Dream Theater "Systematic Chaos" details

 

WDADU : let's not count this as it's the first and atrocious Dominici almost ruins it (the music is good so he didn't).

 

IAW: Ultra-prog metal, it's heavy but with a lot of melody, lots of mellow passages.

 

A:  Less prog, less melodic, heavier.

 

FII: As prog as A, less heavy, softer, more melodic.

 

SFAM: Again Ultra-prog, heavy but with mopre enphasis put to the melody.

 

6DOIT: First cd - heavier, less melodic, one atrocious song (Glass Prison-couldn't lose the oportunity to say it).

              Second cd - ultra-prog, melody and heaviness combined.

 

TOT - A sort of return to A but even heavier. Not as prog, though. Enphasis on melody: not strong.

 

O: More melodic, softer but still heavy. Not as prog but proggier that TOT.

 

 

According to these awful and rushed research, we find that the time has come for another "pure-prog-metal" in the veins of IAW, SFAM or the second cd of 6DOIT. Of course, when a band starts doing things predictably, it's no longer a good band. But DT has never done that. It's not that all the heavier albums sound the same or the more melodic do so.  If you compare FII with O, both are a little more straightforward and melodic but couldn't be more different; the same can be said about TOT and Awake, which have not much in common except the enphasis on heavier riffs (actually, TOT is MUCH heavier than A, which is MUCH proggier). IAW and SFAM are both the masterpieces of  the lot but don't sound the same.

 

What I mean is, the group has a tendency to explore different areas in each album, and never to repeat the "general mood" in two consecutive albums. So I would discard another melodic, straight forward album like O, but I also doubt we'll get a heavy-oriented effort like TOT. I think time has come for the third prog-masterpiece.

 

Unless Portnoy and Co. get angry like Daniel and start going the nu-metal, mtv-oriented way...

 

Yeah, right. My fellows will never do that.

 

Now I just hope they don't ever meet Nickelback in the label meetings... (wtf is a label meeting??)

 

 

Maybe he's right. Maybe they've been playing around with us from long ago and Portnoy REALLY is Petrucci and vice-versa..

 

About the comment, of course I meant what I said (what would be the point in writing things I don't mean?). I'll commit a crime against humanity and try to make a "progressiveness table" of DT albums: (later on I authorize you to seek me and burn me at the stake)

 

1. I&W

2. SFAM

3. 6DOIT (although I hate The Glass Prison, but the album is very "prog")

4. WDADU (not about quality but about "progness"... this one started all)

5. A

6. TOT

7. O

8. FII

 

Now, to prove "progressiveness" isn't everything for me, let me do the same according to what i think are the best albums.

 

1. SFAM

2. I&W

3. A

4. FII ("A Change of Seasons" should be here... sadly, it's not an album, and the second half with the covers sucks)

5. O

6. TOT

7. 6DOIT (ONLY for the title track... if not it would be LAST)

8. WDADU (ONLY because of Dominici... if not, would've been above 6DOIT)

 

Don't know what was that all about but when I did my analysis, you can see, for me, "proggier" is not always the same as "better".

 

Let's just hope DT's next is both proggier and better than O (which is great anyway).

 

Actually, if a miracle would occur and the next album would surpass even SFAM, I couldn't be happier.