A VIEW FROM THE TOP OF THE WORLD

Dream Theater is a band I have a love-hate relationship with. While many people fell off the excitement train a long time ago, I've still maintained some respect for the band, particularly enjoying Distance Over Time and its restrained tendencies. As well as Dramatic Turn of Events which while being plagued by pretty blatantly bad production, still had a lot of really strong tracks despite that. I've always felt that Dream Theater is at their best in the mid range song length of 8-12 minutes, and I think they're also at their best when they're embracing their progressive side over their primarily 2000s metal side. So a View From the Top Of The World excited me when the tracklist and lengths were announced.

The Good:

This is definitely their best sounding album in ages, the production is really on the money with a special nod towards the drum sound. Also, conversely to many other Dream Theater records, the bass is much more audible, however I still think there's room for a few more decibels in there. On the same note as the drum sound, Mike Mangini delivers not only his best performance ever, but the best performance of any member on the album. His parts are so consistently groovy and interesting, even on the lesser tracks. Also, I think this is the first Dream Theater album in ages that hasn't had a blatantly cringe worthy track like Far From Heaven, Out of Reach, Wither etc. There are weaker songs here, but none of them make my skin crawl or keep me up at night, which we take!

The Bad:

I think this album has 3 main drawbacks. For one, the song structures get a little out of hand and cluttered a lot of times on this album, I think the worst offender here is Awaken the Master in particular. Sometimes they'll start up what sounds like a potentially cool riff or passage of music, but then they'll throw in some random Dream Theater jargon fill and never expand on the initial idea. Secondly, while I think it's a good thing James Labrie mostly stays in a comfortable range, the vocal melodies leave a lot to be desired. Many of the verses are indistinguishable from one another and it seems like every hook is reliant on some sort of descending melody. Other times, the actual vocal delivery can come off as clumsy, as if they're writing the words simply to fit an arbitrary meter change going on beneath the vocals. A lot of times the lyrics don't always help the case here, as they just come off a bit silly and hard to take seriously. You know.... Interplanetary Aliens and Invisible Monsters and so forth. Finally, it's the age old complaint but it rings true, you can take pretty much any riff or section of music on this album and trace it back to a preexisting Dream Theater cut that at the very least, strongly resembles what we got here.

The Songs:

1: The Alien (5/10)

This track was dropped as the first single and I was pretty disappointed in it right away. I think The Alien is one of the messier tracks structurally, and lyrically it's pretty goofy as well. I also think the intro is pretty obnoxious and way too busy right out the gate. However, it picks up a little momentum for me after the first couple minutes with a decent albeit somewhat standard solo section for Dream Theater. I actually dig the short little ending playout of this track quite a bit, I only wish it went on longer. Being completely honest, Mangini carries this song for the most part, but outside of the drum sphere it still has redeemable qualities.

2: Answering the Call (8/10)

This track I actually love a lot. It shows off a nice balance between technical prog metal songwriting and structural restraint. It reminds me a bit of At Wits End and the Leprous song Silhouette from earlier this year. Most of all, I like that it sounds modern, part of me could almost see it being a mid 2010s Haken or Leprous song in that respect. This track also has one of the stronger hooks within the album and the solos all properly deliver, coming and going at the right times. Answering the Call does a great job of keeping it's drive and momentum throughout, the ending such a headbanger, however once again, I wish it played out for just a little longer.

3: Invisible Monster (5/10)

A very mid and standard Dream Theater single fare. It opens with a Scenes From a Memory reminiscent riff, before heading into an odd-time chuggy verse. There's nothing offensively wrong with this track, but it's just plain. The solo section falls a little flat and doesn't pack anything memorable enough to distinguish it from any other given JP solo, and I think the ending playout could've used some sort of variation from the intro. I do like the faster and more driving variation they do on the second verse, but overall it's a big shrug for me.

4: Sleeping Giant (8.5/10)

In my opinion, this is the best song on the album and one of the best songs Dream Theater has dropped between these last 5 albums. This takes me back to Dramatic Turn of Events with a real sense of direction and flow (for the most part) in the songwriting while still holding on to that technical identity. It packs some really interesting instrumentals ranging from nice melodic breaks, to some crushing riffs and fiery tradeoffs. The band does a great job of introducing themes, revisiting them and bringing some variations forth of said themes. Also, there's a lot of nice vocal melodies to latch onto contrary to much of the rest of the album. The drumming on this song could be the main event itself, the attention to detail and absurd mastery of groove is insane. 4:26 is a particular passage that caught my ear right away. I think for Dream Theater, this is a really creative and well executed idea, once again giving me strong Haken vibes. In the middle, the music melodically fizzles out before the drums take the band into the solo section through an admittedly pretty clumsy and silly transition, but I can look past it because the jam that follows is easily my favorite on the album. The way the solo section develops and progresses part to part is seamless, however, it hits its peak when Jordan drops a honky tonk piano solo over the main theme of the solo section. I also appreciate how they expand upon the chorus before closing the song off. Certainly the track I will be revisiting the most.

