BLACK CLOUDS & SILVER LININGS

Black Clouds and Silver Linings. I'm calling it now. Next album LaBrie is fired from being vocalist replaced by thr growls of Portnoy, and we are treated to a 20 minute jam duel between Ruddess and Petrucci as to who can break the speed of light first.

What to say about THIS album though... another poster has mentioned "Worst to Best" in terms of line-up and I tend to agree with him. I'll get straight on to the track by track run-down.

A Nightmare to Remember - Why the band couldn't just have left this song at about 8 minutes with the first part being the main theme i dunno. It was such a beautiful start, with effects and a story behind it. However, at about 7:40, it all becomes senseless, needless noodling between Ruddess and Petrucci. And it doesnt really have much structure to it either it's just "fit as many notes into your part bars as possible." The "growls" of Portnoy I can handle towards the end, even the Black Metal drums just to try something new. Overall, take out the 3 minutes of nonsense soloing and you have a passable song. 2/5.

A Rite Of Passage - Everyone knows now it's the first single off the album and it seems designed to keep the younger generation and Roadrunner fans into DT. The vocals in the first verse are slightly annoying too but pick up during the rest of the song. I believe the main riff is repeated too much though, to the point that the song becomes annoying after a while. Dream Theater then go all thrash metal with a half cheesy half rocking riff and some cool shredding from Petrucci. However again, for some reason (this happens on ANtR as well) Ruddess has something in his head that makes him believe he must play more notes than he needs to, not to mention creating annoying and unnecessary timbres with his keyboard. After this jam session, we go straight back into the chorus. And end. Think "The Dark Eternal Night" for this one. 2.5/5.

Wither - I do enjoy DT's shorter songs as it shows they're not all about needless noodling. This one is no exception. Definitely one i'll listen to long after I hang this album up. The instrumentals are beautiful, and Petrucci shows he can still play with his heart. why can't DT be more like this? Why indeed. 3.5/5 just based on the fact it's not really prog..

The Shattered Fortress - The final track in AA. Pretty much a mash-up musically of what came before in the suite. This song rocks out from minute one and it held my attention all the way through. One of the better songs on the album. I can still hear Ruddess doing needless things behind the scenes in part 10's chorus. Besides that there is no complaints. I still get goosebumps when the riff for The Glass Prison is performed to end the piece. An unrelenting song but a fun one, and a nice slow to give the listener a break from the chaos. Even the solos are okay. 4/5

The Best Of Times - The opening is already one hundred times better than a lot of Ruddess' work, with a nice string section over the top. The guitar is just as beautiful. More of this please DT. After this opening is something that reminds me of Overture 1928, and the actual Dream Theater sound which they've seemed to lose over the past couple of releases. A catchy chorus, a beautiful string section around the 6:30 mark and a nice change just after 7 minutes to build the piece back up again. and to end, a soulful solo by Petrucci. More of this! Mooooore! 4.5/5.

The Count of Tuscany - Again with this song, would be a 5/5 if you put the beginning and end together and cut out the middle. Don't get me wrong it's a nice little quiet moment in the piece however it just feels like it could have gone without. But really... thats the only problem I have with this song. And over 19 minutes thats a pretty awesome effort. The chorus is brilliant, the verses flow well, there's some awesome riffs throughout, and the ending is perfect for the song and the album. 4.5/5.

So overall we have 4 decent to great songs and 2 could-be-done-withouts on here. Listening to it throughout, i'm tempted to give it 3 stars as it IS good, but im also tempted to give it 2 due to it being the last album you'd want to give to someone looking to get into Dream Theater. I'll give it three as the 4 good songs on here make up for the horrible beginning.