SIX DEGREES OF INNER TURBULENCE

A solid release by the flagship band of progressive metal, Dream Theater. It took me a long time to decide whether to rate this 4 or 5 stars and in the end, I decided 4. While it is an amazing album, I wouldn't consider it essential.

A description of the music:

Disc 1: Disc 1 is made up of 5 songs. We start with arguably Dream Theaters heaviest song to date, "The Glass Prison." This, for me, is the best song on the first disc and is a lot more mature than the heavy songs on the album that would follow this one, Train of Thought. The composition, production, and musicianship of it are all top notch. "Blind Faith" takes a while to get in to, but it makes for an enjoyable track once you digest it. It also contains one of my favourite Dream Theater guitar solos and is a very different sound for a Petrucci solo. "Misunderstood" is a very underrated and beautiful song with amazing lyrics and an amazing chorus. However, the instrumental sections are awful. "The Great Debate" sounds like a mix of Tool and Megadeth. I find that the voices sections go on for too long. Everything in between however, should appeal to most prog metal fans. "Disappear" is a very emotional LaBrie song. It started out as amazing for me, but lost its magic over time. The outro however, is very touching.

Disc 2: Disc 2 is technically all one song, but split into 8 tracks. The "Overture" is almost completely an orchestra and makes for a very epic intro. "About To Crash" has a very memorable piano intro and is a contender for my favourite section of the epic. "War Inside My Head" is a very short section and is a heavy one. "The Test That Stumped Them All" contains some very intense drumming from Portnoy and he also does some humorous falsetto lyrics, although I believe they are meant to be funny. "Goodnight Kiss" features some beautiful singing from LaBrie and a very Gilmour-ish solo from Petrucci. "Solitary Shell" sounds similary to a song with a similar name, "Solsbury Hill" by Peter Gabriel. It has a sort of Latin sounding acoustic solo from Petrucci and a beautiful piano solo from Rudess. "About To Crash (Reprise)" is nowhere near the greatness of "About to Crash" as it doesn't really add anything significant. "Losing Time" has some of the best lyrics in the song and "Grand Finale" is just an unexplainably great outro to this track. A contender for my favourite song outro ever.

PROS:

The epic: If you're going to made a 42 minute epic, it has to be pretty damn good. The epic here is wonderful, although it has its weak spots, such as "About To Crash (Reprise)." Overall though, the song is amazing.

The musicianship on "The Glass Prison": The musicianship here is spectacular. The drumming in "The Glass Prison" is VERY tough (known from experience) and the sweeping solo in the intro also requires a lot of skill while doing a perfect job of setting the mood for the song. The bass playing in that song is also amazing. Rudess, as usual, is doing amazing on the keyboards.

Vocals: This is when I found LaBrie was really beginning to find his range again after the food poisoning incident. He sings beautifully in "Goodnight Kiss" and hits some high notes with ease in "The Glass Prison." The also really like his voice in "The Great Debate."

CONS:

Production: The random distortion of vocals tends it get annoying at times and feels unneeded.

First disc lyrics: The lyrics in "The Glass Prison," "Blind Faith," and "The Great Debate" are not DT's best. "The Great Debate" lyrics are at times downright laughable.

Missing something?: I don't know what it is, as the album is over 90 minutes in length and has a 42 minute epic, yet it just feels like it's missing a certain something which I'm not sure of and it just makes me feel empty.

Song ratings: Disc one: The Glass Prison: 10/10 Blind Faith: 9.5/10 Misunderstood: 9/10 The Great Debate: 8/10 Disappear: 7/10 Disc two: Overture: 10/10 About to Crash: 10/10 War Inside My Head: 6/10 The Test That Stumped Them All: 7/10 Goodnight Kiss: 9.5/10 Solitary Shell: 10/10 About To Crash (Reprise): 5/10 Losing Time: 9/10 Grand Finale: 10.5/10

Recommended for: Fans of a mainstream metal sound thats not too mainstream. Fans of long songs.

My rating: 4 stars. I was arguing between 4 and 5 stars for quite a long time and then finally decided to go with 4. A recommended buy for sure.

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