Re: Deadeye Deep Dives: Dream Theater (A View from the Top of the World)

[evilasiojr]

I actually rank FII higher than SC, BCSL, DT12 and a bunch of other albums. I really like it and Trial of Tears is my all time favorite DT song! Just perfection!

[Deadeye21]

Metropolis Pt 2: Scenes From a Memory - 1999
Scene Selection: Scene One: Regression. Scene Two: I. Overture 1928. II: Strange Déjà vu. Scene Three: I. Through My Words. II. Fatal Tragedy. Scene Four: Beyond This Life. Scene Five: Through Her Eyes. Scene Six: Home. Scene Seven: I. The Dance of Eternity. II. One Last Time. Scene Eight: The Spirit Carries On. Scene Nine: Finally Free.

Scenes From a Memory on Spotify

Falling Into Infinity was somewhat of a disappointment at the time, with no one taking it harder than the band themselves. It hadn't been the album they'd wanted to make, and they very much let the fans know it throughout the tour by playing a lot of deep cuts and demo versions, which even included some of the songs only found on the B-Sides. EastWest Records, who would be assimilated into part of Elektra Records during this time, did not get the success that they had wanted from the band, and to make matters even more interesting, Portnoy went after them. The band had made the decision that the label would hear the album when it was done. Portnoy and Petrucci would co-produce the albums to eliminate their interference. With the reception to FII being what it had been, they had no choice but to relinquish creative control back to the band.

In early 1999, Derek Sherinian was replaced by Jordan Rudess. Jordan had already made good musical chemistry with the band, having been the first choice to replace Kevin Moore after Awake (he even played the first live performances of Caught in a Web, the single version of Lie, Lifting Shadows Off a Dream and Voices with the band back in 1994, though he couldn't commit to being in the band full time) and had made a great instrumental album with Portnoy and Petrucci called Liquid Tension Experiment. It was only a matter of time until he'd be back in the band, and timing had lined up perfectly. The Rudess Experiment

With Rudess now in the band, what would become the most iconic lineup of Dream Theater was now complete. What to do now? Well, reconvene at BearTracks studio and create something truly special. Back on Images and Words, there was a song called Metropolis Pt 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper. You might not be super aware of it, it's a bit of a hidden gem. Anyway, fans had been asking for a sequel for quite some time, and as it turns out, there were plans in the works for an epic sequel but ultimately nothing ever came of it. The band had laid down a rehearsal of the piece before Mike came to Australia for a drum clinic, and when he came back the band forged ahead with new material and then the label had gotten involved. In that jam, you can already hear drafts that would be revisited in 1999 for this new album.

The album which has just celebrated it's 25th anniversary. The album that reinvigorated the band. Let's dive into Scenes From a Memory.

I suppose I should preface this by saying that I have not read the new book by Peter Orullian. Nor have I read the novelisation of The Astonishing. This is to say that what I interpret the story to be may be inaccurate given the fully fleshed out story that Peter has written with the band. If anyone would like to give me a catch up on the actual plots after each of these, that'd be great.

Scenes From a Memory begins with the sound of a ticking clock and the voice of Rush's long-time producer Terry Brown as the Hypnotherapist. "Close your eyes and begin to relax, with each breath you'll become more relaxed". The story begins with a character named Nicholas visiting a hypnotherapist for recurring dreams that he's been having. While the first lines of the song serve to tell us of the serenity that he's experiencing, the hook comes from the song's final line, "Hello Victoria, so glad to see you, my friend". In terms of music, Regression serves to setup a recurring chord progression that will be used many times throughout this album, which I'm going to call the Spirit progression as each time it shows up, the lyrics seem to be delving into the connection between Victoria and Nicholas. It's also the main chord progression for the penultimate song on the album. If this weren't a concept album, I'd feel we weren't off to a great start for a Dream Theater album, as this is easily the most skippable song on the album for me. However, this serves as a great in for the storyline, even if not musically.

Our intro to Dream Theater comes next, with Overture 1928 starting with a huge D chord and a somewhat military rhythm. Overture 1928 is a great instrumental that serves as a great preview of things to come, with Strange Déjà vu and One Last Time being prominent features, but also a look back at Metropolis, with JP's solo being the final verse of the original. This is a killer opener and connects perfectly with the ending of the original Metropolis (which thank God, seeing as though we run from one into the other on numerous setlist throughout the band's career). I can definitely feel the idea of going back in time being reflected through the music.

As Overture 1928 ends, we're immediately into the next song, Strange Déjà vu. Lyrically, this takes us right into Nicholas' view on the nightmares he's been having. There's another life waiting for him behind the veil of sleep. There's a house that he keeps seeing that feels strangely familiar, and inside is a girl who we can believe to be Victoria. Strange Déjà vu does a great job at painting the dreamlike scene with great almost ominous riffs using the tritone (made famous through Black Sabbath's eponymous track) as something of a fill within the opening riff. The middle section features a riff by Jordan Rudess (as revealed in the Live Scenes commentary) which is definitely my highlight section for the song. It had originally been planned to use this as a solo section later in the song, which you can hear demonstrated on the Making of Scenes From a Memory Work In Progress Jam. All in all, this is a great opening song coupled with Overture 1928.

Strange Déjà vu closes with a piano break, which sets up the shortest track on the album, Through My Words. This is Nicholas talking about the connection between himself and Victoria, establishing that he is her reincarnation. On it's own, Through My Words is essentially a bit of a nothing song, but it does serve as a serene intro to the darkness of Fatal Tragedy, which serves as the start of the mystery of Victoria's murder. Nicholas looks for more answers to try and uncover what had happened but ultimately gets shut down, with the older man that he talked to saying "you'll know the truth as your future days unfold". Fatal Tragedy serves as a great narrative piece, but also features some great instrumental moments from the band. From the bridge between the first chorus and the next verse featuring a very Brian May sounding lead (I see you, DragonAttack!) to the Megadeth inspired instrumental ending with what they call the "shrink and grow" arrangement, Fatal Tragedy features some fantastic playing.

Fatal Tragedy draws to a close with the Hypnotherapist stating that it's time to "see how you died", leading us straight into Beyond This Life, one of three songs over ten minutes on the album. Beyond This Life's lyrics read like a newspaper headline of Victoria's murder for the first verses, before going on to explore the possible motives that the unnamed killer could have had. In terms of the musicality of this beast though, this is one of the best songs on Scenes From a Memory. The band knew how to keep it rocking but simplistic to let James' vocal take centre stage. I really love the ominous sound of the first half of the chorus, coupled with the almost happy sounding second half to really seal the deal. JP's shred to set up the third verse is absolutely wild, and yet none of that says anything about the massive instrumental section. I think this may be the biggest instrumental section that we've had on a song so far, except maybe Metropolis itself? Back and forth soloing over meaty riffs, with an arrangement somewhat resembling a 12-bar blues progression for DT, is sonic bliss. Jordan's second solo is very much Frank Zappa inspired with the trumpet sound, and it all ends up with a killer unison pattern. Beyond This Life is a hell of a song and is probably my second favourite out of this first half, with Scene Two taking the cake.

