FALLING INTO INFINITY

This is Dream Theater fourth studio album, contains eleven songs and for me, it is not Dream Theater's best album. One thing to notice at the beginning of this review is the cover of the album, the Dream Theater logo. The logo is not Dream Theater's official logo, or in other word, its not like the logo like in the album Images And Words. This album is also become the second album for Derek Sherinian in Dream Theater, after A Change Of Season.

Personally, I think this was underrated because of the replacement of Kevin Moore and also because of the high success of the previous album, Images And Words, but I think this album is not bad as most people said. However, it is true that this album is not as good as Images And Words, but still this is an excellent album. In this album, John Myung recorded many tracks using a Chapman stick.

New Millennium - The song begins with a unique keyboard and guitar line, followed by John Myung's chapman stick line and slowly backed with a simple drum line. The intro is great, creates a nice feeling of the song. Moreover, when the vocal started, the music change creates a different feeling of a darker feeling. The overall rhythm and musical composition are the same throughout the song, which is very unusual for Dream Theater.

You Not Me - More like a popular song and very commercial, just like I Walk Beside You and Hollow Years. The song begins with a simple and not-very-Dream Theater vocal style, followed with a very pop-ish chorus, but the feeling is great, I mean, the notes selection are great.

Peruvian Skies - Started with an acoustic guitar line, continued with simple bass and drum riff while LaBrie sings calmly, when Sherinian creates a very nice echo at the back. The chorus is very simple but has nice tone, very mellow. The song then change to a darker atmosphere, for the half last of the song, but is bridged with an incredible guitar solo. And as I said before, the last half of the song is very metal. Hollow Years - Very mellow and ballad, for comparison, is Another Day and The Answer Lies Within. There is no heavy or distortion guitar riff, just plain throughout the song. Moreover, because of the non-progressiveness song, a video clip was made for this song, which then released into a single. The coolest part is the guitar solo, just simple and beautiful.

Burning My Soul - The most metal song in the album starts with a heavy guitar and drum line. The whole song itself is very metal, but what a pity, the song composition is the same for the whole song, which is very boring and very not Dream Theater. However, the guitar solo adds some more metal elements through Petrucci's amazing solo.

Hell's Kitchen - A simple instrumental song, but is very beautiful. Just plain and simple guitar lines and drum lines, but still some sick guitar solo though. The best part is when the atmosphere changes in the third minute, which is more like an ending of the song, just stunning. Furthermore, Hell's Kitchen, which is a New York City neighborhood where Avatar Studios, the recording studios for this album, are located, probably an intro of the next song.

Lines In The Sand - A very long solo, cool solo, with great drum and bass riffs. The best part is when four of the instruments play the same notes. Just amazing, where all Dream Theater personnel gave their best. WHOA! I don't know what to say, this is my favorite song in the album, especially John Petrucci's solo, in the middle of the song, the atmosphere changes to more like jazz and blues, clean guitar solo, followed by distortion guitar solo, increase the energy of the song.

Take Away My Pain - The lyric of the song was made by John Petrucci in the memory of his father who died of cancer. For me, it's a very beautiful song, exquisite lyric, with even more great song composition. When I listened to this song for the first time, I almost cried, just by looking at the lyric and listen deeply to the song. "take away my pain, I'm not frightened anymore, just stay at me tonight, I'm tired of this fight, soon I'll be knocking at your door".

Just Let Me Breathe - A very metal song, with very heavy guitar riffs backed with also heavy drum lines. After a sad song, Take Away My Pain, Dream Theater tried to make the energy back. Guess what? They did, I was just astonished, a truly great song. Owh, one more thing, the keyboard solo is just amazing, with the help from guitar and bass. A masterpiece.

Anna Lee - Another mellow song in the album, just like The Answer Lies Within and Take Away My Pain. Just beautiful.

Trial Of Tears - This song is divided into three sections, It's Raining, Deep In Heaven and The Wasteland. The It's Raining part is wonderful, nice tone and lyric, "its raining, raining, raining deep in heaven." This section is followed by instrumental section, Deep In Heaven, at the sixth minute, and Mike Portnoy kicks ass! In this section, four of them plays very great, in terms of technique and notes selection, a beautiful ending for the album. After that, after a heavy metal instrumental section, the song and the album ended with a-not-so-metal song, The Wasteland, wonderful!!!

For its greatness, I give four stars. Why not five? Well, its not as good as other albums, what do you think?

Timur Imam Nugroho - Indonesia

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