SYSTEMATIC CHAOS

Consolidated as the main standard bearer of progressive metal and after the successful "Octavarium", Dream Theater publishes "Systematic Chaos" (2007), their ninth album. A work that explores complex and varied themes that range from science fiction, anti-war stance, and self-confessed addiction problems, with the New Yorkers in a state of musical grace.

The intense "In the Presence of Enemies - Pt. 1" and its overflowing instrumental intro and John Petrucci's shuddering guitar riff in the last section, borrows from the comic book "Priest" (by South Korean author Hyung Min- woo) the fantastic struggles, betrayals and revenge between gods, demons and humans, to start "Systematic Chaos". An album that combines pieces with a very own style, like the energetic and vampiric "Forsaken" with a stupendous and emotional chorus, or the anti-war "Prophets of War" supported by the inflamed chorus of sixty fans selected from a group of four hundred volunteers, with trashy Metallica-influenced tracks on both the shifting "Constant Motion" and the disturbing and convoluted "The Dark Eternal Night" with James LaBrie's distorted vocals and Jordan Rudess' twisted synth solo, and the vaporised Floydian effluvia of the calm and unnecessarily lengthy "Repentance" (the description of the viii. and ix. steps of the twelve in the battle against alcoholism, openly shared by Mike Portnoy).

And the best of "Systematic Chaos" is reserved for its final thirty-plus minutes, with two huge tracks of super progressive tessitura: the tragic "The Ministry of Lost Souls" with a masterful Petrucci both in the melancholic opening section and in the instrumental unleashing of the middle section, and the intriguing "In the Presence of Enemies - Pt. 2', which with its four oscillating sections dominated by the constant virtuosic defiance of the Petrucci/Rudess duo and the wall of sound built by John Myung's ever-diligent bass and Portnoy's superb percussion picks up the story of the introductory "Pt. 1", and gives the album a circular opening and closing character.

Without quite reaching the brilliance of previous works, "Systematic Chaos" is indeed a very good album and certainly adds positively to the band's discography.

3.5/4 stars