Systematic Chaos is an excellent Dream Theater outing. And while the album is generally heavy and dark, I believe that Systematic Chaos does right what Train of Thought did wrong. Variety is more prevalent on the album, and it has a more progressive feel to it. In my opinion it is musically one of the best DT releases.

The album opens with the amazing In the Presence of Enemies Pt.1. The second part of this song is the closer of the album. The songs are different enough to be separated as such, but also can be played together to great effect. As the band had already closed albums with 20 minute plus songs, and as a 25 minute song is a little too long for an album opener, they decided to split it up and both open and close the album with the song. The song is rather dark, and although fictitious (obviously), ultimately it is about overcoming the demons that reside in all of us. It has one of the coolest intros of all of DT's songs in my opinion. It just has such an awesome progressive feel to it that I somehow identify very closely with. The theme that Petrucci plays (after about two minutes in) is awesome, and later in Pt.2 Rudess brings the theme back to great effect. I think this is some of the best music DT has done. Awesome stuff.

Forsaken is a song about a vampiress visiting a man at night and showing him amazing things, who ultimately takes him away from mortality and into the realm of the undead. A really cool song that has somewhat of a dark romanticism to it, and also satiates my appetite for the fascination I hold with vampires. Petrucci's solo here is amazing.

Constant Motion is about Mike Portnoy's obsessive compulsive disorder, and how his "wheels" are always spinning in "constant motion". The song has a Metallica-esque feel to it (but far better than anything that band has done in my opinion), and rocks throughout. It is the first song I heard on the album as I gave in and downloaded the free MP3 before release. Fortunately, that did not ruin the continuity of the album for me, and I am glad for that.

The Dark Eternal Night is the most puzzling song of the album. It certainly is the heaviest track, but parts of it are weird. I think the lyrics are just kind of dumb, and in a lot of ways shows that the band isn't at its best doing this type of song. There is also a section in the middle of the song that doesn't ultimately fit the overall feel. Rudess begins a sort of old school western bar/silent movie piano section that the band breaks down into some jazzy weirdness. There have been bands that have been able to meld these styles very effectively (namely Cynic), but here it does not fit. And I love jazz, but only in the proper context, and that context is not present here. The song means to be heavy and brutal, and it really should stay that way.

Repentence is a great track and a heartfelt continuation of the Alcoholics Anonymous Suite, furthering the songs by adding a few more steps. I actually cried the first time I heard this song. To anyone who has ever felt the effects of addiction (directly or indirectly), these songs really hit the nail right on the head. Themes are again repeated from previous tracks (namely the opening riff which was taken from This Dying Soul), and Portnoy starts the song with a lyric straight from The Mirror. Portnoy invited various members of other bands or projects to share regrets and thoughts to try and make restitution with others. Great idea. Petrucci has a wonderful heartfelt solo here, too.

Prophets of War may be my favorite song on the album. There are no solos, but it's just so cool. It obviously deals with current happenings in the Middle East and in our nation, and those that may just be profiting from war than fighting for ideal causes, and those that are fighting and dying for those causes. It has an almost techno/dance feel to it, but it rocks nonetheless. My favorite part is when Portnoy does his spoken section in the middle of the song. Powerful words, indeed.

The Ministry of Lost Souls is the most ballady song on the album. It tells a sad tale (one that I am still a little confused about) of a girl whose life was saved by another individual who passed away in the process. The girl is so sorrow stricken and sad that she can't go on with her life. And although very ballady, there is some really cool musicianship from the whole band here. The jam section has some great technicality. Petrucci and Rudess yet again have some excellent unison lines as well as harmonies.

I think this album has some of the most inspired solos and music done by the band in a long time. Petrucci certainly sounds better to me than he has since maybe Scenes. His solos are awesome here. Rudess has some great arpeggiated licks that really kick. Every member just sounds good and seem to be in top form. Well, maybe except for LaBrie who sounds best during the Images and Awake years. Regardless, he still sounds good.

I really like this album. And while I really like the more positive side of Dream Theater, most of the dark aspects here are done right. I really look forward to what the future holds for the band and am really excited to hear Black Clouds and Silver Linings. The band is constantly changing and evolving and will continue to do so as long as the band stays together (fingers crossed).

