Score - Dream Theater

Five virtuoso musicians, 2 hours 40 minutes on non-stop progressive metalbrilliance spread across 3 discs, charting the last 20 years of one of the world's finest (yet relatively little known) rock bands. This is Score. Let me begin by saying that I am something of a Dream Theater fan. This probably helps immensely with my enjoyment of this record, but hopefully won't bias this review too badly. I am fully aware that Dream Theater (DT) is not for everyone. Indeed, there's so much extended soloing, over the top singing and fairly poor lyrics that I can easily forgive people for not enjoying their rather bombastic style. But I like to listen to them with a pinch ...  Read the complete review

Dream Theater's official live albums are always a worthy investment even for fans who already own the official release from the previous tour, as drummer Mike Portnoy's meticulous rotating set-list aims to ensure that every repeat performance from the band in the same area - whether it's the same city or a recorded concert - showcases different material to the last, with an obvious focus on material from the most recent album being promoted. Thus, 'Score' is very different to its predecessor 'Live at Budokan,' a twentieth anniversary release of sorts that celebrates the band's entire discography, even if the less popular albums tend to be given short shrift ('Afterlife' ...  Read the complete review