TRAIN OF THOUGHT

Again it's noticeable that DT isn't everybody's cup of tea if you look at the ratings of this album. I must admit in this case that the quality of this release is debatable. With ToT DT wanted to make a heavy and dark album and you can say they succeeded at that. Personally I don't have a problem with the heavy side of DT but I would like some structure in the songs and that's what is missing in my opinion.

Not all the songs are suffering from that problem but This dying soul and Honor thy father are clear examples of what I'm trying to say. After many listenings I still haven't embraced these two as nice or great songs, they are just sound producing tracks to me. In a way this also goes for In the name of God though I regard this one as somewhat better. The opener As I am and Endless Sacrifice are a lot more catchy to me but also these two songs are not my favourites. That only leaves two songs: The nice ballad Vacant and my absolute favourite of this release: Stream of Conciousness (and that's not because James isn't playing a part in it). It's just a great song WITH the structure I'm talking about. It's a very good composition, alas the only one on this album.

But because three others are also worth listening to I still give it 3 stars. (3,25).