Closing out the first half of Scenes From a Memory is a sombre ballad,  Through Her Eyes. Opening with our second use of the Spirit progression with some beautiful soulful singing from Teresa Thompson, Through Her Eyes reuses and expands upon Through My Words to talk about the death of Victoria and how Nicholas is grieving for her and feeling lucky to have been given a chance to have everything she didn't. This is a really flat track for me, which isn't helped by the song having a drum machine instead of a stronger groove from Portnoy. Some people like this one, and hey, good for them, but it just never really took hold for me. I really like the ending that was added on the tour where Portnoy would take over for a jam at the end, but I think my favourite version of the song is actually the rare instrumental version that features all to briefly on the credits of Live Scenes, which is an alternate arrangement. This was officially put out with the deluxe version of the Lifting Shadows book, which I don't have, but I have since found the song on YouTube, and I'm including it here for your listening pleasure. Through Her Eyes Instrumental

Alrighty, let's get into the real meat of the album. Home is where the story really starts to pick up and take a darker turn. Home reveals to us what happened between two brothers that both fell in love with Victoria, with Julian falling into a bad way with drug and gambling addictions. Victoria goes to Edward for solace, and while he initially feels bad about going with his brother's girlfriend, he decides that his love for her is stronger than his guilt. This song is full of references to the original Metropolis, form the first line reintroducing the concept of the lake of fire (a line which even the keyboard references in each solo section), to the "there's a new love that's born for each one that's died" and even a direct vocal phrase which more or less confirms that Metropolis is a person and that it's Victoria. Musically, the main riff feels very much like Tool's Forty Six and Two, though I massively prefer the aggression here. In the breakdown just before the solos, if you're listening with headphones, you can hear the dichotomy of the scene played out, with the left ear featuring the sounds of a casino and the right featuring the sounds of sex. You might even hear the casino worker shout out "who wants to come?", a particular innuendo that Portnoy was particularly proud of. The finale of this song takes the somewhat eastern sounding riffs to a whole new level, even introducing the sound of a tabla drum which is more commonly found in Indian music.

If the solos here weren't enough instrumental chaos for you, well, buckle up. With the original intro from Metropolis leading into a very dark tone with a slightly modified version of the military march that opened Overture 1928, The Dance of Eternity begins. This is the sole use of the seven string on Scenes From a Memory and by god, is it used to great effect. Being an instrumental, one could say that it doesn't forward the story at all, but I beg to differ. The absolute chaos goes a long way to support the scene between Victoria, Edward and Julian. The whole song is very dark in tone, which I feel could easily support it being used as a further exploration of Julian's bad habits, but I also want to call into question the last line of Metropolis, which states that "love is the dance of eternity". Given the ferocity, aggression and chaos of this piece, I'd dare say this is an auditory sex scene! I could give an analysis of the music itself, but why? We all know this one, we all love it for what it is. This is Dream Theater doing exactly what Dream Theater does best, a six minute feast of virtuosity across all instruments!

The Dance of Eternity doesn't have as defined of an ending as most of the other songs on Scenes From a Memory. Rather, as it reaches its conclusion, the final note fades into the piano solo intro to One Last Time. This is Nicholas questioning the outcome he's come to. He thinks that Julian begged for forgiveness, but when she turned him down, he went insane and killed them both. Musically, I have to hand it to John Myung on this one. While JP does deliver a great solo that connects the ballad opening to a reprise of the Strange Déjà vu chorus, Myung is underneath it all delivering a killer slap bass line. I really like One Last Time, despite it primarily serving as a connective bridge between two of the most iconic tracks. James gives off one of his best vocal performances on the album on this one to me, really sucking me into the story. The final lines of the song shatter the calm. "the walls disappear to some woman who's screaming, a man pleads forgiveness, his words I cannot hear". You know the ending of this song has to be great, when the live ending of Finally Free revisits One Last Time, as you can see from 9:32 onwards here. Finally Free - LSFNY

One Last Time ends with a short flourish of a melody that resembles a music box, which then brings us into an eerily calm mood for everyone's favourite DT ballad, The Spirit Carries On. This is a song that can easily live outside of the story of the album, apart from the final verse, telling of accepting death and feeling that reincarnation is the next step. "Remember that death is not the end, but only a transition", after all. Nicholas has come to terms with what he believes happened to Victoria and bids farewell to Victoria. She tells him to move on, but not to let his memory of her disappear. Then we get one of the most essential solos of John Petrucci's career. The final verse is a direct call back to Regression, giving us great closure to the questions that we started with. Dream Theater truly excelled at making this song a full emotional rollercoaster, taking such a sad topic and turning it into something almost joyous. As the song comes to an end, we hear Victoria singing once again. A rather peaceful ending to the story, right?

Wrong. Finally Free begins with the Hypnotherapist bringing Nicholas back to the present day and him leaving the session and driving away. Then the song takes a dark turn. What Nicholas has come to believe is merely a façade. The true story goes much deeper. Victoria had left Edward to go back to Julian. They got back together in secrecy, but Edward knew of this betrayal and planned to kill them both. The suicide note that was found on Julian's body had been forged, and the witness that reported the crime was indeed the killer. While I don't find the song to be the most interesting thing in the world and not as strong of an album closer as really any of the ones that came before, save for Space-Dye Vest, I love that this song took the chance to let the shooting take place through sound effects and dialogue, rather than as a lyric. One Last Time's chorus is reused as the Victoria and Julian lay dying and their spirits rise through the air to be reincarnated again, but what was it that Edward said? "Open your eyes, Victoria"? Isn't that what we just heard the Hypnotherapist tell Nicholas to do? Anyway, we get the final jam, which is a single dark riff that acts as a bed for Portnoy to let off a killer drum solo.

As Finally Free fades out, we're treated to one last audio scene. Nicholas arrives home, and walking across carpet that sounds like gravel, he pours a drink and turns on a record, only to be greeted by the Hypnotherapist in his home who once again tells him to open his eyes and kills him. As he falls dead, the needle is knocked, and we hear phonographic static for the final 40 seconds, which actually lasts forever on vinyl. The Hynotherapist had been the reincarnation of Edward all along and came back to finish the job. Why he waited until Nicholas got home, I can only deduce as being a way to build the drama.

And that's Scenes From a Memory. I love that the album turned the concept of Metropolis, the Miracle and the Sleeper into Victoria and the two brothers, and really went all out on crafting a fully fleshed out 77-minute sequel to the song that probably defines Dream Theater the best. And you know what? This was a great success for the band, even without the advantage of a new Pull Me Under to capture the MTV crowd. In fact, this album didn't have any music videos to speak of, something they wouldn't do again for quite a while to come. Yet Dream Theater proved, without a doubt, that they were best left to their own devices. The following tour was huge, with many dates featuring the album played in full. This remains one of the best-known albums by Dream Theater and is more than likely in your top five DT albums.

And if I'm wrong about that last statement, it's now your chance to let me know all about it. What scenes and memories has this album been a part of in your life? Let me know and I'll see you on Friday for Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence.   

[Schurftkut]

great write-up! But the rocking riff in SDV was from JM, not JR

[Deadeye21]

great write-up! But the rocking riff in SDV was from JM, not JR

Then I've either been hearing the commentary wrong or it was wrongly credited on there 

[Schurftkut]

https://youtu.be/Of24nDXRpFA?t=686
here you go, JP says it's JM

[Xaves]

What scenes and memories has this album been a part of in your life?

SFAM is and still is my favorite album from DT. Almost every song except for the intro and Through My Words are absolute bangers. I know how to play most of the album on drums and they are very fun songs to play.

[Deadeye21]

https://youtu.be/Of24nDXRpFA?t=686
here you go, JP says it's JM

Yep. Definitely misheard it then. Thanks for correcting me.

[Zydar]

This is my #2 favourite after Images And Words. Practically every song is great, with plenty of highlights. I just got Peter Orullian's novelization based on the album, so I can get into the story more. Standout tracks for me are Overture 1928/Strange Deja Vu (what an opening punch), Beyond This Life, Home, The Spirit Carries On, and Finally Free. The last two tracks are firmly in my DT Top 10. 

[DragonAttack]

Fatal Tragedy serves as a great narrative piece, but also features some great instrumental moments from the band. From the bridge between the first chorus and the next verse featuring a very Brian May sounding lead (I see you, DragonAttack!) to the Megadeth inspired instrumental ending with what they call the "shrink and grow" arrangement, Fatal Tragedy features some fantastic playing.

Thanks for the shoutout!    Yup, at that moment, I jumped out of my chair and began scouring the credits to see if Brian's name was mentioned.

Quite the undertaking to write about the progression of the story with each song. Of course, you had to, and I found all of it incredibly helpful after all these years.

