Customer Reviews

Train of Thought

5 star:		(374)
4 star:		(143)
3 star:		(68)
2 star:		(72)
1 star:		(151)

 

 

I should probably preface this review by stating that Dream Theater is far and away my favorite band, so my review of their latest album might be a bit biased. Still, that doesn't change the fact that Train of Thought is one of the best albums I've heard in quite some time.

Clocking in at 7 tracks in just under 70 minutes, Train of Thought is a leaner offering than the band's previous release, the mammoth Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence. It's also heavier, more focused, more song-oriented, and more powerful overall than Six Degrees, which at times came across as a just a showcase for the band's considerable technical prowess. Train of Thought still has plenty of excellent instrumental passages (like the brilliant instrumental track "Stream of Consciousness"), and is still very much a progressive album; it's just that the instrumentals seem to merge better with the vocals to make each song more dynamic and effective. Each band member is clearly in top form on this release, and it's obvious that they all have continued to grow their talents over time. The band also seems to focus on the more metallic aspects of progressive metal with this album, which may be their heaviest release ever. Dream Theater had been performing covers of albums like Master of Puppets (Metallica) and The Number of the Beast (Iron Maiden) on some of their recent live shows, and you can hear that classic metal influence quite clearly in Train of Thought.

Overall I'm quite pleased with this album. It's heavy, progressive, powerful, and may just be Dream Theater's best album since Change of Seasons. I would particularly recommend it to anyone who enjoyed Images and Words and Awake, but might have been put off a bit by the highly technical and progressive nature of the band's last two releases.

NOTE ON THE KOREAN EDITION: This is just a heads-up to all of the die-hard Dream Theater fans. The bonus disc that comes with this Korean exclusive edition of Train of Thought is taken directly from Dream Theater's last live release - Live Scenes from New York. There is nothing in this edition that you haven't already heard. It does come in a pretty cool double jewel case with a slipcase, but fancy packaging is not nearly enough to make it worth the hefty price tag this edition carries. I found this out the hard way. By the way, I reviewed the regular edition of Train of Thought and gave it a full 5-star rating. This one is rated low because it seems like a rip-off.

My bemused friends. This is the 516th review of this album and of the previous 515 reviews none are truly helpful. Therfore, after reading numerous of these reviews, I am going to analyze their findings and make recommendations accordingly.

The reason for the wildly varying opinions of Train of Thought, is because with this CD, Dream Theater is entering a new phase on their musical evolution. They have prudently and rightly ascertained that to keep recording, what is basically the same material, is effectively a death sentence.

So, What do we have here? Well it looks like about 20 % of the reviewers (one and two stars) who professed to be die hard fans were shocked by the new Dream Theater and subsequently hated TOT. Obviously if you as a potential buyer are dogmatic and are looking for the same old (but still very good) sound, you shouldn't buy TOT.

The next group we have (Three stars) is the ones who don't know what to make of TOT. They don't seem to rushing to judgement (though they've written reviews) and are somewhat ambivalent. About 15% of our reviewers felt this way and I was one of these people at first but after multiple listens became a fan. That's right, I think TOT takes multiple listens to appreciate but let's face it isn't DT worth multiple listens. What else are we going to listen to, Beyonce? So if you are this kind of person, you should go ahead and buy TOT. Worse case, it won't grow on you and you end up with a mediocre album but the upside is worth it.

Next (four stars) at about 25% is the group that appreciates TOT and DT's latest endeavor and their need to experiment and grow and voice opinions that although TOT is not DT's best or second best or even third best album it is a very good album in it's own right. Again if I may be redundant, what are your options, Janet Jackson? OOPS!

Lastly of course we have the true die hard DT fans (five stars), about 40%, who think TOT is great, one of their best and can't for the life of them, understand how anyone could not love this album and say so in their reviews. I kinda side with them but I can understand where the other groups are coming from. I guess I'm in between groups three and four at about 4 1/2 stars.

SUMMARY:

If you like the old Dream Theater just fine, thank you, and do not wish to experiment on a newer and slightly heavier DT - PASS

If you are not as rigid but think you may like the old DT better - IT'S YOR CALL, it's still Dream Theater!

If you are flexible and open to new stuff, especially from DT - ABSOLUTELY!

If you are an extreme, die hard Dream Theater fan. You probably have it already.

