TRAIN OF THOUGHT

"Train of Thought" (2003), Dream Theater's seventh album, surprises with a proposal brimming with metal adrenaline more than any previous work, drawing on the furious influences of bands such as Metallica, Megadeth or Pantera, and which partially sets aside their more progressive vein.

"As I Am" starts the album with a dense and dark intro marked by John Petrucci's demonic riffs, indebted to early Black Sabbath, and then accelerates the pace and moves through a very thrashy vibe, which both the furious "This Dying Soul" (second installment of the 12-step saga in the fight against alcoholism) with its arabesque instrumentation at times and Mike Portnoy's thundering double bass drum, as well as the crushing "Honor Thy Father" and Petrucci's ferocious riffs and solos counterbalanced by Jordan Rudess's synthesizers, reaffirm.

And while the metal spirit and its sub-genres hover persistently throughout the album, there are a few well-crafted oases of nuance, such as the delicate and beautiful arpeggiated opening of "Endless Sacrifice" and Rudess' fantastic synth accompaniment, the confessional interlude of the brief, unplugged "Vacant" with an intimate Jame Labrie sharing a delicate family episode underpinned by Rudess's heartfelt piano notes again and guest Eugene Friesen's cello, and the instrumental 'Stream of Consciousness', an intricate emotional seesaw of forceful progressive elaboration, surely the best track on the album.

Finally, the questioning "In the Name of God", another volcanic instrumental display reflecting on religious fundamentalism, brings the album to a pompous and epic close, dissolving into a lonely keyboard.

The hardened approach of "Train of Thought", a very good work by the way, divided opinions at the time regarding the band's future, between those who welcomed the evolution to tougher sonorities and those who preferred their progressive approach combined with metal elements which, in my opinion, are the waters that suit them best and which the New Yorkers navigate like very few others.

3.5/4 stars