SIX DEGREES OF INNER TURBULENCE

The best album from Dream Theater, right here. There are no absolute stand out, ultimate genre defining tracks (except possibly the title track), but the collection of songs is utterly amazing. Ranging from the very heavy indeed, to lighter songs, with an epic range of moods, great solos and brilliant ideas.

1. The Glass Prison (13:52) - A very dark, heavy song, the perfect opening to the album. My favourite part of the AA suite. There's some fantastic bass parts as well as some addictive vocal sections. The ending is very cool - ...The door was wiiiiide open *SMASH*!

2. Blind Faith (10:21) - More progressive than Prison, this track has a broader range of moods. A mellow opening into a great chorus driven beast of a track, finishing with a mellow fade out again. Highlights are the awesome chorus, a brilliant pre-solo section, and a great, sudden piano section.

3. Misunderstood (9:32) - The rock ballad from hell. It opens as a slightly ominous acoustic track, with a great riff. It opens slowly into a ballad, until the chords come in and tear it right open. The ending section is really strange, with some cool distortion noises. There's even a guitar solo, played backwards.

4. The Great Debate (13:45) - The intro to this features some interview samples with different opinions on stem cell research. The vocal sections on this track are excellent, on par with Blind Faith's and Misunterstood's. There's two great solos, guitar and keyboard, towards the end.

5. Disappear (6:45) - A true ballad, a classic LaBrie written song. With an odd animal noise at the start, it kicks into excellent piano and vocal parts. The ending is highly emtional. Great finish to this disc.

So the first disc would be acceptable as a stand alone studio album from Dream Theater. They could have stopped there and gone out on tour with it. But no, they had to continue.

6. Degrees of Inner Turbulence (42:02) - I'll review each bit as a part, but remember it's best listened to in one shot. It's an amazing song.

i) Overture - Perhaps the albums only weak point, this opening is dull. There's a few guitars and drums along with the orchestra, but otherwise it's just trumpets and strings. Often I skip it, straight into...

ii) About to Crash - Less metal, more relaxed hard rock. There's qutie a few moods here, not only the upbeat opening sections but also a slow down towards the end. This one is reprised later.

iii) War Inside My Head - A short, dark track. Great drums in the opening, and a chatly little chorus.

iv) The Test That Stumped Them All - Longer than War Inside, with a great opening, it spreads its wings out into a very heavy beast of a track, with great, almost Peter G inspired vocals. The ending is very strong.

v) Goodnight Kiss - The most peaceful melodic track. This offers some respite from the previosu two tracks. Reminicent of Disappear, it's got a nice little chorus. Later on in the song there's a dark guitar solo, with a great opening guitar part.

vi) Solitary Shell - One of the album's singles - the other being an edit of Misunterstood - Solitary Shell reminds me strongly of And You And I, however, with a chorus stucture - and a good one at that. Acoustic for most of it, the instrumental section at the end is pretty good.

vii) About to Crash (Reprise) - Not a straight reprise, it goes back to the old riffs and lyrical subjects, with a neat instrumental part. From the sound of it, you can tell a darker part is fourthcoming, which is a very cool, subtle effect. This is delivered with the finale...

viii) Losing Time / Grand Finale - Highly emotional, soaring finish to the album. The pace changes quite a bit, but the highest point of the entire album can be found here, right at the end. Mainly vocal, the keybaords at the back really help this one up, supporting LaBrie's excellent performance. The final note is a long, sustained shot, which holds for the last minute or so.

So, weak points? The overture, of course. Otherwise there's not a lot to criticise. The structures of songs could be pointed out to be too linear - too many choruses - but there isn't a single vocal bart which isn't worthwhile on here. I guess there aren't many mindblowing solo parts, but there are strong ones around the album which compensate.

Not only the sheer volume of music on here makes this album their best, but also the creativitly behind some of it. Ever heard a guitar solo officially played backwards? Probably not. I can't really fault this album properly. Whilst there are many good DT albums, this one just beats the others and claims the top position for greatest DT album ever.

That is, unless Black Clouds & Silver Linings delivers even better...