This has been fun. I have learned a lot in the process. I will probably do another last one of these for the next release which is tomorrow (sweet!!!), but I think that will be it. I have achieved my goal of getting to all of the studio releases before the new album was released. I need to blog about something other than music, and I need to start listening to stuff other than DT!! I think it has been two months of almost pure Dream Theater!! Dream Theater rocks! They arestill my favorite band, and they may always be!

Thanks to all those who comment or will comment. Now where's that new Chickenfoot cd...

Next (sometime in the near future): Black Clouds and Silver Linings

For me this album was a breath of fresh air. I had almost written off Dream Theater after Train of Thought, and I missed the release date for Octavarium. I called a friend of mine about a week ofter release date who I was sure had the album. I asked if he would bring it over so I could hear it. He said sure, but he also said that he didn't like it very much. I asked him if it sounded like Train of Thought and he said no (he liked TOT), so I thought there may be a chance that I could get into it.

We listened to the first few songs, and I was pleased. I decided not to listen to the entire thing as I had deciced I was going to buy it. I'm still not sure why my friend (and others) doesn't like it.

The songs had that cool progressive feel. The diversity and variety was back. The outright anger was gone. And while what I found on this album was a slightly less technical Dream Theater (which has annoyed a lot of fans), they more than made up for it in great songwriting, structure, and feel. I really like the feel of this album. To me, this is true progressive music. I don't know how to really express this, but the parts of the album are just so cool sounding. The chorus and awesome lyrics of The Root of All Evil, the mellowness of The Answer Lies Within (not to mention the message), the pre-chorus and guitar tone of These Walls, the U2-esque feel of I Walk Beside You, the awesome heavyness of Panic Attack, the obviously Muse inspired Never Enough (great keyboarding and drumming here), the sadness and epic aspect of Sacrificed Sons, and the way cool Rudess intro to the self-titled song Octavarium. The real Dream Theater was back, minus some technicality. I was very happy.

The Root of All Evil is the next track in the continuation of the AA songs. This song is certainly not as technical as the previous two, but the song is just cool. Again, I identify with it closely. I also think the band needed something less technical as they were probably looking ahead and seeing them playing it live, all songs back to back. 60 minutes of straight shredding songs like The Glass Prison and This Dying Soul without break would probably kill the band. My favorite song is I Walk Beside You. I just love the feel and message in the song. I kind of wish the end was just slightly more than a key change for the chorus, and I would have loved to hear a solo, but it is awesome nonetheless. Many fans and people I have talked to don't care for this song much, but I just think they are missing out. Panic Attack is certainly the heaviest song on the album. It has some great musicianship (the trademark technicality is here), and an awesome Iron Maiden-esque dual Petrucci/Rudess section towards the end. Those guys interact so well together. Panic attack was also featured in Rock Band 2. Sacrificed Sons is a tribute to 9/11 and those that lost their lives during that world changing tragic period of history. It raises some thought provoking questions as well. I was a little confused that it was written so long after the events of 9/11, but it's a great song. It starts slow and pick up speed and technicality. Octavarium, the final epic 24 minute song, I didn't like so much at first. It took me a couple of listens and finally falling asleep to it for me to finally appreciate it. I don't know what it is, but often as I have been in the limbo space between being awake and asleep music has sounded much cooler to me. Anyway, the amazing Rudess intro is top notch. He uses his awesome Continuum instrument as well as slide guitar to great effect. My favorite part of the song is the section Medicate Me and then the amazing Rudess keyboard solo afterward. Wow.

This album restored my faith in my favorite band. It's good stuff. There is also an amazing amount of Easter Eggs hidden throughout the album. It is actually incredibly deep. I'm not really going to give my interpretation of the overall idea of the album, but I will say that it represents cycles and how things always seem to come back to the beginning at the end. Hence the name Octavarium and how an octave starts and ends on the same note, which is exactly what the album does. Cool.

Next: Systematic Chaos

Well, here it is. Dream Theater's black sheep album. I believe that while other DT albums may have slightly different styles, this one is the odd ball out. While heavyness is nothing new to DT, in my opinion this album goes a little overboard in the heavyness department.Train of Thought has little variety at all. I heard Portnoy say once that they wanted a balls out metal album. In this regard, they succeeded, but ultimately I don't think TOT fits DreamTheater very well. Angry, mean Dream Theater is not really Dream Theater. Every song is heavy with the exception of Vacant. The musicianship is certainly present, the epic songs are definitely there. But what is also present is a feeling that I do not like. I physically don't feel good when I listen to the album. The album just has such a negative feel, tone, and look to it. The album is depressing, and it bothers me more than a little bit.

