OCTAVARIUM

Time changes and so Dream Theater.But they always change for the better.Octavarium is a truly Rudess album.The influence of this amazing keyboard player is in every second of the disc and throws DT for an new whole era of Progressive Rock.The album is much softer than Train of Thought and the reasons for that are that ToT did only have one slow song (Vacant) and DT have always presented us with beutiful melodies and very good song lyrics for this tipe of songs.The Answer Lies Within and I Walk Beside You are that ballads in this album.The first one is a very DT ballad with orchestration and very slow rythms.I Walk Beside You is a very U2 influenced type song but with much more energy than the first one.The dark side in this album goes to The Root of All Evil, Panic Attack and Never Enough.The Root of All Evil is the parts VI and VII from Mike Portnoy's alcoholic anonymous work and is a track that presents much of the changes that have happened since ToT.Panic Attack is one of the best tracks that Dream Theater ever made.The insane drums of Portnoy,the solos of Petrucci and Rudess and the magical bass lines from Myung made this one of the most challenging tracks for live presentation.CAN THEY REALLY DO IT LIVE?!Never Enough is the most darkest song in the album because talks about suicide and sacrifice with the voice of James LaBrie giving Dream Theater one of their best chorus.The most strange song is These Walls.This is definitely a new style for Dream Theater with various influences by bands like Yes, Rush and Genesis. Sacrificed Sons it's the tipical mini- epic from Dream Theater with the instrumental section in the middle and the majestic end.There's simple no words for Octavarium.What an amazing epic!Once again with influences from classical Prog bands and with a taste of a Neal Morse influnce especially on Full Circle.The Pink Floyd type intro, the evolution between sections, the lyrics,the voice of James LaBrie screaming "Trapped inside this OCTAVARIUM", the guitar solo in the end...IT'S DREAM THEATER AT THEIR BEST!!!This a must buy album for all DT fans and Prog music listeners around the world.