OCTAVARIUM

Sometimes silver disks can hold a great deal of joy. And that is the case with Dream Theater's latest opus, "Octavarium." This album is all together DT's strongest effort in many years. The album opens up with "The Root of All Evil," the latest section of Mike Portnoy's ongoing suite based on the steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. It features several reoccurring themes and riffs from The Glass Prison and This Dying Soul, offering something vaguely familiar and concrete for the first track. After the music is done, there's a little something new for DT - most of the tracks are segued by a little pleasant soundscape - a nice touch on DT's part.

"The Answer Lies Within" is the first ballad on the album. It's very mellow, featuring some great singing by vocalist LaBrie. A nice track after the fury of "The Root of All Evil." Next up we have "These Walls." This is the track DT has slated for widespread radio release, with the promo being sent out to radio stations several days ago. The track is very solid, with a nice buildup and a good solo by Petrucci. It closes with the slow and steady beating of a heart, which segues into the dissonant intro of "I Walk Beside You," a very Muse influenced track with a very powerful chorus.

If you were listening through by now, you'd notice something odd about this album. The odd thing is that Dream Theater's tightened up their songwriting. The sections of instrumental "wanking" are few and far between, and good songwriting takes the throne here again. And they continue that trend into "Panic Attack," which is probably the heaviest track on the album. Even with the heaviness, it's miles ahead of anything on Train of Thought. It opens with a very interesting heavily distorted guitar intro packed with twists and turns, as well as an AMAZING vocal performance by James LaBrie. Even though this song has an extended instrumental section (with a very nice solo from Mr. John Petrucci), it doesn't seem out of place or just thrown in for kicks, which is one of my main gripes with the past 3 DT albums.

"Never Enough" features a killer opening riff, and one of DT's best and most memorable choruses ever. LaBrie uses some heavy distortion on the verses of this track, but it sounds much better than say "This Dying Soul," it's a much more subtle effect. A very solid track overall. But then we lead into the monsters of the album, the two 10+ minute tracks. And surprisingly enough, these tracks aren't padded by 5 minute long unison runs. The first, and shorter of the two is "Sacrificed Sons," a song written about the 9-11 tragedy (what a trendy subject that is.) It opens up with some interesting sample work, and the song itself features a very strong chorus. New for Dream Theater is the orchestra in this song, which is present but never takes center stage.

But that changes in the next track in the album. Tracking in at 24 minutes, this track is a MONSTER! It starts off with a very mellow intro with some nice flute work by the orchestra, and then the rest of the band kicks in. The rest of the track is an amazing buildup to what is quite possibly one of the most amazing climaxes in music ever, with James LaBrie screaming "TRAPPED INSIDE THIS OCTAVARIUM" at the top of his lungs over the rest of the band. Then the track ends in a very nice instrumental section, and it ends with a little song played by the flute.

All in all, Octavarium may be Dream Theater's strongest output yet, and a forerunner for album of the year 2005. Current fans of Dream Theater, have no reservations when you step out and buy it. Ex-fans who have been rather disenchanted with the band's recent choices, buy it now. You may be pleasantly surprised. Highly recommended.

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