Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Dream Theater
Label: Roadrunner Records
Released: 2016
Runtime: 130:23
Rating: 4/5
The double concept album »The Astonishing« is the most ambitious project in the history of American prog-metal champions Dream Theater. They haven’t taken on anything this ambitious since the concept masterpiece »Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory« (1999), which a big chunk of the fanbase still considers their ultimate achievement. With »The Astonishing«, which runs over two hours, Dream Theater tried something new again and, for the first time ever, used real orchestral arrangements, with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra coming to their aid. The mastermind behind the dystopian concept of »The Astonishing« – a controlled society of the future where real music is banned by a tyrannical police regime, with only a handful of rebels standing up to it – was guitarist John Petrucci, who wrote all the music tying together the individual acts of this rather complex story, together with keyboardist Jordan Rudess. Petrucci drew inspiration from assorted sci-fi classics, but it was also his way of settling scores with, and poking fun at, modern society, where accelerated, digitally minded automation increasingly replaces normal human relationships. He also took a jab at the modern music industry, which couldn’t care less about good, decent musical content while feeding people ‘anti-music’ at every turn.
Sadly, Petrucci’s concept, despite the laudable motive that drove him while writing it, is no masterpiece at all. It’s a pretty naive (‘far-fetched’) story with utterly unbelievable twists and a typical ‘Hollywood’ happy ending. More than a sci-fi classic in the vein of ‘1984’, ‘The Matrix’ or ‘Star Wars’, it recalls some kids’ animated fairy tale, like the old Yugoslav-American cartoon ‘Čudežni gozd’, where the evil, ugly Cactus Emperor is turned into a kind and just ruler by a magic potion in the end, after which everybody is happy and content. The short version of the story goes something like this: in the distant future, the dystopian Great North American Empire has taken over the northeastern part of the former USA, where all music is banned while surveillance machines called NOMACS (Noise Machines) fly over the heads of the population. Their electronic noise is the only source of entertainment for the brutal empire’s enslaved subjects. The empire is ruled with a tyrant’s hand by Lord Nafaryus, whose greatest pride is his beautiful daughter, Princess Faythe. She falls for Gabriel, an icon of the rebel movement, who has the rare gift of creating and playing music, which he uses to inspire the enslaved population.
Nafaryus, who actually has a much softer heart than his brutal, feudal-police regime would suggest, attends one of the rebel icon’s concerts unannounced and, once the initial emotion wears off, quickly realizes that Gabriel could threaten his rule, so he tries to get rid of him by any means. His rather obnoxious, social-climbing son, Prince Daryus, who desperately craves his father’s approval, gets dragged into the plot too. During the hunt for the rebel leader, Daryus kills Gabriel’s brother Arhys and, by accident, after thinking his arch-enemy was closing in on him, gravely wounds his own sister Faythe. In the end, an enraged Gabriel takes Daryus’s hearing with a deafening scream and, at the plea of her desperate parents, uses his power to heal the dying Faythe. She recovers completely, after which she and Gabriel live happily ever after, raising Arhys’s son, while the emotionally moved Emperor Nafaryus has a total personality change from then on and becomes a wise and just ruler. Music is legal again from that day forward, the NOMACS are removed from the empire for good, and the merry celebrations can begin. Lucky for us that Petrucci is a much better musician and composer than writer, because otherwise the end result would probably be pitiful. As it is, you have to admit that his and Rudess’s music mostly manages to tie together the individual acts of this not-exactly-innovative or profound concept. By the way, the first musician to come up with the idea of a concept album about a dystopian world where music is strictly forbidden was none other than the legendary Frank Zappa, with the masterpiece »Joe’s Garage« (1979).
Singer James LaBrie got an especially demanding job, as he had to adapt his vocals to the different characters in the concept after the band decided not to call in various vocal ‘guests’ to take on specific roles. It’s fair to say that LaBrie, who sings in outstanding form throughout the whole album, pulled off his tough task brilliantly. The fact that »The Astonishing« came out less than a year after another famous metal band’s ambitious double album didn’t go unnoticed. Next to »The Astonishing«, though, Iron Maiden’s latest effort »The Book of Souls« (2015) is at ‘kindergarten’ level and comes off as ‘holy simplicity’ in terms of arrangement, rhythmic complexity and polish, so any serious comparison of the two albums is off the table – apart from the fact that both bands burned themselves out a bit on their hugely ambitious plans.
