Falling Into Infinity - Dream Theater

This album has always had a hard time from critics and fans alike. It's an attempt at radio friendly songs 'apparently', and even the band themselves say this. Personally I like this album, it took a couple of listens to get into it, and it has a couple of poor songs, but some really shine through. The poorer songs on the album are: 'You Not Me'; it's not too bad, but it lacks heaviness for my tastes, very radio friendly and commercial! 'Hollow Years'; again this just seems to lack heaviness, and seems a tad generic. It picks up a little bit at the end. 'Take Away my Pain'; similar comments to above, I like the solo and centre part of it, but ...  Read the complete review

This is Dream Theater's fourth full album, released in 1997 after the exit of founder keyboard player Kevin Moore and a moderately poor reception of their third, dark album Awake. I first heard it on a dodgy tape recorder shortly before seeing the band live at a truly dire gig where the keyboards were inaudible and Mike Portnoy really lost his temper with a roadie! It was only a year later upon trying again with a CD and good system that I fell in love with it. The core of the band are John Petrucci, John Myung and Mike Portnoy, who all studied together at Berklee, plus singer James LaBrie and new keyboard player Derek Sherinian. The band play ...  Read the complete review

A disappointingly humdrum offering after the magnificent 'Awake' and prior to the over-zealous 'Scenes from a Memory,' Dream Theater's fourth album 'Falling Into Infinity' is easily overlooked and subjected to a mixture of accurate and exaggerated criticism. It's certainly the band's weakest album up to this point, largely due to pressures from the record label to produce something more accessible to a mainstream audience, but even the few tracks that are permitted to push the envelope end up disappointing compared to the band's usual standards. Taken as a deliberate attempt at something more mainstream, akin to Metallica's self-titled album, this is an ...  Read the complete review

Partly through record company pressure, 1997 saw the release of their most ‘commercial’ album to date. ‘Falling Into Infinity’ does sound a little bit like they’re on slightly unfamiliar territory and the album contains more ‘radio friendly’ songs rather than the usual seven or eight minute masterpieces that we’re used to. Don’t get me wrong, I mean it’s unmistakably them and track for track they’re good songs, but taken as a whole they do seem to be a little inconsistent. They do say however, that variety is the spice of life so it’s still worth checking out. The stand-out tracks for me on this ...  Read the complete review