Customer Reviews

03 a Trilogy 2

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Having been a fan of the When Dream and Day Unite era of Dream Theater, when I learned vocalist Charlie Dominici was making another progressive metal album, I had to hear it.

Pros: The album does not disappoint; There are some great tracks on here, great musicianship, and an interesting story behind it all.
Cons: The band's influences can be quite apparent at times. A lot of the tracks sound like a carbon copy of Dream Theater's style. Dominici's lyrics are often a hit or miss.

A good album but not without its flaws. I am greatly interested in to see future albums that this band puts out to see if they grow with more experience.

Murat Batmaz has already written an excellent review of the music in detail. As a Dream Theater fan since the Images & Words album, I was expecting a cheap knockoff of DT but was very pleasantly suprised that the songwriting was as good as the first 3 DT albums, maybe even a little bit better. The sound is very much in an early Dream Theater or Symphony X mode. In my opinion, this is the best Dream Theater album in 14 years, mainly because the songs are so well crafted as opposed to the long instrumental excursions the band has favored the past several albums. If you love early Dream Theater (when they were at their most melodic), you will love this album.

I'd like to serve as a voice against those who mention DT in their reviews for this album as being too derivative of them specifically (and I read several that say so, not just on Amazon.com). That's just off... and for several reasons. All prog metal bands are standing on the shoulders of giants, and who is to say that DT is the only band allowed to stand on those same shoulders? The shadows cast there are quite long indeed.

In any case, since losing Kevin Moore, the emotional impact of DT's albums has tanked, while their playing has gotten better if anything, but the arranging part has suffered, IMO, with a few exceptions, especially given their reputations as flag-bearers. (Yes Mike, I know you wrote a whole song for people who parse out your best efforts like I am doing now, but it IS a review) Except for Charlie himself, this band's musicians are largely unheralded to this reviewer, which makes this album even more impressive.

For the purposes of this review, I will compare Dominici favorably to DT, rather than the other way around. It disturbs me that one band has come to dominate the dialogue on prog metal these days. MANY other bands are as good or better than DT: Vanden Plas, Wolverine, Sun Caged, Lemur Voice, Atomship (my current favorite), and in this case Dominici; no matter how much similarity they might have to the most popular band in the genre.

DT is a little too "classical music" and "in the head" these days with the influence of their new virtuoso keyboard player, where virtuosity is the whole meal. With DT now, the music's a little too "on the beat" in general, whereas this awesome Dominic album I can actually feel the feelings of the character involved, and understand the story (take that, Scenes From A Memory and Octavarium, still scratching my head to follow along the story of those, even after looking it up), even grasping many of the emotions & motivations of the main character, determined to bring about the end of the world and the flawed detective determined to stop him.

This is a much better tribute to the Twin Towers tragedy than the trite "Sacrificed Sons". It seems to focus on the-personal-related-to-the-global in a way Dream Theater often misses since Kevin Moore's departure.

If there is something grating that might be said about this album, one could say the same thing about the great Queen, Pink Floyd or Styx: it's VERY theatrical, and I could easily see it played out in a play on Broadway.

Some people just don't like voiceovers to advance a story, but I can't say the same thing about my own taste. I LOVE all the detailed noises in the detective's precinct office- the coughing, footsteps, the exaggerated New York accent ("you look like hell!"), everything!

Still, the three bands I am comparing them too are among the greatest of all time, so this comparison better serves the quality of the album than comparing them to DT. Plenty of room on those shoulders, even if we don't mention Genesis, Yes, and ELP, all of whom Dominici and every prog metal outfit has to thank.

Having said all of these preconditions- this album freaking ROCKS. HUGE and original metal riffs bounce around this album in the best possible way. Arrangement and musicianship are of the highest quality, from drumming, bass and guitar.

Now, as I said, I've not heard of a single one of them, but this is even more impressive to me, and I hope they have great success in this band. Frankly, the guy singing is, if anything, the weakest link here, as Charlie's voice never was as highly ranged and emotive as, say, John Arch or Geoff Tate.

It's an absolute metal tour de force, with nice variations on many of what we've come to expect at the high-end of technical instrument ability in the prog metal world. While not as musical as say, Marcel Coenen, but then again, NO ONE- even John Petrucci- is THAT good. Marcel's in a class by himself- both SUPER musical and SUPER virtuosic.

