BLACK CLOUDS & SILVER LININGS

"Black Clouds and Silver Linings", Dream Theater's 10th album; in general the album is much more coherent than its predecessor and the flow of the songs is much more natural and logical as well, here is a song by song review:

A Nightmare to Remember: from the very first moments into this song; you can tell that the band still insists on leaning more towards the heavier side of their music as apposed to the progressive one which they built their reputation and legacy on, after the seemingly out of place "gothic" intro comes a riff that reminds us once again that Metallica is one of the major influences for the band members (as if we still needed to be reminded of that), the acoustic break is a welcomed change of pace; then comes a chord progression that is reminiscent of "Hell's Kitchen" out of the "Fallen into Infinity" album which restores a little bit of what hope we had for this album prior to the intro, then comes the guitar and keyboard solos; I could be wrong but it seems to me with each consecutive album after "Train of Thought", John Petrucci is kind of losing his signature tone which for me is far more important than how many notes he can fit into a 30-second solo, towards the ending of the song, we get a growling vocal part that also seems to be out of place, I guess they were trying to pull off an "Opeth moment" but they fell flat on their faces, it was forced and quiet comical, the song ends on the same theme it started on, a side from the midsection, this song was truly a nightmare; at least for me.

A Rite of Passage: this is the single of the album, it is somewhat similar to the song "In the Name of God" out of the "Train of Thought" album but with a faster tempo; the vocal line is awful and annoying during the verses, but in my opinion it is redeemed by a catchy chorus, I especially like the middle eastern guitar lines during and after the vocal parts; and you can't help but think of Iron Maiden's Powerslave; after the second chorus a faster riff takes the song to -a less than stellar- different direction and then comes the usual solo parts by Petrucci and Rudess, then somehow the song goes back to the chorus again, in my opinion this song could've been a lot better if they tried to tune down the heaviness, again it just felt forced.

Wither: this is the second single I guess; and it is a straight forward rock ballad which is not necessarily a bad thing, the orchestration after the second chorus is great and for me it is the best part of the song along with the piano break and guitar solo which was melodic and well written and I wished if it had been longer.

The Shattered Fortress: the final part of Mike Portnoy's AA saga which started on Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, the intro is quiet impressive: it will have you thinking you're listening into something off of an Iced Earth CD; the song after that taps on several repeated themes and riffs from past songs namely: the Glass Prison, This Dying Soul, The Root of All Evil and Repentance.

The Best of Times: This is one of only two songs that in my opinion are relevant to Dream Theater's pre-Train of Thought progressive heritage, the piano/acoustic intro is also one of very few and rare moments where emotion surpasses technical ability, the song then heads into a totally different and uplifting atmosphere, the solo on this song is one of John Petrucci's finest moments on the CD; extremely well written and emotional, despite the fact that this song is 13 minutes long; you can't actually feel that which is a good thing, this is the second best song on the album (aside from the sometimes cheesy lyrics of course).

The Count of Tuscany: this is in my opinion the best song on the album, the intro is similar to the newer versions of the song "Another Hand-The Killing Hand" which are often played live, great progressive moments in here, especially right at the 2:19 mark, this is what a lot of fans have been missing in Dream Theater's music lately, the song then shifts moods and flows naturally into the first vocal verse of the song; the chorus is brilliant and catchy and it will have you singing along with it from the very first time, after the second verse the song goes into an instrumental section, the atmospheric part at the 11 minute mark is exceptional along with the soft acoustic strumming section that follows, the ending is epic and moving and it will send shivers down your spine, this is one of the best songs ever written by dream theater since 2000, for those who have been waiting for this CD to come out, this song alone makes it worth the wait.

All in all; the album starts off on its weakest point and starts to get better as it moves along, some songs were ruined by trying too hard to make them sound heavier; I realize that "heavy metal" is a big part of the band's identity; I just wish they incorporate that into their sound in a more subtle approach just like the way they did it in "Images and Words" and "Scenes from a Memory".