03 A TRILOGY PART 2

This album is the second part of a trilogy and I haven't heard the first part. From what I can understand, it is about a terrorist sleeper cell, and the story is told from the perspective of the detective or officer trying to uncover it. It is an interesting concept. The music on this one is very reminiscent of Dream Theater, but it has much more inspiration than the last few DT albums. The music on this one seems to serve one purpose - to add to the MUSIC. That is where DT have failed in the last few years I believe. If you want something along the same vein, this is definitely it. The Monster (introduction) is as close to a perfect instrumental as you can get, with keyboards and metal riffs galore. From here on, there really isn't a bad track on this cd musically. The only turnoff to this album for me is Charlie's voice. I know some people on here really love his voice, and it isn't that it's bad. It is just way too dramatic at times. I think that he was trying to play along with the story and portray the emotions through the voice, but it doesn't come across as well as it sounds. In songs like Captured, I love his voice and it really adds to the music. However, in songs like School of Pain, it is just way too much for me. It sounds overly dramatic, and that just makes it cheesy. There are some real beauties on this one though, like The Real Life, with its haunting piano line and rain effects. I think that for the next one, if he can hold back the cheese factor a bit on songs, we will have perfection on our hands. This cd is a great part of any collection just for the music itself.