praying that this isn't the main direction of the song but before it can settle in, it's gone. Aside from that minor gripe, James LaBrie's vocals are still in outstanding form and he is fast becoming one of my favorite vocalists in metal today.
The downside to this album is that because of it's outstanding musicianship and technical stylings, it's likely that it will not see any major airplay which is sad because "Train Of Thought" is such a good recording. As a society, we are racing towards wanting everything better, bigger and faster but when it comes to music, we want everything short and sweet so it's easier for the masses to digest and DT's shortest track (minus the instrumental) is 7 1/2 minutes long which is about 4 1/2 minutes too long for rock radio. Despite the lack of publicity that they will receive from their label, Dream Theater has concocted yet another metal masterwork and to the real fans, that is the most important thing.
Free Music Review: Take This As It Is.
Hit: 5 Stars
I've been a fan of dream theater for quite some time now, and I have to say that I don't rank the albums for quality or artistic merit. Dream Theater wrote the album in three weeks. That ends a lot of the griping about it being thrown together or not as artsy as other ones.
I think the album is a logical step in their whole continuum throughout their career. The last album dabbled in some of the rawer, heavier tones that dominate this new album. The keyboards, for example, have become less of a lead instrument since Jordan Rudess has been aboard. He's really added some interesting textures and soundscapes to the base of the mix. The sounds coming from him on this album have changed. When he does play leads, they're not as over the top as usual. HE's got a new sound for his leads, too. He's always changing that. John Petrucci is playing progressively better on each album. This one pushes the boundaries of what it means to play rock guitar, once again. he's using different guitars, and Mike portnoy also has a new snare sound for the record.
Overall, there isn't as much experimentation in uncharted sounds... There's a great amount of honing in good, familiar tones, tweaking here and there, so sonically, it's a very polished sounding prog metal record. James Labrie sounds a lot stronger on this album than the last one.
The songs have incredibly heavy, catchy riffs. The themes are a lot more solid. If you like the mystery of the lyricism in earlier dream theater, you may not like this album - it seems to be a bit more in your face in the lyrical area. Listen to honor they father, as i am, and in the name of god, and you'll get the picture. They seem to be kind of boring subjects... Never liked Dream Theater's lyrics anyway... Not unless John Myung writes them... but that's only because he sounds kind of mystical when he writes... NOt because it makes any sense or touches me in a profound way.
Anyway, it's a heavy album with superb writing, in my opinion. The guitar playing is out of this world, the drumming is pretty standard for mike portnoy. There really isn't a whole lot of technical experimentation in terms of the chops of these musicians, other than with John Petrucci. The mix doesn't sound nearly as wide open as sdoit. It sounds very compressed, very clean cut, and kind of sterile at times. I'll give critics that. But overall the artwork is very cool for the insert, it's nice and short, but has a nice long instrumental toward the end with some cool little nods to King Crimson and the Beatles in it. it's an easy transition for, say, metallica fans, or anyone looking to jump into prog metal. It's not too over the top, that's for sure. A nice one for beginners, but an album that veteran dream theater fans like me can really appreciate. It's hard for me to explain the overwhelming mood each album has to me. Each is very consistent, and I like what they do each time. Every time they come out with a new album, i wonder what on earth they'll do to top the last, and they always surprise me in that sort of predictable kind of way... I think it's less predictability, and more that their songs and moods are accessible, despite their complex facades.
Free Music Review: It's OK. No, It Stinks! No It's Good. No It's Great!!!!
Hit: 5 Stars
My bemused friends. This is the 516th review of this album and of the previous 515 reviews none are truly helpful. Therfore, after reading numerous of these reviews, I am going to analyze their findings and make recommendations accordingly.
The reason for the wildly varying opinions of Train of Thought, is because with this CD, Dream Theater is entering a new phase on their musical evolution. They have prudently and rightly ascertained that to keep recording, what is basically the same material, is effectively a death sentence.
So, What do we have here? Well it looks like about 20 % of the reviewers (one and two stars) who professed to be die hard fans were shocked by the new Dream Theater and subsequently hated TOT. Obviously if you as a potential buyer are dogmatic and are looking for the same old (but still very good) sound, you shouldn't buy TOT.
The next group we have (Three stars) is the ones who don't know what to make of TOT. They don't seem to rushing to judgement (though they've written reviews) and are somewhat ambivalent. About 15% of our reviewers felt this way and I was one of these people at first but after multiple listens became a fan. That's right, I think TOT takes multiple listens to appreciate but let's face it isn't DT worth multiple listens. What else are we going to listen to, Beyonce? So if you are this kind of person, you should go ahead and buy TOT. Worse case, it won't grow on you and you end up with a mediocre album but the upside is worth it.
Next (four stars) at about 25% is the group that appreciates TOT and DT's latest endeavor and their need to experiment and grow and voice opinions that although TOT is not DT's best or second best or even third best album it is a very good album in it's own right. Again if I may be redundant, what are your options, Janet Jackson? OOPS!
Lastly of course we have the true die hard DT fans (five stars), about 40%, who think TOT is great, one of their best and can't for the life of them, understand how anyone could not love this album and say so in their reviews. I kinda side with them but I can understand where the other groups are coming from. I guess I'm in between groups three and four at about 4 1/2 stars.
SUMMARY:
If you like the old Dream Theater just fine, thank you, and do not wish to experiment on a newer and slightly heavier DT - PASS
If you are not as rigid but think you may like the old DT better - IT'S YOR CALL, it's still Dream Theater!
If you are flexible and open to new stuff, especially from DT - ABSOLUTELY!
If you are an extreme, die hard Dream Theater fan. You probably have it already.