TSCO is mine and my wife's favorite DT song (adore the 'Score' version). 'Overture 1928 / Strange Deja Vu' are numbers 2 and 3...the countless mornings I started my work commute to those two blasting.

My only quibble is the Middle Eastern guitar in 'Home'.  I use the single release instead for my album version.

'Six Degrees' was my first DT album.  I&W and Awake months later.  SFAM a few months after that.  What a run!

[Deadeye21]

Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence – 2002
Tracklist: 1. The Glass Prison. 2. Blind Faith. 3. Misunderstood. 4. The Great Debate. 5. Disappear. 6. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence.

Six Degrees of Spotify

So, it's kinda safe to say that Scenes From a Memory was a huge success for the band. Even now, the album is heralded in the progressive metal world, and it marked somewhat of a turning point for Dream Theater. The new lineup with Jordan Rudess was proving to have great chemistry, and the Metropolis 2000 tour had been seeing a lot of fans make their way to the shows. There was even a live album made at the Roseland Ballroom in New York, which was released as Live Scenes From New York, which would release very briefly on September 11th, 2001, before being recalled due to the artwork featuring the iconic burning heart from the Images and Words era with the New York skyline in flames. Hindsight says: ouch!

Throughout 2001, Dream Theater reconvened at BearTracks Studios, now serving as a familiar habitat that led to some of their greatest music. During the early writing stages of the new album, it was decided that the band wanted to write another 20-minute piece like A Change of Seasons. More and more ideas were added, and it ballooned in length. Alongside five other songs, three of which run over ten minutes in length (and a fourth running only 30 seconds under) the album would have been 16 minutes too long to have fit on a single CD. Portnoy agonised over which songs would make the cut, but the record label finally agreed to let Dream Theater make their first double album. This is my deep dive of Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence.

You know how sequels sometimes start exactly where the last one left off? Six Degrees does just that. Opening with 13 seconds of the same static that Finally Free ended with, The Glass Prison's intro builds outwards from where Scenes From a Memory left off, thus beginning the meta-album, as we like to call it. This was a choice inspired by Portnoy's dislike of a particular Van Halen song called In A Simple Rhyme ended with a brand new riff that he thought was going to be the first song on the next album, but ultimately led nowhere. Speaking of Portnoy and his dislikes, The Glass Prison is the first track of not just this new album, but an ongoing suite that would run across the next five albums that you may have heard all about over the years called the Twelve Step Suite. In this first entry, Portnoy's lyrics are based on the first three steps, which are to admit powerlessness to addiction, coming to believe that a power greater than ourselves can restore us to sanity and then turning will over to God as we understand him. Musically inspired by Pantera, The Glass Prison is easily the heaviest track to date, which you'd expect from such a hard hitting personal issue. Portnoy had been to rehab after the Roseland Ballroom show, having collapsed after the show from alcoholism and exhaustion. Many of the lyrics reference the AA handbook directly or make reference to The Mirror, which serves as somewhat of a precursor to the suite. What is it with DT taking older songs and turning them into whole new pieces soon after? One of my favourite things about this song is that a lot of the song acts as somewhat of a heavy duet, with Portnoy being the first vocalist on the album. The Glass Prison is probably my second favourite in the suite overall, and it's a killer intro to the album. John Myung finally gets a chance to open the album with a killer bass hook, and then it's riff galore from there!

After such a heavy 14-minute opener to the album, it's fair enough if you already need a bit of a breather. Luckily, Blind Faith comes to serve. Jordan's keyboard intro opens up into a much more mild feel for the band. James' lyrics paint the picture of faith in religion, believing in a god when there's so much discord in life and those that just close their eyes to everything, believing their faith alone will get them into Heaven. Faith has grown to be less in line with human nature, and we should believe what we will and find our own path. "I've painted my own Mona Lisa" meaning that "I've found my own perfection and made myself happy doing what I believe in". For whatever reason, this song ends up being one of my favourites on the album. It takes a much more progressive path, almost taking a more modern approach to the writing style of Images and Words in my opinion. Jordan's piano solo is amazing, the harmonised vocal in the pre-choruses are great and I really love the way that the choruses are huge counterpoints between James and John & Mike. Yes, I'm not saying a lot about the song, but I just think it's great, and you should give it another spin if you haven't heard it in a while.

Misunderstood next, and I'm gonna get crucified for this, but the first section almost reminds me of a Creed vibe. I actually love Creed so that's a good thing to me. JP said that he wrote this lyric about a religious figurehead, but I gotta say this seems more like a song about anxiety and depression to me, which feeds in with the themes of mental illness in the title track and, at least in my opinion, somewhat discussed through the previous two songs. I know I often quote the tagline of the chorus on rough days at work. The riff after the second and third chorus that kicks off each of the very strange instrumental sections reminds me of A Rite of Passage, and I never see anyone mention that fact, so I don't know if that's just me or if people just don't talk about it. The thing is, there is a much shorter version of this song available on the Greatest Hit compilation, and I think I'd rather listen to that version, though it does cut out the clean instrumental section that I love after the first chorus. JP's solo is certainly notable, as he recorded it one way and then reversed the track, learned it the reversed way and then reversed it again, which I guess means he ended up with what he wrote but sounding much more demented.

The last 12 seconds or so of Misunderstood lead into The Great Debate so well, it's hard to separate the two. This song was originally titled Conflict at Ground Zero until the 9/11 attacks happened and changed the meaning of the Ground Zero phrase. The band didn't want to associate with the attacks so soon after and therefore changed the title to something I think fits the lyrical matter much better. This song is about stem cell research and the arguments for and against it. The song takes a very neutral stance on the matter, which I find fairly admirable. Instead, the song spends equal time on both sides and offers "pay attention to the questions we have raised" as its closing statement. Musically, this is another great Dream Theater song, maybe nothing too special, though I do love the sound of JR's keyboard on this song more than any other so far. Production wise, this does something I really like, with the opening clips featuring left- and right-wing news clips being panned to the corresponding side during the intro and outro. Even cooler is the fact they do it to the first two verses and pan James' vocal hard to either side. It's hard to say which grabs it, but this and Blind Faith are running a very slim margin for my favourite song on the album.

The first disc closes with one of the most haunting and depressing songs of the band's career, Disappear. This is a James LaBrie lyric inspired by seeing a young couple in a shopping mall and thinking they looked like newlyweds with the whole world in their possession and many years to enjoy it, but how would they react if one of them suddenly came down with a terminal disease. The choice of keyboard sounds make the song feel rather unsettling. The lyrics are beautiful though, and I really feel for the character James is singing for. And I know what you're gonna say, "Deadeye, you hate Space-Dye Vest because it's depressing, but you seem to like Disappear? You're a hypocrite who doesn't know what he likes!" Well, maybe to an extent, I am. But I like Disappear more because I love the closing bridge with James' two vocal tracks working as a counterpoint to each other. I think it's a great ending to the first disc because it's the first disc and it doesn't ruin a great payoff to a whole album, but rather serves to bring the mood back down after all the chaos that's come from the four songs previous. Funnily enough, with Disappear ending off the first disc before the huge event of the title track, it serves as a transition song for the album. Given the song's subject matter and the final line being "let him come take you home", I'd figure one of the couple died. Which means that in the case of Disappear and therefore Six Degrees, death is not the end but only a transition.

Editor's note: Yeah, I went way too far outta my own way with that one. Oh well, I thought it was good at the time.

Now, the other thing I'll be crucified for is my belief that Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence is one song when there's 8 tracks on the next CD. If the band chose to divide it, it can't be one song, it's a concept album, or a suite like A Mind Beside Itself. If it helps you sleep better at night, I'm wrong. Except the setlists from 2002 state Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, not the eight different movement names. Score has the whole piece listed as one song instead of eight, and the band themselves have very clearly stated throughout the years that the reason they decided to cut it into sections was because the novelty of having a 42 minute song wore off once they got to the CD printing stages, and without the advantage of quickly scrolling to the part you wanted to on future relistening, like we have now in the digital era, it was maybe a little unfair so they decided to trim it down.
To that end, I am going to also break my deep dive of this song into four pieces, which I feel reflects the most noticeable transitions between pieces.

Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence opens with a six minute overture, which sets up the main theme and many of the motifs that will be included in the seven following movements. I love the versions of War Inside My Head and Solitary Shell that are included here. This particular portion of the song has never been played live by the band and is often stripped to just the orchestral sound when used as an intro tape. Being an instrumental piece, I again find myself lost for words on how to talk about this movement, rather than to say I think it's a better overture than Overture 1928, though it doesn't hit the same level of sonic ecstasy for me. As the overture draws to a close, About to Crash starts. Opening with a beautiful piano riff, About to Crash sounds like a much brighter, upbeat song than everything that has come before it. The lyrics, on the other hand, are about a character with bipolar disorder and possibly an addiction to drugs. The bridge reveals that she had been "the perfect teenage girl" who had always strived for excellence but ultimately fell out of grace, now opting to sleep her days away instead of facing reality, yet could find hopefulness through the face of adversity. The second half of this movement finds a much darker tone, as if to musically reflect the instability of her condition. JP gives off his first of a few great solos, and then everything changes.

We go into a very suspenseful riff, coupled with a heavy chug, as we reach movement three, War Inside My Head. This is about a soldier with PTSD, reliving each violent action of his life. I love the twin lead vocal approach of the chorus, with Portnoy's interjections feeling less like a backing part but more as the second half of the line. War Inside My Head is by far the shortest movement of the song, but even live it's always coupled with the next chaotic section, The Test That Stumped Them All. This is probably my favourite section of the song as a whole, with a very metal sound. I love the rapid chugging of the transitions and the kinda goofy section with the patient's doctors that serves as the song's pseudo chorus. The Test That Stumped Them All is about a patient suffering from schizophrenia, delusions and paranoia. Believing he's a rockstar in the first verse, but having the much more grim reality of his current situation thrust upon us in the second verse. Sadly, it doesn't seem like help for this character is very likely, as the second "chorus" reveals that the doctors can't seem to find any answers to clear his case. This section ends up in your more standard DT instrumental, with JP and JR taking a solo each before the song ramps up in chaotic fashion.

This then bottoms out into a beautiful clean guitar and the sounds of a young child, which I believe are Melody and Max Portnoy. Goodnight Kiss is the most relaxed movement of Six Degrees by far, though the lyrics are probably the darkest to me. This tells of a mother with post-natal depression, and while it's not necessarily clear in the lyrics, I think the baby ended up dying in birth. This is one of John Petrucci's best solos, and the dramatic shift in tone in the middle takes the serenity and turns it into pure darkness. We can hear a woman screaming and a man laughing as this movement reaches it's conclusion. Jordan has a really pretty phrase connecting Goodnight Kiss to Solitary Shell, which has probably the most Mario Kart sounding lead I've ever heard in a Dream Theater song. Honestly, I feel like I could take that lead of Jordan's and play a Rainbow Road track without noticing anything wrong. Solitary Shell is another fairly upbeat section for Six Degrees with the lyrics being about Autism, more specifically Asperger's syndrome, which the character has been dealing with for his whole life. As a kid he tended to keep to himself and didn't like to be held, where as a man he got much worse and often struggled to get through his days. In a rare move, which I believe has only been done again on Octavarium, JP uses a double neck guitar on this song, which gives him the 12 string for the acoustic sections of this song. The instrumental section of this song is great, with JP and JR trading some nice laid back solos before things start ramping up again.

This leads into the reprise of About to Crash, dealing with the same character but from her own perspective this time. This is a much more rocking version of the tune, with JP taking the keyboard lead into his guitar line. The lyric here seems to suggest either recovery from her depression, or at least a more positive episode in her life, which gives us the sense that not all is lost for these characters. I have to say, I really love the start of the instrumental section, especially once JP locks into the riff that Jordan was laying down.  This movement features a brief keyboard solo, before starting to turn back to the minor tonality that the original About to Crash ended with. This minor tonality reaches it's apex and then lands in massive chords to bring in Losing Time. This final character suffers from dissociative identity disorder, which makes it impossible to connect with people. While this may be my least favourite movement of Six Degrees, it does bring us into the Grand Finale of it all, which serves as a great summation of everything. Making the statement that we need to understand the inner turbulence and not feel shame and disgrace for those suffering from it in order to best serve those that we love. The final lines of the song almost serve as a demo for the Intervals movement of Octavarium by ultimately summarising each movement in just a few words. The song reaches it's final note, which holds out for a whopping two minutes, and to an extent the sustain makes me feel like the story isn't finished. As Portnoy said, this song is about six different everyday people and the song deals with the common thread of them trying to cope with their mental imbalances and get through each day.

Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence. Damn, I think I like it more than Scenes From a Memory. This is probably the biggest revelation to me in doing these deep dives, I'm ranking these albums differently than I would have thought when I started. Just for fun, I've decided to take a spin at this point of how I rank the albums, and I'm interested to see how this will go when we reach A View From the Top of the World at the end of this, before Parasomnia gets to factor in and change it even more. Funnily enough, where I've drawn the line of not being sure which to choose between is Six Degrees and Images. I have the ranked list saved, so if there's enough interest I'll post it as a benchmark of the current trajectory.

Anyway, we're currently 3010 words into this deep dive and I think I've run out of things to say. Let me know what you think about Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence and I'll be keen to keep chatting about it if anyone brings up a great point!

[DoctorAction]

Six Degrees is peak DT for me and has topped Awake and SFAM, that have also long jostled for my number 1 spot. This is our top band at the top of their game, afaic, and one of my all time favourite albums.

Coming out of FII (which I also love) then smashing it with SFAM, they're absolutely on fire. The breadth of styles demonstrates their incredible fluidity without focussing on one thing. You've got some of the more rock feel, the QR, some newer heaviness, huge prog. The lyrical slant is about very real subjects. The energy is really high throughout. The production is amazing. The writing feels like they're absolutely creatively on fire and can't stop.

This is exactly the kind of album I want from them, over and over. Because it isn't one thing. It isn't that slightly childish metal of TOT and the rest. It isn't a musical. It's not playing it safe. It's DT being whatever they want to be at a given moment and executing it superbly.

[Zydar]

This album is in my Top 3 DT album (along with I&W and SFAM). That is based mainly on the strength of the big epic title track, but I also really like some songs from the first disc. I really have to be in the right mood for The Glass Prison, and Blind Faith was always the weaker track on the whole album for me (aside from that piano break). But the rest are just great - The Great Debate has a cool groove that reminds me of Tool, a catchy chorus ("Life to save life!"), and an interesting production. Disappear is beautiful with an emotional lyric from James. Misunderstood has that dynamic switch between the calmer verses and the heavy choruses that I enjoy. The experimental outro is interesting and weird. 

[fibreoptix]

Lump me in with those who tout this as their favourite. I can clearly remember the day I bought this in a local music shop, came home and immediately could not stop listening. One of those rare albums where every single track is firing on all cylinders.

I'm probably in the minority, but my favourite track is Misunderstood, closely followed by Disappear. I can't quite believe that if this was going to be a single album, those were the two tracks up for the chopping block! Thank God the record label greenlit a double.

[WilliamMunny]

My favorite Dream Theater album.

I'm sure I've told the story before, but I managed a record store for a good long while back in the day and had a promo copy of this in my hands a few weeks before it's January 29th release.

I had a New Year's Eve party to go to right after work, but the CD-r was literally burning a hole in my pocket.

Around 11 p.m., I volunteered to make a run to the store as a mutual friend had ill-prepared for snacks and such.

Well, I knew it was a bad idea at the time, but I swore to myself, "I'll just give a quick skim"

Nope. I popped that cd in and drove around town in circles for the next two hours. I was literally floored. Speechless. The band had literally exceeded my expectations on all fronts. It was literally everything I didn't know I needed to hear from a band at the peak of their collective powers.

