OCTAVARIUM

Dream Theater takes a new direction with thier music. James finally starts writing some of the lyrics himself. I can't tell if James has done something different with his voice or if I have fully adapted to his perfect pitch singing. Either way, its extremely catchy and talented. The band seems to stray away from thier usual 8 minute shred solos (which are amazing none the less) and focus on more mainstream sound. With refrains and more frequent choruses etc, could this be due to thier tour with Megadeath and trying to attract more fans outside the low profile progressive ring?

Either way, it works. These songs (especailly "These walls") are very mainstream radio worthy to play. However dont take that as a negative, this simply means that they are catchier for uneducated muscians and for guitarists (all you JP fans) this means that John has "simplified" his playing (although his playing is never simple, it is less complex in terms of shredding and focuses more on the musical melody.)

Point being, buy this CD. I ran out today and beat all my friends to buying this CD. Popped it in and I praised myself for impulse buying. Praise be to DT! Go catch them in a town near you!