SYSTEMATIC CHAOS

Hi, I would really just like to comment on the previous review of this CD and say I could not AGREE more. i was stunned at how much this album was 'Dreamtheater by numbers'. It was the first time I truly thought that the band were going through the motions and not trying to break some ground. I did not like 'Train of thought' and I thought 'octavarium' was just OK, but I did give the band a WHOLE lot of respect for attempting something new and progressing. With this album it simply did NOT happen. They truly (for the first time in their career) played it 'safe'.

YES, it does have some strong songs; 'Repentance', 'ministry of lost souls' for example, but they even don't save it sounding like a mish mash of whats come before. I have made it very vocally apparent on other forums how bad I think their mixing is; simply put: if you leave the mixing to the guitarist and drummer, what do you end up with?? I have always preferred their live albums for this reason, there is simply less room to screw up in that department.

I must say, I DO like Dreamtheater and that 'Six degrees..' is one of my all time favorite albums, but this one just sounds hopelessly uninspired.

The lyrics are also SO bad it is embarrassing, who wrote this stuff? A 12 year old Mercyful fate fan??

OK, Dreamtheater:- as usual 10/10 for playing ability but 3/10 for originality on YOUR part and 0/10 for the lyrics.

Am looking forward to the next one, lets try something that pushes you and the fans again!