SYSTEMATIC CHAOS

I loved Octavarium, although it seemed endless people hated the album for sounding too much like other bands, and not enough like the classic style Dream Theater. I awaited the new album wanting some change, but I knew I'd be satisfied no matter what since Dream Theater has been my favorite band for the past 7 years. With that said, Systematic Chaos will turn the heads of the fans that disliked Octavarium and felt abandoned by the band.

In The presence of Enemies Part 1 opened with a near 5 minute instrumental opening of which sounds like Vintage Images and Words - A Change of Seasons style Dream Theater with endless feelings of Pink Floyd, the song overall is an amazing opening and leads into Forsaken perfectly.

Forsaken is the albums pop song, and not in a wuss way like some of the ballad songs off of the past few albums. I would call it the albums "Another Day" or the albums "Innocence Faded" - It is an incredibly well written and catchy piece of music that is sure to stick in your head for days on end.

Constant Motion is a song that brought a little bit of controversy when it was released as the single - The vocals do indeed sound alot like James Hetfield of Metallica, but a whole this doesn't remain as a boring inspiration of Metallica like As I Am was, this song has some amazing passages and vocal melodies.

The Dark Eternal night has one of the catchiest main riffs which just grooves and grooves. The vocals in the verses are like nothing DT has ever done, completely distorted. I love the little bass harmonics you can hear during the verses. The chorus is solid and memorable although the best part of the song is the insane instrumental part in the middle which reminds one of the crazy instrumental passages on "Metropolis Part 2: Scenes from a memory". Extremely unique track.

Repentance is the next part of the AA saga of which started with "The Glass Prison", continued with "This Dying Soul", and the last installment was on Octavarium entitled "The Root of All Evil". The bass line is taken directly from The Root Of All Evil, and flows extremely well in this style of song format. The song is near 11 minutes of pure depressing progressive goodness. Features clips of famous people apologizing for their addictions and mistakes in life. The song overall has a feeling similar to Opeth's "Damnation" album. Bleak, with extremely trippy usage of delays and echoes. An amazing track I did not expect from Dream Theater. Some Porcupine Tree inspiration for sure!

Perhaps the most unique song is next, Prophets of War has tons of dance oriented music influenced. Once it kicks in full swing the vocal parts are beyond memorable and done in such an interesting fashion, that I just had to say "Wow, thats so sick!". Think of "Disco Queen" by Pain of Salvation, except done in a far better and more memorable way. Extremely catchy melodies and an emotional lyrical and musical build up.

The Ministry of Lost Souls clocks in at 3 seconds under 15 minutes. This song is another slower ballady style song, with some really well written lyrics. The song pulls upon many inspirations seen in the album already, some obvious Neo-Pink Floyd style parts, and another Porcupine Tree vibe flow through-out. This song is a classic Dream Theater building epic similar to the epics from SFAM and Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence in this regard. Amazing instrumental passages toward the end and overall amazing song. Also, the opening keyboard riff / theme is very interesting and unique! Go Rudess!! Amazing guitar solo in the near end of the song re-assures me (as the whole album has) that Petrucci can still write memorable and amazing guitar solos like from the Awake era. The song then goes straight into piano and labrie, which is extremely beautiful as the song builds back up into the chorus. "Don't turn your back paradise!!" James emotionally sings before the final guitar solo.

We arrive at the 8th and final track, the second part of the monster epic of which started the album off. "In The Presence of Enemies Part: 2" pulls that amazing riff from The Ministry of Lost Souls a few times throughout aswell, which gives automatic cool points. The song starts slow and builds up, the vocal melody at the intro is VERY interesting as it seems to change keys and notes in a way that makes it stand out, the first time I spun the song I was unsure about the intro as it seemed odd and a bit out of place, but it has grown on me as I realize how cool and interesting it sounds! The song builds up so some excellent riffage and lyrically it is very fantasy based, struggles with a dark master and all that good stuff. Before you think "Is Dream Theater turning into Dragonforce?" think again as this is still very much dream theater. I'd say it sounds like what Iced Earth and Dream Theaters children would produce. At this point in the songs build up, they're is some "Low" demonic style back up vocals which remind me of something used in Iced Earth's "Dante's Inferno". "Dark Master my guide, I will die for you. Dark Master Inside, Dark Master of Men". This song once again recaptures the Neo-Pink Floyd kind of feel while giving it some darker and metal boosts from the first part of the song. At around the 6 minute mark the song draws from the Metallica style metal inspiration seen on "Constant Motion", this also reminds me of "The Glass Prison". It remains extremely unique with some excellent ambient style keyboarding reminiscent of Fates Warning's works like "Disconnected". The songs final minutes are filled with some of Dream Theaters best instrumental work and can only be described as pure insanity. A perfect way to close the album, and I must say that "In The Presence of Enemies" parts 1 and 2 combine to create perhaps one of the Best Dream Theater epic's and perhaps one of the best Progressive Epics in the history of Progressive music.

This is an important album, not just for Dream Theater or for Progressive Metal - but for the music industry as a whole. Progressive music has been steadily growing in popularity of the past 2-3 years especially. This is an amazing thing especially because the music industry and media does not ever promote or highlight Progressive Music on TV or radio. Dream Theater along with Fates Warning pioneered the genre of Progressive Metal, and it is about time they are given the Credit they worked so hard for over the years to receive. This album I believe will be a mile-stone in the history of Progressive Metal, and the question is where the music will go from here!

On a production note, this album is produced by the same man behind the boards as Rush's "Moving Pictures..." album. I Felt Train of Thought was a bit too muddy in production, and that Octavarium had a mixed kind of Production, kind of muddy and not as clear (although I found it had a unique production, I can't say that it was my favorite portion of the album.) for people that agree with me on these things, rejoice as this is seriously the BEST production I have ever heard on a Progressive Rock or Metal disc. It's crystal clear and you can feel the breath between each instrument and different song parts. A pleasure upon my ears for sure!

Dream Theater has returned with an imaginative and epic album, with a scope I couldn't have expected. The album endlessly feels so important and perfect, epic and emotional. Although it never feels like it is overly ambitious or heartless in the way that "Train of Thought" did, just displaying instrumental talent rather than the important of each song and the album as a whole. The fan consensus after "Octavarium" was that Rudess finally felt like he fit the band perfectly with his keyboard playing, well let me re-assure everyone that this is the release where he shines the most along with the band. In "Octavarium" I felt Rudess had the biggest presence of the album, while on this disc he is equal in parts with every other band member. With this said, his playing also couldn't sound better! Amazing solos and melodies, with some unique sound effects and synth patches that Dream Theater has never used before (mellotron!!). This is Dream Theater's "Return To Form", for a band that I believe never left form. - Thats saying alot, and I should re-assure fans of Dream Theater and Progressive music in general that this album is a masterpiece.