Systematic Chaos - Dream Theater

Fear not, audiophiles, for proper music has returned to save you from the horror of manufactured pop! For die-hard Prog-Metal fans, the latest release from Dream Theater, their 9th (and a half if you count A Change Of Seasons), sees the Instrumentally gifted Quintet back to their no nonsense best. Whilst the last album, Octavarium was more mellow in places and a bit samey in others, perhaps just a modern retake of the commercialised 1997 release Falling Into Infinity, Systematic Chaos is pretty much all hard driving, mixed meter wizardry. At 75+ minutes, this is another epic album, and with only 8 tracks, you can expect plenty of ...  Read the complete review

Funnily enough the lead track form the album, Constant Motion, is by far the worst and it's the side of Dream Theater which I really dislike. The track is made up of a mixture of machine gun heavy metal, weak backing vocals from other band members and to top it off, it sounds just like Metallica (in this case Battery). By contrast and oddly enough, the second lead track, Forsaken, is the complete opposite and is by far my most favored side of Dream Theater, made up of vocal harmonies with an epic and melodic structure. As for everything in between, the well documented tightness and technical ability of the band is exhibited in time honoured Dream ...  Read the complete review

Systematic Chaos, Dream Theater's 9th studio release covers, yet again, a vast spectrum of musical ideas. As an ardent Dream Theater fan, I really wanted to enjoy this album as much as possible. There are some excellent moments in this record. The opening track "In The Presence of Enemies: Part 1" for example is absolutely excellent - melodic, dynamic, full of energy and leaving the listener eager for part 2. "Forsaken", to me, feels a little too cheesey and predictable - there's not really any new ground covered hear. It's the Systematic Chaos equivalent of Octavarium's "The Answer Lies Within". "Constant Motion" and ...  Read the complete review

With their most recent album, Dream Theater seem to be taking stock of their career thus far and presenting something of a self-tribute, but one that still continues to move forwards, even if still essentially means blatantly stealing ideas from other bands. Bookended by the slow, grand, keyboard-dominated 'In the Presence of Enemies,' the progressive rock vibe is clear from the onset, and the album benefits from prog's recent resurgence in popularity thanks to bands such as Porcupine Tree, whose style is flagrantly stolen for the tedious fourth instalment of Mike Portnoy's Alcoholics Anonymous epic, 'Repentance.' 'Forsaken' is a strong vocal-centric song that ...  Read the complete review

The newest studio release by Dream Theater 1. In The Presence Of Enemies Pt.1 - Long start to an album, provides the foundations for other progressive songs to come off it. Contains a mind blowing Petrucci solo. 2. Forsaken - Links off 1. nicely, i didnt realise the track had changed 3. Constant Motion - Opens with a heavy off beat riff that anyone would be proud to have composed. LaBrie really comes into his element in this song. 4. Dark Eternal Night - My favourite on the album. A dark heavy song with more 'brutal' vocals from LaBrie. If you listen hard enough the bass player is working his hands off! 5. Repentance - A long song, but not the ...  Read the complete review