OCTAVARIUM

In my opinion, best Dream Theater album of the past decade. Every song fits perfectly in the album, no dragging solos or unnecessary parts, and the band is really focused on just making the songs strong and to the point, maximizing the potential of almost every track. I am actually amazed at the relatively low rating this album gets on this site, I mean yeah, maybe most of the album's songs feature normal song structure and its not as progressive as SFAM, but the music for itself is for the most part amazing. Stand-out tracks are, for me: These Walls - an amazing, very powerful song with incredible drum work and really just all the band shines here, I just love the atmosphere this song gives. Sacrificed Sons - haunting song that talks about the 11/9 events, the build up in this up to the chorus, then the instrumental part and the break to the final chorus... amazing. Octavarium - the title track. I can't really describe the song here... if you haven't yet, just listen to this prog-rock masterpiece of 24 minutes of amazing, beautiful music.