When I first saw the album cover before release, I felt that was where the album was headed. And as I read the track listing I further felt the album was going to be darker and heavier. On release day I bought the album and immediately did not like the way I felt when I started listening to it. One thing that bothered me a lot was the language in some of the songs. Call me old fashioned, but I really don't like swearing at all, let alone in the music I listen to. If I can turn it off in a video game, I will do so. Dream Theater had dropped a few minor words in some of their other songs, but the use of the f-bomb in this album annoyed me. It's only used a couple of times, but a couple of times is too many in my opinion. I personally think there are much better ways of getting a point across without swearing. After listening to the entire album, I actually returned it. I kind of felt like my favorite band had betrayed me. I ended up finding another copy cheap, so I bought it to be able to fully explore all of their music in preparation for these blogs/musings. I also have religious issues with a couple of songs on the album. Don't get me wrong, I am Christian, but the message in some of these songs conflicts with my personal beliefs.

I can't really get into some of these songs. In a way they just kind of seem a little uninspired. And while technical, many of the solos are kind of just blurry blah. I love superfast speedy solos, but only when they are done well and with taste. Sorry, Petrucci. I love ya, dude, but this album doesn't reflect your best very well.

There are some positives. If I put aside the issues I have there is some excellent heavy stuff here. As I Am has some rockin' riffs. This Dying Soul is a great continuation to The Glass Prison. I also really like the beginning of the song as it reflects back to The Mirror (wow, that was unintentional!) in lyric and in song. The opening solo is straight from The Mirror with some variation, and the recurring parts from The Glass Prison are cool. Honor Thy Father has some of the coolest riffs on the album, and probably would be my favorite if I didn't have other problems with it. Stream of Consciousness has some really cool parts as well, and is one of the better DT instrumentals. And Endless Sacrifice is a song written to Petrucci's wife to apologize and thank her for giving so much of herself (or giving up so much) for the life that he chose. Not my favorite song, but cool idea.

This is my least favorite Dream Theater album. The variety that I have come to expect and love and appreciate is absent. The slower (or even faster) uplifting songs are completely missing. I was let down quite a bit by Train of Thought andfelt this type of album would continue on subsequesnt releases. Fortunately, I was wrong.

Next: Octavarium

"How in the heck can we top Scenes From a Memory?" I'm sure something to that effect was going through the members of Dream Theater's minds before hitting the studio (not to mention the fans). Their answer was a 2 disc album with six songs. The first disc was to contain the first five tracks. The second disc was to contain a 42 minute song which was actually broken down into eight individual tracks. Sounds like a pretty cool idea and loads of content to release after the excellent SFAM. Did it top Scenes? In my opinion, absolutely not, but there is some good stuff here, and a fair amount of puzzling stuff as well.

I would like to first state that I believe this album's continuity was ruined for me. Back when this album was released, I was a member of DT's fan club (I really need to join again). Occasionally the members of the fan club would receive cd's which contained rare or unreleased DT tracks. Before the release of the album, fan club members received "Four Degrees of Radio Edits". It contained shortened versions of Misunderstood, Blind Faith, Solitary Shell, and The Test That Stumped Them All. My initial impressions of these songs was pretty good, regardless of the lyrical weirdness contained in The Test That Stumped Them All. I listened to this pre-release cd many times prior to release date. I think I listened to this disc too many times, and I stopped listening to it a few days or so before release. By the time I got the album and listened to all of it, it seemed broken up. The extended versions kind of sounded weird because I was so used to the edits. For this reason I no longer listen to pre-release stuff. It keeps the album fresher and lets me take in the album in its entirety from a brand new perspective. I occasionally wander from this ever so slightly, but not by much.

This album is about six different people that have different mental disorders, hence the name of the album. I don't really know much beyond that, but I guess there is not much more to need to know.

