BLACK CLOUDS & SILVER LININGS

"Alrighty then!" Here's the very much expected Dream Theater album: Black Clouds and Silver Linings, and after listening to it many times, as I always do before submitting any review I have to tell you, It's the best album by the band since SDOIT. Everyone seems to have found their place, well at least partially. Lets talk about some of the bad things first.

The lyrical work is at some parts cheesy and lacking emotion. For fans who were expecting a return to DT roots, well...the band has brought from the dead part of their original sound, but they are still sticking with the heavy sound of the recent albums. James does wonderfull singing here, but he's at some points clouded by Mr. Portnoys growls and screams, see what I mean by partially?

Back again with an overall view of the album, it rocks. Petrucci is still shredding fast, but he's still building up the solos and writing emotional ones. Myung is just...Myung. Rudess is wonderfull on the keys, incorporating a lot of sounds that are both original and great, but others are just weird and don't really fit in. Portnoy is as techincall as ever, but the growling and his insistancy for singing cloud James, who is very good on this album, thought he doesn't really push himself on this one. So, as said before, the most noticeable weak spot is the lyrical work, the vocals at some parts seem forced and cheesy.

The album kicks it with A Nightmare to Remember, wich is a great opener and holds some good ol' rush moments. The softer part in the middle is amazing, I almost cryed, it's some of the most beautiful work the band has pulled off. The story is about a car crash and the emotions, sensations that revolved around Petrucci at that time. (5/5) The weak song of this album is A Right of Passage. A song about freemasonery, you'll notice what I mean by Portnoys growls here. Still the song has a catchy chorus, extra points for that, and the solo section is out of this world. (3/5) Next up comes Wither. In my opinion this should have been the main single. It's beautiful. Petrucci plays really well on this one and Rudess is wonderfull near the end. I just love this one, it's the best ballad they've written since The Spirit Carries On. (4/5) Well, here it goes: The Shattered Fortress. The END of the AA saga, and what an end it is. It couldn't have ended in any other way, it brings back the best parts of previous songs while incorporating fresh material, for Portnoy fans, it'll be the best song in the album. (5/5) The Best of Times comes next, starting with a mellow tune that sounds a lot like their Liquid Tension work. Once the song really kicks off it's a return to Images and Words days, reminding me maybe of Surrounded. The lyrical work is good in this one as it develops around Portnoys feelings for his father. (5/5) The album ends with the epic: The Count of Tuscany. The lyrics are partially hilarious and partially amazing. The story is about Petrucci being toured around by a count and later fearing for his life because of the strange things he was being introduced to. The music however...let me just put it this way, this is a song I wish I could rate higher than just 5 stars. Near the end the heavy melody gives in to a slow mellow moment that reminds me of Yes a lot. The ending is just beautiful, a lot in the style of In the Name of God and Learning to Live. (5/5)

All in all this album is amazing, a proud return of Dream Theater that have seem to have found a perfect balance between heavyness and mellowness in this one. I recomend you get the 3 cd version as it contains the instrumental versions of the tracks and the cover songs wich are also perfectly performed.

Overall 5 stars (4.5)