Label: Roadrunner Records
Release date: 09/23/2013
Produced by: John Petrucci
Album length: 69:05 min
Genre: Progressive Metal
Dream Theater, the prog titans whose shockingly original sound at the turn of the ’80s into the ’90s threw the doors wide open for the later boom of progressive metal, are still sticking to their tried-and-true formula well into their golden years. After a two-year break, they’re back with a new studio album, this time titled “Dream Theater”. Self-titled records are usually debuts, so it’s pretty obvious the band picked the name to make one thing clear: what the new album delivers is still 100% Dream Theater, even without Mike Portnoy in the lineup, the crew is 100% consolidated and tighter than ever. And, most importantly of all, Mike Mangini can play just like Mike Portnoy whenever the moment calls for it. The heap of drum rolls in the transitional passages of the new record’s songs proves exactly that, among other things. If the situation demands it, you can put an equals sign between Mangini and Portnoy.
At the very least, “A Dramatic Turn of Events” (2011) finally gave us, after a long while, a Dream Theater album that’s friendlier on the ears, with arrangements that are easier to get into, the kind where the melody actually sticks around in your head. Luckily, Jordan Rudess has calmed down completely on the beastly soloing that, even on “Black Clouds and Silver Linings,” tore at the listener’s head with the full “shrill” force of a flooded ocean of notes, and broke the songs’ desired compactness down into prime factors. So the album “Dream Theater” also strikes a very successful middle path between complexity and seductive listenability, where the band once again leaves room for a clearly defined lead melody to take priority over the other building blocks of Dream Theater’s music.
You won’t believe it, but the raw simplicity of a proper guitar phrase, a staple of the heavy metal universe, as presented in the new Dream Theater song Behind the Veil, sounds especially sweet. Even refreshing for them, though it’s basically borrowed from something already invented. A contradiction, but one that ignites! It’s great that, after all those covers of classics from Iron Maiden to Metallica, Dream Theater have finally found some room to showcase the raw simplicity of a guitar phrase of their own authorship. It’s something that, in the right doses within the arrangements, had been increasingly missed on their studio albums since 1999. Then again, on “Train of Thought” (2003) they even overdid this “totally badass shredding” element. The jewel of artistic contrast on the album is Surrender To Reason. It’s a great mix of acoustic forms (the intro), a warmly produced organic sound carried by Rudess’s “Hammond-like” tone, which brings to mind the vibe of classic Kansas (the verse), and a hooky, melodic chorus, which leads you to the realization that Dream Theater have once again fantastically flirted with the look and feel of their early studio work. All I can say is: finally, guys!
Put simply, “Dream Theater” strikes an excellent balance between what these guys always love doing most and what reality forces on them, which demands logic and compact song structures. Once again there are moments where the band sails off into extreme soloing acrobatics, right to the edge of musical chaos, only to land on its feet the next second with a sharpened sense for following the melody and bring everything back into a tasty balance of expression that’s a constant pleasure to take in. As said.
The opening “cinematic” intro, just under three minutes long, is a tried-and-true trick from their past work. Next comes the wound-up, motif-rich The Enemy Inside, followed by The Looking Glass, the first herald of what we were just talking about. The opening motif blasts “Dream Theater” back to their early days, and it’s no exaggeration to say it throws in a nod to the album “Images And Words”. Petrucci even doubles the harmonies in thirds when stressing the melody, Rudess holds up an atmospheric backdrop with the keys, and LaBrie’s vocals, full of passion, are finally back at full strength. Two gorgeous songs that walk the line between masterful doses of improvisational wizardry, punchy rhythmic turns that nobody else in this universe can put together, and melodies that really work are The Bigger Picture and especially Along for the Ride. At the start of the fifth minute, The Bigger Picture brings a classic closing of the motif (starting from a new motif), deliberately produced and played in a Queen style (that typical, teasing “Queen-esque” feel). The Bigger Picture carries one of the most memorable choruses on the new Dream Theater album. And if you have to pick a radio-friendly track from the new album, in an edited version it could definitely be Along for the Ride, something that hasn’t happened since “Octavarium” and I Walk Beside You. The track loaded with an escalation of Dream Theater’s incorrigible fiery improvisation between Petrucci and Rudess, the untamed progressive wrecking ball on the new album, is Enigma Machine. No holding back here. It’s pure play aimed at the absolute extreme that only Dream Theater’s ultrasonic neo-classicism can deliver. But watch out. This is a more demanding song, and it’s thoroughly fragmented. The “continuum fingerboard” is allowed here too, along with all of Jordan Rudess’s other sonic pranks. Within the album as a whole, the track works great because, despite its deliberate fragmentation and difficulty, it doesn’t stick out, being wedged between the listenable, melodically much sturdier songs of the new album.
Dream Theater took a similar step this time as on “Octavarium.” The most demanding and complex composition on “Dream Theater” has been saved for the very tail end (what tail? let’s say the last third of the new release instead). It’s the 22-minute epic Illumination Theory, which will satisfy the band’s most demanding fans. I should mention that around the seven-minute mark the song starts to progressively “break” in a bigger way, evoking old-school retro developments of good old rock, like the kind Yes once made in the days of “Relayer” or the “cerebral” side of “T.F.T.O.” In short, another giant epic that offers a dynamic mood ride on the crest of huge waves of Dream Theater’s creative spirit (in its mature years) and tastefully fuses complexity with listenability.
The album is great from start to finish! And it carries a deeply meaningful title, “Dream Theater”. It embodies pretty much everything Dream Theater have created so far. At the same time, it’s a showcase of the new lineup’s remarkable shape, with Mangini behind the kit delivering an even looser, even more vivid and even more breathtaking drumming performance, given the top-notch level he first showed with Dream Theater on “A Dramatic Turn Of Events” (2011).
Only one thing left to say. Get yourself this album and chew on it good until February 2014, when Dream Theater come to Ljubljana for another show. This time the chorus melodies of every single song will stick in your ears. Those of us who were waiting for the band to once again make an album with a unique balance between complexity and melodic catchiness have finally gotten it with “Dream Theater”. After all the miles they’ve covered and all the musical horizons they’ve shown, and after we’d despairingly said countless times that Dream Theater had already said everything they had to say artistically, the album turned out wonderfully. An album of true Dream Theater art aesthetics. All the building blocks are equally exposed, and none is overshadowed by the dominance of another. That makes it all the lovelier to realize we can once again enjoy the soulful performance of James LaBrie, who until now was left “smothered” way too often by all the muscle-flexing of Dream Theater’s instrumental heroes. LaBrie literally shines in his vocal performance on this album!
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
rating: 9.0 / 10
Tracklist:
01. False Awakening Suite
I. Sleep Paralysis
II. Night Terrors
III. Lucid Dream
02. The Enemy Inside
03. The Looking Glass
04. Enigma Machine
05. The Bigger Picture
06. Behind The Veil
07. Surrender To Reason
08. Along For The Ride
09. Illumination Theory
I. Paradoxe de la Lumière Noire
II. Live, Die, Kill
III. The Embracing Circle
IV. The Pursuit of Truth
V. Surrender, Trust & Passion
Lineup:
James LaBrie – vocals, backing vocals
John Petrucci – guitar, backing vocals
Jordan Rudess – keyboards, backing vocals
John Myung – bass guitar
Mike Mangini – drums
