SYSTEMATIC CHAOS

Unfortunately, this band appears to have died an ugly death soon after welcoming in a new millennium. Systematic Chaos, I so looked forward to hearing in its entirety after catching a promo of the instrumental section of The Dark Eternal Night -- driving, crazy, complex -- you know the story. So, upon receiving the CD in the mail, I took 80 minutes of my life to devote to a complete listen. I was blown away immediately. In the Presence of Enemies (part 1) is what most others have written: a very nice integration of all of the players feeding off each other and building the mood of a piece of music to climax rather than each blowing individual loads, one after the other. However, the magnificence created in the first half of this piece with JP's huge melodic theme is destroyed as soon as we get to the generic metal section where "I saw a white light shining there before me." I'd heard the lyrics would be based in fantasy (and honestly, JP did a good job with this on the band's early albums), but this was just pathetic and seemed to be more veiled in religious overtones. I know JP is a catholic and all, but I'm not interested in religious metaphors from Dream Theater.

Forsaken and The Ministry of Lost Souls, in my opinion, are the good tracks on the album. While Forsaken is DT's ode to Evanescence (whether on purpose or by chance), it still works as a strong song and fits Labrie's style perfectly. Ministry, even though it is also mired in religious overtones, works well and carries with it a melancholy often not found in DT's music...though I doubt the non-DT fan can make it through 7:00 to get to the driving instrumental section. The other cool song, IMO, is Prophets of War despite its lyrical content being a clear bone thrown to the anti-Bush movement (didn't Portnoy once say he supported the war? I know he did... Yeah, ok, so Labrie wrote the lyrics. Well, he's Canadian and expected to be an anti-war liberal). I like the electronic loops by Jordan but think the crowd chants were a bit too much...but hey, it made for a nice fanboy session/chance for MP to beat his chest. Yeah, it's another Muse ripoff too!

So, here we are again with the same complaints that the previous two DT albums got from me: ripoffs galore..and not even subtle ones like you hear on Scenes From A Memory. More attempts to sound like James Hetfield (Constant Motion) and oddly enough, I hear a melody line from Anthrax's "I Am The Law." Why do they keep doing this? Metallica was relevant in the 1980s. How is this progressive? The Dark Eternal Night, aside from its killer instrumental section is just plain stupid crap that you'd expect from a band just signed to Roadrunner Records. Oddly enough, DT claims to do all this themselves yet this album reeks of the same stench Train of Thought carries..."I wanted it to have balls!" It has balls if you're not a talented musician, but otherwise you have a pair of christians and a couple of Jews (perhaps non-practicing) trying to write evil metal music. It just comes off as childish. Finally, speaking of ripoffs, DT goes and rips themselves off; this time with Repentance. Yes, I know, I know they're writing a "megasong" about AA and want to carry themes. Just like Root of All Evil stole a section from This Dying Soul, this entire song is built around TDS. When the album first came out, all the DT fanboys on the DT forums were going on and on about how this iwas their best song ever!!!!! Um...no. I only feel like falling asleep, and I like Camel's Dust and Dreams and Opeth's Damnation. At this point, I don't even have the energy left to tackle In The Presence of Enemies (part 2). It's just ridiculous. Cool instrumental section though but utterly stupid song. I guess JP has to let his catholicism shine through. All I have to say is that "Voices" was far better.

So, if you're already a DT fan, you probably already own Systematic Chaos. If you're just getting into the band, skip this one for now. Get Awake. Get Images and Words. Hell, get Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence. The second disc alone is worth it. Save this for the day you decide you've just got to own them all!!!

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