SYSTEMATIC CHAOS

Every one of Dream Theater's last 7 studio albums (not including WDADU) should be considered essential, because they're all absolute masterpieces of progressive music. One thing interesting about Dream Theater is that they manage to stay current while staying progressive for the most part, while also changing their style in sometimes radical overhauls from album to album, and it has never been more present in the last three albums;

"Train of Thought" was balls heavy, no way around it. The guitar work was phenominal and the individual instrumentation is among Dream Theater's greatest work to date, but the song writing often lacked the cohesiveness to create the perfect album, often times resulting in terrifyingly lost instrumentals in which the 4 instruments wank off.

"Octavarium" essentially eliminated the wankery in most songs (it slipped into "The Root of All Evil" and "Sacrificed Sons"), but also eliminated much of Dream Theater's progressive roots in favor of a more mainstream sound. Octavarium's brighter moments soared among Dream Theater's greatest acomplishments, particularly the title track "Octavarium" which stands as one of the five greatest songs in progressive metal history (in this author's humblest of opinions). However, the less amazing moments of the album had longtime fans calling for blood.

I'm pleased to report that "Systematic Chaos" shatters the stereotypes formed through multiple listens of both albums by combining the best parts of both! The title "Systematic Chaos" could be interpreted as representing the uniting of Dream Theater's two polar opposite styles; the systematic "Octavarium", with its clean songwriting, meets the wildly unpredictable and chaotic "Train of Thought." The combination of the two is generally clean and unique;

1. The individual performances of the four virtuoso instrumentalists Portnoy (drums), Rudess (keyboard), Petrucci (guitar), and Myung (bass) and the incredible singer Labrie are all at their absolute peaks; this is Myung's best album to date, Petrucci's best album technically since "Train of Thought" and tasty-wise since "Awake," Rudess's best album since "Scenes from a Memory," and Labrie's best output since "Awake." Labrie and Myung in particular mark the improvements of this album over the previous three or even four albums; Labrie's voice is finally back to 100% after his vocal injury a decade ago and he utilizes much of the range of his voice, hitting both high notes and low, "Awake"-esque passionate notes. The only criticism I have of Labrie's performance is that he adds -ahhhh to a few too many words. Otherwise, I'm proud to say that he has made one of the more extraordinary comebacks in singer history. Myung is an absolute beast on this album. Myung has always been one of the more ignored members of Dream Theater mainly because of awful production keeping him out of the mix for a lot of songs, but for this album, he is extremely audible and he's practically tearing phonebooks. This brings up another point...

2. The production is the best that it has ever been in a Dream Theater album. "Falling Into Infinity" held that previous crown. Paul Northfield does an absolutely phenominal job with this album, as do Petrucci/Portnoy in their production roles. The bass is audible, the vocals are soaring. The drums are thunder, the keyboard and guitar are lightning. Standout job by the boys, and I pray that it continues.

3. The songwriting is generally phenominal, with minimal wanking yet extensive showcasing of talent (in a tasteful manner, usually with subtle sliding and quick time signature changes). The mainstream influences are not as blatantly apparant as they were on "Octavarium," but they are still present; "Constant Motion" has a verse which sounds a lot like Metallica, "Forsaken" sounds a little like an Evanescence song, and "Prophets of War" has an intro which sounds like "Take a Bow" but heavier (and better), with Freddie Mercury screams randomly placed in the middle, and "Repentance" draws from some of Opeth's and Porcupine Tree's softer moments. However, Dream Theater's most obvious influence on this album is Dream Theater.

To make a long story short, Dream Theater has radically changed their style yet again, this time to combine both the soft and sweet "Octavarium" and the heavy "Train of Thought."

Song analysis:

In the Presence of Enemies parts 1 and 2: 10/10

This begins with a bang. The first four minutes or so are an overture of sorts of what is to come in the 25 and a half minute epic, which is split into two parts which bookend the album. Although the entire song is amazing, this four minute section of the song definitely stands out as the greatest part of the song, and can definitely be highlighted as one of the better parts of the album. In the Presence of Enemies is split into five sections; two instrumental sections and three "plot sections," in which Petrucci takes the listener through the journey of a man who turns his back on religion in favor of the devil, but then later repents by freeing his soul of the evil that once penetrated it. A corny story, but it's executed convincingly by Labrie's powerful voice, with some absolutely terrifying backing vocals by Portnoy. Petrucci's solo which closes part 1 is extremely technical while being totally fitting with the mood of the song, which is excellent. Part two is thrilling; although the chorus contains extremely cheesy lyrics (DARK MASTER WITHIN/I WILL FIGHT FOR YOU!!!), Labrie again delivers it in such a powerful way that it softens the blow. Labrie is clearly the highlight of the entire song.