MY BOTTOM LINE:
Dream Theater is the most visable, most revered and best known of all PROG ROCK/METAL bands. By being the number one progressive band in the world they have been anointed to carry the torch through the dark passages of mundane popular music. Though they are not my personal favorite Progressive band, I do love them and feel for them as they carry a heavy burden. Long Live Dream Theater. You may not like the alternative.
Free Music Review: I don't know what these people are on. This is definitely a great album.
Hit: 5 Stars
One thing I've noticed with all Dream Theater reviews save a couple (which you'll find out which after you read this sentence): all the critical fans whine because it's not another "Images & Words" or perhaps "Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From a Memory". Both were good albums but while these fans proclaim to not want monotony they also criticize the albums for not being like them, which is something I, at least personally, find a bit contradictory.
I don't know if I'd call myself a Dream Theater album. This was actually the second album of theirs I bought after "Imges & Words" but even to this day I still listen to it and with gusto. Even the lyrics are impressive for the most part. "Face yourself, man/Brace yourself and trace your hell back!"
This album is one of their heavier albums, probably even the heaviest of all of them (though I haven't heard all of them yet, including the new album). If you like a more metal sound you'll like this. It may be more "straight up" or "direct" than their previous albums but it still has its "prog-ness" to it. There's not many soft songs on here except "Vacant", which is short. Other than that, the only real softness is on parts of "Endless Sacrifice" and "In The Name of God", and I say part because a lot of those songs have heavy parts too.
It's probably safe to say there's not as much of that typical synthesizer, organ-like keyboard work, if you know what I mean, and a lot more distortion. However, Jordan does some really astounding keyboard work with a distorted, guitar-like keyboard sound. If you're not familiar to this type of keyboarding, you'll probably think it's a guitar, like I did, but really it's just Jordan kicking a**. Seriously, great stuff. The rest of the instruments and vocals are great too. My favorites as of now are "Endless Sacrifice" because of that really great instrumental section which in my opinion has two of the best guitar solos John as ever played as well as one of the best dual solos Jordan and John have ever played; and "In The Name of God" because it has that "epic" feel I wish I could hear more of (in metal in general). The closing part where James goes, "In the name of the name of Gah-ah-aaaaahd!" is powerful and soaring and one of the best vocal lines I've ever heard from them and is the best part of the song. I find myself rewinding and listening to that part over and over because it gets me so hard.
Well, anyway, this is a heavy Dream Theater album with a lot of good stuff. It's not a repeat of "Images & Words" and "Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From a Memory" so spare me the tears. I don't know if it's better than their earlier albums, which have a lot to do with personal preference as Dream Theater generally releases quality albums and there's so much to examine in all of them. However, I think it's one of Dream Theater's better albums and definitely worth the buy. It may not be perfect but that doesn't mean it's worth the unfair, crap rating people are giving it.
Free Music Review: TAKE DREAM THEATER AS THEY ARE!! BRILLIANT!!
Hit: 5 Stars
As I Am is Metallica, OK, but it's DREAM THEATER playing Metallica as they would never play it themselves, get my point? LaBrie's vocals are really strong in that one: "for those who understaaaaand, take me as I aaaaam!!!" Awesome.This Dying Soul is a twisted sick sequel to the colossus Glass Prison. There are even some eastern sounding guitar riffs in the vein of Opeth's Bleak or DT's Home. There's also an obvious reference to Metallica's Blackened. Lyrically brilliant, heavy as ever, and its ending is the sickest (most technical) DT ending I've ever seen. Lightspeed playing WITH soul and virtuosity.
Endless Sacrifice has a very unusual chorus, this is the point where the "nu metal" influence gets evident... Well, that is FAR from nu-metal, for it's DT playing. Furthermore, it's inserted in a whole context, it's not nu-metal by nu-metal. Later on there's an incredible instrumental section, again full of virtuosity and intrincate playing by all bandmembers. One of my favorites.
Honor Thy Father is my least favorite. Here the heavyness really gets meaningless... There are some cool Maiden references (on and on and on and on and oooooooon), the polemical rap section (which I find very amusing BTW) and a cool Megadethish section (don't cross the crooked steps!).
Vacant is a BEAUTIFUL interlude with piano, cello and emotional vocals and lyrics. This piece is VITAL for the album's integrity, because it's our only breathing point. Very very very beautiful.
Stream of Consciousness is a long instrumental, very reminiscent of Metallica's Orion. It's composed of multiple individual melodies (very groovy and Liquid Tensionish) that merge one into another. Not so epic as Dance of Eternity, Erotomania or Metropolis interlude... Well I prefer virtuosity over grooviness and easy playing so I'm biased.
In the Name of God is divine. Definitely the central piece of the album, easily the most melodic (maybe the only one that can be called MELODIC). The chorus is VERY Maidenish, thus brilliant (Listen as the prophet speaks to me/ Killing in the name of God!). One of my favorite moments of the album is the instrumental interlude at 8:36. It's a fast guitar solo backed up by a loud bass funky solo, which feels very dancy. The album ends in a classic DT fashion, an epic fade-out.
Train of Thought is clearly an EVOLUTION for Dream Theater. People who are upset with its heavyness were expecting more of the same. I&W, Awake and Scenes were all brilliant, but there couldn't be a replay of those albums. The tendency with metal bands is to evolve softening their sound, and that is usually a bomb for most fans (Metallica, Theatre of Tragedy, Paradise Lost, Anathema, Katatonia, Celestial Season, etc). DT is such a versatile band that it walks in multiple directions with their music. If this one is heavy, the next may be introspective in the vein of 6 Degress or even soft as Falling Into Infinity (just watch the musical diversity of members' sideprojects for a taste of their broad influences and capacities).