Anyway, I rolled up at around 1 a.m. with a couple bags of Doritos and boy did I get the business. My girlfriend was beyond pissed, and as this was before cell-phones, she was also super worried.

From that point forward and through today, the album is STILL in my regular listening rotation. Just such a perfect release.

The girl? She dumped me a few months later, but that's a whole other story (but one that I'm pretty sure is rooted in my New Year's Eve solo listening party  )

[Shadowmangini]

6DOIT is one of the only DT albums I ever owned on physical CD. Unreal presentation in the entire prog metal genre. I don't think any band will ever make anything like it, including DT themselves

[macneil]

The first album I ever heard from DT. Scenes might be their "best" album but Six Degrees is my favourite.

I used to be obsessed with Disc 2, but these days I prefer Disc 1.

[Ben_Jamin]

Fantastic write up.

This is my all-time favorite Dream Theater album.

The fact it's theme deals with mental struggles is a big reason I love it. I love all the songs, and see nothing wrong with anything on the album, even the ending to Misunderstood.

[Xaves]

SDOIT was a joy to listen to after SFAM. While there are two songs in the first half I could care less about, All of Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence is a jam to listen to. My favorite part has to be Solitary Shell probably because I can relate to it as I myself have Asperger's. I love playing drums along to the Score version if I have the chance.

[Jamesman42]

The choice of keyboard sounds make the song feel rather unsettling.

So much to say about this album, but I'll just point this out...you perfectly described those keyboards, and that unsettling feeling is perfect for what the song is about, it amplifies the lyrics for me as well. 

[DragonAttack]

Mentioned before:  my wife and I went to see Queensryche perform in Baltimore back in 2003.  Well, after being all confused in thinking DT had a sleeveless hoodie wearing lead guitarist and a shaved headed lead singer with a goatee , my introduction to the band was hearing them perform 'The Glass Prison'.

Purchased the disc the next day, really struggled with parts of Disc One (but jumped during 'Misunderstood' to see if Brian May was listed in the credits ).  The rap in TGP was not for me, and TGD is best as an instrumental. Then I listened to Disc Two next.  This was frickin' amazing!!!   The vocals, guitars, melodies...all in this Queen fan's wheelhouse.  (why can't Brian and Roger write something like this???).  Oh, yeah, and that drummer dude.  Bassist was pretty good, too.

The beginning of 'The Glass Prison' is so damn epic. Enjoy 'Blind Faith'.  'Misunderstood' is one my ten DT favorites, and still the best song and visual during their concerts.  'Disappear':  I wonder if James and Jordan were 'Dark Shadows' fans  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSbCqp_a3iE

Disc Two:  the final fifty seconds of 'Overture' is enough for me, and a terrific lead in for 'About To Crash'.  'Goodnight Kiss' to the end is a big favorite of my wife's (studio and 'Score' versions).  I have to resist the urge to air drum while driving at the endings of 'Solitary Shell' and 'About To Crash'(reprise).

A great introductory album for me.  My second favorite DT 'disc' and third favorite album.

[Deadeye21]

Hey all. I know it's early, but tomorrow is going to be a rather busy day in the life of Deadeye. I figured, instead of delaying,why not release this one early!

Train of Thought – 2003
Tracklist. 1. As I Am. 2. This Dying Soul. 3. Endless Sacrifice. 4. Honor Thy Father. 5. Vacant. 6. Stream of Consciousness. 7. In the Name of God

Train of Thoughtify

Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, while perhaps not as commercially successful, was a pretty big hit with Dream Theater fans. Launching in January of 2002, the band had a full year to tour with the new material. On that run, the band introduced a pretty cool concept. On the second night of any back to back shows in the same city, Dream Theater would cover a classic album that had influenced them. The two albums most covered were Metallica's Master of Puppets and Iron Maiden's The Number of the Beast. When it came time to write again, discussions were had regarding the fan base's apparent love for their heavier side and a want to create their own classic metal album.

In a mere three weeks at Cove City Studios in New York, the band wrote seven killer songs, all of which were designed to be heavier than they had ever gone before. They knew it would be controversial, but why hold back? After all, this was Dream Theater. The album came out on November 11th, 2003, a good five months after Metallica had destroyed the ears of their own fanbase with St. Anger. Luckily, the year hadn't been completely "derailed" for metal fans, as this album would prove. This is Train of Thought.

Continuing on with the "meta-album", the start of As I Am is a fade in of the chord that ended Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence. Starting with some distorted bass harmonics into a very angry riff, As I Am is an anthemic banger to kick things off right! The lyrics, written by JP, are about the tour they had embarked on with Queensryche during the Six Degrees cycle (a tour which introduced our friend DragonAttack to the band as it turns out), which Portnoy has gone on to call "an irksome series of shows", during which Mike Stone (Queensryche's guitarist) had tried to give Petrucci tips about songwriting, guitar playing and musical direction, which inspired these lines which serve as a very public response to the criticisms. As I Am feels very much Metallica inspired, which DT themselves backed by mashing in a verse and chorus of Enter Sandman on their 2017 tour, and Jordan uses a tritone passage which always reminds me of the eponymous song by Black Sabbath. All in all, this piece of sheer rage goes a long way to give the album a great starting point. This was released as a radio promo a few weeks before the album, which left some fans to scrutinize the song, hoping it wasn't the direction of the album. It very much is, and given that this song makes regular appearances on the band's setlist, I think this one has started to carry over as a fan favourite.

This Dying Soul is the second chapter of the Twelve Step Suite, following on immediately from The Glass Prison, even using the final notes of that song as the first ones here. This is the only song on the album that doesn't feature any kind of buildup or slow intro on the album, probably because it follows on directly from the feedback outro of As I Am. The first lyric of the song "hello mirror, so glad to see you my friend, it's been a while" is a great callback to not just The Mirror, but also to Scenes From a Memory, simply replacing Victoria for mirror in the last line of Regression. This Dying Soul deals with steps four and five of the Alcoholics Anonymous program. The fourth is to make a moral inventory of yourself, which is the first half of the song in which Portnoy "traces his hell back", and the rapped section (which LaBrie pulls off quite admirably) serving as a rapid admission of all the wrongs that have been done. As this first section wraps up, we revisit the melodic section of the intro as the offer is made to use your sins to help make you strong and break through the prison wall. A great reuse of a section from The Glass Prison takes us into the second half, dealing with step 5, admitting to God and ourselves the exact nature of our wrongs. This section uses a very similar vocal pattern to that of Blackened by Metallica, as the lyrics serve as a cry for help with the claim that "I can't break out of this prison all alone", but ultimately admitting "I'm ready to break through this prison wall" as the vocal ends. The spoken word section is probably my favourite part of the whole song, I especially love the message that "you can't hold onto your secrets, they'll only send you back alone". The song ends with an absolutely chaotic instrumental section that comes to an abrupt end. This Dying Soul is killer, and I'll be forever glad to have witnessed this one live on the Shattered Fortress tour Portnoy launched in 2017 (my last DT related concert to date, as I'm sure it was for most Aussie fans. For the love of Prog, give us some more Aussie dates ya  !).

Endless Sacrifice serves as something of a ballad, or at least it does in its beginnings. This is a heavy love song that Petrucci wrote for his wife, Rena, about the loneliness of touring. The "endless sacrifice" made is not his, but rather hers as she makes the sacrifice to let him be the touring musician. The first verse is written from her perspective, while the remainder is written from his. Around the 4:50 mark, the song transforms from the semi-ballad into a straight up riff-fest of an instrumental section. The start of the solo section where the song breaks down to Jordan going through a bunch of his keyboard patches is a quirky moment that I don't know the song needed, but I'm glad it's here. Beyond the solo section, JP delves into the full meaning of the song. "Striving for balance, we rise to the challenge of staying connected in spite of circumstance".  The song ultimately ends with an acknowledgment and a kind of thank you for everything she has sacrificed for him to live his "undying dream". This is one of my favourite songs on the album and the second most played song from it, appearing constantly from the Train of Thought tour to the end of the Systematic Chaos run, then remerging during the Dramatic and View tours. Great song, and a great tribute to a loving wife.