Forsaken: 9.5/10

Although there are a few seconds here and there that bother me because they're boring, this is easily Dream Theater's best radio-friendly song they've ever made. The twinge of Evanescence in the vocal melodies is what makes it radio friendly; the rather symplistic main riff, the complicated yet beautiful piano intro and strings patch in the chorus don't hurt either. Again, Labrie comes into this song seemingly on a mission; he delivers the album's knock-out line in this song; "Then rising suddenly/I felt a chilling breath upon me." His vocal delivery on this part, along with nearly every other line in the song, is among his greatest work to date in any song he's ever been a part of, let alone a Dream Theater song. Petrucci has a nice little diddly solo in the middle, and the little .5 second guitar slide before the chorus is really quite difficult to play. Tastefull technicality; see what I mean?!

Constant Motion: 8.5/10

This will probably be the second most controversial song on the album. It's the album's first single (why they chose this over Forsaken is a mystery). Labrie is a beast on the song again, but the vocal melody of the first and third verses are so blatantly Metallica influenced that it's almost embarrassing to listen to. The instrumental breakdown is so...classic Dream Theater though. Incredible to listen to; even after 20 years these guys can write in strange time signatures and write breakdowns like that. Then Petrucci solos and with every second of that solo eleven small white doves die. Probably his best shred-solo in fifteen years; it's incredibly fast, yet unlike shred-solos found on "Train of Thought," it has a perfect place in the song. Rudess's solo isn't quite as dynamic, but it's pretty good as far as his solos go (as in it doesn't ruin the song or the moment). The song isn't perfect by any means, but it should go over well on Headbanger's Ball and other metal-friendly TV shows/radio stations.

The Dark Eternal Night: 7/10

This song is strange. The clean vocals are incredible, but the problem is there aren't many clean vocals. Much of the song is sung in a duet between Labrie and Portnoy with mega-distorted vocals. The song barely sounds like a Dream Theater song most of the time, and while that isn't necessarily bad, in this case it isn't really a great change. It's confusing to me as to why they decided to go with the duet when Labrie is on fire the entire album, but that isn't the only thing wrong with the song; when the song finally gets into the instrumental passage, it has a definite direction. However, the instrumental swings the song away from that direction by introducing a strange, jazzy breakdown at time stamp 4:50. Then it swings back into an entirely new, uplifting (yet still heavy) direction until it randomly switches back to the main riff (which has an annoying bass drum line in it). Then everything stops, and Petrucci unleashes a technically advanced solo that has no apparant place in the song whatsoever, followed by an abortion of a solo by Rudess before you kick back into the main portion of the song. Whoever had the idea of joining the instrumental portion with the verses is absolutely insane. The song's really not that bad at all, honestly; it has a catchy chorus, and the entire song sounds like a cheesy horror movie (it even has the trademark cheesy horror movie piano line inserted in it, which definitely kicks major ass). It would have scored a 6/10, but at time stamp 7:33 it slips into one of Dream Theater's ballsiest, coolest riffs of all time. Over that riff is a continuum solo, an instrument Rudess acquired for last year's Octavarium tour. This solo is incredible; I'd like to hear an entire album where Rudess uses this instrument. I love it!

Repentance: 9.5/10

Jesus. I've never gotten more chills down my spine in a song than I did when I first heard this one. A continuation of the AA saga, "Repentance" retains both lyrical and musical themes from its previous installments "The Glass Prison," "This Dying Soul," and "The Root of All Evil." From the opening notes to the first line "Hello Mirror...," it is blatantly apparant that Dream Theater decided to try something new. Mellow, spine chilling music is difficult to find in modern music, and is probably best demonstrated by Opeth and Porcupine Tree. "Repentance" does everything these two bands set out to do and more. Labrie delivers yet another knockout performance, probably his third best song on the album behind only "Forsaken" and ItPoE, but he isn't the standout on the track. Myung's performance can only be described as beastly. Nothing else to it; the man is clearly among the greatest bassists of all time. The main bassline is incredible, I love it! The spoken word passages from music greats such as Akerfeldt, Wilson, Gildenlow, Vai, Morse, Satriani, and Jon Anderson, all add to the song. Petrucci lays down a tasty solo somewhere in the middle. Beautiful track.

Prophets of War: 8/10

The song has a sort of disco vibe to it, which is sort of unusual. The entire track feels like there's something missing. However, Portnoy's Mercury-esque screams are welcome. Overall the track doesn't stand out much, except for the chorus riff, which is definitely one of the band's best riffs ever. It's a standard chord progression with a definite twist. Probably Labrie's worst track, and even that isn't anywhere near as bad as it could be. Not a standout, but fun.

Ministry of Lost Souls: 9.5/10

This song is probably a little longer than it should be, and the instrumental section is moderately out of place, and it's a little repetative. However, the lyrics are absolutely incredible, the instrument work (particularly the epic string/brass layering patch by Rudess) and the singing are among the best moments on the album. Who the hell ever thought Dream Theater would write a 15 minute ballad and keep it from being boring? I wish they changed the vocal melody up once in a while because then it would have been a 10/10, but as it is it's already among DT's best work. The instrumental is technical and is a nice break from the balladous nature of the song. The ending is extremely epic and honestly should have been used as the ending to the album.

Overall, essential album for both collecters and casual listeners.