j o n b

For any faults that people can find in this latest offering from Dream Theater, I think any person who gives it an honest listen will at least find it interesting. The band, in what is their fourth full length studio release, definitely tried some different things, for them at least. And for that I give them credit. However, it's the nature of experimentation that sometimes it really works, and sometimes is doesn't. Straight off the opening bit of the first track, you can hear some different things. "New Millennium" begins with a guitar, keyboard, and Stick line that sounds a whole heck of a lot like Discipline-era King Crimson ("Frame by Frame", to be exact), a rhythmically intricate part which repeats several times before the song slips into a nice metalish groove. That's another new thing that weaves through the entire album: a lot of jazzy grooves, possibly the influence of new keyboard player Derek Sherinian (who has more of a jazz/fusion style than the departed Kevin Moore). It's a solid opener, with some slick instrumental work that reminds you just who you're dealing with here. Next up is "You Not Me", the first single from the album, which is a good fairly straight forward rocker, but nothing special. In fact, the first special track comes up next. "Peruvian Skies" starts out with a delicate acoustic intro with some jazzier moments. Over this a tale is told of a girl who is a victim of domestic violence of some sort. The lyrics are effective, but I can't help but think they could be better. Maybe that's because I compare them to the excellent "Family Business" from Fish's Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors, to which almost any treatment of the subject would fall short. Midway through the track, emotions build trough a nice guitar solo to a serious metal finish. It all works very well, and shows the band playing with different textures and musical ideas in the same cut. The next couple cuts are nothing special. "Hollow Years" is a fairly benign ballad (which some say smacks of Sting influence), which may have worked better had they not stretched it as long as they did at almost six minutes. "Burning My Soul" is another rocker, this one full of good grooves. That leads to the strongest two tracks on the album. "Hell's Kitchen" is an instrumental that acts as a bridge between two cuts. It is, to me, a complete change of pace from previous DT instrumentals. Where earlier tunes had showcased flash and technique, some would say at the expense of substance (though I would disagree), this cut builds from a great jazzy beginning to a very intense middle section before it segues into the next cut. Most impressive to me is John Petrucci, who shows a whole new sense of style and musical sense than he has in previous efforts. I had heard from people who had seen John do clinics and the like that he was in fact a very diverse player. Now, I believe with my own ears. Great stuff. After the powerful climax, this cut blends nicely into "Lines in the Sand", an epic which is easily the best track on the album. From beginning to end, "Lines" showcases everything good about what DT does on this album, as well as their earlier works. It rocks, it grooves, it moves from more sedate parts to very intense, and it has great instrumental work. The cherry on top are the excellent backing vocals of King's X's Doug Pinnick in the chorus, adding a very soulful touch to the lyrics. This is an instant classic. From that height the album must necessarily fall. "Take Away My Pain" is actually a very effective song, with an interesting ethnic sort of beat behind it. The lyrics are by Petrucci, written in memory of his recently departed father, are well done, and a soaring guitar solo helps carry the emotion of the song. That's followed up by a very Elton John-ish ballad, "Anna Lee", that, like "Hollow Years", is fairly benign but overlong. The three part "Trial of Tears" (yes, it's "Trial" not "Trail") aspires to be another epic, perhaps in the spirit of "Learning to Live" from Images and Words, but something doesn't work quite right. I'm not sure what, exactly. As I said before, what I like about the album are the different ideas the band plays with on the album. When they work, they do work extremely well. Sherinian's keyboard work is less prominent than his predecessor's, but when he does step out front he adds a different dimension to the band. Unfortunately, while experimenting, the band decided to throw in a bunch of influences without bother to disguise them. I've already mentioned a few. Pink Floyd shows up in a couple of places, and even "Hell's Kitchen" isn't immune. I swear the beginning sounds a whole lot like Spinal Tap's "Stonehenge". And who says that's a bad thing? :) Hopefully, next time out, the band will be more sure of what has worked during this time and what hasn't, and then try a whole new set of things. I'll be listening. review by Jon Byrne — undated —

j a c k

Lots of folks hate this CD, and it's easy to see why. Dream Theater changed their sound and their approach quite a bit for this album. For the most part, it's not as obviously heavy metal as anything they'd done previously. There are quite a few "singles," some of which even got played on the radio when this album was released. And, the band got a new keyboard player, a sneering booty-shaker named Derek. Instead of shredding and double-kicking like mad, they've expended more effort on songcraft and production, while experimenting with new sounds and styles. It feels more modern and mature for them. I got it with fresh ears, being my first Dream Theater purchase. I immediately took to the proggy parts — the complex rhythms, the instrumental interplay, and the thought-out arrangements. I didn't really know what to think of the singles though. I tried to let them grow on me (the way Rush and Marillion did around the time I got this), but they never did. They're pop songs (either ballads, AOR rockers, or quasi-alt-metal rockers), sometimes done well, sometimes not so well, but mostly not especially interesting to me. (It kinda bugs me that the verse riff of "You Not Me" is very similar — probably coincidentally so — to a Quicksand song I know and love.) Kevin Moore's absence as a lyricist is felt here. As usual, I feel James LaBrie sometimes tries too hard; this time, it's when he's trying to sound tough. The parts I like best are usually the ones that don't sound so much like earlier albums. "Peruvian Skies" swirls around ominously, and builds slowly until it breaks out into a headbanging groove, eventually reprising the swirly themes with a big heavy-metal finish. "Hell's Kitchen" builds similarly, but in a more positive, dreamy kind of way. It's an excellent set-up for "Lines in the Sand," an epic I enjoy for a few minutes, and then lose interest in as they overextend certain bluesy themes. "New Milennium" has some impressive rhythms of bleeping sounds and textures, while maintaining a melodic quality — yeah, kind of a "Discipline" feel. "Trial of Tears" opens with a nice "tribute" to Rush (think "Xanadu" meets Hold Your Fire) and settles into the final "epic." John Myung's thoughtful lyrics and basslines keep the pulse going throughout, underneath some relatively emotional guitar and keyboard solos. Thus I have mixed feelings about it. Overall, I enjoy listening to it. There's a lot of good stuff I get into that makes it easier for me to overlook the stuff I don't like quite so much. review by Jack Hesse — undated —

b r a n d o n

This album gets panned a lot by prog-metal fans, but it has its moments. It's certainly the weakest Dream Theater full-length release, though. Featuring way too many dime-a-dozen ballads and just being overlong in general, it's the spottiest DT album in terms of quality, and its accessibility seemed to turn off a lot of fans. As for myself, I enjoy a number of the individual tracks - the opener, the closing "epic", some of the shorter, heavier middle songs - but the album as a whole leaves me cold. Everyone was raving about the epic of "Hell's Kitchen" and "Lines in the Sand", but for some reason I find it as tedious as others find it interesting. Now that I think about it, the only 10-minute-plus song Dream Theater has written that I've wholeheartedly liked was "Learning to Live". That said, the final song, "Trial of Tears", is probably my favorite of the album despite its blatant Rushisms (John Myung's Stick work is a nice touch). Anyway, most of the songs here are either very heavy-metalish or very power-balladish, and the whole thing just seems awfully unexceptional, even mediocre. review by Brandon Wu — 7-20-00 —