5: Transcending Time (4/10)

This track wears it's Rush influence on it's sleeve, as well as a fair bit of self Images and Words worship. Major key Dream Theater songs in the 2010s are always hit or miss, and this one sticks out like a sore thumb in the context of the album. I feel like this song sounds more like Neal Morse emulating Dream Theater than it does a Dream Theater song. This song might make a little more sense elsewhere in the discography, but the cheesy synth lead and the corny chariots of fire-esque hooks and melodies just don't really cut it. The guitar solo in the second half is actually pretty strong, but when I think of the sound of A View From The Top of the World, this feels too far removed from it.

6: Awaken The Master (5/10)

This one is pretty disappointing, and though I'm okay with Dream Theater sticking to primarily 7-string guitar-led songs, why bother unveiling a whole new 8-string model if it's just going to be restrained to one song? The intro to this song is probably the rock bottom of the album, complete technical musical wallpaper with absolutely no sense of structure, direction or cohesion. They jump around from one unmemorable cock-slinging riff to another. Everytime they lay down something that starts to sound cool, they'll take a random sharp turn into something else that's decidedly worse. They then change the tone into this incredibly cliche and tired uplifting major key Dream Theater-ism with a melodic solo that sounds very similar to the one in The Alien, which already sounds very similar to a multitude of other existing Dream Theater cuts. The song starts to become decent around two and a half minutes in. The verse consists of more chugging, which isn't a creative statement on this album, however I kinda like it. Drawing more parallels to the Alien, I feel like there's an actually decent song here after you get past the disposable intro flexing. There's much more structure, themes are brought up and expanded upon, and there's decent melodies. The hook is very one-note and not the strongest offering, but it's memorable enough. The song hit's its peak with the passage starting at 5:58, this is straight up Haken vibes all around and it's awesome. For a moment here, Dream Theater sounds like they really got their head in the modern prog game, and the wacky solo that follows this is very strong too. The mid intro riff comes back for a sec, but following this, it kicks into a rock solid passage at around 7:15 coming off of another Haken-esque riff. There's a super catchy groove beneath the main keyboard line which smoothly slides into place. This song is a little frustrating, if it were the latter 7 minutes minus the intro, you'd have one of the stronger tracks here. However, the intro leaves me with nothing to cling onto and it's one of the few times on the album where I'm just actively disliking what I'm hearing.

7: A View From the Top of the World (7/10)

Here we are, with the elusive epic-lengthed titular track. It's good, but it would be a better 15 minute song. The first half is a very engaging ride easily making up some of the best music on the album. It opens with a Symphony X esque symphonic metal type of progression that god only knows how to count along to. After that, it's riff time and we're dropped back into the 7-string style of riffage that you'll find on tracks like Bridges in the Sky. Take the once again Haken-esque passage at 3:07 for example, you can't not grin at how stupidly groovy something like this is. The whole band has to know it too! The verse aggressively builds and leads to a very okay hook. I notice here that the vocals sound a little thin and the timbre isn't the most appealing, but I love the nasty organ that kicks in after the first hook. Up to this point, all is well! However, they hit a high peak starting at around 5:09 where it smoothly hops into this sick little bass and drum passage with some nice subtle guitar swells as well. At 7:23 there's a really wacky passage that once again sounds like it could either be the devious schemes of Jordan Rudess, or just Haken again. Either way, the first time I heard it I was kinda cracking up at how silly it sounded, but what it actually develops into is lowkey sick, and I appreciate this little section quite a bit. At around the halfway mark, it kills the momentum and fizzles out into the obligatory soft ambient passage. It certainly doesn't hold a candle to Illumination Theory and the stunning soundscapes that track brought forward, but instead, it's just very'. decent. With headphones on you can pick up some nice textures, and the way the chord progression moves and comes together has grown on me with several listens. Mangini re-enters the picture with a very cool and unique drum fill that I have to point out. Petrucci lays down a full blown melodic solo with the subtle melody they were just working with during the reflective sounding bit in the middle. I think the melodic guitar playing really works here, but the vocals that come in and out feel like a bit of an afterthought. The band once again clumsily transitions into the big instrumental jam section around the 14 minute mark and all in all, it's a pretty solid one. I love the riff at 15:07, just because it reminds me of the album Spheres by Pestilence which is one of my favorites, you should check it out! Anyways, where this track loses the majority of its points is easily in the ending, which sadly falls very flat for me. It kicks into this strange and abrupt classical sounding section that perhaps has a place, but doesn't quite do it for me as it stands. The closing passage of music has very underwhelming vocals, melodies and predictable chord progressions if you're familiar with Dream Theater already. The biggest head scratcher is the way they chose to end the song. I think they were going for a 'Finally Free' type of ending, but here, it sounds like an entirely new song and it has no climactic punch to it. There's rapidly changing time signatures and polyrhythmic stuff flying around, but none of it grooves, and none of it screams 'ending to the 18 minutes of song that came before this.' So this song is tough to approach, it ranges from some of the best material this band has put forward since Six Degrees, to an audible 'huh?' However, this is a good song and I'll be revisiting it the most along with Answering the Call and Sleeping Giant.

It's an okay album, but not one that I can see myself listening to start to finish very frequently. Of the 5 Mangini albums, I would rank this at a solid number 3 under Distance Over Time and Dramatic Turn of Events. It's easily the best in the production and sound department, and frankly it's not close. There's plenty of quality to be found within this album, but there's some clear shortcomings that can't be ignored.

3 Stars