OCTAVARIUM

This is more of an interpretation than an album review of the music. It is more of a review of the lyrics and the concepts behind the album.

Obviously if you do have the CD you have seen the figure of the octavarium. This paragraph will just be an observation of the different clues. The 8-sided figure with the 5-sided star enclosed inside it. You also have seen the many pictures with the 8 figures of one object and the five of another (the fish and the octopus, the spiders and the levels of the maze, the dominoes, the keys in the back, 8 white, 5 black, the side of the album 8 white blocks, 5 white, the eight ball, the eight swinging balls on the front cover with the five birds, ect.) Also note that there are 8 tracks, this is their 8th studio album (excluding A Change of Seasons EP) and there is 5 parts to the title track "Octavarium." Now "Who Cares?" 8, 5, blah blah, this surely has little meaning. That statement will easily be proven wrong at the conclusion of this analysis.

If you notice each song describes a certain fault in a human being, or displays a fault in a certain way. For example The Root of all Evil shows the fault of alcohol or any drug addiction, the Answer lies within shows insecurity within oneself, These Walls shows the lack of confidence of an individual, I walk beside you shows total dependence on another, ect. I am trying to make this relatively short (though its hard due to its complexity) so you can figure out the morals to the other songs.

If you also notice each song has a certain time signature above the lyrics (1/8, 2/8, 3/8...) The figure of the octavarium also has that time signature correlated to one of the eight corners. This is to show that each corner of the eight sided octavarium represents a fault in a human in today's society. Each corner is a downfall in the moral of the average human being.

The five sided star represents five different good moral qualities that are normally absent when it comes to todays society. My own interpretation of the five good moral qualities are stated in "Octavarium" when it is said "Loyalty, Trust, Faith, and Desire, carries Love through each darkest fire." Love being the main of the five qualities while the other four are needed to carry the fifth.

Dream Theater is saying that there are not many people that give respect to good moral value any more in todays society. They are stating that they live with a high regard to moral value and being good, respectable people, and they believe that they are trapped in a world (octavarium) where the other eight values are much more present than the main five that we should be cherishing. It is displayed absolutely beautifully in this album, my favorite part being "Sacrificed Sons" when they talk about how many people blaimed God for the tragic events of 9/11 instead of realizing that God has no control over war or many tragedies that happen in todays world.

Lets talk about the smart additions that make this album a true masterpiece. First off, with the time signatures in the album, each song also has a key in the staff above. The keys for the songs go as follows:

F minor, G minor, A minor, B minor, C minor, D minor, E minor, F minor

An Octave. The first song or the Root of the octave (and coincidently, of all evil) begins on an F from the piano. The last song or the Octave (coincidently Octavarium) ends on the same note from the piano after the ochestra ends extremely powerfully and emotionally while James screams "Trapped inside this Octavarium" stating that he is trying to persue the good morals, though it is not respected and not as present as it should be. This loop of chords from beginning to end is incredible while reading the final lyrics to "Razors Edge":

"We move in circles Balanced all the while On a gleaming razor's edge

A perfect sphere Colliding with our fate This story ends where it began"

I also want to show the final lyrics to section IV of Octavarium and show how they each reflect the eight faults (look at the parenthesis that I place above for a quick summary of the moral of each song):

"[Root] Our deadly sins feel his mortal wrath Remove all obstacles from our path

[Second] Asking questions Search for clues The answer's been right in front of you

[Third] We try to break through Long to connect Fall on deaf ears with failed muted breath

[Fourth] Loyalty, trust, faith and desire Carries love through each darkest fire

[Fifth] Tortured insanity A smothering hell Try to escape but to no avail

[Sixth] The calls of admirers Who claim they adore Drain all your lifeblood while begging for more

[Seventh] Innocent victims for merciless crimes Fall prey to some madman's for impulsive designs

[Octave] Step after step We try controlling our fate When we finally start living it's become to late"

These lyrics are VERY well written correlating with the other songs on the album. Each paragraph is a summary of each song (the root for root of all evil, the 2nd for the answer lies within, 3rd for these walls ect.) There are also many other small prespectives and morals that I will leave up for interpretation.

One thing that I had found very interesting was the back cover. The eight white piano keys contain the songs (or the eight faults) while the five black keys contain the five members of the band, showing how they are trying to live by the good morals and are trying to break out of the "octavarium" that plagues this decaying society where morals are almost impossible to find.

As for the front cover. I have not figured out exactly what it means, or what it is trying to touch base on. If anybody has an idea I would love to know so please post in this forum.

I just want it to be known that it is always an opinion to whether you like Dream Theater or anything for that matter. But to go out of your way to say that octavarium can't be that deep and it only has to do with a musical octave is very ignorant. The octave in this situation has much, much more of a meaning. Of course I left some up for interpretation as there is a lot more that you can say about this album and it can go much deeper that what I have written. In my opinion this is a progressive masterpiece and it holds up against all the progressive albums that are essential. Regardless to whether you like the way Dream Theater combines the various styles or whether you like James LaBrie's vocals, there is no question that they deserve an incredible amount of respect for both their musicianship and their lyrical concepts.

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