SIX DEGREES OF INNER TURBULENCE

Even before you reach the Six Degrees suite, the band are very brave with the things they cover; dying, alchoholism, stem cell research, a lack of or losing faith. Strong stuff indeed, but they're not forced upon you. The lyrics are strong but the music backs it up very well. The theme within the album seems to be things that people are touched or affected by, or things people come across in their lifetime. It's all very brave stuff indeed as more often than not when one attempts to cover such topics, they embarrass themselves.

Many criticise DT for cliched lyrics and that's fair enough, but one of my favourite things about prog is the concepts within albums and sometimes you just gotta use some cliches. That said, LaBrie is on top form throughout the album, his singing expressive. You feel he's trapped in "The Glass Prison", the lyrics are given with punch and you can hear the despair in his voice. on the flip side however, you hear the sadness in "Disappear". The sadness not just coming from the music or lyrics but from the way he sings the lyrics, you do wonder just how personal the song is to him. Musically, there are no faults. It's typical Dream Theater, never missing a beat, never missing a note, technical perfection. You're reminded somewhat of Crimsons "The Talking Drum" upon the introduction of "The Great Debate", one of the strongest tracks on the first part of the album. An epic covering the debate over stem cell research and its correctness. Littered with snippets of media coverage etc, it really does make you think to yourself where you stand within the debate itself. Strong lyrics and fantastic delivery from James, as well as stellar work from the rest of the band, look out for the chorus and the fantastic drum work on the intro and outro. As mentioned, the album in its entriety features impeccable work from the band musically and lyrically, however the strongest tracks are "The Glass Prison", with its fast pace and heavy use of differing time signatures, brick hard lyrics and at times crushing guitar work. "The Great Debate", for reasons already mentioned, "Disappear", a song which is delivered so brilliantly it can be almost heartbreaking to listen to, and will move you on every listen. And finally the Six Degrees suite.

A bombastic production is found within the SDoIT suite, which brings in an orchestra, and a concept within itself. Had this been released on its own it would still have been worth purchasing the album. Covering six different psychological disorders, (of which there is still some debate over exactly what disorders they are), it is a journey. Lyrically it's solid as a rock, absolutely solid. Bipolar is covered in the section "About to Crash", and exceptionally so, with uplifting music but opposite lyrics. This technique is also used in the section "Solitary Shell", covering Autism/Aspergers. A very uplifting progression, not quite matched by the serious lyrics.

When an album moves you it's difficult to describe in words. You can describe how terrific an album is when it's really good, and you can slam an album that's awful, but when it hits somewhere within you, it's hard to explain. This is what this album does. I'm not a metal fan at all, this is the closest I get to metal. It doesn't even matter what you listen to, this album should be listened to, end of. Without a doubt an album that should be in among any prog- heads collection.

In terms of a rating, I'd rate it 93%, kept from perfection only by the slightly weaker (but still very good) "Blind Faith", which musically sounds somewhat out of place with the rest of the music on the album.