TRAIN OF THOUGHT

Everytime I listen to a new Dream Theater album, I say to myself, how the hell can they follow up such a creation and beat it? This time was no exception! After listening to Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, I asked myself the exact same question! With tracks like the sombre Disappear and the hard hitting tracks like The Glass Prison and the haunting Misunderstood, not to mention the grand finale, the Six Degrees track itself, how COULD Dream Theater follow up such a masterpiece with something better?

The answer? Train of Thought. This has been an album I've wanted to listen to for some time now (since it's release) and I even made a foolish vow to myself, never to listen to it until I either bought it myself or until Richard bought it and gave me it! Hell, I never even wanted to listen to a copied version! Was it worth it? Hell yeah it was! So now I'll go as in-depth as I can to tell you how it was worth it.

You'd think with something like Six Degrees, you could never follow it up! But Dream Theater know how to follow up masterpieces and create finer works of art. The album kicks off with a fade in similar to the fade out sound you hear at the end of Six Degrees Disc 2. The album then kicks into the first track, "As I Am", and this track is something I never expected from Dream Theater. I seriously never expected a track this heavy from the Theater, fantastic guitar work from Petrucci is accompanied by excellent keyboard playing from Rudess, amazing drums from Portnoy, outrageous basslines from Myung and of course well sung lyrics from LaBrie. This was the norm throughout the album. Track 2, This Dying Soul, acts as Part 2 to the classic from Six Degrees "The Glass Prison" and is every bit as good as the first part. Track 3, Endless Sacrifice, has the starting impression of a soft track, but as you progress through it it gets heavier, until the trademark solos of Petrucci kick in. Honor Thy Father, track 4, starts off with a blazing drum solo, kicking into the awesome guitar playing of Petrucci and remains a good track throughout. As with all Dream Theater albums, there has to be a sombre track and Vacant, track 5, is by far, the best they've released. Vacant is a nothing but LaBrie's lyrics with Rudess' on keys. Vacant is also the shortest track they've released since "Through my Words" on Scene from a Memory, as Vacant lasts just under 3 minutes. Vacant then leads into the 11 minute long instrumental of the album "Stream of Consciousness", a song which completely blows you away! Then onto the final song of the album "In The Name of God". Which, finishes off another masterpiece with Rudess on Piano.

Now, with all this elegance on one CD. No drawbacks, no bad areas, nothing crap about it. I'm left wondering again, how will the next CD ever manage to beat this? There's the challenge for Octavarium!

Favourite song on album: Stream of Consciousness