MY BOTTOM LINE:

Dream Theater is the most visable, most revered and best known of all PROG ROCK/METAL bands. By being the number one progressive band in the world they have been anointed to carry the torch through the dark passages of mundane popular music. Though they are not my personal favorite Progressive band, I do love them and feel for them as they carry a heavy burden. Long Live Dream Theater. You may not like the alternative.

Dream Theater's new album is definitely their heaviest since "Awake", if not ever. It's mostly good, and I like it better than their last album, "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence". It's less experimental, and a more straight-forward sounding metal album. Though this does have the odd time signatures and crazy instrumental sections we've come to expect from Dream Theater.

"As I Am" is a catchy, fairly simple metal song, with a main riff that sounds a bit like Metallica's "Enter Sandman". It grew on me, but it's probably the weakest song on the album, and the solo adds nothing to it really, in my opinion. "This Dying Soul" is much better. Heavy, 7 String guitar riffs drive it, much like it's predecessor, "The Glass Prison". "Endless Sacrifice" has some beautiful melodies in the verse, and a loud, Pantera-esque chorus. The instrumental section is also the best on the album, reminding me of "Awake" and "Change of Seasons" (That's a good thing, as I prefer the older albums by far to the newer ones.) "Honor Thy Father" isn't bad, the chorus has a badass, Black Label Society-ish metal riff that I like. "Vacant" is beautiful, and it leads into the instrumental "Stream of Conciousness", which is pretty awesome as well. The main riff somewhat brings to mind "Orion" by Metallica. This is the longest and one of the more complex DT instrumentals, featuring loads of time changes and key changes, and lots of soloing. "In The Name of God" is the 14 minute epic that closes the album, and it's a great song. There's a good mix of good melodies and heavy riffs, and the instrumental section has some pretty sick playing by everyone. The piano outro is pretty nice too.

There's pros and cons to the heavier, more aggressive sound on this album. There's definitely a lack of great melodies, especially during the instrumental sections, which instead of interesting melodic lines, they are pretty much just going up and down scales. At ridiculous speeds, no doubt, but it's just not as interesting, at least not to me. Also, John Petrucci used to be able to balance shredding with great melodies and compose some amazing solos ("Under a Glass Moon" for example, or "Scarred".) Here, he mainly just shreds, which is cool, but limiting.

On the other hand, the aggressive sound is pretty cool. A lot of the riffs are quite awesome. "This Dying Soul", "Honor Thy Father" and "In The Name of God" all have some ass-kicking heavy riffs, reminiscent of Pantera or early Metallica...A cool thing, in my book.

The only lyrics that really impressed me on here were John Petrucci's "Endless Sacrifice", which describes well the pain of a rockstar living away from his family. Along with the nice melody in the verse and the cool Maiden-esque part at the end, it's very touching. "Vacant" is also moving put together with the music.

So, it's not nearly my favorite DT album (that would be "Images and Words" and "Awake"), but it's definitely worth buying if you're a fan. I wouldn't really recommend starting with this album though, check out the aforementioned two first.

Let me start by saying I have every DT album and bootleg,and have seen them live numerous times.Most of the time it takes a few listens of the album to gauge it.After 20 or so listens(It's so good I can't stop listening)I've decided that this is their best work to date.Being a huge metal fan, I must say this is the album I've been waiting for since "AWAKE".This album has an in your face,take no prisoners vibe to it.From beginning to end it is a non stop roller coaster of brutal riffs,insane drums,keys and solos.The only breather here is the song "Vacant"which is a slow melodic track.There is no weak point on this album.So,if you like the metal side of DT most of you will love this.If not,don't rip them for being too heavy because it was DT's intent to produce a classic metal album,and that they have done,brilliantly.
"Don't Cross The Crooked Step"

I have spent the last year analyzing this album. It has been in my car and on my computer almost everyday since i first picked it up in January 2004. I saw them on tour twice post album-release and even talked to them backstage at Universaly Amp. in Sept. My conclusion:

This album is beyond brilliant. Many people have argued that the solos are repetitive and that the lyrics fall short of expectations. At first I agreed with these views. The first couple times I listened to the album, I proclaimed that Dream Theater had missed. I even refered to it as their "St. Anger".

Then, after listening to it more and more, it finally clicked. I began hearing things I had never heard the during the first listening sessions. ALL DT fans have gone through this routine - of picking up new things and uncovering meanings within the songs with each new listen - like a Tarantino film.