They have their own unique and awesome voice and it's clearly serving both the story and the genre they are cast into. Well done lads!

***Amazon doesn't have a 'half' star rating, or it would have been 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Let me start with a little background: I'm a Progressive Metal Drummer. I know because it says so right on my website. Also, because I've been playing Rush and Dream Theater since the late 70's. But this guy, Yan Maillard...holy crap! I could play like him...if I had 2 years with nothing else to do but practice. And an extra arm and leg wouldn't hurt.
But hey, this is a review of the CDs, not their excellent drummer....
First, I didn't buy #1. No matter how good it is, I'm not going to spend my hard-earned cash on an all-acoustic CD. Sorry, that's just me. That said, I've been waiting for Charlie to do something ever since his Dream Theater days. Don't hate, but I've always preferred his voice to James LaBrie's. But, that's another story, too. So, when I heard about this, I was very excited. Like I said, I passed on #1, but immediately bought #2 & 3. Since 2 & 3 are parts of the same story and indistinguishable in style or tone (a good thing, btw), I can write this all together. On with the review....
Let me just say...I WANTED to love them.......but, I only like them.
If I had to express the reason in one sentence, I'd have to refer back to the scene in Amadeus where the king is critiquing his music, "There are...too many notes...." Now I, like everyone else, laughed a lot at that scene. Of course, the king was being ridiculous. How can a song have too many notes? A song has as many notes as it's supposed to have...right? Well, I used to think so........
It's brutally obvious every one of these guys, including Charlie, are masters at their craft. Arpeggios, progressions, key changes, time changes, cadence...these guys are all over it. And, as The Bard put it, "...therein lies the rub." They're all over it all the time. They never let up. It's like a constant, "Look what I can do!" They do it great, they just won't stop doing it! Every song, almost all the way through is full of...of...well, notes!
There are a lot of great hooks, but you hardly get to feel them because they don't stick around for more than 4 bars. It's actually physically exhausting to listen to music like this...and I'm as Prog Metal as anyone!
Now, in their defense, from the notes on their website, it seems that's exactly what they were going for. Well, they succeeded. The problem, for me is, it's just not necessary. The musicians are great, but they've almost ruined the music by putting all their chops into every part of every song.
As great as Yan is, I lay most of the blame at his feet. He's an outstanding drummer--a veritable virtuoso--but, if I had to put a name to it, I'd call his style here overplaying. Now, I'm really torn saying this because I've always been a fan of, "More drums!" On the other hand, I realize how important it is for songs to have some sort of foundation. I need something in the mix that I can point to and say, "There's the beat." It doesn't have to be the drums, but that's my preference. Not to say there's no beat at all; there is one, you just have to wilderness tracker to find it.
It seems rather simplistic to say I need to be able to headbang to it, but that's what it comes down to. And, don't get me wrong, I'm not looking for AC/DC-simple; something more along the lines of Rush's La Villa Strangiato or Dream Theater's Under a Glass Moon. The musicians are riffing away, but there's always a solid foundation (I agree with Mr. Stahlgren here).
Sadly, Dominici is missing that. As talented as they all are, the music just could have been arranged better. It's great Prog but, as we all know, that plays to an extremely narrow audience. Not that they need to try and get on the radio, or anything but, if they would have made it a little more accessible, it would play to a wider audience.
All that said, I can live with it. I put them on my mp3 player and it's actually growing on me. Like I said, I like it, but I don't love it. It's just sad for me because I wanted to love it.
What I liked even less were the lyrics--specifically, the rhyming of the lyrics. I love concept albums and, hearing this was one, made me even more excited to get it. The story was great and I enjoyed the characters and everything, but I hate when the writers make everything rhyme. It's just so elementary and simplistic, especially for such advanced music, that it cheapens the whole experience for me. And, oddly enough, the more technically advanced the music, the worse rhyming lyrics are for it.
Last and least, in some places, Charlie sounds uncomfortably (for me) like Geoff Tate. Now, with his voice, I can understand that and forgive it, it was just glaringly obvious in some parts.
These CDs are filled to overflowing with power, technical expertise and feeling. But, that's the problem: it's unnecessarily complicated and there's just too much of everything.
I like it...but I wanted to love it.

