Dream Theater
Dream Theater
Roadrunner Records
2013
Usually a band will dub an opus eponymously when they believe it to be their grand masterpiece and defining moment. For Dream Theater to have done so, in 2013, this probably comes 21 years too late, as they did peak way to early, but also appears to be like, such a pretentious thing to do… as if they have to prove something... to anyone...
Dream Theater, remains, Dream Theater, very able musicians, performing meanderously complex compositions, with healthy doses of melody, only seemingly, ever since, “Octavarium”, it has become increasingly difficult for them to sound inspired and to indeed break new ground, instead, rehashing old recipes, quite capably, maybe with a few twists and turns, but without much inspiration, in all honesty.
The ousting of former drummer and original member Mike Portnoy, when he suggested that the band should take a hiatus, to get some “rest”, has led to his replacement, by a capable musician in Mike Mangini, who is once again doing a comendable job behind the drumkit, but is not really as apparent in the mix as his predecessor, one could even say he's being a little pushed to the side as almost accompaniament, as he's somewhat lower in the mix than he should be, with keyboards once again, being obnoxiously upfront...The overall style has become even more generic than before, a lot more homogenized, without the writing contributions and the more aggressive style of playing that Portnoy used to bring to the band and that is apparent. Dream Theater is drifting away from the metal influences into something somewhat different. We get more “Christian” and grown up themes, that would probably be embraced by more people and thus, bring more money to the coffers of the record company and the band... while the music really is “soupy” at best... a watered down version of what the band used to be. When the band actually, complained on “Falling into Infinity” about the contributions of Desmond Child, they didn’t even know what they were saying... here they sound – themselves, 100 times sappier, even though they haven't used the “help” of any external writers.
Unfortunately, this band has no sense of balance. They will either be too complex, or too fast, or too metal, or too soft. That in itself is not praise. Musical narcissism that doesn’t actually contribute towards a composition but is just virtuosity just for the sake of showing off after so many years… is just a little tiresome. And since John Petrucci would not easily abandon the band even if he sounds a bit tired after all these years, I suppose that I’d very much like to see Portnoy reinstated and Rudess out, in favor of a better writer.
“False Awakening Suite” is an absolutely cinematic, grandiose, almost operatic, intro, with choirs, strings and whatnot… that after a couple of minutes leads to...
“The Enemy Inside”. When I first, heard this “lead off” single, I thought, typical DT fare, but on the other hand, it felt quite “weak” and commercial. Listening to it, in the context of the album, there’s no other song that could have been a single. It has a “well defined” chorus, even at 6+ minutes, it could get an edit, even though the complete version is better with Rudess/Petrucci’s “tradeoff” solo being quite nice. So don’t fire the baldy… just yet.
“The Looking Glass” is psyched, poppy and mid-tempo, but ultimately, has to resort to some very sugarcoated melodies, to get anywhere, as it’s quite messed up and rather boring really... a wool eyed fan would probably love it, but, I will not force myself to love just anything with the DT logo on it...
The “Enigma Machine” is a rather nice instrumental, with a few interesting themes, that swiftly takes some twists and turns when you thought it would turn most predictable. OK chops, but it doesn’t like contain some “heart-stopping” melody or something that will completely blow your mind although, I can think of a couple of passages that might give various instrumentalists “insomnia”... at the very least.
“The Bigger Picture” signifies, the return of sappy ballad – turned into a Christian epos… with (minor) Queen like aspirations along the way... can’t say it’s “bad per se”… but I’d rather listen to “Venom”… lol!
In “Behind the Veil” the first one and a half minute is wasted in atmospheric keyboard intro effects... fair enough... then there’s a riff and actually it’s not a bad song all in all... but if I am getting it right – this is a veiled – (excuse the pun) anti burka, song!?
“Surrender to Reason” is a composition that has lyrics written by J. Myung, something that hasn’t happened in a while... I suppose... but while it’s an interesting, it’s an uneasy listen.
“Along for the Ride” is another attempt at going for some sort of feelgood zen – pop ballad, but it feels contrived and pretty lame. Like it was written by some geriatric balding 50 year olds that have lost the plot…. really!
