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By GREG MAKI
More than two decades into Dream Theater’s career, most music fans either love them or hate them. Systematic Chaos, their ninth studio effort, likely won’t the change the opinion of anyone in either camp. But neither side can deny that Dream Theater has become the world’s leading progressive metal band.
Before I go any further, you should know that I am firmly on the “love” side. I followed Dream Theater’s career with interest after “Pull Me Under” broke in 1992 and that interest grew into total admiration and affection when they released their masterpiece, Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory, in 1999.
Systematic Chaos, the band’s first Roadrunner Records release, has everything that makes Dream Theater who they are, effectively melding the aggressiveness and darkness of Train of Thought (2003) with the more progressive nature of the subdued Octavarium (2005). It is a perfect introduction for someone hearing the band for the first time. Part of me envies someone getting their initial taste of guitarist John Petrucci and keyboardist Jordan Rudess running circles around each other with their insane solos, someone hearing with virgin ears drummer Mike Portnoy and bassist John Myung, whose playing is so active and intricate that referring to them as the “rhythm section” seems to diminish their contributions. The key to Dream Theater, what separates them from so many other acts, is that even the craziest instrumental passages retain a strong musical quality and never devolve into self-indulgent noodling. And then you have singer James LaBrie, his expressive voice the perfect complement to the virtuosos around him.
Dream Theater is in top form on Systematic Chaos, which consists of eight songs running nearly 79 minutes. “In the Presence of Enemies” is an instant classic, an epic that takes its place alongside “A Change of Seasons,” “Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence” and “Octavarium.” It’s split, for sequencing purposes, into two parts that begin and end the album and serve as nice bookends to a disc with lyrical topics running the gamut from fantasy to alcoholism to war. Petrucci clearly had monsters on his mind when he wrote “Forsaken” (about a vampire), “The Dark Eternal Night” (one of the heaviest songs in the Dream Theater catalogue, it also references a pharaoh, a possible allusion to Metallica’s “Creeping Death”) and “In the Presence of Enemies” (a classic story of good versus evil, with the “dark master” figuring prominently in the refrain). These topics typically are the stuff of power metal, but Petrucci avoids the silliness usually found in that subgenre.
“Repentance” is the next installment in Portnoy’s series addressing alcoholism and, specifically, the 12-step program of Alcoholics Anonymous. Unlike the previous selections (“The Glass Prison” from Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, “This Dying Soul” from Train of Thought and “The Root of All Evil” from Octavarium), it is a mellow, reflective track. There’s one more song to go in the series and I envision “Repentance” being an effective change of pace when they inevitably perform the entire piece live.
Both “The Dark Eternal Night” and “Constant Motion” are heavy songs that would have been at home on Train of Thought. “Constant Motion” finds LaBrie channeling James Hetfield on the verses.
The only misfire is “Prophets of War,” which is powered by a disco beat through part of its running time. But it has its moments, namely Petrucci’s strong riff. And, at six minutes, it’s practically a punk song by Dream Theater standards and does little to disrupt the flow of the album.
Is Systematic Chaos a classic Dream Theater album? Time will have the final say, but my early inclination is to answer with an enthusiastic “yes!” It continues the every-other-album kick they have been on for me ever since Awake (1994). Virtually all Dream Theater fans accept Images and Words (1992) as a classic. In addition to that, I consider Awake, Scenes from a Memory, Train of Thought and, now, Systematic Chaos my favorites, while Falling Into Infinity (1997), Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2002) and Octavarium required a little more effort for me to embrace.
Hardcore fans will want to spring for the Systematic Chaos special edition. The DVD included features all eight songs mixed in 5.1 surround sound and a 90-minute documentary on the making of the album. I don’t feel the need to view it a second time, but it is fascinating to watch these brilliant musicians at work.
A note on the rating: The 9 I have assigned is a score relative to previous Dream Theater albums. If it had been released by almost any other band, Systematic Chaos would have scored an easy 10. |
