SIX DEGREES OF INNER TURBULENCE

At the time of this review, the album's rating is 4.07/5. Seriously. This, by definition, is a crying shame. Six Degrees is one of the most cohesive, excellent Progressive Metal albums I've ever heard. This is one of the few albums in my book, and the only double album(!) that pulls off the difficult feat of having no weak songs. Red, by King Crimson, Thick as a Brick, by Jethro Tull, and Hemispheres, by Rush, are the only others to do this, in all of my listening. So, let's begin.

Track 1: The Glass Prison (13:52)

The long tracklength at first made me think that I was in for a typical Dream Theater mini-epic, perhaps another "Home", or "Metropolis I". Wrong. Glass Prison is thrashy, and angry. The entire band is top notch. LaBrie's vocals even work well, which hardly happens in DT's hard edged songs. I don't think I even have to mention how good Petrucci is here, he has two amazing solos in this piece. Brilliant opener.

Track 2: Blind Faith (10:21)

The opening here couldn't be any more different than The Glass Prison. The song is soft for the first few minutes; a slightly cynical edge to LaBrie's vocals being the only clue to what lies ahead. What's ahead is a heavier section, which leads to a breathtaking solo section with Rudess and Petrucci. Another winner.

Track 3: Misunderstood (9:32)

Not a typical DT song. Damn, damn good, though. It's sounds a bit poppish in parts, but poppish does not equal bad, though some may argue otherwise. The leadup to the final refrain is one of my favorite sections of the album.

Track 4: The Great Debate (13:45)

This track is weakened slightly by a boring opening. I usually fast forward the first 3 minutes, which is fun, because it sounds like the music to a James Bond movie. :P The rest of the song is solid, though not as exceptional as the first three tracks. The weak point of disc 1, but that's really a meaningless title, seeing as this is still a great song.

Track 5: Disappear (6:47)

At 6:47, Disappear is the shortest song on Six Degrees. Very prog, or whatever. This song is, to put it bluntly, amazing. It's not heavy, there are no guitar solos, but there's just this feeling of melancholy surrounding this song that just makes it... work. This song took a bit to *click* with me, but when it did, I found myself replaying it over and over.

And, so, disc 1 ends. If the first disc had been released as an album, I still would have given it 5 stars. But no. Here comes Disc 2.

"Track" 6: Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (42:04)

Six Degrees seems alot shorter than most double albums do, and the title track seems much shorter than other ultra-long songs do. The CD gives each part of the suite a track, to ease navigation, but this generally is considered one track.

Overture begins the suite, and is awesome. It's an orchestra playing some wonderful, majestic sounding melodies and riffs, that will occur later in guitar form.

About to Crash isn't the best part of the suite. I have found myself skipping it at times. However, it isn't a weak song by any means, and the mood change near the end is well done.

Despite the track listing, I've always grouped War Inside my Head and Test that Stumped Them All together. They both are heavier than anything played so far in the suite, and both feature similar vocal styles. Test, however, contains some odd falsetto vocals on the refrain, and this serves well to back up the hysterical atmosphere that permeates this section. Then, we segue into...

Goodnight Kiss. Woah! What happened to the heavy? This is a soft ballad, that is a tad uninteresting until the Floyd-knockoff guitar solo. If it's a Pink Floyd rip off, it's an excellent one, though, and it remains one of my favorite Petrucci solos ever. It segues nicely into Solsbury Hill.

Uh, Solitary Shell. Soz. This song is rather similar to Solsbury Hill in structure, and even in title, and is likely a tribute to it. Despite it's lighter, poppy feel, this is one of my favorite parts of the entire album. There's pop, then there's good pop. This is some damn fine pop.

About To Crash (Reprise) kicks in, and I mean, it KICKS in. The guitar at the start is a hell of an entrance, and it only gets better. The vocals are almost meaningless, because after them is the best part of the album. Some amazing buildups, great melodies, and riffs are here. We move all too soon to:

Losing Time / Grand Finale: I actually found the end to be slightly dissapointing. Losing Time is a fine ballad-like song, but GF is just a tad on the boring side. It's not bad, or weak, though. The song, and the album ends on a gong that stretches to the end of the CD, and cuts off. However, I really wanted something on the lines of the reprise to About to Crash. You can't win them all, I guess.

Overall, this is amazing. This is the most underrated album in DT's discography by far, and deserves much better than a low 4. Easly 5/5.