BLACK CLOUDS & SILVER LININGS

I was finally pleased with a new DT album after just hearing the first three minutes of "A Nightmare to Remember", as some lost memories early Dream Theater came back to me; namely "Voices" and other selections from Awake and Images and Words: It's hard to get the (Beautiful Agony) chorus out of my mind. The best first song since SDoIT (disc 2).

A Rite of Passage is good and has an interesting beginning, but eventually sounds like it could be a reject from SDoIT.

Wither is a pleasant song and sounds similar to the weaker offerings from Octavarium (excluding the final two excellent tracks).

The Shattered Fortress has some great lyrical moments to symbolize the final steps of alcohol recovery, but reverts beautifully to the sounds of earlier songs, especially the powerful "Ready" section from "The Root of All Evil".

This brings me to one of the best Dream Theater has recorded: The Best of Times. I've had differences with my parents myself, but the lyrics have helped me appreciate and love what they've done for me my entire life. People take their parents for granted until they're gone. This is definitely the best DT song since "Octavarium".

The Count of Tuscony seems to be way too long, but excellent musicianship keeps a silly sounding plot from getting too boring. The melodic synthesizers and the acoustic guitar in the final minutes bring back memories of the only true mucical gem from FII, "Trial of Tears".