A CHANGE OF SEASONS

I love this album! I had heard the 23 minute epic, 'A Change of Seasons' before I purchased it, and it was one of the main reasons that I did so. It starts off slow, with a nice accoustic intro by John Pettruci, and it then goes into a heavy guitar riff. The song continues with many different styles of music that somehow fit together to make an awesome song, which sounds amazing live by the way.

One of my favourite things about this song is that there is a real story behind the vocals, the story of the "many phases of a reminiscing man's life". (http://www.stp.uh.edu/vol61/951106/8a.html) The title, in my opinion, fits this song PERFECTLY. I also love how the song actually flows naturally from part to part, and is not just a random assortment of music. It is truly a masterpiece of not only progressive music, but music in general.

In 'A Change of Seasons', every instrument seemed to have it's place. There was not one point in the song where one instrument was trying to overpower another. It just proved how a band has to have amazing chemistry to be truly great! Throughout the song, you will hear riffs that were played earlier in the song, but with a slight twist, or played on a different instrument, coming back in at certain points.

Some have argued that the song is only good because it was meant for Dream Theater's first album, "Images and Words" (1989), but was kept unreleased until 1995, when Dream Theater released this amazing EP? 'A Change of Seasons'. I don't agree. This gave the band 6 more years to perfect the song (and perfect it they did!), and there is nothing at all wrong with that.

Aside from the feature song, Dream Theater did an excellent job on the live covers of some Classic Rock masterpieces. Being a Classic Rock fan myself, I didn't think of them as "ruining the songs" or "performing them better than the orginals". Dream Theater simply reinacted these songs, but did it very well. Like the featured song, 'A Change of Seasons', the medleys of Classic Rock songs that Dream Theater performed flowed naturally.

I would definitely reccomend this album to any fan of Classic Rock, Progressive Rock, Metal, or anybody really. I'd say that if you aren't already into Progressive Music, 'A Change of Seasons' will probably help you find your way there! So now, you should all stop reading this and go out and buy 'A Change of Seasons', definitely worth the price, and definitely deserving of five stars!

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