»The Astonishing« is played in the unmistakable, highly complex but mostly melodic Dream Theater style, which mostly makes ‘sense’ and which the band has cultivated since drummer Mike Mangini joined. Most of it sits somewhere between progressive metal and progressive rock, with no shortage of melancholic ballads (there are even too many of them), as well as a few rougher moments with aggressive metal riffs. The rhythm section – the otherwise outstanding duo of bassist John Myung and Mangini – sits a notch further back in the mix than usual for most of the album, which will disappoint some, but on the other hand both virtuosos did their jobs with total authority.
Most of the time, Petrucci’s guitar acrobatics are front and center, and he more or less manages to rein them in so that it doesn’t all descend into a full-on solo free-for-all, as it often did on some past albums. Next to them are the complex symphonic arrangements, led by Rudess’s keyboard orgies, which at times are a bit too egotistically pumped up even for fans who have ‘seen it all’. Rudess doing this isn’t exactly a surprise – it was almost expected, really – but it’s still a slight letdown after he’d started to show encouraging signs of team spirit, subtlety and balance on the previous two Dream Theater records.
Pompous orchestral arrangements, teamed up with guitar and keyboard acrobatics, are the driving force of most of the songs this time, starting with the instrumental melodrama of an opener, »Dystopian Oveture«, which sounds like film music straight out of Hollywood. Without Petrucci’s and Rudess’s hyperactive variations, this track could easily serve as the backdrop for some movie epic. On the melodic, bombastic »The Gift of Music«, LaBrie shines, nicely blending his mighty vocal approach with melodic guitar and keyboard passages, backed by choral vocal harmonies. Of course, Dream Theater wouldn’t be Dream Theater if they didn’t complicate things in the closing section with intricate improvisations, which luckily don’t wreck the framework of this very good composition. The upbeat »The Answer« features a really lovely acoustic guitar and piano arrangement, while LaBrie’s vocals finally get enough room to unfold in full glory.
»A Better Life«, where the brutal militancy of the oppressive regime is introduced for the first time, is full of dramatic tempo shifts and vocal melodrama, with an epic motif up front. »Lord Nafaryus«, which immortalizes the rather unstable Nafaryus, who hides a soft heart under a mask of ruthlessness and uptightness, has a gloomy atmosphere and almost chaotic rhythmic twists before melodic harmonies quickly take over. Because we soon learn that Nafaryus is no evil ‘bogeyman’ to be feared but merely a prisoner of his own dogmatism and pride, the dramatic message and dark atmosphere somehow never quite land. »A Saviour in the Square«, which depicts the moment Gabriel throws a solo concert for the rebels, has a boisterous opening guitar solo, and you can’t shake the feeling that Petrucci poured a piece of himself into Gabriel’s character. The mood gets noticeably darker when LaBrie’s vocals kick in, marking the moment Nafaryus appears on the scene with his family and entourage.
»When Your Time Has Come« features synth variations reminiscent of the golden era of neo-prog rock, before piano-and-organ harmonies take their place, while LaBrie’s vocals once again serve as the main source of the prevailing melodic direction. »Act of Faythe«, where Gabriel meets Princess Faythe for the first time, is a bit too sugary a love ballad to avoid leaving a saccharine aftertaste. »Three Days«, a sudden moment of total ambient turnaround, is once again a punchier and darker piece, with ruffled guitar passages and LaBrie’s convincing vocal chameleon act as he credibly ‘plays’ several different roles. On »Brother, Can You Hear Me?«, after a military march intro, mighty symphonic harmonies and dramatic piano passages take over, with LaBrie delivering his closest possible imitation of Freddie Mercury.
»A Life Left Behind«, which keeps drifting between an energetic prog-metal energy catalyst and a symphonic, melancholic ballad, features plenty of complex keyboard variations and yet another excellent vocal performance from LaBrie. »Ravenskill«, one of the many pompous moments of »The Astonishing«, revels in melodramatic arrangements and punchy guitar passages, while melodic harmonies once again dominate on the wings of the splendid singing of the Canadian vocal champion. »Chosen« is another piano-driven, superbly sung ballad – and this album is hardly short on those. This one is less sugary for a change, thanks to Petrucci’s lengthy but unobtrusive and just-subtle-enough guitar solo.
»A Tempting Offer« is the next swerve into darker waters, with plenty of dramatic orchestral moments. The same goes for »The X Aspect«, which will please many longtime fans, even though it has a short closing arrangement with bagpipes drawn from Scottish folk music. The epic »A New Beginning« is one of the better moments on »The Astonishing«, although at times it sounds almost too much like ‘epic Hollywood metal’ in the style of Italian symphonic-metal ‘knights’ Rhapsody of Fire. The first act of the conceptual odyssey wraps up with »The Road to Revolution«, soaked in dramatic symphonic arrangements, with epic and eclectic singing tying it all together – LaBrie deserves all the congratulations for it.
