SYSTEMATIC CHAOS

Dream Theater has been going in a bad direction for a long time now, or that's what I think. After SDOIT (especially the 2nd half) I've really not been impressed by the content they've put out. Partially this has been caused by the development of my taste of music but a factor not to be overlooked is also the musicianship of the band members.

Let me start by saying that the best album by DT is by far Images and Words, and I think many will agree with this. Sadly the band has not made such amazing art after their second album although up until Train of Thought I always thought of their music as pretty good. And despite the occasional non-prog song, I always felt that their music was progressive. I don't agree with the critique against SFAM entirely, because the album still has its good moments, although more scarcely after years of listening (unlike for example IAW).

Now this particular album I've only had time to listen to briefly, but it quite confirms the fears I've had ever since I realized Octavarium is actually not that good for an album (it was only good at start because of the utterly horrible TOT). It's of course a bit harsh to say that this album isn't good after only a few listenings but I doubt it's gonna get any better for me. This is because all the other of their albums (except for TOT) have blown me away in the beginning.

I'll try to comment on a few songs to further explain my feelings for the album:

Constant Motion. This is a good one... but it's really just a metal song, hit material, kinda. Also I feel like I've heard variations of the melodies a thousand times, reminds me of TOT.

Repentance. I can't believe it. This is the third album they've put the TOT riff on. And I'm so far missing the link between the riff and the song, not good.

Prophets of War. Hmm, quite straight forward metal, reminds me of Sacrificed Sons quite a bit, AGAIN not good.

In the Presence of Enemies (parts 1 and 2). This mostly covers for the 'prog' material for this album. The song is okay, I don't deny it, but what basically should be an epic doesn't feel like it, unlike Octavarium, which made me crazy the first time I heard it (although I've come to realize it's really nowhere near A Change of Seasons). Dream Theater in my opinion have never been that good at composing full length epics and this really doesn't make a huge exception. Still, it's one of the highlights of the album, which really tells you much.

All in all, I feel a great deal of missing potential with this album. Lack of creativity, familiar sound and feel and lack of real innovations seriously cut the points for this one. Surely this is better than your mainstream metal (tho not by a large margin) but as a prog metal album, and as a DT album, I wouldn't recommend buying this unless you are a die-hard fan. I doubt I will buy this myself, and I have 7 DT studio albums on top of each other just 3 feet away from me.

Therefore: 2/5 stars, meaning Collectors/fans only