BLACK CLOUDS & SILVER LININGS

Since being turned onto Dream Theater by 2003's Train of Thought, there have been few musical experiences I can compare to waiting to hear the bands most recent effort. I experienced it with Octavarium, Systematic Chaos, and now most recently, Black Clouds and Silver Linings.

Prior to the album release I had restricted myself to only hearing the single from the album, A Rite of Passage, and strayed away from sound clips and reviews of anything else. Based on "A Rite of Passage" I expected I would be in for a treat, and the album did not disappoint! Opening with "A Nightmare to Remember" the album starts with the ominous tone of thunder in the distance, which is certainly appropriate one comes to find at as they go through the sixteen minute epic. One of the most notable features of the song is how well the differently styled verses build on one another through a majority of the song. However the cohesiveness and unity of the song seems to be derailed around the eight and a half minute mark by a solo section that seems to be horribly out of place; and that is at the end of the day my least favorite solo section on the entire album. After that the song never seems to climb back into its former glory, losing any ground it seems to gain between Portnoy's two verses of growling and experimentation into blast beats.

After that "A Rite of Passage" opens with a new, interesting, almost Arabic sounding keyboard patch from Jordan Rudess which helps to add a great bit of flavor to a metal-heavy rocker which excites from beginning to end. The bridges of the song seem to beg for an epic chorus to follow, and the song does not disappoint as it features a chorus that will have you singing along after only one listen, something that ended up being very common on this album, and one of its greatest strengths. The solo section of the song is markedly better than "A Nightmare to Remember" with the exception of Jordan's new toy, the iPhone Bebot application. However that is quickly forgotten about when the song makes an abrupt but powerful return to the chorus. A very favorable mention here should be given to John Petrucci, whose noticeable backing vocals really add an interesting depth and flavor to the chorus of this song and others on the album.

The next track, "Wither" is a rarity, for starters it is a more recent Dream Theater track clocking in at under five and a half minutes, and it was written entirely by one member, musically and lyrically, John Petrucci. Even though Petrucci wrote the song, the performances by LaBrie and Rudess on the track truly make it into a top notch song. LaBrie delivers the vocals with passion, and he uses much of the warmer voice that is often lacking from Dream Theater's material. On the other hand Jordan Rudess shines on this song, and on much of the album by approaching the song with more basic orchestration and simple piano parts that add the perfect background to Petrucci's guitar playing. Rudess certainly maintains his style and talented edge on much of the album, but on this song especially, he allows simplicity and beauty to really move things ahead. This type of style could have really helped the instrumental section of "A Nightmare to Remember" flow with the rest of the song.

Things proceed to get a bit heavier after "Wither" as Portnoy completes has saga about his fight with alcoholism in "The Shattered Fortress". Dedicated to Bill W. of alcoholics anonymous and written about steps ten through twelve of their program, the song completes a cycle that is now five albums deep. The song is the heaviest on the album, and one that contains a plethora of goodies for the diehard fans in the form of musical and lyrical references to past songs in the saga. There are a lot of them, however the diversity in technique is what keeps them fresh and interested. It's lyrics here, a guitar part here, drum pattern there, and a myriad of combinations in between. On its own it may seem a bit disjointed or seem to move around too much, but to those who know the material that came before it, it should be received as a type of musical bliss that builds on itself, combining elements both old and new, perfectly completing the saga.

The following song, "The Best of Times" is the other lyrical contribution by Mike Portnoy, and is dedicated to his father, Howard Portnoy who unfortunately passed on at the end of 2008. Featuring a guest violinist the musical intro led me to believe this would be a ballad in the vein of "Take Away My Pain", but just shy of three minutes there is an unexpected jolt of energy thrown into the song that seems to turn it from a song of mourning into a song of celebration before lyrics ever even enter the scene. The song and its lyrics portray a relationship between father and son, its sad end, and could very well leave a listener with a tear in their eye; it certainly did for at least one reviewer on his first listen to the song. The outro of the song features Petrucci's best soloing on the album, as it not only would sound fantastic standing alone, but it seems to blend perfectly with the song, ending it flawlessly.

Only its sixth track, Black Clouds and Silver Linings comes to a close with nineteen minutes of "The Count of Tuscany". An odd story that will give people who do not care for Petrucci's more recent lyrics something gripe about, musically it is as solid as anything else on the album, featuring a nice long instrumental introduction followed by quick riff driven verses that grab the listener and take them along for the ride the story is providing. Keyboard and guitar leads alike are tasteful throughout the song, connecting the lyrical sections very well, and the song features one of the many catchy and majestic choruses. Also present is an atmospheric section reminiscent of the beginning of "Octavarium", or even "Trial of Tears", which is a nice break just past the midway point of the song. Following that section the entire band plays it simple for awhile, perfectly executing a build that required limited playing ability, but a whole lot of restraint on their part. A simple acoustic guitar part, vocals, an eventually introduction of a simple keyboard pattern, relatively easy drum intro, and before you know it the entire song seems back into full swing in then unparalleled beauty and majesty.

All in all, one of Dream Theater's best efforts to date, with sections of "A Nightmare to Remember" and one solo in "A Rite of Passage" being my only complaints about the album musically. It seemed all the musicians seemed to grow a bit on this album, Rudess with a lot more simplistic atmospheric work, Petrucci with an amazing guitar solo outro in "The Best of Times", John Myung providing the always needed backbone to a variety of song styles, James using his deeper more passionate voice as heard in "Wither", and Portnoy showing some more simplistic patterns at times, while still showing why he deserves his cult following amongst drummers in a song like "The Shattered Fortress". The sound of the album warrants minor complaints, mainly that at times it seems just a tad too thick, perhaps even a bit muddy, and the drums can get a bit lost and flat at times, but really these are minor complains in an album otherwise well engineered album. Simply put, this album delivers from beginning end, combining old Dream Theater trademarks with a newer more refined style that should please old and new fans alike.

Composition: 9/10 Sound: 9/10 Musicianship: 10/10 Final Presentation: 10/10

Overall: 95%

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