SIX DEGREES OF INNER TURBULENCE

At first glance, I couldn't believe what I was listening to. I was shocked that they had come out with such a sub-par release. I mean, I could understand that following "Scenes from A Memory" would be hard, but really, this was a joke! So, time went by and it just sat on my shelf without a second thought. Then, one day I got bored and pulled it out just to see if there was anything I missed. Once again, I was shocked! I couldn't believe that I had rejected it at first. It's an amazing album, words I don't throw around very lightly. It starts out with "The Glass Prison", an excellent show of Dream Theater's metallic background, and the start of a great series of songs by Portnoy based on the 12 Step-program of Alcoholics Anonymous. Next, is "Blind Faith", which shows a different side of DT's musical genius. James LaBrie's lyrics are excellently (and very intelligently) written, and the instrumentation is amazing! It's become one of my favorite songs by DT. "Blind Faith" fades out into "Misunderstood", an excellent "power" ballad, but somewhat tarnished by it's odd, "noisy" ending. After is "The Great Debate", which has great instrumentation, but terrible lyrics. It was a good attempt with a decent topic, but Petrucci could have made it a little more,...well, lyrical. The first cd ends with "Disappear", a dark, slow ballad that takes a little more than one, even two listens to really appreciate. An excellent end to the first half.

The second cd is taken up by the 42 minute title track, "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence", divided into 8 separate smaller "passages" for those with little time to listen to the epic in it's entirety. The song is a work of art! It goes through a couple of different afflictions of the mind, wrapped up in an amazing array of musical talent and diversity. It opens with an orchestrated overture. Not the greatest orchestration, but a very good representation of what's to come. "About to Crash" comes in with Rudess' keyboard line, which is sort of remenicent of "Biaxident" with Liquid Tension Experiment. Then, it gets a lot heavier with "War Inside My Head" and "Test that Stumped Them All". Not exactly the smoothest transition from ATC, but still good. Excellent use of odd time signature changes and different scale patterns here. After, it smoothly transitions into "Goodnight Kiss", another that takes a second took to really appreciate. Here, Petrucci shows off one of his best solos to date. Next, we get to "Solitary Shell". I'm not a fan of the lyrics, but the musical aspect of the song was great, starting with a 7/4 passage, the chorus, then an excellent, almost Latin, type groove towards the end. Another transition, and we're brought to the "About to Crash Reprise", which brings back the ATC lyrics and melodic structure and ties up everything heard through the song (SDOIT, that is). The journey ends with "Losing Time/Grand Finale", a somewhat somber song that pulls all the common themes together to make for a great ending.

All in all, SDOIT turned out to be an amazing album. It's not exactly the style they've developed in the past, but the experimentation really paid off. The result: An AMAZING (but very diverse) album that anyone who appreciates any type of progressive music should go out and get. Even if it takes the second or third time around to really understand it, it's all worth it!