TRAIN OF THOUGHT

One of my friends has a habit of putting a few random songs from different bands on my computer every time he comes around and one time after he left I noticed the band "Dream Theater". There were two songs there: "Endless Sacrifice" and "Honour Thy Father".

Previously I was listening to the like of "System of a Down" and "Rage Against The Machine" so this band was something different for me. I absolutely loved the songs. Since then I have bought six of their studio albums (including TOT) and one live one. Looking back I think that Train Of Thought is a really good album, though not as good as other ones like Scenes From A Memory of Images And Words.

The thing that I really dislike about Train Of Thought is that some people listen to it, love it, and then listen to their other stuff (Scenes From A Memory, for instance) and call it things like "weak" or "lame". The good thing about it is that it gets some people with heavier tastes and more open minds to get into this sort of music.

Moving on.

As I Am. Fairly good song, good rhythm, but I find it kind of... crude compared to their many other songs. The start builds up well, but I find that when the vocals come in the song goes downhill as they don't really suit the music.

This Dying Soul. I love this song. It follows As I Am very well, with the feedback at the end of the previous song exploding into a heavy solid guitar line, with a solid double-kicking drumline to suit. The start of the guitar solo isn't anything too special, but then it kicks into the melodic part (best part of the song) which then leads into a great keyboard solo. The verse (hello, mirror...) makes a good contrast to the rest of the song then it's followed by a great melodic chorus, which switches into another verse with great transition. Another great part is when the piano part comes in followed by vocal (Now that you can see all that you have done...). I really like how it's echoed by the back up vocals.

Endless Sacrifice. This was the first Dream Theater song that I heard so I will always have a soft spot for it. I didn't like the soft verses to begin with but they really grew on me since. Then that soft verse builds up until it explodes into a really awesome chorus, with Petrucci's relatively heavy guitar line carrying the vocals really well. That's pretty much repeated, then a five minute instrumental (heh, Labrie walks of the stage on the DVD doesn't he?) follows. This instrumental is what sold the band to me. It starts with this one line from the chorus then it expands to other things, then comes back to that line, then expands to something completely different to the last expansion (and who can forget the little keyboard solo with all the funny sounds?). Then the end of this song is just... words can't describe how good the end is.

Honor Thy Father. Good start, interesting how it changes timing so much. The thing I hear most about this song is that people don't like the bit with the talking (after "don't cross the crooked step"), but I love it, it adds emphasis to the rest of the song and leads into the last chorus excellently.

Vacant. I wouldn't really like this song if it wasn't placed where it was in the album, after the heavy guitar of Honor Thy Father and before the mind blowing Stream Of Consciousness, which comes out of the soft piano/violin of vacant.

Stream of Consciousness. Like I said, this song is mind blowing. It is similar to the instrumental in Endless Sacrifice in that it often comes back to its original line. The different solos in this particular song are all good. I also find it interesting that the song starts and finishes identically.

In the Name of God. I don't mind the main riff for this song but the part that I really like is the chorus because there is so much feeling and effort put into it, especially on the part of Labrie. It also ties up the album excellently, with the piano coming out of the part with the back up singers. Another aspect of this song that I like is what it is about, kind of expressing his inability to understand how people could use something like religion to justify doing evil things.

So in conclusion, Train of Thought is a good album, but is let down by As I Am and the fact that most of their other albums are better.

Wow. I kinda went on for bit there. If you bothered to read all of that I thank you for your time.

Liam Drennan, Australia.

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