SYSTEMATIC CHAOS

SC is far from the masterpiece everyone claims it is but hey, it's Dream Theater. Therefore it is a given that five stars will appear everywhere. BTW I used to be a DT fanboy.

I still enjoy albums like Awake, Falling into infinity, Train of Thought and Octavarium. These albums showed more maturity than this mess that is SC. Heaviness for the sake of heaviness, speed for the sake of being the fastest and make fanboys go crazy. Technical wizardry does not give an album more credibility by the way. It seems SC is adressed to a younger audience in search of such technicality.

Why rip-off bands like Muse (Prophets of War with its arpeggiators is soooo like Muse's Take a Bow" and Metallica (Come on, constant motion would have been relevant on a 90s trash album).

In the presence of enemies is nowhere near the other epics they have made, lyrics sound very rhapsody-esque ( another band I used to be a fan of but hey...I grew up). It's just speed and technicality, no feeling or relevant message whatsoever...

Forsaken is an OK track, I find it enjoyable although a tad cheesy.

Constant Motion is....a joke

The Dark Eternal Night is allright on its own...but I am tired of DT's 10-minute-ish songs...they ALL have the same structure(not prog)...verse, chorus, verse, chorus, instrumental part with shredding, outro....think Panic Attack, Sacrificed sons, Ministry of lost souls, etc,etc...anyway the song is a good rocker on its own

Repentance is THE ONLY TRACK that actually features subtlety ande nuance...OMG!!!! That's miraculous coming from these guys who like to outline everything VERY boldly.

Prophets of War is a good song by Muse....oh right I already said that one...still an OK track

The ministry of lost souls is good, sounds way too big to convey any emotion...huge lack of subtlety. For the song structure, please refer to Dark eternal night

This being said, some might actually consider this a masterpiece and your opinion is as valid as any. I think that after 20 years, DT should consider acting their age and make more mature music and start experiencing in subtlety. Heaviness is pretty cool sometimes but such a blatant use make this record pretty chaotic...haha sorry for the pun

Although thumbs up for the sound engineering by Paul Northfield, the record sounds crystal clear...making this album a good 2 stars...