Last but not least, we’re treated to a 20+ minute, 5 part suite, entitled “Illumination Theory”, It has a spirited beginning, but then it sort of loses steam and incorporating a short loan from Tshaikovsky to keep things "interesting", is not exactly a testament to the bands fertile imagination when it comes to composition. We're mostly treated to momentary stand offs virtosity displays, only injected almost arbritrarily in order to speed up the proceedings… around the 19th minute things actually stop allowing for a soft piano outro to take over and finish the proceedings. In all honesty, I found the suite, "terribly" boring and rather inconsistent.
In conclusion... not only didn’t I think that this eponymous album was Dream Theater’s best, but if I were to place it in order of preference, it would actually end up pretty low, towards the bottom of the heap of their releases. There isn't a single moment in it able to genuinly excite, but there are myriads that can outrightly bore someone out of his/her tits, with their formulaic mannerisms and less than stellar song development. You see Dream Theater and their fanboys/girls have this flase perception that they can do no wrong, that everything they touch automatically turns to gold, that they have the Midas Touch. Well, in terms of sales, that might be true, but in terms of writting interesting music, their best days are behind them. What the membership of the band is and who gets the money is not something I will bother myself with, but whether I enjoy and album or not, I something I most certainly will. And in the band's opus eponymous, there aren’t any lofty compositions, the production that the band chose to handle themselves is sufficient, but then again nothing out of the ordinary and without the expert opinion of an unbiased producer, the band members indulge in their own little personal theories of what DT should sound like (not Mike Portnoy's) twisting the songs out of shape (in an altogether different way!). As I aforementioned wool eyed fans will love ANYTHING, that the band puts out, but I had a hard time, enjoying more than 2-3 tunes on this album really and that for a band with the musical pedigree of Dream Theater, just won’t do. Uh- no! Better Shape Up, Before You Slip Away…
PS (by the Admin): Apart from the DT maniacs who would consider this album a masterpiece (DT release only masterpieces according to them), it’s more than obvious that they do need a long break and that “magic” they once had, has been long gone. Portnoy is missed badly and now everyone can understand that he was something more than just a great drummer. He was one of those basic “elements” which made DT what they are today. In a few words, “Dream Theater” is a totally mediocre & tedious album with a bland cover artwork…
Dream Theater, remains, Dream Theater, very able musicians, performing meanderously complex compositions, with healthy doses of melody, only seemingly, ever since, “Octavarium”, it has become increasingly difficult for them to sound inspired and to indeed break new ground, instead, rehashing old recipes, quite capably, maybe with a few twists and turns, but without much inspiration, in all honesty.
The ousting of former drummer and original member Mike Portnoy, when he suggested that the band should take a hiatus, to get some “rest”, has led to his replacement, by a capable musician in Mike Mangini, who is once again doing a comendable job behind the drumkit, but is not really as apparent in the mix as his predecessor, one could even say he's being a little pushed to the side as almost accompaniament, as he's somewhat lower in the mix than he should be, with keyboards once again, being obnoxiously upfront...The overall style has become even more generic than before, a lot more homogenized, without the writing contributions and the more aggressive style of playing that Portnoy used to bring to the band and that is apparent. Dream Theater is drifting away from the metal influences into something somewhat different. We get more “Christian” and grown up themes, that would probably be embraced by more people and thus, bring more money to the coffers of the record company and the band... while the music really is “soupy” at best... a watered down version of what the band used to be. When the band actually, complained on “Falling into Infinity” about the contributions of Desmond Child, they didn’t even know what they were saying... here they sound – themselves, 100 times sappier, even though they haven't used the “help” of any external writers.
Unfortunately, this band has no sense of balance. They will either be too complex, or too fast, or too metal, or too soft. That in itself is not praise. Musical narcissism that doesn’t actually contribute towards a composition but is just virtuosity just for the sake of showing off after so many years… is just a little tiresome. And since John Petrucci would not easily abandon the band even if he sounds a bit tired after all these years, I suppose that I’d very much like to see Portnoy reinstated and Rudess out, in favor of a better writer.
“False Awakening Suite” is an absolutely cinematic, grandiose, almost operatic, intro, with choirs, strings and whatnot… that after a couple of minutes leads to...
