TRAIN OF THOUGHT

"Train of Thought" is certainly the heaviest, most metallic of the DT albums I have sampled to date. Technically near-perfect as usual, the music within really bounces off the walls with a manic energy. Depending on your mood, it may come off as exhausting one day and invigorating the next.

The only song I really can't stand is the lead-off "As I Am." It really grates on my nerves like lame post-Burton Metallica. But even the rest of the album isn't up to the quality of other albums I've heard. The rest of the songs are OK metal on an individual basis but as a collection of material they don't have the same impact or spirit as the songs on Systematic Chaos which I enjoyed much more than ToT. "Vacant/Stream of Consciousness" is the highlight of the album, the latter a big muscular instrumental. Labrie is fine as a vocalist when he is himself and sings more naturally, he really suffers when he tries to inject the fake badass attitude of the hard core voice or the rap voice he plays around with sometimes. Petrucci is a great guitarist but when he makes the leap to warp speed on his solos I'm always amazed at what people find so impressive about that style, and this album seems to have quite a bit of that kind of soloing. When he comes off that hyper-speed wank or at least mixes it up more I do enjoy his playing very much. Portnoy is pretty amazing here as usual.

I can understand why this one in particular is divisive among fans, but I think for metal fans this is a reasonable album in the DT catalog. It's not something I'll play much personally but I'd have to call it a fair album if you want some serious chest beating. A good choice to rattle the neighbors with but mostly for DT fans. 2 1/2 stars.