SIX DEGREES OF INNER TURBULENCE

The second of many Dream Theater albums I would come to own, this one is one of the hardest of their discography to fully appreciate, but one of the most rewarding once you do. Being that this double album houses six songs I've always thought of them (as maybe they were meant to) as the Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence. This was also the album that kickstarted the infamous "AA" series with the increadable opener THE GLASS PRISON, a song in which Petrucci's dominating guitars are obviously the driving point and main standout. After that there's some mixed reactions from me, MISUNDERSTOOD is a good track, one that I (and I'm sure many others) can well relate to, but definately not the band's best at that tempo, I always find that other slows such as "Lifting Shadows Off A Dream" better keep my interest. THE GREAT DEBATE is intesting and has good instumental work and a catchy chorus that's well sung, with an also interesting topic of abortion, but this song has never been my favorite on the album or in Dream Theater history, for that matter. Perhaps it is the awkward pacing that DT usually does so well that in this track seems to fizzle and leave not much to listen to over the course of the 14 minute song, a bit repetative perhaps. DISAPPEAR is a much better, very experimental track that is very nice from start to finish, especially the keyboard and guitar work at the beginning that contributes to a very dark sound which codas this half of the album quite well. One track from this disc that I have managed to avoid do far, however, is the fantastic BLIND FAITH, a song where everything comes together, and makes the first disc a very solid piece. They keyborads, the guitar, the drums, the bass, the magnificent vocals! What a track, to this day it remains my favorite DT song, even after hearing all their material countless times.

The first disc being more an exploratory montage of sorts for the band, let's move on to the main course, shall we?

The title track, SIX DEGREES OF INNER TURBULANCE, may be divided into eight tracks, but as a song it is a standout amung so much music that it makes my head hurt. From the wonderful OVERTURE we're brought into a fantastic soundscape that's lush and full, the band bringing us through moments of darkness, lightness and all around good-ness as we head into the first parts. Apperently this concept song was based off real people, but only based, they're not true (as far as I know). Each track is a different part, and a different story. All the tracks work well together, contributing to a very well done song all around, standout parts here would include (obviously) the OVERTURE, the fast ABOUT TO CRASH, the calm accoustic of SOLITARY SHELL (another DT fave of mine) and the GRAND FINALE. While many people may have complaints of some kind there is no doubt that this is an essential track to any discography, it almost seems as though this song is the album, and the other disc is simply bonus tracks.

This album may not be a masterpiece, the first disc having it's flaws, but there's no doubt that this album should be labeled as "excellent" for all it's creativity and storytelling. 4 stars, no less. This is a great follow-up to Scenes From A Memory, something that was likely tough to do. Good job boys.

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