“The Enemy Inside”. When I first, heard this “lead off” single, I thought, typical DT fare, but on the other hand, it felt quite “weak” and commercial. Listening to it, in the context of the album, there’s no other song that could have been a single. It has a “well defined” chorus, even at 6+ minutes, it could get an edit, even though the complete version is better with Rudess/Petrucci’s “tradeoff” solo being quite nice. So don’t fire the baldy… just yet.
“The Looking Glass” is psyched, poppy and mid-tempo, but ultimately, has to resort to some very sugarcoated melodies, to get anywhere, as it’s quite messed up and rather boring really... a wool eyed fan would probably love it, but, I will not force myself to love just anything with the DT logo on it...
The “Enigma Machine” is a rather nice instrumental, with a few interesting themes, that swiftly takes some twists and turns when you thought it would turn most predictable. OK chops, but it doesn’t like contain some “heart-stopping” melody or something that will completely blow your mind although, I can think of a couple of passages that might give various instrumentalists “insomnia”... at the very least.
“The Bigger Picture” signifies, the return of sappy ballad – turned into a Christian epos… with (minor) Queen like aspirations along the way... can’t say it’s “bad per se”… but I’d rather listen to “Venom”… lol!
In “Behind the Veil” the first one and a half minute is wasted in atmospheric keyboard intro effects... fair enough... then there’s a riff and actually it’s not a bad song all in all... but if I am getting it right – this is a veiled – (excuse the pun) anti burka, song!?
“Surrender to Reason” is a composition that has lyrics written by J. Myung, something that hasn’t happened in a while... I suppose... but while it’s an interesting, it’s an uneasy listen.
“Along for the Ride” is another attempt at going for some sort of feelgood zen – pop ballad, but it feels contrived and pretty lame. Like it was written by some geriatric balding 50 year olds that have lost the plot…. really!
Last but not least, we’re treated to a 20+ minute, 5 part suite, entitled “Illumination Theory”, It has a spirited beginning, but then it sort of loses steam and incorporating a short loan from Tshaikovsky to keep things "interesting", is not exactly a testament to the bands fertile imagination when it comes to composition. We're mostly treated to momentary stand offs virtosity displays, only injected almost arbritrarily in order to speed up the proceedings… around the 19th minute things actually stop allowing for a soft piano outro to take over and finish the proceedings. In all honesty, I found the suite, "terribly" boring and rather inconsistent.
In conclusion... not only didn’t I think that this eponymous album was Dream Theater’s best, but if I were to place it in order of preference, it would actually end up pretty low, towards the bottom of the heap of their releases. There isn't a single moment in it able to genuinly excite, but there are myriads that can outrightly bore someone out of his/her tits, with their formulaic mannerisms and less than stellar song development. You see Dream Theater and their fanboys/girls have this flase perception that they can do no wrong, that everything they touch automatically turns to gold, that they have the Midas Touch. Well, in terms of sales, that might be true, but in terms of writting interesting music, their best days are behind them. What the membership of the band is and who gets the money is not something I will bother myself with, but whether I enjoy and album or not, I something I most certainly will. And in the band's opus eponymous, there aren’t any lofty compositions, the production that the band chose to handle themselves is sufficient, but then again nothing out of the ordinary and without the expert opinion of an unbiased producer, the band members indulge in their own little personal theories of what DT should sound like (not Mike Portnoy's) twisting the songs out of shape (in an altogether different way!). As I aforementioned wool eyed fans will love ANYTHING, that the band puts out, but I had a hard time, enjoying more than 2-3 tunes on this album really and that for a band with the musical pedigree of Dream Theater, just won’t do. Uh- no! Better Shape Up, Before You Slip Away…
PS (by the Admin): Apart from the DT maniacs who would consider this album a masterpiece (DT release only masterpieces according to them), it’s more than obvious that they do need a long break and that “magic” they once had, has been long gone. Portnoy is missed badly and now everyone can understand that he was something more than just a great drummer. He was one of those basic “elements” which made DT what they are today. In a few words, “Dream Theater” is a totally mediocre & tedious album with a bland cover artwork…