OCTAVARIUM

This is a modern classic. Now, it took me a lot of listens of this to fully realise this. But I stand by my descision that this is a mindblowing achievement. There's a lot of hidden meanings and continuality, you can check out some sites for more information about that. But here's my in-depth:

"THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL"

Wow. What an introduction. This is a great Prog-Metal epic which is a lot like some other Dream Theater stuff. It is divided into two parts. The first part flows along nicely and the second part just goes insane with some great guitar work (as usual) and effects.

"THE ANSWER LIES WITHIN"

This is a BEAUTIFUL ballad which makes use of the keyboards to a great extent. It's slow and mournful but also gives off a positive vibe. Something really special.

"THESE WALLS"

Another song with some heavy riffs and a cool orchestra style sound. It's very epic and I find myself listening to it a lot. It's got a really unique sense of longing and wanting something.

"I WALK BESIDE YOU"

This is a ballad that opens up in the choruses and sounds a lot like U2 (who I used to like but not now) and it's another one of Dream Theaters songs that is nearly cheesy but is just cool enough to not be. It's got a place on the record, definetely.

"PANIC ATTACK"

The heaviest song on the record that conveys a sense of paranoia. It's a kind of new direction for the band but contain enough familiar Dream Theater sounds to be familiar to fans.

"NEVER ENOUGH"

This one is pretty hard to explain, but it has a cool chorus that sounds like a lot of the songs on the album mixed into one. Uses an electronicy sound similar to "These Walls".

"SACRAFICED SONS"

Probably my least favourite song on the record, but that's probably because all the other songs on it make it look worse than it actually is. It stands alone as a great song and has a lot of the cool tempo changes and epic buildups which Dream Theater do best.

"OCTAVARIUM"

Wow. This clocks in at exactly twenty four minutes, so you need patience with it. This is the type of song that if it had been around in the late 60's or early 70's, would have been regarded as a masterpiece. So it's under-rated to todays standards. It has a lot of crazy parts with weird guitar solos etc.

The ending is damn cool as well, it may not be apparent at first. but give the record another listen and maybe you'll get what I'm talking about.

OVERALL

This album is essential to all Dream Theater fans, and especially for Prog-nuts. Also, metal fans may like to take a look, though it's quite soft in places.

I can't believe that some people say this is a weak Dream Theater album. It's absolutely amazing.

You have to hear it. Now.