BLACK CLOUDS & SILVER LININGS

If you go on any Dream Theater social media page you don't have to look very hard to find someone complaining and moaning about Portnoys absence from the band. However, his final two albums with the band to my ears just aren't good. I find on Black Clouds, his final album with the band, every single song has at least one quality or thing about it that just really bothers me. I find that any time Portnoy opens his mouth to contribute vocals it either sounds terribly cringe worthy or just dated, often a combo of the two. This is not an album devoid of any merit though, as I think from a production standpoint it's easily one of their best with a well developed sense of atmosphere as well as punchy and heavy tones all around. Plus, the bass is actually quite audible in the mix which is a good thing, as on some other albums you often really have to search for Myung. I think this album and even more so Systematic Chaos fall victim to embracing too many elements of 2000s metal that just come off as terribly dated today. While they did find some success with that on Train of Thought and Octavarium, it just really falls flat here.

A Nightmare to Remember opens the album up clocking in at 16 minutes. I think this one starts pretty well but overstays its welcome by at least 5 minutes and I really don't like where it goes in the latter half of the song. It opens with a heavy brooding instrumental passage with some really cool drumming. The vocals are also pretty strong and kick off in great fashion. The softer clean guitar section around the 5 minute mark is awesome, but for me the song peaks here and falls off a cliff following this. We go through some solos and it quickily develops into this very fast paced rhythm. Out of nowhere Mike Portnoy interjects with the most embarrassing attempt at harsh vocals I think i've ever heard. In an attempt to sound super heavy, he just ends up sounding like the cookie monster murmuring down your ear with a mouth full of food. As bad as this is, he really puts the nail in the coffin when he adds this laughable "UHHHHHH" as the grand finale of this dumpster fire. If I can manage to get through that however, the ridiculous blast beat he adds to the end of the track is usually enough to totally push it over the top for me. Though there are parts of this song I quite enjoy, I find it extremely difficult to sit through the whole thing and usually I hit skip part way through the Mike Portnoy "growl" section.

A Rite of Passage is just a very insignificant song. It apparently lasts for eight and a half minutes but all that sticks with me is the main riff and chorus. This isn't because either of those things are particularly special, but rather that i've sat through this album so many times hoping it would grow on me like some of their other albums have, but it's just not the case. Listening back now, its just a Dream Theater song, nothing that anybody is going to get overly excited about. It's got fast solos, its long.... alrighty...

Wither is in my humble opinion, is among the worst songs that Dream Theater has ever put out. The lyrics are about not knowing what to write a song about... real creative stuff, certainly hasn't been done before. There is music that lifts me off my feet, and there is music that makes me want to hide my face in embarrassment and the chorus of this song falls into the latter category. It breaks into this soft breathy piano section towards the end and I just hate every second of it.

The Shattered Fortress is kinda in the same boat as Rite of Passage, it's just very plain. Another issue I take with this song is that I feel like it's way too heavy on the reprises from other songs in the 12-Step-Suite while at the same time not offering very many exciting and fresh ideas of its own. In fact, it just makes me want to turn off the song and listen to Glass Prison, This Dying Soul or Root of all Evil (Repentance is in the same boat as Shattered Fortress unfortunately).

The Best of Times is one of the better songs on the album but my god, the lyrics are painfully corny. I understand they come from a very genuine and heartfelt place, but MP just needs to master the art of subtly with lines like: "Thank you for the smiles." From a melodic and instrumental standpoint I enjoy this song quite a bit with somewhat of a Rush tinge in places as well as some nice softer and more intimate instrumentation in the mix. Jordan Rudess shines here with some orchestral elements and lots of subtleties that give the song a somewhat nostalgic vibe and help to set the tone of the music to fit the general message of the song. A lot of people cite the guitar solo at the end of the song to be one of JPs best, and while I recognize that is is a very impressive solo from a technical standpoint, it doesn't move me all that much unfortunately.

The Count of Tuscany is actually an incredible song and easily the best on the album for me. I have one sole complaint however and it's a very big one: some of the worst lyrics Dream Theater has ever laid down. It's very frustrating, for me vocal melodies are far more important than lyrics, but when lyrics are so bad that they become a distraction from the music it's gonna generally leave a very grim impression on me. Also, we have another case of Portnoy vocals ending embarrassingly, I just burst out into laughter every time I hear the line "All the finest wines, improve with age" with MP trying to do those tough guy 2000s vocals. Some other lowlights include "Let me introduce, MY BRUDDA" and "A bitter gentlemen, historian, sucking on his pipe." Now with all that said, I will once again emphasize, the music here is excellent opening with this glorious and uplifting introduction that eventually forms into a sweet jam that just sounds like classic Dream Theater in full power. The verse has this cool chugging guitar motif and I actually enjoy the vocal melodies up until the chorus where it loses me just a bit. The jam it kicks into at around 8:48 is nasty and after a few satisfying minutes of that it strips down into this ethereal ear-candy keyboard passage that just melts time away with its beauty. The final 5 minutes of this track are very powerful starting quietly with just acoustic guitar and vocals before handedly building up into a soaring conclusion. The lyrics really suck, but the music makes up for it.

Black Clouds and Silver Linings is one of my least favorite Dream Theater albums and it's an album where I think almost every single song is just a failure and it stings worse when most the songs on this album are very very long. The Count of Tuscany is worthwhile, but every other song has some fatal flaw (to be fair Count of Tuscany does as well) that I just can't fully get behind. This was the end of a chapter for Dream Theater, but I think the follow up to this album is excellent and among their greatest works, but perhaps that's a tale for another review ;)

3/10