Dream Theater - s/t

[Nightrain]

This eponymous album was supposed to serve as the culmination of their whole career so far and hence the large range of influences from their early era right to the last album with Mangini, 'A Dramatic Turn of Events', and as good as it goes, this album still can't touch the peak era of 92-99 and I personally think 'Dramatic' is a bit better.

 

However, there are lots of great moments here that surpassed the dark dull years of 2000-2009. 'False Awakening Suite' made a good intro, very movie-score track and I read that this is going to be the original concert opener instead of covers. The first single, 'The Enemy Inside', is fantastic thrashy prog and second best track after the magnificent 'The Looking Glass', which seems to be the third single. The intro riffs is almost similar to VAN HALEN and other Arena rockers but looks like the whole song was majorly influenced by 80s RUSH.

 

'Enigma Machine' is groovy and one of their technical expertise showcase, some really favor this but I think it's just a good track. 'The Bigger Picture' is slightly better and Labrie's vocal is simply beautiful here. After the intro, it cools down with a nice touch of piano and acoustic guitar and then shifted to great chorus with a very nice melodic interlude in the middle.

 

'Behind The Veil' is amazing although I can sense they ripped off METALLICA's 'Creeping Death' style, this is less-prog and more straight forward metal track. 'Surrender To Reason' is another nod to RUSH, very similar style and also a good track. 'Along For The Ride' is probably the sequel to 'Beneath The Surface' but with some rockin' moment, the Rudess solo is even implemented the same sound effect. 'Illumination Theory' is heavy and complex, has all DT signature inside and hard not to love this as a DT fan but sometimes the lengthy track can be a threat and requires a certain mood to fully appreciate that. I also like the calming spacey moment that bridge the whole song.

 

Bottomline, a great disc and slightly weaker than 'Dramatic' but I must say quite on par with 'Awake'.

 

82%