PARASOMNIA

DREAM THEATER 16th album and the return of drummer Mike. A word for the title and this distressing perception of abandoning oneself in the arms of Morpheus with elegiac and hypnagogic images.

"In the Arms of Morpheus" with the cinematic, atmospheric intro that kills; drops of water in the distance, a synth behind that surprises, the invasive guitar, hard nauseating enjoyable, the typical drums of Mike. In short, the mechanics of the dream theater has awakened; John and his 8 strings already in the firmament accompanying the other John; symphonic air with the cello keyboard flirting on 'A Scene', 'Overture 1928', divine memory. "Night Terror" follows, intro of two explosive minutes with a powerful sound, even stronger as if to pass to the nightmare state of the hero in spite of himself; the complex instrumentation, between triplets and dry pads that change from the heavy fire of Mike the old; John assures by machine-gunning while Jordan covers with muffled notes; James assures his voice without going too high. The progressive development on LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT with a crazy dreamlike and wacky flamenco guitar; in short we wanted to know, I want to continue the dream. "A Broken Man" bursts forth on a monster tempo, aggressive, inquisitive, spatial with this metallic pad and its voiceovers of military veterans. A musical wall symbolizing the lack of sleep, the trying side with James singing like a God, more phrasing in fact and unfolding the story. The piano break à la Jerry LEE then the organ of a DEEP PURPLE then DREAM THEATER. A fruity bluesy break, illuminating before the return of the heavy artillery symbolized by the riff, the 10 fingers of the two Johns and the pad. Long but effective, trying like the state of this 'man'. "Dead Asleep" begins sleepwalking on tiptoe with these delicate strings; the metallic riff like 'Paralysed' or 'Awaken The Master' choose, setting the song and the atmosphere on fire. It is about murder anyway and this guitar-pad hammering indicates the passage reality and parasomnia. James comes after a marshmallow solo, understand fruity and melting. Brutality of the song coupled with the electric bluesy solo worthy of guitar heroes, energetic cover with a note reminiscent of the SAXONS at their best. Jordan throws his notes at full speed before starting again on the thunderous chorus, 40 seconds of outro on the evanescent piano cleaning our ears, close the door and sleep now.

"Midnight Messiah" with the sampled voice, the riff on a Gregorian choir then the rogue wave, it's fashionable in my notes at the moment. I nod like the two idiots in 'Wayne's World'. James signs the radio edit to the supercharged MUSE, the energetic piece bringing back to METALLICA, not the first time. A continuous fire of sounds with many samples. Let's note phrasing references from their albums of yesteryear, 'Home', 'Déja Vu' and the loop is made. The machine-gunning with James who pushes his strings, proving to his detractors that he can impose. Well the violent piece on the edge of thrash for grandpas is not bad at all, a long piece with the instrumental as a bonus. "Are We Dreaming?" arrives, a little atmospheric escapade, chimes, stereo muffled voices, solemn passage inside a cathedral and divine Jordan on the organ yes I assume; interlude to remain suspended, launching "Bend the Clock" bluesy from the start, a note of ANGEL is to say and not to laugh. James is sparkling on this sumptuous ballad putting him in the spotlight; heavy vintage hard US riff, a beautiful unfolding with John also brilliant, the chorus looks at 'Hollow Years' which I had trouble before conceiving that DREAM THEATER could make beautiful ballads. A Gilmourian solo comes along, enjoyable, orgasmic, over- excited, listened to in the car at full blast with one of my sons, time had stopped, I digress. James and John are having a blast, enjoying themselves, the final melancholic solo, enjoyable in fade out, it's done on purpose my son; I become a believer and hope that the hero will go back in time.

"The Shadow Man Incident" with the little dancer in the bottle, between dream, memory and reality. After the intro with proven reminiscence of 'A View from the Top of the World' and the sounds of the departure the ship takes off; five minutes to have a languid James with phrasing narrating the character of the cover; we have DREAM THEATER on the facade without a hitch, lacking a bit of madness. Halfway through the chorus is obvious, calm and the war machine starts up on the part 'Endless Nights'; struck pad at the gallop, Mike shows his talent; Jordan arrives, doing the same; John with his 12 fingers on bass, the same. The flight is a faultless course to demonstrate the talent of the musicians. A dark, tenacious riff accompanied by a South American keyboard, electric samba or bossa nova for the catch-all progression that drives you crazy: where do they get that from? It shreds, it machine-guns for a while before returning in fits and starts to the original sound that we had forgotten, James raising his voice, easily going into the studio. Pad in front, guitar that imposes itself in order to finally wake us up from this debilitating parasomnia. A last drum roll, silence is felt, a door, a car, a drop of water, it is indeed the awakening, wake up.

DREAM THEATER tells a journey into the meanders of our brain in the grip of sleep! 15 years after his departure, Hugh SYME's cover makes a nice nod to the revival of the group, go see 'Images and Words'. This sound of DREAM THEATER offers a nice melting pot of their discography, making this album a magnificent but not exceptional opus. (4.75) Originelly on Profilprog.

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