TRAIN OF THOUGHT

Train of Thought is the seventh album by progressive metal geniuses Dream Theater. This album takes somewhat of a departure from their typical prog metal sound. While still ultimately progressive, it is a lot more riff-driven and loud. This reminds me a lot of the first disc of Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence. Luckily, that album had disc 2 to save it. This on the other hand, does not. It's a stronger album than disc 1 of Six Degrees, but still is lacking some of what made Dream Theater so great.

AS I AM is the opener to the album and kind of gives you a feeling of what the rest will be like. It is very heavy, riff driven metal. It has a very Metallica-type sound and overall, is a good song. The next song, THIS DYING SOUL is the second part of Mike Portnoy's Alcoholics Anonymous Suite, and is an extension of The Glass Prison on the previous album. It is heavy, even for a prog metal band, and seems to carry on a little too long near the end. It has parts of genius, but as a whole, is probably the worst song on the album.

ENDLESS SACRIFICE is an equally heavy and dark song as the past songs but is somewhat a more meaningful song. The songwriting of this song is stronger than the past two songs. HONOR THY FATHER is a borderline nu metal song. It has a section that is pretty much rapping. It is very dark and fueled by anger, but I actually enjoy it probably more than the past three songs. The middle section is very epic and is extremely compelling. VACANT takes a radical departure from the rest of the album. It is a soft song that actually includes a cello. The following song, STREAM OF CONSIOUSNESS, contains the theme from Vacant, and uses it in a pretty awesome instrumental. It features some great jams, and is a very enjoyable song.

The final, and by far the best, is the closer, IN THE NAME OF GOD. It is probably the one and only song on Train of Thought that is highly emotional and more like their previous stuff. This song is incredible, and I wish the rest of the album were like this.

All in all, this album is worth the purchase. It is one of the worst DT albums, but that isn't saying much because they've had so many masterpieces. It has a straight metal sound, but once you accept it for what it is, you realize it's in fact a very solid album. Not much aside from In The Name of God stands out, but nothing is bad.

3 stars.