SIX DEGREES OF INNER TURBULENCE

The progmet pioneer goes SYMPHONIC?? Probably. Well, at least this album offers the symphonic part while maintaining the original flavor of Dream Theater's music as you will find it on disc ONE of this album. This band is really interesting to observe as their music has been much more mature recently. I was told that if we wanna enjoy DT music we should like Metallica first. But, it's not the case with me. I did try to like Metallica many times, even with their best album (according to my metal friends) " .. And Justice for All" . I just could not get it. But, I love Dream Theater! These guys have always produced great stuffs with excellent technical delivery.

"Glass Prison" is a head-banging metal music with powerful melody and harmony where all musicians contribute their skills at their fullest. I even heard my friend who really loves the band told me that - especially for this track, the guitarist (J Petrucci) has designed a special guitar to play. What a worth effort! For those who like metal music, this is definitely your track! Fabulous and heart breaking! I am not able to rate this track as whenever you supply me the maximum scale, say 5, I would tend to give it more than 5. Am I problematic? Probably. 'Cos I really admire the efforts that these guys have made to fine art of this wonderful track. I never imagine that any human being can create and, most importantly, deliver (with excellence) this track. Well, f I may associate with a business or corporate world, these guys have created a high level of vision and have put actions to achieve the vision with an operational excellence!

"Blind Faith" is not as hard as first track - it's opened with an ambient sound and followed by a typical DT melody (similar to "Images and Words" music). It's good enough to clam down after being bombarded with dazzling "Glass Prison". Yes, there are some guitar riffs here and there but it's that heavy. But . hold on . !!! That's happened only at the first half of the track. When it flows to the second half, the beat is increasing into more heavy rhythm and speedier tempo. The inclusion of piano in the middle has made this track seems like a symphonic music with classical touch. I find the keyboard solo by Jordan Rudess during interlude is amazing. It then flows to lead guitar solo by John Petrucci. The music then returns to the original tagline melody but it still maintain the high tempo and slowly moves to original tempo.

"Misunderstood" is a mellow track with nice guitar rhythm and vocal line. The music moves in stages to more upbeat tempo. This track demonstrates many sound effects from guitar as well as keyboard. It flows smoothly to "The Great Debate" which is opened by a narration / dialog that really accentuate the song. I find that the drumming during long intro to support the narration / dialogue is really uplifting. This track is my favorite. The guitar riffs remind me to RUSH music but performed dynamically. Just before LaBrie sings at beginning, there is a terrific drumming by Portnoy. Really cool! Well, this track is not complex because it maintains the same tagline melody throughout the track. But the guitar riffs and drumming style are really stunning. Even though this track is relatively long, I used to play it loud and repeat the track. Disc One is concluded with a mellow track "Disappear".

Disc TWO represents the band's first exploration with an symphonic orchestra. Musically, it's totally different with Disc one. For DT's fans it's probably strange hearing DT music with an orchestra. I don't think that I need to elaborate track by track as overall, the music presented in Disc 2 is excellent. You may want to enjoy this track in high volume as the orchestration is really exciting. I myself really enjoy the opening track "Overture". It's an uplifting composition. It continues to track 2 with a nice and classical piano play. All tracks are connected one to another with smooth transitions. "The Test That Stumped Them All" is probably the best track that you may find in this set. I enjoy all tracks in disc two in its entirety. Hey, even with heavy orchestration of this set, you still will find all details of typical DT music; especially Portnoy's drumming style. Great work!

So, I definitely rate this album as 5/5 because it has everything: strong songwriting, tight composition, excellent melody and skillful musicianship. Overall, it ends up with a masterpiece album that you MUST HAVE it. - Gatot Widayanto, Indonesia.