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A Dramatic Turn of Events

Dream Theater

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iTunes Review

With the departure of original drummer Mike Portnoy, who gave DT much of their distinctive sound, and the introduction of veteran Mike Mangini, Dream Theater solider on as progressive metal warriors who manage to maintain their trademark sound. Guitarist John Petrucci keeps his virtuoso chops grinding out these intensely complex tunes and keyboardist Jordan Rudess adds an anthemic texture to the expansive beauty at the heart of “Build Me Up, Break Me Down.” Singer James LaBrie is notably more sedate, but still clearly on top of things. However, Dream Theater are primarily about instrumental prowess and the ability to bring the listener to an alternate reality. “Far from Heaven” and “Beneath the Surface” are the compact ballads here. But tracks such as the ten-minute “Lost Not Forgotten,” the eleven-minute “Bridges In the Sky” and “Outcry” and the twelve-minute “Breaking All Illusions” are the kind of monster opuses that allow the band to stretch out in that pure Dream Theater kind of way. Fans of the group’s stunning complexity will not be disappointed.

Customer Reviews

A Trick Of The (Mind)

This is it; their long awaited album created after the departure of drummer and founding member Mike Portnoy. Being I have a funny feeling this album is somehow gonna creep towards number one on the album charts, I need to get this out of the way first:

- If you're looking for something that is instantly gratifying, something cool, something catchy with a "good beat"...this is not it.
- If you're looking for something you can play in the car with friends around or at a party...look elsewhere.
- Look at the song running times. If you can't sit through a song that's more than four minutes long...turn back immediately.

However, if you're looking for something different, something with excellent musicianship, songwriting, a feast for the ears so to say; look no further. If your a longtime fan of the band or been wanting to take a dive into what the band has to offer but haven't gone around to it yet, pick this one up at the soonest opportunity. Spiritually this album is reminiscent of "Octavarium", except this is the album "Octavarium" failed to be. That doesn't mean that album was bad by any means, it was a very good album and personally the best of what I call the chain of four 'writer's block' albums that came before this; however that's all it was. When I listen to a Dream Theater album, I expect album of the year material, not just a very good album. I'm happy to say that this is a different case. This is a masterpiece. This album takes a lot of inspiration from classic progressive rock acts from the 70's (ala what "Octavarium" did), but it's taken to a whole different level in terms of the entire package. This is perhaps also their most complex and technical outing in years, if not ever.

On The Backs Of Angels - Great opener. From the beginning the musicianship is top notch. John Petrucci's guitar is at his finest, Jorden Rudess's keys just seem to be dominating here more than ever before in melodic swirls, triplet runs, and solo wizardry. James Labrie sounds the best he's been in years as he can now breath and input more ideas musically. John Myung's bass is *GASP* actually audible for the first time in maybe 15 years or so. New drummer Mike Mangini shows he is a fine drummer, albeit a bit subdued as the songs were written before his arrival.

Build Me Up, Break Me Down - The straight-foward rocker of the album. It's catchy, has a good chorus; if I'm not mistaken is seems the band has decided to go back into creating well structured songs. My least favorite on the album, but still pretty good.

Lost Not Forgotten - This sounds more like Dream Theater than Dream Theater does. This is a very technical song, yet at the same time it is a highly melodic work. It seems to me that the band has been taking inspiration from European prog metal of the likes of Circus Maximus and Seventh Wonder, something I've been wanting them to do for a long, long time (coincidentally the unicyclist on the album cover was ripped from the cover of Circus Maximus' "The 1st Chapter"). A favorite of mine.

This Is The Life - A nice relaxing ballad with some Pink Floyd-esque inspiration. Is that a moog synthesiser I hear? There are some guitar sections that sound as if David Gilmour was on pcp or something.

Bridges In The Sky - Heaviest song on the album. A metal force with tons of breakdowns; both in long instrumental passages and in the (almost) hardcore definition.

Outcry - This is probably the first time a DT song has f***ed with my mind since I first started listening to them as a mere freshman in high school five years ago. Starts off slowly with an almost industrial sound and proceeds with a soaring chorus. The five minute instrumental passage though is the most complex and technical, screw it...dizzying thing they've ever come up with. It's not as mind numbing as something Watchtower or Spiral Architect would do, but it's up there.

Far From Heaven - A much needed breather after that tornado that came beforehand. All it is is James singing accompanied by piano and strings. It's nice (quite beautiful really).

