BLACK CLOUDS & SILVER LININGS

This album might come across as impressive to the Dream-Theatrically uninitiated. If this is the first DT album you happen to explore, you might think you might have hit some jewel. For those who have listened to and digested DT's existing catalog, it fails to hit the mark. It lacks complex instrumentation, a DT hallmark. It contains rehashes of prior DT tunes. It contains quite a lot of prog, but not nearly enough metal. Granted, the latter is not always a deal- breaker, as Opeth have masterfully demonstrated in 2003, but the formula attempted in Black Clouds & Silver Linings just does not work. Three stars for the first CD (the album proper), and two stars for two bonus CDs (where's the guitar solo in the so-called "instrumental" Rite of Passage??).