FALLING INTO INFINITY

Falling Into Infinity is by no means a bad album. It's just an unpleasant one for Dream Theater's fans. It has a production which sounds less metal that previous albums, with the guitars lowered and less double pedal from Portnoy. His drums sounds specially bad this time! And while it maintains some of the great progressive moments and the overwhelming musicianship of the band (although I think that Derek Sherinian was too limited for this band) it also contains compositions that are simply obvious attempts to reach the charts or radio stations which are really unfortunate.

The album opens with New Millennium, a strange sounding song for Image and Words and Awake's lovers. It has an odd Metallica feeling and the vocals are also not really fitting. Not a lousy one, but far from brilliant despite its great bass playing. But much better than You Not Me and its horrendous chorus. This song confirms that the voice of LaBrie was not in top form this time.

Peruvian Skies contains not only terrible lyrics, but also a lot of boredom. Only the Petrucci's solo shines here... And what can we find after this solo? Another Metallica sounding riff! What a mess... But not so bad as Hollow Years, which starts like Dire Straits meets Marc Anthony and it continues with the form of a ballad improper for a band like Dream Theater, despite its sweet piano melodies.

Burning My Soul tries to retrieve the power of Images and words, with good heavy riffing. But again, the strangely doubled vocals of LaBries blurred the result. And the drumming sound specially bad on this one! The high-pitched snare is almost unbearable. Hell's Kitchen is an insipid instrumental dominated by Petrucci, but then comes Lines in the Sand!

It starts with chords which bring the film Blade Runner to mind, and after that we hear a great guitar melody and a complex riffs, which together with a powerful drumming make the best song of the album, and maybe also the most progressive. And Doug Pinnick sings in the chorus! What could be better than that?

Unfortunately Take Away My Pain is another bad attempt to create something appropriate for the masses... Just a lame pop- rock song. And absolutely not lame is Just Let Me Breathe, my favorite of the whole album with its funky metal rhythms, energy and complexity! How can the band managed to make such a great song alongside a cruel thing like Anna Lee, which is really boring and bland again?

Thank God, Trial of Tears closes the album with quality, being a long song divided in three acts with another great bass playing and marvelous guitar solos. Another minor highlight of the album.

Conclusion: Falling Into Infinity has its moments. And they are really good! But it also contains a lot of lousy songs from a band trying to be what they obviously not are. Strangely commercial and utterly irregular, this album is maybe my least favorite of Dream Theater, despite having great songs like Lines in the Sand and Just Let Me Breathe.

Fortunately, the band would do so much better on their next work!

Best Tracks: Lines in the Sand, Just Let Me Breathe, Trial of Tears.

My rating: **

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