It's always nice with music that challenges the listener in an ingenious and exciting way, like this new piece of progressive adventures from the wonder-band
Dream Theater. Being a huge, no mega huge, fan of the band my expectations are always sky-high and sometimes their albums even seem to contain more than I hoped for, this time around I'm, shall I say, quite pleased :)
This their new output has a very interesting structure with five extensive songs and a short ballad.
What quickly surfaces is the impression of a sound that puts heavy guitar riffs and powerful drumming very central in the song process, this is indeed some of the best Portnoy/Petrucci performances ever, there is a
Metallica kind of hardness too some of these very aggressive moments. In general the production is over the top brilliant, rock tight and at the same time crystal clear.
As I Am has a very raw and hard approach, a straight in your face song with a mind-blowing thundering guitar solo and amazing detailed drums packed with powerful arrangements. A fantastic cut with a special heavy pumping energy, a cool lyric about trusting yourself strongly performed by James Labrie, this must be a sure live hit! When mentioning LaBrie it must be stated that he delivers a very convincing and solid job on these at times odd songs, his voice is extremely varied and sounds very strong.
This Dying Soul is the second part of
The Glass Prison from their Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence album. A song that really grows on you due to the fact that it's ultra complex and very technical.
In the first part of the track a mystic guitar melody works fantastic in binding fast passages filled with detailed drums together with more emotional singing parts. I'm not too impressed with the distorted voice effects on this song but the downright ultra heavy ending section with a fast key solo and epic symphonic parts coupled with huge monster riffs and tight speedy bass lines is pure thrills.
Endless Sacrifice could very well end up in being an all time
Dream Theater classic, what I'm missing a bit in some of the other songs, a catchy well incorporated chorus, this one isn't lacking at all.
The acoustic quiet passages are classical
Dream Theater while the way the chorus and related guitar riff is delivered is something rather different from what they have done before, at least in my opinion. And yeah I love the amusing madman intermission part where Jordan fools around with his keys, great stuff. Overall an amazing and mesmerizing piece of progressive art.
I can't say that there are any lesser than good songs on Train Of Thought,
Honor Thy Father is nevertheless one that lack's some catchiness and a tighter red line in becoming as fantastic as the previous ones.
Cool stuff being the aggressive start and later to come high grooving passages, anyway the middle part of the track becomes a bit muddy and missing a really captivating flow.
In the same direction as
Disappear from their latest release,
Vacant is a well working yet dark, atmospheric and very sad song. James delivers sensitive vocals and the cello brings a lot of melancholy into the mood while the keyboard comes into the picture as the main and dreaming fundamental basis.
When talking about the keyboard style I find it a bit more in the background than their latest two releases that also featured Jordan. The keyboard is very present in creating great atmospheres, but it is working more in connection with the guitar and bass lines than previously, when taking the songs profile into account this style is rather fitting.
Stream Of Consciousness is the albums 11-minute instrumental journey. Many different melodies and complex passages ares approached, anyway it comes in as one whole song thanks in particular to the well put together duelling guitar/keyboard solos and the symphonic start/mid/ending theme. A good technical track that could have been better with a harmonious melody line, one that could have giving it a stronger and more memorable profile.
At the end we find the comprehensive
In The Name Of God. Here I find the complex mid-section guitar adventure, the magnificent bass play and ever present fitting piano parts some of the most successful elements. On the other hand the chorus is not really that exiting and the ending part of the track seems too get a bit stretched out and being rather unstructured.
The song is dealing with the ever-relevant theme of how religion can be modelled and used for evil motives, in general the lyrics on this album succeeds in being both critical and interesting and with a central focus on very personal issues.
I have always admired John Myung extremely technical bass playing and this also goes for Train Of Thought. When trying to follow the bass through out the record, which takes some concentration, it becomes clear that the bass has a tendency to evolve in the background supporting the main rhythm but also creates more independent and highly exciting paths of its own, it becomes very apparent how complex and important it's role really is.
Even though Train Of Thought doesn't reach the best efforts of the band's past, it must be stressed that it contains some huge tracks and an admirable execution of progressive music that succeeds in sounding very refreshing and involving songs with a special powerful construction.
Written by
Tommy Thursday, December 4, 2003
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