DISTANCE OVER TIME

After the conceptual and complex "The Atonishing", of divided opinions in the general consideration for its theatrical and grandiloquent approach, Dream Theater tries to recover with the release of "Distant Over Time" (2019), their fourteenth album, the direct and forceful sound more in accordance with the original essence of the band, adding interesting melodic structures to pose an introspective look at human behaviour when subjected to challenging and extreme situations.

Pieces of clear metal vein marked by the powerful and dense guitar riffs of John Petrucci symbiotically amalgamated with the complicit outbursts of Jordan Rudess on keyboards dominate much of the album, as with the dynamic and liberating "Untethered Angel", or with the raspy melody that the mid-tempo of the obstinate "Paralyzed" proposes, or the muscular introduction of the liberating "Fall into the Light" with a very unleashed Mike Mangini on percussion and an intense and impeccable instrumental interlude, or the surprising industrial metal variant of the obsessive "Room 137" with similarities to "The Beautiful People" by the extravagant Marilyn Manson, or also with the rough chords of the revealing "S2N" and the refreshing Funky bass of John Miyung.

And both the jubilant and resilient "Barstool Warrior", which goes the way of power ballads, and the beautiful "Out of Reach" with the delicate piano notes of Rudess, deliver the most peaceful choruses and melodies of the album guided by an accurate and very comfortable James Labrie on vocals, before the heartbreaking "At Wit's End" and the epic and questioning "Pale Blue Dot", which refers to the interstellar voyages of Voyager 1 to reflect on the human relevance in the immensity of the universe, resume the metal bellicosities tinged with progressive and orchestral elements, almost absent in the rest of the work, and bring the album to a close.

"Distant Over Time" reunites the New Yorkers with their past, visualized in "Images and Words", auscultating in the mirror of "Awake", and with the natural halo of maturity that comes with the more than twenty-five years that have passed since those works.

Pd. Very interesting hard rock bonus track "Viper King" including its brief and nostalgic Hammond, rounding off the vigorous seventies atmosphere of the theme.

3.5/4 stars