The second act of this sprawling concept, i.e. the second disc, opens with the orchestral instrumental »2285 Entr’acte«, followed by the excellent »Moment of Betrayal«, which is even one of the best things Dream Theater have done in the last few years, as it’s just complex, punchy and unpretentious enough to let all the best sonic elements of the prog-metal champions shine at full power. »Heaven’s Cove«, carried by subtle acoustic guitar chords alongside choral vocal harmonies, boasts a mysterious mood. The first part of the song is pure symphonic prog rock, followed by a prog-metal continuation. »Begin Again« is yet another pleasant, acoustic-leaning ballad – there are almost too many of them on »The Astonishing«, even if none of them is bad. This time the closing motif comes off a bit too cheesy, as it sounds like the soundtrack to Cinderella’s ceremonial procession through Disneyland. »The Path That Divides« is a somewhat more serious and darker creation with a dramatic plot twist, yet another epic vocal performance and battle cries. On »The Walking Shadow«, LeBrie convincingly slips into the role of the greedy murderer, Prince Daryjus, who’s practically bursting with bloodlust. »My Last Farewell« is a melancholic yet punchy moment where the murderer of Gabriel’s brother realizes too late what he’s done and repents, after almost killing his own sister.
»Losing Faythe« is yet another love power ballad, while »Whispers On The Wind« is merely its companion piece. »Hymn Of a Thousand Voices« is a totally unusual experiment for Dream Theater, featuring a string and folk rock arrangement and choral vocal harmonies. »Our New World« is yet another upbeat track, closer to (neo-)progressive rock than progressive metal, and one of those that will probably polarize the Dream Theater fanbase thanks to its unusually cheerful vibe. The album closes with the title track, i.e. »Astonishing«, built as a kind of ‘final revelation’, although, despite some interesting sonic touches, it’s basically yet another love ballad with a strong orchestral backdrop – and the album really is teeming with them.
»The Astonishing« is without doubt yet another Dream Theater album that will split the fanbase: some will ‘rave it to the stars’ for its incredibly rich, orchestra-enhanced, complex sound with a few brilliant moments, while others will cringe at its pretentiousness, bloat and shallow concept. Petrucci’s conceptual odyssey about a dystopian-futuristic tyranny where all music is banned is, as a whole, definitely not an easy listen, as it demands serious concentration. The truth about the album’s quality lies somewhere in the middle: given time, once the listener invests enough in it, »The Astonishing« does eventually ‘get under your skin’ and rewards that kind of patience, but at the same time it’s no masterpiece either, even though it desperately wants to be, and Petrucci invested practically everything to get his band to create yet another classic. Maybe he’d even have pulled it off if »The Astonishing« had been cut down to a single disc and certain sonic ‘filler’ that stretches everything out too far had been stripped away. As it is, the end result is ‘merely’ a very good album that could have been even better if Dream Theater hadn’t gotten drunk on over-ambition, which in the end proved to be a double-edged sword.
Line-up
James LaBrie – vocals
John Petrucci – guitar
John Myung – bass guitar
Jordan Rudess – keyboards
Mike Mangini – drums, percussion
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Eric Rigler – Scottish bagpipes on “The X Aspect”
Prague Philharmonic Orchestra
Production
John Petrucci
Track list
ACT I
1. Descent Of The Nomacs (1:11)
2. Dystopian Overture (4:51)
3. The Gift Of Music (4:00)
4. The Answer (1:53)
5. A Better Life (4:39)
6. Lord Nafaryus (3:28)
7. A Savior In The Square (4:14)
8. When Your Time Has Come (4:19)
9. Act Of Faythe (5:01)
10. Three Days (3:44)
11. The Hovering Sojourn (0:28)
12. Brother, Can You Hear Me? (5:11)
13. A Life Left Behind (5:49)
14. Ravenskill (6:01)
15. Chosen (4:32)
16. A Tempting Offer (4:20)
17. Digital Discord (0:48)
18. The X Aspect (4:13)
19. A New Beginning (7:41)
20. The Road To Revolution (3:35)
ACT II
21. 2285 Entr’acte (2:20)
22. Moment Of Betrayal (6:12)
23. Heaven’s Cove (4:20)
24. Begin Again (3:54)
25. The Path That Divides (5:10)
26. Machine Chatter (1:03)
27. The Walking Shadow (2:58)
28. My Last Farewell (3:44)
29. Losing Faythe (4:13)
30. Whispers On The Wind (1:37)
31. Hymn Of A Thousand Voices (3:39)
32. Our New World (4:25)
33. Power Down (1:25)
34. Astonishing (5:51)