I like the first disc much more than the second, but there is some excellent music on this album all around. First off is the awesome opener The Glass Prison. This song rocks. It is one of DT's finest heavy seven-string songs. It also marks the start of Mike Portnoy's songs representing the twelve steps of the Alcoholics Anonymous program, and his descent and recovery from addiction. Very inspiring, and very awesome. I connect with this and other songs in the series closely. I also like Blind Faith, and The Great Debate. I like the other songs on the first disc, but not near as much. And I can't really stand the annoying end of Misunderstood. The guitar feedback isn't very musical and is overdone. And to top it off, once you think the song is going to fade out, it fades back in. Ugh.

Now for the second disc. This disc is a mixture of, "Huh?" and, "Wow." If this "song" was the band's attempt at topping the excellent Scenes, they failed. There is really not much Dream Theater that I have complaints about, but this disc has many for me. I will state that the 42 minute song represents all the things that I like about the band with the variety and epic aspect of the music, but the whole experience is just a little strange to me. The Overture is way cheesy. I don't exactly know what it is. I do know that it has a lot to do with Rudess'stone and the overall orchestration. It gives a good look at what the rest of the song holds, but it just doesn't sound good to me. And it's weird because there really is some good stuff later on, and the parts that sound cheesy sound good with other instrumentation and vocals. Truly puzzling. I really do like About to Crash, Goodnight Kiss, Solitary Shell, About to Crash (Reprise), and Losing Time/Grand Finale. There is some really great music in those parts. The one song that puzzles me the most is The Test That Stumped Them All. It rocks pretty good, but the vocal weirdness representing the voices inside the individual's head are just strange. And one of the dumbest lines, "The smell of stale sweat and @#$% steaming through the night", is also contained in the song. Very puzzling indeed. On a positive note, the second half of the song starting with the solo sections is awesome.

Overall the album is pretty good but in my opinion doesn't hold a candle to most of the band's previous work. I always wonder what the band will do for their next release, and their next one surprised me.

Next (hopefully VERY soon): Train of Thought.

There are two things that must be stated.

Scenes From a Memory is a masterpiece.

Quite honestly I could end the blog here, but I won't. There are so many good things to say about this album. It is possibly Dream Theater's finest musical achievement. It is evident that the musical freedom gained after Falling Into Infinity is what the band needed to truly progress. John Petrucci and Mike Portnoy co-produced the album, which further shows their independence.

The second thing that must be stated is that Jordan Rudess is a genius and quite possibly one of the finest keyboardists to ever grace the earth. Jordan had actually tried out for the band before Falling Into Infinity, but for one reason or another did not join at the time. But when Mike Portnoy was given the opportunity to form a side project band with the musicians of his choice (which became Liquid Tension Experiment) Rudess was his first choice for keyboardists. During the making of the second amazing LTE album, Jordan formally joined the band, and SFAM was recorded. I may have my facts slightly off on that, but that is the jist. I am also not entirely sure why Sherinian left, but my thoughts are that the band just wanted a different someone different on keyboards. When I started listening to SFAM again, I was blown away by Rudess's first solo in Overture 1928. Maybe it's because I had been hearing so much Kevin Moore and Derek Sherinian that he sounded so amazing, but it was quite a cool experience. He is amazing, and it doesn't hurt that he attended Julliard School of Music when he was nine. Yeah.

This album is a concept album with a story told in the form of a play. There are characters and Acts and twists and murder. It is actually a murder mystery. I will not give away the story as I believe people who have not experienced it should experience it for themselves, but it is quite awesome. I didn't understand the story until I actually sat down with the lyrics and listened to the album in it's entirety. After figuring out who the characters were, it all came together. It was an awesomeexperience. Another thing that is really cool is the way the band incorporated themes from Metropolis Part one from Images and Words. The album is actually a sequel of sorts to the original song, again with recurring themes and lyrics. Brilliant.

The song that grabbed me on this album initially was Through Her Eyes. And again I am a sucker for the slow stuff. The emotion in this song is very strong. There are many critics of Dream Theater that say that the band doesn't play with feeling (which is ridiculous bull in my opinion) but those people need to hear this song. It is amazing. Once I heard this song I really wanted to delve into the album deeper and really find out what was going on. Other than that song I really can't pick favorites as the album is so amazing and all the songs are so fantastic. The overture gives an excellent overview into what the album contains and really sets the stage well.

I could say so much more, but the album just needs to be experienced. And again, it is a musical masterpiece. But even calling it a musical masterpiece limits the artistic nature of the album. It is simply a masterpiece.

Next: Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence