SYSTEMATIC CHAOS

I was honestly satisfied with this album, especially comparing it to what I've heard from the past couple albums DT has put out. Both parts of In the Presence of Enemies are great, or at least as great as anything the band has put out since Scenes from a Memory. Most of the tracks in between were simply good. I thought it amusing how Forsaken was hyped up as the album's "single" when many fans and even the band members themselves were less enthusiastic about it compared to Constant Motion and even The Dark Eternal Night (both of which seemed oddly similar). This album has nothing really new for DT nor was is meant to have anything new. The main complaint I would have with this album is how it, dare I say this, caters somewhat to mainstream metal, which even Petrucci himself admitted in an interview of trying to "broaden" their fan-base. I did luckily see them perform on their Chaos in Motion tour, and I'd say LaBrie has definitely improved on his live vocals (as well as looking better with a beard). Overall I liked it better as a metal album than a progressive album. It is however a good progressive album, indeed one of the few for me to buy this year.