Skeptics: STOP COMPARING THIS TO OTHER DT ALBUMS AND SIDE PROJECTS. STOP IT NOW. Any REAL Dream Theater fan knows that these 5 extraordinary musicians have the ability to explore multitudes of musical styles, and the fact that DT is able to successfully write a dark/heavy album such as this after releasing a concept album (SFAM) and a more jazz/fusion album (6DOIT) is testimony that this band KNOWS HOW TO DO THINGS.

The key to enjoying this album is TIME. It may take up to 10 listening sessions to finally appreciate it, but believe me - when you do you will not want to stop listening. Although I personally do not think this album is DT's best (In my opinion that's a tossup between Images and Words and Scenes from a Memory), Train of Thought is an enjoyable whirlwind of musical virtuosity and exploration.

I am so glad that in a dark age in musical history, where bands such as the White Stripes are rewarded for their "talent", that bands such as Dream Theater stay dedicated to progress and musical development.

This album belongs in the cd players of any true music fan.

I first heard DT back in the early 90's when the only saving grace to the crap hairband stuff coming out was Marillion. I really remember how impressed I was with the playing ability of the band - from musicianship standpoint they were just amazing. But I really was annoyed with how they took the crap cheezy hairband melodies and then inserted the brilliance... I gave that album away since I couldnt listen to the whole thing just the instrumental sections.

Ok, so flash forward to 2003 and I read a guy's post on a PF here at work:
-new Dream Theater album, very very heavy and excellent!
Intrigued, I ask to borrow the disk for a day of listening. Probably the best hour of listening to new material I've had in 5 years.

DT does kinda go back to the NuMetal genre to grab the heavy grooves and chunka chunka guitar sounds that are so popular, but I dont think Limp Dickstick or others in that genre could ever put together a NuMetal song in 12/8 or mixed time sigs that DT succeeds in doing. Yes it's a bit derivative but they take it and extend it past anything out there right now. LaBrie's vocals were always a source of issue with me just because they're too pretty for the music, but with the production they definitely have grown on me. He's tried to toughen them up and for the most part succeeded. Especially the layered minor 7th and minor 3rd harmonies a la Alice In Chains, LaBrie is finally coming up to the rest of the band in his presentation. To be succinct: John Petrucci is just freaking amazing!! With sections where Portnoy and Myung are right in the speed metal groove a la Master of Puppets and Kill Them All, Petrucci just flies on the guitar making everyone else in metal look to be a pale pretender to the craft. I wish I could play like that but I would need about 10 cups of coffee every hour just to hit that intensity level.

Portnoy and Myung are typically brilliant, with Portnoy playing that big huge stupid work of art Siamese Monster kit of his and Myung chugging out ripping bass work supporting Petrucci and Rudess. You cant have a decent piece of music without solid rhythm track, and these guys give it everything and more.

Probably the only criticism I could have would be Jordan Rudess' playing seems hidden by the fact that his lead key sounds all sound like guitar - too close to Petrucci's sound to make it out on first listen. But after a few listens I found to my astonishment that what I thought were guitar lines were key solos and ... well that's all needs be said.

Bottom line: excellent musicianship, only one song seems weaker than the rest otherwise a brilliant concept album from start to finish. Any Prog Rock or Metal freak needs this in their collection.

This is Dream Theater turned up to eleven! Of course they can write melodic and thought-provoking music. Just like their past albums. But remember that they are considered a progressive METAL band. That means that they have every right to turn it up if they choose. I have read some of these negative reviews and all I can think is that there are a lot of people living in the past. Images and Words was awesome. So was Awake, 6DOIT and Scenes from A Memory (my all time personal favorite) But each on those albums stood on their own. Even Falling Into Infinity is good on its own. There can only be one IAW. One 6DOIT. One FII. One Awake etc. When you start expecting new albums to sound like past albums, that's when you set yourself up for disappointment. True fans allow their favorites to express themselves how they want. True you don't have to like it, but you should respect their creative vision and right to do it. Heck, I'm not a fan of the new King's X CD, but I do respect them for trying something different for their fans and most of all, themselves. Remember, the music we listen to is suppose to reflect the artist that performs it. It's an extension of them and how they feel at the time.

It is not cool however, to predict the doom of a classic band, especially when they are no where close to the end. So get over yourselves.

