OCTAVARIUM

The whole thing is quite continuous(like SFAM), the music hardly stops, and the transitions are fine. Though, I was wondering if the whole thing was a concept or if the only concept is in the title track(24' epic). Anyway a few things :

* John Myung is back after his musical absence from Train of Thought. Very nice work. * Outrageous Rudess. That's always a good thing. * Better LaBrie. Never been a fan of his voice, even if I recognize he has a lot of technique. This time... I liked his voice. Really. That's the only album where his voice doesn't disturb me at times, but maybe it's just because I listen to them for ages now hehe. I got used * Efficient and more simple Petrucci. I rediscover an emotional and efficient Petrucci. You know, the one like in Images and Words. Talented? Yeah don't worry, he stil has talent, he's just less shredding, and I like it. * Portnoy is on fire. Really. I mean, he's not a lot Ulrich-esque like in Train of Thought, I found his patterns very balanced and clever.

Now descend all the way and follow the circle.

You're starting out with "The Root of All Evil". Part of the AA series. Not much to say. Still has a bunch of heaviness and free reminders to The Glass Prison/This Dying Soul. I would have rather seen a return to The Mirror/Lie(genesis to AA series). Their choice, I'm respecting it. It's a cool song but nothing moving in my opinion. It's classic Dream Theater : darkness, continuity, known riffs(part of a series), cool chorus, less outrageous than This Dying Soul(especially for guitars). Excellent ending.

The answer to this metal anthem lies Within. "The Answer Lies Within" is a very moody and emotional ballad, in the same style as Through Her Eyes, Vacant and such. I absolutely love this one. Strings and other instruments are very nicely put together. Pure Dream Theater moment, as I call them songs like that.

"These Walls". First lyrics that got my attention. Pure Neo-metal influenced-intro(on guitar). Dream Theater has grown a passion for new-metal. I hate this style, still it works very good. But better here. As I said, catchy lyrics there, but not just that. I absolutely like the whole song, even if that was not an absolute. Pure efficiency all around, nice simple emotional solo on guitar and nice oriental ending. Definitely nice.

"I Walk Beside You" is one of the reason why Octavarium is not my favorite DT release. I really don't understand why there is a POP song here. I hated this one, except the intro. Not much to say about this one

And there I gotta say : O.M.G. "Panic Attack". When the samples of the albums were released on some German site. I already fell in love with this one. Like I said on LiveJournal community, this song has immediate sexiness. Heavy, nice keys, epical lines, full bass intro(John Myung is badass), excellent singing/lyrics. Everyone is there, there are nice solos, nice breaks, nice effects, nice riffing, cool ending. It's just a huge song. One of the best DT songs till now, in my opinion.

Never Enough? Well no. And you know, that's Dream Theater, it IS never enough. But the song "Never Enough" itself is cool. Though, I haven't immediately caught on this one. The riffing and the first notes look a bit Muse-esque. Not that I dislike Muse really, but I don't know it was a bit weird to me, even if I knew Mike Portnoy is highly influenced by Muse. But by the time James LaBrie says "Everything is never enough" the first time, the song starts being very enjoyable. The riffing is real nice, the keys are edgy and the guitars follow them perfectly. Classic ending, for a quite atypical DT song.

And here comes the first killer. A mellow 10:42 epic "Sacrificed Sons". Emotional and epical song. Really one of the things I was expecting after Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence. Very nicely balanced and beautiful song. The keyboard/string line is absolutely addictive. Nice lyrics, and it progresses until that weird distorted bass solo at 4:13 where it begins to get totally crazy. Portnoy? On fire like I said. More and more efficiency from everyone. The guitar solo are really fine. Pure Petrucci style here. No doubt, that's him. After this beautiful instrumental interlude, JLB comes back and gives us more. And that drum solo in the end is totally the reminder to say "hey I'm Mike Portnoy! Remember Finally Free?". Awesome.

The second killer was expected, though. Octavarium, the title track. Octavarium, the 24 minute epic. "Octavarium". What can I say? The lyrics are fine. The instruments are blasting all around. Petrucci is giving more and more emotion, as does Rudess. The rythm are solid, but the song never grows so heavy, Myung is giving us a Myung-trademarked bass riff, groovy/effect-friendly. So, here we have pure genius. The screaming LaBrie in the end reminded me some fight I had with a Dream Theater fan when I was opposing former Judas Priest/new Iced Earth vocalist Tim Owens to LaBrie. I still think Owens better... still LaBrie truly amazed me this time. Precise, powerful, and not annoying. The melody of those flute and of the epical ending with this symphonic orchestra keep echoing in my head... Anyway, Rudess and the guys seem like they've been influenced by Hans Zimmer also. There are a lot of references to the Beatles and such in this song. Octavarium is the perfect conclusion to this totally changing album. After hearing Train of Thought, I was expecting more Metallica-worship, more heaviness, more speed. This is the big surprise. It's new Dream Theater? Yes. But still prog and delicious.

So what can I say after all that? I gave this album 5 stars, because apart from "I Walk Beside You"(which is not a bad song, just a non-catchy pop anthem to me, but here's another influence), there are only good songs. In my opinion, it's up there with SFAM, I&W, and Awake. Period.

Thanks for reading.

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