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Dream Theater - Falling into Infinity CD (album) cover

FALLING INTO INFINITY

Dream Theater

 

Progressive Metal

3.35 | 1703 ratings

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Cygnus X-2
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
3 stars Dream Theater's "pop" album is sort of a mixed bag of brilliantly composed progressive material and sappy material that isn't progressive in the least bit. This album would also be the last one to feature Derek Sherinian on the keyboards, for Jordan Rudess would take the helm on the next studio effort. Petrucci shines on guitar on this one, varying his playing to many different styles (as with Images and Words), Portnoy has improved his drumming immensly over the years and really puts out some powerful performance, Myung began to experiment with the Chapman Stick on this album (it can be heard on two songs) so his bass parts became more extravagent (although not as extravagent to the extent of say Tony Levin), Sherinian really pulls out all the stops from the keyboard side of the sound, and LaBrie gives the vocals his all and really comes out strong on this one.

The strongest tracks on this album are New Millenium, Peruvian Skies, Hell's Kitchen, Lines in the Sand, and Trial of Tears. The first of these tracks is one of the two tracks that utilizes the Chapman Stick. The power from Petrucci's 7-string opus is just astonishing and LaBrie's vocal on this track is rather impressive. Peruvian Skies is the ultimate song to fit elements of Pink Floyd and Metallica (and they do so live), with some clean, phased guitar in the intro and some soaring synths, then it evolves into a metal nightmare of riff after riff of heartpounding fun. Hell's Kitchen is the sole instrumental on the album, and it's very majestic in it's craft. The tubular bells towards the end really give it that majestic feel, and it segues perfectly into Lines in the Sand. The intro to Lines in the Sand gives a feeling of desolation to the listener, with some nice keyboard work from Sherinian. Sherinian is a star on this track and showing that he was no slouch on the keyboards as well. The finale to the album, the epic Trial of Tears has more Pink Floyd and Rush references (the intro makes me think of a Shine On You Crazy Diamond/Xanadu mixture). The lyrics on this one are spot on and the performances from all members is just stunning.

Overall, this is a good album, but it should be one of the last ones you buy from Dream Theater. It is better than When Dream and Day Unite and A Change of Seasons, but it is the weakest after those two. I give it a 3.5/5.

Cygnus X-2 | 3/5 |

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