This album is a brutal onslaught and is 100% Dream Theater. I see all the benefits that have come from all the side projects the members have done becuase there are multiple influences in this CD while at the same time staying true to their own sound they perfected. It annoys me that people compare this CD to GodSmack or even (what the f*** were these people thinking?) Kid Rock. Here's the thing, You can "hear" certain artists on other artists CDs when you are hearing the music and not really listening. People compare one thing to another when they have no clue what they are talking about. That's why you can hear people doing ridiculous comparisons between one artist or another. Hell, I could hear Kid Rock or Godsmack in Celine Dion's music if I concetrated hard enough and did that much crack. My advice, don't listen to this CD as a Godsmack Cd but as a Dream Theater Cd as it was originally intended.

Honor Thy Father is the most brutally honest song I have ever heard from Dream Theater as long as I have been a fan of the band. In the Name of God has warranted the praise it has gotten. The album as a whole, is a sonic attack on your senses. Pure Dream Theater and nothing else.

If you naysayers think this is too fast, don't listen to Symphony X.

All you people who blasted this CD, do yourself a favor, put your comparisons and your highly distorted expectations at the door and listen to this disc as a Dream Theater album. You might see things differently.

Dream Theater are a musical anomoly. I believe it is repeating this article of truth that one needs to put this disc into their cd player. The first, and most obvious thing about this album is that it is a touch (a touch?) heavier than previous releases. Unfortunately, that seems to be enough for a lot of people to form an opinion of the album. But it is only when you delve further that you truly discover what the magic of Train of Thought is. Here are just a few of my thoughts on what I consider a brilliant album:

The album opens with what I would describe as a pretty conventional, not bad just conventional, track. As I Am probably fits the classic sense of a rock song closer than anything recorded by DT up until this point. There are some famtastic displays of chops metered with remarkable conrol and retraint by all instrumentalists.

This Dying Soul is a great piece of music, from the layered guitar harmonies to the complexity of the changes within the song. On this track Petrucci shows the value of playing a measured solo over firing off 16 notes per beat. Even during the solos no member of the band becomes bigger than the rest, resulting in the PERFECT band arrangement. But the album only gets better...

Endless Sacrifice is fairly similar to This Dying Soul. I am not too sure whether this was intended or not, but knowing DT it was! I don't mean that they carry the same melody or lyrical content or anything like that, just that when I think of those songs I automatically think of them as a pair. (Probably Live at Budokan's fault!)

Honor Thy Father is the only track that I truly consider weak on the album. I really enjoy the verse because it is so different to anything I've ever heard from these guys. (Bit like Tool almost?) Therein lies the potential that the song had. Where the song falls down is with a poor chorus. Even the break between the verse and chorus is something akin to hitting a brick wall, or changing the disc halfway through a song. There does not seem to be any logical movement between the verse and chorus. Anyway enough about that track.

From here on the album more than recovers with the last 3 tracks being my favourites on the album.

Vacant is a haunting piece of music complete with cello to really paint a dark picture. The impressive working of the melody on the piano is done to perfection by an ever-magnificent Jordan Rudess. It only become truly impressive upon hearing Stream of Consciousness when you realise that they took the 5/4 melody from that and turned it into a 6/8 (which I'll admit is pretty difficult to hear until you hear the give-away swing of compound time that James La Brie's voice gives it.)

On Stream of Consciousness James gets a break and the instruments go to town! This is for me the most impressive track on the album. In classic DT fashion it moves from time signature to time signature (at some points 3 measures in a row can have 3 different time signatures!) The highlight of the piece is Jordan's classically-inspired solo at the end of the song into his harmony with John Petrucci who's tone is as always nothing short of beautiful.

In the Name of God is GRAND. This is what prog rock is. (OK maybe a little heavier than most but the elements are all there!) As proven on Live at Budokan this is the song to close a concert with. The technical chops shown by John, John, Mike and Jordan are mind-numbing! In this context the highlight of the entire album is the solo jam at around 9 minutes with Jordan and John P trading extremely fast licks (John ripping out serious tremelo picking, and Jordan growing an extra 5 fingers to play at that speed!) All the while John M and Mike are locked into their funky (not too technically challenging but still a fantastic display of rhythm section dynamics) groove and don't miss a beat.