Honor Thy Father takes that love and turns into sheer hatred. Opening with Portnoy's most famous drum intro into a straight, angry groove. Mike has succinctly put that this song is not dedicated to his father, which is obvious to any DT fan, but rather someone else in his immediate family, which can be derived from the key word in the title and the last word of the breakdown. Yes, this is about his stepfather, which is a bit of a sad story behind the anger expressed here. Mike used to have a decent relationship with his stepfather, but after the death of his mother (see: A Change of Seasons), his stepfather became uninterested in his life or those of his own children. Honor Thy Father is the song that let Portnoy finally vent that anger. This has always been my least favourite song from Train of Thought, though I know a lot of people really like it. I don't know why it's never stuck with me, as it is a well made song. I like that they went back to a bit of the old Kevin Moore inspiration by adding a huge section of movie samples after the bridge. James does another rap section, but it doesn't land anywhere near as well as This Dying Soul does for me. This doesn't feature a guitar solo at all, but does feature a decent moment for JR to shine. All in all, what else is there to say really, except "don't cross the crooked step".

And now we reach the most emotional and shortest song on the album, Vacant. Much like you can say Wait for Sleep is an extended intro to Learning to Live, I feel that this is an extension to the intro of the mammoth instrumental that is Stream of Consciousness. Created at the eleventh hour during a late night jam session of Myung and Rudess going over the Stream of Consciousness chord progression, Vacant is a dark and personal lyric from LaBrie about his daughter Chloe. She had gone into a 3.5 hour coma as a result of a seizure, a mere three days before her seventh birthday. As the doctors were about to perform a Catscan, she came to. The doctors were left mystified, but ultimately, she returned to consciousness happy and healthy. LaBrie stated it was the most helpless and distraught he had ever felt.

Much as I surmise that The Dance of Eternity is pretty much an instrumental sex scene from the context given by Home and the original Metropolis, I can pull meaning into Stream of Consciousness which absolutely wasn't intended at the time of writing.  To me, Stream of Consciousness feels somewhat nightmarish and strange in nature, so coupled with the lyrics from Vacant before it, this could very much be the dark and twisted visions that the mind could conjure in a coma. Of course, being an instrumental, there is simply no way of knowing if this is a based take or just me making something up. Stream of Consciousness was played on almost every date of the Train of Thought tour before subsequently disappearing from setlists all together. It is also the last instrumental track that Dream Theater would release until the self-titled album. As a bit of fun, Portnoy released the arrangement charts to the song before the release and allowed fans to make their own songs with them. The fan-made songs were released as a fan club release in 2004, with at least one of these tracks making it to the PA before the show every night of the tour. At eleven minutes, this is Dream Theater's longest instrumental track, and every bit of it is used well. I really enjoy this song, though it's probably my third or fourth favourite of the instrumental tracks, falling behind the pair from Scenes and flip-flopping with Erotomania. Still a great track though, so don't misquote me as saying I don't love it.

The album closes with the 14-minute In the Name of God. This song takes on a very Eastern sound, much like that of Home, just far more aggressive. Here, Petrucci's lyrics are written about the cult known as the Davidians. For more information on this cult, I recommend watching the Netflix series Waco, but essentially, they were a doomsday cult that was taken too far. The bridge more specifically goes into the Waco siege, which ultimately killed 80 of the 130 cultists and saw the Mount Caramel church burned down. In the Name of God is a heavy bastard of a song, and quite probably my top pick on the album. To me, I can see this as further exploration of the themes of religious belief as started in Voices. This is what happens when it's taken too far in the wrong directions, and as the song says "blurring the lines between virtue and sin, they can't tell where god ends and mankind begins". The instrumental section is awesome, the whole damn song is awesome and it's just a great way to end such a heavy album. The last line of the lyrics ask the question "does following faith lead us to violence?", which leads to a rather dark sounding version of the Battle Hymn of the Republic. While I wasn't originally aware of why, a quick google search on the meaning shows that it was a song sung by the North in the civil war, claiming God was on their side. The song ends with just the piano, ending with a final flourish before a faint F note closes the album. A little bit of trivia is that Jordan actually played this final note with his nose, as a bit of a childish dare from Mike. Another bit of trivia for you is that this is the first of only three times to date that James actually screams on an album. You can hear this as the bridge section comes to an end.

Speaking of things coming to an end, that's pretty much all I have for you about Train of Thought. It's one of the few albums where I feel that the experimentation of Dream Theater wasn't overly present, but I suppose the whole album was an experiment in a way. This whole album seems to draw only from the metal corner of Dream Theater's approach, and while I wouldn't say it necessarily suffers from this, I can definitely say it's one of the least intriguing albums to me. This is the one album you can pull out and know exactly what it is, where most other albums seem to have different nuances to them. Take Six Degrees as a prime example. Glass Prison is a heavy track, a definite precursor to Train of Thought. Blind Faith and Great Debate are more on the progressive side, Misunderstood is more of an experimental track, Disappear is a ballad, but the title track brings the full Dream Theater experience, combining all their strengths into one epic piece. For Train of Thought, apart from Vacant, it's just a straight up heavy album, with a little bit of the prog thrown in with Stream. But hey, sometimes we need that heaviness. I still turn to a bit of St. Anger if I've had a real bad day. Train of Thought is not a go to album for me, but I can't overstate that I don't hate it. I actually really like all the songs, even if I do have a clear least favourite. I just feel the album isn't what I'm after in one go, at least not from DT.

But hey, maybe it's one of your absolute favourites. Don't take what I just said to heart if it is. We've already discussed how we all have differing opinions a few weeks back, so I'm keen to hear from you what I might be missing. Until net week when we cover Octavarium, I'm turning it over to you.

[devieira73]

Great review and thanks for explaining the inspiration for Vacant - I didn't know (or remember?) that. I see your opinion about the album being less experimental, but I think DT really nailed it, "experimenting" in doing an all metal album. HTF is also very strong in my book and TDS really grew on me as time passed. Amazing album.

[Schurftkut]

ToT was the 2nd album to come out for me as a fan, and it really opened up the door for me to listen to more metal, since TGP and this album made me hear metal in a different way i could appreciate. I also loved them having their influences really apparent in some parts and then there was the SoC contest, turns out one of the Haken guys submitted a track for that!
Also, didn't fans get invited to the studio to record some groupshouts? Or was that Systematic?

[devieira73]

Linear Sphere was a band of Charlie Griffiths? I didn't know that.
Their contest song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX97S8E6icw

BTW The Redemption song is my favorite.

Fans were invited to sing on Systematic Chaos, on the chorus of Prophets of War.

[Jamesman42]

Train of Thought is like Awake to me - I love the album and find its darkness really appealing. I think they nailed it with TOT, every song is incredible to me. It floats in my top 3-4 albums by the band. "Endless Sacrifice" is my favorite track with stiff competition around it. 

[Max Kuehnau]

I remember not being exposed to the material from the album before I got to see them on the tour in 2004 (which usually does happen). I was confused about it (and slightly bludgeoned after the show, figuratively speaking) Laugh about this all you want  Took me a long time to be able to appreciate it.

[Xaves]

his section uses a very similar vocal pattern to that of Blackened by Metallica,

I always heard this part, because the first time I heard this song I was like "Where have I heard this before."

All in all, ToT is a great album. I love the metal take and it's some of the heaviest stuff DT has produced. My favorite song has to be Honor Thy Father, but all of these songs are bangers.

[DragonAttack]

I did attend the ToT show in Philly, arriving after they had opened with 'As I Am', due to traffic, parking, and not knowing it would just be DT.  I would become familiar with some of the songs from LaB, but did not purchase the album until around 2007.

