OCTAVARIUM

I must say that I was rather disappointed with this album, for all of the hype. Granted, it is not bad, just not as prog as I generally like. It seemed to me to be rather commercial and not innovative enough. Also, I found the lyrics to be rather humdrum and unexciting. The last track, Octavarium, however was incredible. The lyrics were engaging, the music was brilliant and it certainly shows a lot of thought, effort and care went into that track. If the whole album had been had songs of that calibre then it would certainly rate at least four stars. Granted, I cannot speak for the whole of the band's body of work as this is the first album of Dream Theater that I have purchased.

Another note I must make is that it is not very metal. Coming from a rather hard- rock/heavy metal background, as a metal album this does not live up to expectations either. Perhaps I will have better luck with the earlier works.