TRAIN OF THOUGHT

Prick your finger it is done / The moon has now eclipsed the sun.

Train of Thought is a HEAVY metal album, in fact the heaviest Dream Theater has recorded so far. This time, the band returns to Metallica's old school thrash metal of the 80's and mixes it with modern groove metal production. Such a balls to the wall (to quote Mike Portnoy) isn't primitive, thou. Don't be surprised if you notice that it contains the most complex solos of Dream Theater's discography, taking the keyboard-guitar to it's amplitude.

Judging by the compositions, it's easy to say that Train of Thought, instead of bringing new elements to the original sound (as the members usually do), the Americans actually remove many of them such as jazz persecutions, warm, candid guitar solos or psychedelic interludes. What remains is the metal core of Dream Theater, a harsh heavy metal group.

There are few songs on this record only one lacking the electric guitar and other metal elements, the rest dragging influences from various 80's popular rock genres such as hard rock, heavy metal and thrash metal. As I Am is a powerful song followed by the complex This Dying Soul that is an opera of remarkable executions from all instrumentalists. Although it is dark at first, the mood enlightens because of the speed of the executions that rises from structure to structure (also see Ciuleandra ... nevermind) and therefore I find it quite joyful at the end. Endless Sacrifice contains one of the few acoustic moments of the album but the ideas are the same. However, I must make you aware of the funky bass that accompanies the solos. Honor Thy Father, finally, brings some changes along making the sound even darker. Melancholy is guaranteed by Vacant while Stream Of Consciousness is the most bombastic. The last track, In The Name Of God, is the most classical of them all, reminding me of that early hard rock that had the electric production of metal.

As you might have expected, the production is really doing it's best to give the listener a intense and aggressive sound from a modern point of view. Thickness is the objective of the producer and it has certainly been accomplished.

Not as eclectic as Images and Words, not jazzy and fun as Awake, not as bombastic and creative as Scenes from a Memory, not as complex as Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, Train of Thought is still a excellent piece of music.