It was quite a shock to me.  The sterile, 'tinny' sound was rather unsettling, as well as some of the high pitched tones that were used.  I'm not a metal guy, and ended up settling on  'As I Am' / 'Endless Sacrifice' as Side One, and 'Vacant' / 'Stream Of Consciousness' / 'In The Name Of God' as Side Two.  SoC could have been about five minutes shorter, and 8:30 to 10:00 of ITNOG removed. 

TDS and HTF...not in my wheelhouse lyrically or musically.

I did not know of ITNOG referencing the wackos from Waco until this review.  Thank you for that.    

[Deadeye21]

Octavarium - 2005

Tracklist - 1. The Root of All Evil. 2. The Answer Lies Within. 3. These Walls. 4. I Walk Beside You. 5. Panic Attack. 6. Never Enough. 7. Sacrificed Sons. 8. Octavarium.

Trapped inside this Spotifarium


A full album of heaviness, probably the greatest tour they'd ever done in support. Now the real challenge, how to follow that up? Coming into the band's 20th anniversary year, they knew this next album would have to be really something. During the writing and recording process, a concept related to the numbers five and eight started to emerge. This was going to be the eighth album for a band with five members, after all. And what's more, it's Dream Theater. So, they ran with the concept and turned this into something of a loose concept album. With the writing of the album's epic title track, the concept was complete. This is Octavarium.

Yeah, I'm getting kinda bad at doing the intros, this one is a little bit thrown together. Sorry.

Opening on the same note that closed In the Name of God, the meta-album continues into the epic buildup to The Root of All Evil. Opening with a pulsating synth, we can hear a distorted tom roll and a very familiar diminished chord. We're right back into the Twelve Step Suite, this time focusing on the sixth and seventh step. First, the admission of bad habits and a willingness to remove them. Portnoy's lyrics admit to pride, greed and anger, admitting that the root of the evil, the addiction, has been running his whole life. The chorus asks for someone to take all of him and help to cast away the unwanted desires and to help him be all he can be. As the song takes a twist into a much heavier riff, we enter the seventh step, asking to remove the shortcomings. This is a killer section which brings back a much groovier version of the chorus riff from This Dying Soul. Ultimately, The Root of All Evil is a killer opener to Octavarium, staying rocking while not being as outright heavy as the songs from Train of Thought. Root ends with the first instance of the Octavarium theme, a recurring motif that will show up a few times throughout the album. It's here that I'll bring up the loose concept of this album. While this is not an album with a single narrative thread flowing throughout, or even all based around the same theme like Rush's 80's output, Octavarium has a consistent musical theme running through the entire album. Much like the name of the album suggests, the whole album runs in line with a musical octave. The Root of All Evil is in the key of F, and the ambient track which follows (though technically part of the same song) is in F#. Much like the octave itself, there will be five of these ambient tracks, which we can call "incidentals".

In the ambience after The Root of All Evil, we can hear a bell starting to toll. A sad piano melody starts to play over it. This is The Answer Lies Within, the big ballad for the album. This is a Petrucci lyric about living your best life. "Life is short, so learn from your mistakes" as the lyric goes. This song highlights one of the key components to Octavarium, which is that the band made a conscious effort to write some shorter, more commercial songs. The problem for me is that I don't really like those songs. This is easily the lowest point on the album for me, and it's not for lack of trying. There is a lot to like about this song, but coming off of a big rocker like The Root of All Evil, it's a little lacklustre for my ear. There's a short instance of the Octavarium theme just before the bridge here, which is a nice major moment, and probably my highlight of the whole song. The Answer Lies Within is in the key of G minor, but ends with a pitch bend into G#.

The pitch bending leads into the start of These Walls, and this is the Dream Theater songs I can relate to the most. Petrucci's lyrics here capture the essence of not being able to open up to people and feeling very isolated from the rest of the world. I could almost call this one a bit of a sequel to Solitary Shell, from the perspective of the subject looking outwards. I kinda wish this wasn't the song I related to the most from DT as it's a pretty crappy feeling to be burdened with. However, if I'm gonna be stuck with a personal anthem from Dream Theater, thank god it's as great as this is. I don't see a whole lot of people talking about this song, and while I can kinda agree that it hasn't got all the usual fixtures, I think this is a really strong song. It stands as one of my absolute favourites from the album. These Walls is in A, and Petrucci used a Music Man silhouette bass to play this track as he needed a baritone guitar for the low tuning used on this song.

One more bit of ambience in the first half of the record leads to a ticking clock, sounding a lot like the one used at the start of Scenes From a Memory. This is I Walk Beside You, which taps into the U2 side of the band for the first time in a long while. I've heard people say this is a song about Jesus, but it's really just a bit of an "I've got you, let me be there whenever you need me" kinda thing. It's not a favourite of mine, but hey, if it appeals to someone, they did their job. This is a upbeat rocker for the most part, though the verses do soften up a bit. I like the key change at the end of the song, This gives the song a lift from B to C#, I believe, which acts a cool counter to the next song.

That next song being everyone's favourite heavy track from Octavarium, Panic Attack, Oh boy, this is a quintessential track. Opening with a lightning fast bass run from John Myung into a relentless stampede of heavy riffage, Panic Attack delivers the goods from start to finish. Petrucci's lyrics are about exactly what it says on the tin, the experience of having a panic attack. This song is one of the gateway songs that people may have been introduced to the band through, as it is featured on the soundtrack of Rock Band 2, where it serves as one of the hardest songs on all instruments. This is a cool vocal track, with Portnoy doubling the verses. It's also one of James' best performances on the album for my money, especially if you listen closely to his high notes beneath the choruses. The solo section on this song makes up for not really having one since The Root of All Evil. This is just chaos, and I love it. The song is in the key of C minor, which makes it the note between the two keys of I Walk Beside You, for anyone who's still playing along at this point. This is quite probably the second best song on the album for most people, but I think it might be the best written song overall.

The ending of Panic Attack leads into a brief synth solo, somewhat like On the Run by Pink Floyd. A simple repeating motif with some sound effects. This is in the key of C#, which leads into the aggressive tone of Never Enough in D. For any fans of Muse, this will be right up your alley. It's very clearly inspired by the Absolution album, which was released two years prior. This is one of those "Portnoy has a grumble" songs like his output on Falling Into Infinity, this time dedicated to a certain sub-section of the fandom that overly criticise whatever the band does. Play a great show? You skipped Pull Me Under, you suck! Wrote a killer heavy album? There's no soul in this anymore, you suck! It's maybe a little too much, but it makes for a cool song. I really like the synth break that starts off the instrumental. This is an aggressive song, but it's got a nice bit of space to it that makes it really stand out. It's very Muse though, so if you don't like them, you probably won't like this track.

So, two albums ago we talked about how the name of The Great Debate changed because Dream Theater didn't want to enter the discussion about 9/11. Well, that's all changed with our mini-epic, Sacrificed Sons. Starting with an ominous intro in D# featuring news reports cutting in and out before coming into the proper song in E. Sacrificed Sons boasts a really unsettling atmosphere in its first half, with James' lyrics painting the picture of the burning skyline and utter dismay of the people. The instrumental mid-section is a great bit of Dream Theater interplay. Kicking off with a killer riff from Myung and into a full on riff-fest. The solos from Petrucci and Rudess are absolutely stellar, but my favourite part of it is the big riff that kicks in at the end of this section. After a really beautiful melldy from Petrucci, we get a kickass hook at about 7 minutes in. For years, I thought the riff sounded familiar, and in dissecting it, I've found it's very similar to a piece called The Teddy Bears Picnic. Now, I know that's a niche song for kids that a lot of adults may not have heard, so what if I told you that this particular piece was the basis for Gruntilda's Theme from the classic video game Banjo-Kazooie? Consider that next time you check out this song and I bet you'll hear it. Sacrificed Sons is a killer mini-epic and one that I feel really harkens back to the writing style of Six Degrees to an extent.