Breaking All Illusions - An epic containing lyrics written by John Myung for the first time in a long time. This is a classic DT song; everything about it, the chorus, instrumental work, lyrics, is perfect. Very similar to 'Learning To Live' off of "Images And Words," except I find this song slightly more entertaining than that song by a hair. Favorite song on the album.

Beneath The Surface - And now it's time for a cool down session. The best of the three ballads (which are necessary given the complexity of the album's works), it's mostly an acoustic song that slowly builds up before moogs and mellotron-vox sounding synths come tearing in. Wonderful way to round out the album.

Heed my words...don't judge it over the short minute and thirty second previews iTunes has to offer as they simply don't do justice. This is a masterpiece that will most likely please both fans of the band and open-minded music listeners with an eclectic taste. In the same way an album like Genesis' "A Trick Of The Tail" was for them after losing a member, this album affirms that even with Portnoy walking out everything is going to be fine.

I don't see the band lasting another five years though. At least not without a significant change in sound. :p

Dream Theater Comes Together Big Time

If there's one thing I'd have to pick about this album, one thing that I liked the most, is how well the group worked on it - there's a feeling of togetherness you haven't heard in a long time. Egos feel put aside - perhaps Petrucci finally realized that he no longer needs to prove anything. For the first time since Six Degrees you actually get to hear John Myung play, and boy does he play. The keyboards are back too, in a grand way - Scenes from a Memory type of grand, even though at times Rudess is going overboard with all kind of effects, it is all forgiven a few minutes later.

And more than that, there's a synergy between them, a pleasure to both play and play with music, a lack of fear to try and experiment, the kind of stuff you get to hear in their spontaneous live jams and crazy impromptu renditions of songs you know they love to play.

This is an album that'll often find you often reminiscent of Images and Words, from which "On the Back of Angels" seems pluck straightly out of, will find you with eyebrows raised wondering what-the-heck they're doing - intro to "Build Me Up, Break Me Down" or "Lost Not Forgotten" or "Outcry", only to find yourself completely hoodwinked in the middle of a musical track that is absolutely breathless.

The overall tone is much like "Scenes from a Memory" - operatic, large, yet without being pretentious; you'll find often thinking that parts of the tracks could very well belong in the melodic complexity of "Images and Words", in the technical "Six Degrees" (there's a few songs with more time signature changes that you can likely count), or even the aggressive but thoughtful vein of "Awake" (rather than the plain aggressiveness of "Train of Thought").
What's more, the lyrics are once again great. No more silly vampires, masons, pharaohs, or writer's block. Honestly, I'm willing to forgive Petrucci the lyric work on "Black Clouds"for what he's done here. Hey, even Myung was allowed to contribute a song.

There's only two tracks that feel not necessarily like feelers, but like the album could've done without: the keyboard ballad "Far from Heaven" (is this Rudess's "Space Died Vest" but without being awkwardly awesome?) and the somewhat clunky "Beneath the Surface". It's probably not a coincidence that they're also the shortest tracks on the album, at at uncommon for DT 4 minutes for former and a 5 for the latter.

I almost forgot - Mangini is awesome on drums (and more important, he doesn't try to "sing"). It feels maybe a tiny bit too clinical and precise at times (see how perfectly he nailed the audition), but everything in this album is about working together, and in that he succeeds greatly.

Maybe it took four albums for this to be birthed, and if so it was worth the wait.

boring without portnoy

dont get me wrong, i love dream theater and mike mangini but this album is a sleeper all the way through for me. its pretty evident that portnoy wanted things to be heavier and the rest of the band didnt so this is what they came up with. and i think mike mangini played it way too safe on this album. there is nothing that sticks out onn drums for me. portnoy was the master at spicing songs up. big disappointment for me. i would like to see mike get back with them or start something new thats heavy...just no more adrenaline mob please!

Biography

Formed: 1986 in New York, NY

Genre: Rock

Years Active: '80s, '90s, '00s, '10s

The technically proficient guitar playing of John Petrucci elevated Dream Theater to the upper echelons of contemporary heavy metal. While its lineup has continuously evolved, the Long Island-based quintet has consistently delivered sharp-edged music. Dream Theater is known for its high-energy concert performances. While they've released several live albums — Live at the Marquee, recorded at the London club; Live in Japan, recorded during the...
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