I find the high rating on this album perplexing. My own rating, based on the overall composition and lyrical content, is the absolute lowest I've ever given in any album review thus far. After repeated listening this album just isn't getting any better - In fact the more I listen, the less I like it. The problem isn't with the production as much as it is with the content and the fact that the lyrics, the concept, and the overall music just is not at all that "gripping". It's as if a Jr. High school kid wrote the lyrics. There are no surprises in the music, although the band has talent, the formula has been used many times before. Also, Dominici's singing style is so in line with the singing style of Kevin James LaBrie that one almost feels embarrassed for the aging Charlie Dominici who has many years more vocal experience. It's not that Charlie has a terrible voice - It's all how he uses it to belt out the most ridiculous sounding lyrics I've ever heard on a Heavy Metal concept album. Sorry folks, but I really expected something a little more complex and mentally engaging and this comes off about as intelligent and engaging as an album by "Spinal Tap".

Whoa ! I should start by defining my taste in music. I am a progressive prog rock maniac. This CD offers you a variety of music fashion however it resides firmly in the area of speed symphonic prog rock. There are licks here that will make you sweat trying to figure out how the hell they were conceived and better yet, pulled off ! The drumming is supreme, the guitar playing is superb, the keys are fascinating. There are segments of this work that Dream Theater themselves would be hard pressed to create and perform. Some segments are superior to DT including some drum parts. Although this is a must have CD for any prog enthusiast, I will say that the overall work lacks memorable melodic themes. Charlie Dominici shows glimpses of excellence in his vocal works but lacks vocal prowess and spent little creative energy conceiving his parts. Too bad. With more melody, harmony and memorable hooks, this would be one for the ages. So this leaves Dream Theater in the number one spot due to their well thought out vocals, melodies and hooks. Enjoy this CD it is a tremendous display of musicianship !!!!

The name Charlie Dominici is familiar virtually to any prog metal fans, as he was the original voice of Dream Theater, singing on their debut album before calling it quits and taking a long break from his recording career. He returned to the fold for the 15th anniversary of When Dream and Day Unite in 2004, and then released the first part of his concept trilogy, which was predominantly a laidback acoustic album. It baffled and impressed fans at the same time, but Charlie Dominici had already announced that the follow-up would be a heavier record and here it is.

This disc is a totally amazing piece of melodic prog metal. It begins with the eight-minute instrumental "The Monster", filled with bone-crushing rhythm guitars, smashing drum and bass battery, and the occasional but powerful keyboard back-up. It rocks back and forth, utilising some lush piano work in the middle to spice things up, but the relentlessly energetic composition is not sacrificed for even a second. Charlie Dominici comes to the fore on "Nowhere to Hide", driven by majestic synth playing and heavy-duty riffery. His vocals suggest a cool 80's prog metal vibe in the styles of Queensryche and Crimson Glory, but he sounds a lot more mature and convincing than he did on Dream Theater's debut. Being a concept about a child who is separated from his family and raised to be a terrorist, the album is often broken up by brief narration, radio excerpts, police sirens, et cetera. However, the flow of the record is so carefully maintained that the spoken sections do not bother the listener.

"Captured" starts out with cold acoustic guitars before growing into a huge rocker whilst "Greed, the Evil Seed" is more on the instrumental part of the spectrum. Brian Maillard's guitar work should suffice to please any Symphony X fan, but during the middle of the piece, things slow down with the arrival of a classical guitar intermezzo and thick keyboards blanketing it. The album's centrepiece comes in the form of "School of Pain", punctuated by killer acoustic guitars, moving vocals, and excellent dynamics. The songwriting, while nothing groundbreaking, suggests a rarely seen chemistry among the band members. Maillard's staccato guitar lines easily border on thrash metal and Dominici's singing is on par with the likes of Tate, Midnight, and Arch. Bringing in elements of the Middle East, every instrument serves to highlight the amazing vocal harmonies of Dominici and the solo parts are absolutely amazing.

The production of the album is good, but it can get grating when listened to on high volumes, especially with head phones. The guitar tones could be slightly more refined, but that's a minor complaint. Check this album out if you want to see where Charlie Dominici currently stands in the prog metal realm.