To all that know me, this first real post will not come as a shock. I have been a
Dream Theater fan since '95 when my friend (Tim of
Ideamen (May You Live In Interesting Times)
) introduced me to them. At that time I only had 3 albums (I didn't discover
When Dream and Day Unite until later). Since then I've been wow'd by them time and time again. Granted,
James Labrie isn't exactly a high caliber singer, but just the solid musical writing has kept them as my #1 band to follow, listen to and enjoy. That said, here's my first critique. Hope you find this informative.
Black Clouds & Silver Linings is
Dream Theater's 11th full length album. Coming out in 2009, it was produced by Mike Portnoy & John Petrucci as usual. It's the 2nd album on the Roadrunner Records contract.
Disc One
1. A Nightmare To Remember 16:10
"A Nightmare To Remember" starts the album with a solid song in my opinion. Written about John Petrucci's car accident as a kid, he lyrically writes about how frightening the experience was for him. Frightened kid = heavy riffs and attempted growlly vocals.
The opening is pretty rad with various "stormy" chords and Mike Portnoy's insane double bass is always welcome. Things cruise nicely until the 3:17 mark when you get an abrupt change in tempo/time signature and great use of vocal chordages. 4:56 changes things yet again with an eerie guitar sound and moves eventually into a really wonderful chorus. Dream Theater isn't really known for their vocal prowess, but this is by far my favorite use of it on the album. After getting into a standard, but solid solo section, 12:03 gets into the real Dream Theater solo riffs, blending the keyboards and guitar into an awesome combo between the two. Got to love Dream Theater combos...
5 out of 5 stars
2. A Rite Of Passage 8:35
"A Rite Of Passage" was Dream Theater's chosen song to make a music video and get out in the advertisements to promote the album. Not a terrible choice, it's a pretty "radio friendly" song in my opinion, but of course never got picked up by anyone as usual. The plot of the song refers someone who's being initiated into a secret society similar to (or maybe even reffering to) the
Freemasons.
Yet again, a solid song that is pretty standard until the solo section which begins at 4:52 into the song. Almost 3 minutes of back and forth solos between John Petrucci and Jordan Rudess is a-ok by me.
4 out of 5 stars
3. Wither 5:25
"Wither" is the shortest song on the album, although it's almost double what a normal radio song would clock in at. The song, to me, reflects the struggle with writing lyrics to a song. After 11 albums, I'm sure creativity gets blocked at times.
I rather like this song. It's shorter and has a nice use of the 12 stringed guitar. Dark, simple and more your typical song structure, it's cool to have a normal song at times... Dream Theater style.
5 out of 5 stars
4. The Shattered Fortress 12:49
"The Shattered Fortress" is the closing to Mike Portnoy's song(s) about his struggle with alcoholism and the
12 steps program. Dream Theater plans to have a live show with all the songs played back to back to have it completed. I expect this to be on a live album in the near future.
It's a rather interesting song, but kind of makes you think it was "redo" in my opinion. It actually blends all the previous songs riffs/lyrics into 1. Kind of like a medley in its own rite. I thought it more of a cop out the first listen, but it grew on me and I find myself not skipping over it anymore. I guess I liked the previous songs enough to have bits and pieces of them to peruse through without having to mix it myself.
3 1/2 out of 5 stars
5. The Best Of Times 13:07
"The Best Of Times" is by far the most disappointing song on the album. Written to honor his father, Mike Portnoy didn't deliver lyrically or musically. It's quite a boring song, that's far too long. If he felt it necessary to include a song on a Dream Theater album, he should have kept it short, to the point and interesting. Trying to be deep and happy at times, it sounds rather lame. Very lame actually. I suppose it doesn't help that you have Labrie not adding anything in his voice to help the matter. Not really worth critiquing further, you can check it out yourself, but you wouldn't be missing anything if you decided not to.
1 out of 5 stars
6. The Count Of Tuscany 19:16
"The Count Of Tuscany" is something that I've read to be the "A Change of Seasons" of the album. Hardly true, in my opinion. Granted, it's the longest song on the album, but that doesn't make it similar. I actually like the song as a whole. It has quite a few "sections" as a lot of Dream Theater songs have, but it is lacking in the lyrical aspect. It's not a terrible concept; Visiting the Count of Tuscany, visiting the countryside and winery and such. But when he gets freaked out when getting a practical joke played on him by the hosts, talking about how he expects to die? Just a little over the top dude... come on now.
A pretty rad opening. Lots of guitar, lots of keyboard; both riffing and intertwining each other as we all know compliments each others' style and writing ability so well. The best part of the opening? No vocals until 4:21. I keep harping on them, but it is so nice to listen to music and letting that be sole melodies. I just really enjoy music, first and foremost.
So 9:04 it takes a turn to the whole solo section. 9:37 becomes my goosebump moment of the album. Upon hearing it in the confines of my office with my headphones on, I said out loud "This is why I bought this album." Sounds weird to say, but it happened. It only lasts until 10:16, but I'd buy this track if it was just those 59 seconds long. Intricate rhythms are played by Portnoy, Petrucci, and Rudess; all playing their own parts, almost in a round type setup. Can't describe it as well on here, so you might as well go check it out.
The ending of the song goes from 10:50 to the end. Rudess and Petrucci are doodling in soft artsy fashion. You can tell it was mostly adlibbed to begin with that just made it into the song as they thought it up. Kind of reminiscent of the
Liquid Tension type of stuff. Definitely a change from most music, so yet again, I like it.
4 1/2 out of 5 stars
There is a 2nd disc, but these are all cover songs to influences over the years. I don't think any critique is necessary on those.
So that's my critique in a nutshell. Who knows if anyone will even care that I'm doing it, but I hope that's the case. I'm very open to all sorts of criticism. I would like to make this enjoyable, so if you have any suggestions feel free to comment or send me a message with your thoughts. Thanks a lot for the read if you even got this far. I do seem to be long winded when describing my thoughts.
*Carpe Diem*
is an oops of a find for me. They're quite entertaining to say the least. They definitely have a POP sound but comedic in nature. It's got so much of a wow factor it was hard for me to pass up. I was listening to an amatuer online radio show one day at work and had this look on my face like "what the hell is this?" Not in a bad way either. Have a look. The quality of the video's not the greatest, but you have to at least hang on until 53 seconds into it when the Chorus comes up. It's just so entertaining...
is on the album to the left. Buy it... it's only 99 cents....
was released. I came across their album on a Century Media pamphlet that came in another CD I bought. Good thing too, because I bought this CD on an instinct that it'd be a good buy. They didn't disappoint.
is a metal band that I would compare to 
if I had to say anything. They have a very hard sound; death growling singers, shredding guitar riffs, a drummer than can keep up with awesome beats, rhythms and is mixed really well, especially on this album. That's part of the problem though... I hear they're not very good live, which is a huge dissapointment. I guess they're more of the Def Leppard type where they work their magic in the studio in order to have a badass sound. There's plenty of groups like this, so it's not really a shock to me. The death growls listed above is a for sure thing, but they also blend in singing by an awesome singer that can hit the high notes, but still fit the sound into the metal. Very cool harmonies by these guys happen often.
in 1974. Freddie Mercury; singer and pianist at his best. The song starts with the piano in sharp staccatto notes, demanding authority to listen to it. The distinguished harmony that makes a "Queen Song" is evident within the first few bars. You hear this kind of harmony in many songs nowadays and immediately say "The Queen Harmony.... Isn't it awesome?!" I just had this happen to me listening to the 
just the other day. 
