TRAIN OF THOUGHT

After Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence pushed the "prog" side of their prog metal equation further than ever, Dream Theater seem to have approached Train of Thought as an exercise in reasserting the "metal" part of their identity, resulting in their heaviest and most foreboding release at least since Awake, and maybe of their entire career up to this point.

As I Am manages to combine thunderously aggressive playing with just enough progressive touches to reassure attentive listeners that the band haven't entirely lost touch of their artier side, and then the rest of the album largely unfolds with a similar approach. If you're into Dream Theater's technical mastery, well, they're still sharp as ever, but they unite that technicality with a passionate intensity which is instantly apparent, whereas some of the emotional tones on their earlier work took a little longer for me to fully perceive.

As such, Train of Thought might be one of the best ports of call for someone coming to Dream Theater fresh as a metal fan, rather than necessarily a prog fan. (If you're more about their prog side, don't worry - there's still plenty of long compositions with sonic twists and turns to navigate.)