Each musician's performance on this album is HUGE. It is easy to see James, John P. and Jordan's contributions because they are evident, but this in no way means that Mike and John M. had a smaller role to play. Myung's bass playing is something phenominal. His ability to lock into a groove yet still play lines that create beautiful countermelodies is unbelievable. Mike can play any time signature as though it was a basic 4/4. In Stream of Consciousness you almost can't detect the obscure time signatures since he just plays through them beautifully (and never steamrolls his way through them as so many drummers can be guilty of in those circumstances.)

In conclusion this is an album by a band that streches itself more with each album they release (One song can be more adventurous than other well-known bands will be their entire careers) This album is a must for anybody who wants to experience a band that is never content to rest on its laurels. As I finish this review the CD rips into the jam at the end of "In the Name of God" so the last thing to be said is that this album can only be experienced by owning it and not by reading my review - so why are you still reading? Go get it!

First off, I haven't heard all of Dream Theater's albums. I'm not a big follower of them, so my review is a little different from most of the rest, since I can't compare this to any previous albums. This is a wonderful metal album. I've listened to plenty of metal, from Metallica and Megadeth's glory years to recent Slayer, Trivium, Type O Negative, Shadows Fall, and so on. This is the most progressive metal I've ever heard, but it is still metal. These guys are masterful musicians: Petrucci doesn't just shred to shred, his solos fit the style and feel of the album. The drums, bass, keyboard, and guitar fit together perfectly: these guys are TIGHT. There are a lot of times where the instrumentalists are in the spotlight, and they deserve it. The vocals run the gamut from spoken word to rapping to almost Iron Maidenesque throughout this album. Listening to the entire thing, everything fits together. All the songs (but one) are crushingly heavy, have big instrumental breaks that actually build the entire song up (instead of just showing how good they are), and have pretty darn good lyrics. Personally, no matter how much I love an album, I find myself skipping over some tracks a lot more than others after a while. With Master of Puppets I usually skip The Thing that Should Not Be, with Rust in Peace I usually skip Lucretia, with Reign in Blood I usually skip Criminally Insane, etc. With Train of Thought, I find myself skipping As I Am and sometimes Vacant. I don't think As I Am is as strong in any sense as any of the other heavy tracks on this album, and a lot of the time I'm not in the mood for Vacant. That being said, As I Am still gets a lot of playing time from me and is better than any other song from any other band. This Dying Soul, Endless Sacrifice, Honor Thy Father, Stream of Consciousness, and In the Name of God are all amazing songs from a prog-metal standpoint, and just a metal standpoint. Stream of Consciousness is the best instrumental I've heard since Orion or To Live is to Die, Endless Sacrifice makes one of the best transitions from ballad to crushing metal, and In the Name of God is just one of the best songs I've ever heard. The instrumental parts are never boring and always build up the song, and they're usually amazing. The vocals aren't the best in metal (I give that to Iron Maiden or Pantera on Vulgar Display), but they fit the music and are never out of place. And isn't that what the album should have? Awesome instrumentalists, a vocalist that fits the style and never stands out badly, well-crafted songs that fit as parts of the album, and fast and crushing riffs you can use to test your speakers out - this is what metal should be. If you like prog-metal, shredding, instrumentals, heavy metal, thrash, speed -- you know what? Just get this album.

It seems a lot of people have forgotten what "Progressive" really means. Here I go referencing Webster's: "1. moving forward in space; advancing. 2. increasing by successive stages. 3. a progress toward something better..." Progressive music is driven by the notion that music isn't stagnant. It's made up of passionate people who really want to explore and create new music, not just print lyrics up with some variations on the same old same old.

From interviews I've read of Dream Theater, they say that Train of Thought was just something they wanted to do. They all have a fascination with metal music, and they used this album to explore that side of their music. And they did a damn good job! Take the heavier moments in their music and expand them to a full-length album, just as advanced, just as impressive, and you've got a good idea of what TOT is like.

If you're offended by the idea that Dream Theater likes metal or really any genre of music besides Awake, Images&Words, et al, then why are you listening to progressive metal in the first place?

"Stream of Consciousness," an 11-minute instrumental, is my favorite track on the album. It is flawlessly executed, and I can't get enough of it. Also noteworthy are the drums on "Honor Thy Father." Mike Portnoy will blow you away on this album. The general idea of the whole album is that these guys are incredible musicians, who are more than capable of making fantastic albums, in virtually any musical realm they would like to.

Perhaps try comparing this album to some of the other "straight-up metal" choices out there. This album over St. Anger? Maybe we'd be giving out 31-star ratings, as opposed to 2-star ratings.