03 A TRILOGY PART 1

After Dominici was fired from Dream Theater for musical differences in late 1989/early 1990, he disappeared from the music scene for nearly 15 years. His power-hungry vocals were not heard again until Dream Theater invited him back to play the 15th anniversary of When Dream and Day Unite show, where his piping voice sang To Live Forever and Metropolis, Part 1. This expose back into music inspired him to begin anew in the music world, starting with the 03 Trilogy, a triple concept album about a terrorist sleeper cell. The first issue into this trilogy was an entirely acoustic solo album of Dominici singing, playing acoustic guitar and harmonica. The music is pleasant and melodic, but lacks anything else. The concept is clear and creative, at some times haunting, which is, for the most part, the only good part of the album.

Introduction is a nice, well, introduction to the concept of the trilogy. A sleeper cell has been placed a shoe repairmen until his terrorist group contacts him to activate. The music is repetitive but pleasant; it's relaxing and soothing to listen to, but lacks any prog element, or any rock element for that matter.

Unwilling Visitor is almost identical to the last track, with soft pleasant acoustic guitar, lacking any rock or very much prog. The lyrics tell the main character's background, saying that he was abducted when he was only 10 and trained as a terrorist to attack the "first world," probably America. Again, the country acoustic music really makes this song pretty boring. The lyrics are haunting, however, and show the cruelty of many of the terrorist groups today.

My New Land is yet another soft pleasant acoustic song (for future reference, every song on the album is soft pleasant acoustic, so I'll stop saying that). In this song, we learn that the main character has discovered the opportunity of the first world. He starts questioning his sleeper training and wants to stay in the country and find a wife and start a family.

I Found Love is the same musically. In this song, the main character has found someone he loves (what a surprise). He obsesses over her and can't stop thinking of her. He muses about all the thinking he does about her throughout the day. The song is a traditional love song, aka a boring pop song.

The Dream is a little more interesting. Clocking in at nearly 7 minutes, it is the longest so far, and we hear harmonica for the first time (which really only furthers the country sound of the album). The main character has a dream about the elders of his terrorist groups. He dreams he is flying, showing that he feels free in the new country and does not want to conform to the elders. When he begins to fall to the ground, he lands back in the camp, where the elders confront him again and tell him he is the chosen one for this task. He then escaped the camp and goes back home through a great terrain. He sees Moses and Picasso in a boat in the ocean that he walks across, who reject his conversation. When he gets back home and tried to tell the authorities about his plan, his teeth fell out of his mouth, showing he is doing something he should not be. He then sees various other things, such as Normandy, Hitler having tea with Queen Mary, and other things, symbolizing many things, most of them bad.

A Day of Conflict is (as always) the same musically. This song details the main character's day after his prophetic dream. He feels something is coming, but he isn't sure what. His doubts about his supposed orders are churning.

The climax of this installation is The Order Comes. In this song, his order to activate was brought to the main character by a mysterious figure. He has a life-changing decision. Follow his orders and carry out his task and risk capture by the government, or try to escape his terrorist cell and risk their assassins. He only wishes his god would kill him to ease the decision.

The Plan, in my opinion, is the best song on the album. Musically the song is actually pretty interesting, and lyrically the song is perfectly horrifying (in a good way!). In this song, the main character meets with a man who tells him the plan on what he would do. He learns that his assignment was to set off a chain reaction that would convert all O2, oxygen gas, into O3, ozone, which is poisonous to breathe. It would also convert water into trioxidane, a poisonous liquid, thereby crippling the entire world. Before he can even accept the task, the FBI captures him and arrests him, abandoning his family and shop.

I Will Return is just another country song. The main character muses about what he will do while in prison, and what he will do after he returns to life. He observes the world he lives in and all the injustices that the terrorist attack would "solve." He starts to have second thoughts on his loyalty to the first world, now made clear that it is America.

The Hand of God is the last track, where the main character muses over the power he has over humanity with the knowledge of the reaction; he has the power to save or kill all life, or the "hand of god." He now is for the most part accepting of the fact that he needs to carry out his orders.

ALBUM OVERALL: Musically, this album is extremely boring. The acoustic work is extremely nice to listen to, but it gets very repetitive after a while and the songs blur into each other. The melodies and lyrics, however, are fantastic. The vocals are easy to hear and the concept is easy to follow. However, the country western influence that is so obvious really outweighs most of the up points to this album. It would be a great acoustic country album, but as a prog rock album, never mind a prog metal album, it fails. 2- stars.