Dream Theater's 8th Album... Octavarium

Dream Theater is one of my favorite bands and they've just released their 8th studio album called Octavarium. This is a "local" band in a way as most of the members are from Long Island. They play progressive metal, a style of music that is a cut above other forms of metal in my opinion. Typically, progressive metal bands feature virtuoso players who are incredibly knowledgeable about music theory and song writing. Their sound and musical arrangements are usually very complex and they can pull off the sound quite well on stage. Usually, prog bands sound just like their albums while playing live, unless they choose to embellish or stylize their songs. Synthesizers are usually part of the mix in prog bands.

This band is home to one of my favorite drummers - a man who can give Neil Peart of Rush a run for his money. His name is Mike Portnoy and he's from Long Beach, Long Island. The band's guitarist, John Petrucci, is another one of my favorite musicians and hails from King's Park, Long Island.

Unfortunately, I am not too excited about this release. I don't know... they just seem to be coasting a bit now. I may need to give it several listens to get into it though. All I know is I didn't listen to it on the way to work the morning after I bought it. I've always liked Dream Theater for the Music, not really the vocals. It seems that the vocals and keyboard are given the more control of the songs on this album. They may be trying something different... or I am just mistaken. Overall, I'm just not really impressed with this album when compared to other things they've done. Don't get me wrong... these guys are more impressive on a bad day than any act you hear on the radio. They just seem to be putting out stuff recently that is not on par with their earlier stuff as far as complexity and high-level playing. It's just unimpressive as far as the Dream Theater music scale is concerned... they have set the bar pretty high for themselves though.

My feelings on this release are especially disappointing seeing as I have pretty much written off the music of Steve Vai and Joe Satriani, two of my favorite virtuoso guitarists. They seem to have fallen victim to the "just lay down a rhythm track and jam over it" approach to song writing. I expect better from them. I was hoping this Dream Theater album would restore my faith in my musical heroes.

Anyway, the album art is pretty cool and features symbolic imagery focusing on the number 5 (number of band members) and 8 (8th album... Octivarium... you get it). Back to the music now... I think most of it will grow on me... but several of the songs will leave me saying, "What's up with this?" for a while. Let's go song by song:

Track 01 - Root of all Evil: This song is one of the cooler songs on the album. It contains some riffs from their previous release, Train of Thought and follows the aggressive feel of that album. I wouldn't be surprised if this is a leftover from the time when they were writing/recording Train of Thought. I like listening to it... it has a good groove. The guitar solo is a little low in the mix... the keyboard solo is stressed more. There's a cool moment of keyboard interaction in there for a few seconds. 4 of 5

Track 02 - The Answer Lies Within: This is a ballad that reminds me of some parts of Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence. Mostly piano, background guitar and even some orchestral stringed instruments. Not to sound harsh, but I usually skip this one. 1 of 5

Track 03 - These Walls: I like this one. The heavy parts sound a lot like the style of Linkin Park. No rap, scratching records, or monotone screaming blonde haired dude though (good thing). There's a 6/8 - 5/8 time thing going on in this one. The drums during the quiet vocal parts feature a lot of cymbal and hi-hat work by Portnoy making the section a lot more interesting. This song is more radio friendly than most of their stuff. Maybe I'll actually hear it on the radio some time soon? 4 of 5

Track 04 - I Walk Beside You: This is one of those encouraging feel-good ballads that belongs on a movie soundtrack. It's pretty quiet in the verse. Portnoy fills this in nicely with some cool drumming. It's okay I guess, but a little too "Wind Beneath My Wings" for me. Some sections remind me of Rush's Presto album for some reason. 3 of 5

Track 05 - Panic Attack: This song is a 5/8 time metal monster. It's kind of odd, but it reminds me of a song my friend Walter wrote for acoustic guitar. They ripped off my boy's riff! I always think of that when I hear this song. There's some good keyboard - guitar stuff in here and some nicely fitting Petrucci finger acrobatics. The occasional high pitched vocals in this one that don't seem to fit. I really like this one in spite of that though. Good solid Dream Theater head banging song. 5 of 5

Track 06 - Never Enough: This song is kind of weird, but I like it somehow. It's hard to describe this one, it seems to mix musical styles. This one is very "progressive" in my opinion... just... different. It has a lot of cool parts that I like to hear. The changes are arranged very well and everything fits. The drums are really cool in this one. I like this one too. 5 of 5

Track 07 - Sacrificed Sons: This song is the albums political activist song. Because of that it's along the lines of "The Great Debate" and "In The Name of God" and deals with terrorism. It's a little eerie sounding and there's an odd time jam in the middle that's cool I guess. 3 of 5

Track 08 - Octivarium: This song is the epic of the album, clocking in at 24 minutes. It has a very Pink Floyd-ish beginning that lasts nearly 4 minutes before heavy guitars kick in. They are then replaced by an acoustic guitar and a flute section. Then the vocals come in. Awesome drums, subdued guitars and piano This song also reminds me of parts of Six Degrees. This song is kind of slow, but I can foresee it growing on me. It has a lot of cool things going on musically. I like the keyboard solo. I'd have to say that this is classic prog. It may not be my favorite as far as their epics go, but I have to give them credit for it. It is has some cool ideas. Cool guitar-keyboard interaction. 5 of 5

In writing this review, I listened to the each song very carefully while typing my thoughts. It's better than I gave it credit for when I started this according to my number ratings. On my initial listen I was disappointed, but this album may grow on me. Still, I don't find myself saying, "Man, I want to hear (insert any song here)." There's some things I don't like about it, but overall I guess the DT guys can be proud of themselves. It's not good for bands to keep doing the same thing all the time I guess. You can read some other reviews of the CD here.

I've just found out that John Petrucci's solo album, Suspended Animation, has been released I am looking forward to hearing that. I have heard most of the songs on it performed live during the G3 Tour he was a part of. This was over 3 years ago and he announced at the show that these songs would be featured on his new solo album. I've been waiting for a long time John! That's okay... Eric Johnson made me wait a long time for his "new" album too. It comes out Tuesday and I can't wait.

All right... all right! I'll give Octavarium another chance!