However, when it's all said and done, six of these last seven songs have been easily overshadowed over the years by the beast that is Octavarium itself. Opening with a full three and a half minutes of Jordan playing with one of the song's central themes on keyboard and pedal steel guitar, an intro that would only get longer for live performances, Octavarium has easily one of the longest intros to a Dream Theater song yet. For having a reputation as a band that releases a lot of long songs, it's worth mentioning that this is only the third of six Dream Theater songs to date to run over 20 minutes. At the 3:45 mark, we get the Octavarium theme in all of it's glory, before the song begins properly.

The first movement of the song is called Someone Like Him. This section, with lyrics by Petrucci, tells the story of a man who loved his independence and freedom to live each day like it was his last, and ends up disliking someone else who is set in routine and living each day the same. This section is largely acoustic, with the custom double neck from Six Degrees making its return for this section. There's a really nice flute intro, and Jordan even manages to throw in a reference to the piano hook of Bohemian Rhapsody. The twist of this part of the song is that the feeling that everything was perfect in life had now become distorted, and life was twisted in a circle. All he swore he'd never be was now all he wanted.

As Someone Like Him ends, Myung kicks in with a killer bassline to introduce movement two. Medicate (Awakening), a section with lyrics by LaBrie that tell the story of a coma patient finally coming to after 30 years. The doctors think they've finally cured what he's been suffering from, but ultimately the side effects of the treatment put him back into his coma and he drifts away once more. The chorus of this section finally take the Octavarium theme and turn it into a vocal melody, and it sounds fantastic. Then we reach the instrumental section between these two movements. This section between Medicate and the coming Full Circle is upbeat and almost danceable. With a full keyboard lead, this section is short and just fun to listen to, giving the song a nice major lift into the rest of the epic.

Full Circle is the most musically abstract section of the piece. Portnoy employs a whole lot of musical references to make the point that everything is linked. All these lyrics come from different bands that have inspired Dream Theater in some way. The point being that everything is linked, and all that came before still channels them now. The instrumental section that comes after this is easily the coolest bit on the album. This is easily the proggiest Dream Theater instrumental segment on the album, going with a lot of crazy twists and changes. Portnoy's drum groove reminds me a lot of the final movement of Cygnus X-1 by Rush. Over that, JP and JR lock into a chaotic flurry of notes. We get a brief reprieve, which culminates in a little taste of Jingle Bells, just in time for the Christmas holidays! The ending of this instrumental section is rather jovial, before it turns back to darkness.

Intervals up next, the shortest section of the song, and yet one of the greatest lyrics to me. Each line of this section is a brief description of each song on the album. You can even hear a little bit of each song buried in the mix as it's corresponding lyric is sung. This then breaks out into everybody's favourite scream from James, that we are trapped inside this Octavarium, we are stuck in the day to day cycles that we can't escape. As this section gives way to Razor's Edge, we find ourselves once again in the theme that opened the song. The final lyrics of the album tell us everything we need to know. "We move in circles, balanced all the while on a gleaming razor's edge. A perfect sphere colliding with our fate. This story ends where it began." And then Petrucci steps up and delivers one of his greatest solos, which is largely based on the vocal melody of Someone Like Him. This ending is sheer perfection, and I swear the finale of the solo almost brings me to a tear each time! If you didn't get the idea of everything being a cycle from the lyrics of Octavarium, the album employs one last dastardly trick. The octave is complete. Octavarium has been in F for most of it's duration. And to finally close out the meta-album, the song ends by restarting The Root of All Evil.


Octavarium is an album that dared to be different. It chose to stand as a more melodic album, the counter of Train of Thought, and it absolutely succeeds. I know many fans who hold this album as one of the greatest in the catalogue, and while I'm not one of them, I think it's pretty damn good. It's so hard for me to find the words to say, but this album set out to capture a different side of the band that I don't think any other album has come close to. This closes the classic meta-album cycle so perfectly by basically making the whole album repeat itself ad nauseum. This album will repeat until there are none to hear it, and I think that's great.

But hey, what do I know? Ready to tell me where I'm wrong? I'm tearing down the walls for you now. Have at it!

[BeatriceNB]

Octavarium is an amazing album, and probably my favourite from the 2000-era DT (maybe tied with SDOIT). So many memorable choruses throughout the whole record. The diversity of the songs and the segues between them makes for a really enjoyable full listen, which feels way shorter than it actually is.

I love the many Pink Floyd references, like the Welcome To The Machine soundscapes in Root Of All Evil, the whole of Answer Lies Within, the intro to Octavarium...

And through Pink Floyd is also how I got into Dream Theater, because I read a comment in a video about the The Wall loop, which quoted Octavarium.  The title track was my first exposure to DT.  Loved the song, listened to Octavarium, SDOIT, I&W and Awake after that, I thiiink. But my love started when I watched some Mike Mangini videos.

I have fluctuated many times between hating and loving the album. But currently I love it, and it shares the "MP-era albums I listen to in full nowadays" honor with WDADU, I&W, Awake and SDOIT.

Something I find interesting is that James is kinda buried in the mix, which I really like; not a dig against him at all, it's a general preference of mine.

[Zydar]

This is the last album of what I'd consider their "golden era" (1992-2005). The quality drop started with SC for me, but that's a discussion for a later time.

"The Root Of All Evil" is probably my favourite from the 12-Step Suite, and what a great show opener it is on the Score DVD. I've always enjoyed the ballad "The Answer Lies Within", and the poppier "I Walk Beside You". "Sacrificed Sons" is probably my favourite song here. I've never quite understood what's so otherworldly awesome about the title track though. That said, it has some great sections in it, but overall it doesn't strike me as a masterpiece. But that's music. 

[Whitefish]

Great write-up as always.

I had fallen in love with DT shortly after 6DOIT came out, and I adored ToT. By the time 8V came out I had been in an extremely intense love affair with DT for several years, and that intensity was not sustainable. 8V was the last DT album I listened to in a dedicated way on its release, and I did enjoy parts of it. I also saw them on the supporting tour, and it was a great show. However, the release of 8V marked the end of my interest in DT for many years.

Revisiting it now, I view it more favourably than I did at the time. I think it is probably their patchiest release since FII, and some tracks are definitely skippable. I am also not a great fan of Panic Attack which, to me, is just trying to be too fast and complicated for its own good. The title track is one of the best things DT have ever done. In all honestly, if that had been the final song they had ever released, I think it would have been an excellent way to cap off their career as a bad.

Either way, this album definitely marks the end of the "golden age" of Dream Theater. They have released some cool stuff after this point, but none of it is essential listening in my opinion.

[fibreoptix]

In all honestly, if that had been the final song they had ever released, I think it would have been an excellent way to cap off their career as a band.

This is a really great point that I'd never considered before, it really does have a "season finale" feel about it, and honestly, as my favourite DT song to this day, I can't think of any other song they've done that could possibly top that feeling. That's not to say I wish they'd stopped there, of course.

This was my first "new" DT album after becoming a fan, and I've got very fond memories of getting swept up in the hype around these parts when all the new info around it was coming out. At the time I think I loved pretty much every song, and was really keen on the melody-first approach, and while now I like some songs more than others, it's still aged really well. Second only to SDOIT in my books.

[TheCountOfNYC]

Scenes From a Memory may be my favorite Dream Theater album, but Octavarium is the album I feel the most personal connection to. Panic Attack was the first Dream Theater song I ever heard, starting me on my journey towards super fandom. The title track is my all-time favorite song. This album is the perfect combination of everything I love hearing in my music, and it will always hold a special place in my heart.

[WilliamMunny]

Octavarium is just fantastic. I love everything about it.

In a way, it's always reminded me a bit of FII and Awake blended together. Not sure I can articulate why, but I hold those two albums in high esteem, so Octavarium really felt like a culmination.

Looking back, I consider this album/tour to be the peak of the band for me as a fan.

To this day, I still go back to 8VM multiple times a year, more so than any other DT record.

As I get closer to 50, the album's a lyrics resonate in a way that Scenes never will.

Love these write-ups!