OCTAVARIUM

Well where do you start here, this was an album for which Dream Theater needed to redeem themselves from Train of Thought, by far there worst album- it wasn't prog it was metal with great solos. Octavarium is definitely an improvement, but not much. The album seems to me to have been put together in too much of a rush, with two 'Filler Tracks'- The answer Lies Within, and I walk Beside You, and lends itself too much to copying other bands. We know that Dream Theater like to copy other bands/artists - Peruvian Skies is probably the best example, it is Have a Cigar- Pink Floyd with different lyrics- but there was really no need to do what Dream Theater have done here. Tracks 5 and 6 are Muse all over, Track 6 is Hysteria speeded up. The start of Octavarium sounds familiar? Yeah you got it, it is Shine on You crazy Diamond-Pink Floyd, and throughout this 'epic' song Dream Theater play in the styles of Pink Floyd, Genesis, Rush etc. I Walk Beside You is frankly humiliating, a four chord pop song copying the style of one of the worst bands gracing the planet U2. Ok this album has its strong points, Sacrificed Sons is a good song, emotional powerful and some impressive playing but lets get realistic, the writing here is not what it used to be. It's not true progressive writing. It is obvious from this album that Dream Theater are trying to become more mainstream, and I find it very saddening. Ok some of the songs are quite good to listen to, but theres not really any totally outstanding writing that makes you think wow. Octavarium lets us see Rudess use his new toy, the Continuum which is cool and overall it is an average song, but it doesn't even come close to A Change of Seasons. These Walls is quite a catchy song, but again the writing is not that difficult or clever at all. Looking at this album from a Prog point of view I would give it 2/5 but if we were to look at it from a mainstream point of view 4.5/5 would be appropriate, maybe this is what Dream Theater want, but it certainly isn't what prog fans want.