SYSTEMATIC CHAOS

It took me 3 or 4 listens to fully aprecciate this wonderful piece of music, but that is the case with almost every Dream Theater album and most progressive rock albums in general. But now I'm absolutely convinced - this is the best DT album since "Scenes from a Memory". If you thought that these guys cannot surprise us anymore, you were wrong. After uberheavy "Train of Thought" and gentle, almost poppy at times "Octavarium" the band have perfectly balanced both styles and produced an exceptional album. It stars with a typical Dream Theater intro, full of instrumental pyrotechnics, but soon you'll realise that this albums is not only about showing off, like ToT was. "In The Presence of Enemies pt.1" is 9 minutes long but not a single note is out of place and unnesecarry. "Forsaken" is a great pop-metal song that could even be a radio hit if given airplay. "Constant Motion", the first single off the album has some Metallica feel, with vocals similar to those from "This Dying Soul" (The "Blackened"-like part) or "Glass Prison". Portnoy wrote this song and he also sings couple of lines here, this is probably his most significant vocal appearance so far in DT music. "The Dark Eternal Night" is the heaviest song on the album and something that scared me, when I first heard it, because of its growling almost death-metal vocals. But apart from that, the song contains some crazy instrumental passages, similar to those from "The Dance of Eternity" and is far from being a dumb death-metal song. "Repentance" is a bit of a surprise. When I saw that it is a continuation of the famous AA saga, I expected another furious-metal song like "Glass Prison" but this is a ballad. It seemed a bit annyoing and repetitive when I've first heard it, but it has grown on me after couple of listens. Nontheless, cloking at 11 minutes, it can get a bit boring. It could have been 2 or 3 minutes shorter. "Prophets of War" is another surprising tune, something that they've never done before. I would call it trance-metal kind of song. So a dance beat covered by bass and drums, but it has great riffing and nice melody. Needs a couple of listens for full aprecciation. "The Ministry of Lost Souls" is another great song, starting as a simple but lovely ballad, before some great instrumental passage, where all band members have time to show their skills. The song's transition to "In The Presence of Enemies, pt.2" is similar to that from "Wish You Were Here" and the transition between the title track and "Shine On.. pt.2". So we have a windy sound, before a bassline appears (another PF influence, "Careful with that Axe..." or "Goodbye Cruel World" perhaps?). The song is very dark in tone, and has many twist and turns, a great ending to a great album! Generally, one of the best pieces of music I've heard recently and album of the year so far. Who knows, maybe even the album of the 21st century so far?