PARASOMNIA

I can't tell if I was feeling some Dream Theater's fatigue with the last albums since the departure of Mike Portnoy on drums or if the band was starting to run out of ideas with some predictable prog metal that they give us over the years. Sometimes using the same recipe can be too much for listeners expecting some fresh music. With Portnoy's return, many were excited or curious to see if the band would return to the glory days or give us something different. The first single was something that surprised me with the dark and heavy intro Black Sabbath style. The concept of the album about different experiences of sleep disorder can justify the dark atmosphere of the album. The heaviness is nothing new if we think of Six Degrees or Train of Thought. There are some groundbreaking parts throughout the album as the less exciting parts are rare. John Petrucci delivers some impressive guitar parts including many solos. After 3 strong tracks, "Dead Asleep" keeps the momentum with a nice interplay between John and Jordan. "Midnight Messiah" has a strong Metallica influence with the progressive rock complexity of the band. "Are We Dreaming"? is a cool ambient interlude as the next track has some acoustic guitar before Labrie vocals. We have here the beginning of a ballad with the piano. But then the tempo picks up with every member playing together. We are in a familiar territory here with 2 guitar solos from John. The last 19 minutes track reach another level like all of the epic songs of the band. The intro is an inspiration from the classic song "Mars, Bringer of War". Then the guitar takes us back to the greatness of "Scene from a Memory". James's singing brings the first break with the pace slowing down. There is some great vocal performance here. Mike is delivering his powerful drum parts and Jordan showcases his skill with the keys. The second break displays some impressive drum parts in this instrumental section with many twists which is the trademark of the band. Jordan's heroic keyboard parts and John doing his thing with another fast and furious guitar solo. Then the classical arrangement of another break brings things down before the vocals come back

This is a great album with a solid return to some of the best Dream Theater period. I can see that what Portnoy has brought up to the band is more of an inspiration on the songwriting side than on the technical side. 4.5 stars for sure

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