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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This IS the best DT CD in years, June 5, 2007
I was willing to hear the next Dream Theater release to see what it was going to be like. After OCTAVARIUM, an album that I still consider a "revision" of the different styles that DT have recorded over the years, what was going to be next was kind of a mystery.
SYSTEMATIC CHAOS confirms even more the notion that Octavarium was musically transitonal. In the new CD, DT returns to the style they were playing in TRAIN OF THOUGHT, with a change: the new CD sounds as heavy, but with more progressive and chord changes, sounds and riffs added. It's like a combination of SIX DEGREES and TRAIN OF THOUGHT, a perfect balance that make me like this album more than the three previous. But I found that songs like CONSTANT MOTION and DARK ETERNAL LIGHT sound heavier that DT has ever been. They really rock !
Of course, this is not SCENES FROM A MEMORY, but it's still a worthy candidate to be there as one of the best albums they have ever released. It is produced by Mike Portnoy and John Petrucci (just like the 3 previous albums), this time with the help (as engineer and mixer) of Paul Northfield, who has lent the same services to the likes of Rush and Queensrÿche.
Even though this is not supposed to be a concept album, from a first impression it DOES look to have a concept, dealing with the themes of sin (in the form of the fight between good and evil), death, repentance and soul salvation. With the exception of "Prophets of war" (a self-explanatory protest song about the on-going war in Iraq) all the songs seem to follow a thread and fall into that category, which gives the album a spiritual meaning (and avoid a pair of slowers to sound mellow). That is until you hear what each song is about -in the DVD that comes with the special edition-. For instance, THE FORSAKEN is about a vampire, IN THE PRESENCE OF ENEMIES is about the attraction of the darkness and the temptation to fall into it (mmm...not unlike Anakin Skywalker's story), the MINISTRY OF LOST SOULS is about a trascendental encounter between somebody who was saved and his saviour who died. Still, the individual meaning of the songs, although more simplistic, is interesting.
The album have some good surprises. Mike Portnoy sings more than usual Not that he sings entire songs, but he appears in some instances as a complementary voice to La Brie's, and in others like in an interaction or "question and reply" manner. He sings good, providing a stronger element to make some heavy songs feel heavier (like the aformentioned CONSTANT MOTION and DARK ETERNAL LIGHT), and this might be a sign that he will do more vocal duties in the future.
Other great surprise is the inclusion of a batch of guest musicians in the song "Repentance", but in an original way: they don't sing or play, but do spoken parts, confessing "sins", to illustrate the theme of the song. There we have Steve Hoggarth, Neil Morse, Steve Wilson, Jon Anderson, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani... (why not Geddy Lee?).
In "Prophets of war" and "In the Presence of enemies", choruses are done by a bunch of fans that were invited into the studio (damn it, I wish I had been there!).
I think the best that I can say about this album is the same that I said about their last concert DVD: The songs have energy and vitality. DT still seem happy to play. Their motivation is still there...and they're still in the peak of their skills.
Notes on the Special edition DVD: I highly recommend the special edition, a must for any DT fan. The DVD has the 5.1 mix of the album, that enhances perfectly the heaviness of the album and presents the execution of the different musical parts and instruments clearer. The mix is for DVD video players in Dolby Digital 5.1 (meaning that it can be enjoyed in ANY DVD player, and that there is no layer for specialized DVD-Audio players). Also included is "The making of" documentary directed and edited by Mike Portnoy. Mostly, is about the band members, performing, creating and talking about the whole process (except John Myung, who is consistent with his "no speak about anything" policy). It's a real pleasure to watch the stages of the creative process, and how the skills and contributions of the different musicians convey in the whole as the finished product. By the way, there are no fights or heated arguments, but the band having a good time. It's interesting also in the information of how each song was conceived, and their meaning. And the documentary is surprisingly full of humor. The program has no subtitles.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
9 albums and still going strong!, June 15, 2007
Wow, a new DT album already? These guys are busy. In the past 7 years, DT have shown drastic changes between albums. An orchestral, grandoise, and ambitious double album that was virtually a sound collage of prog rock/metal and tons of other music types (6DOIT), a full-on heavy metal assault (Train of Thought), and a softer, more-proggy album (Octavarium). With Systematic Chaos, we see a continuation of the agressive metal found on Train of Thought. However, this album still isn't as heavy as that one, as there's more melody and smoothness to go with it (Forsaken, Prohets of War). Mike Portony continues his Alcoholics Anonymous Suite (which started with The Glass Prison on 6DOIT) with Repentence (Regret and Resitution), and it seems a new song suite might start, with In The Presence of Enemies Pt1 and Pt2. Only time will tell if they'll contiune this.
In an interview, Mike talked about how they wanted to make this album very "dramatic and agressive." And it is both those things in many ways. This album can be though of as a combination of Train of Thought and Images And Words. This is DT's first album to include dramatic ballad-like songs with angry heavy metal songs, along with a few that combine both. That said, this is something quite new for DT.
The only thing that hasn't really changed is the incredible technicality of the group's musicianship. but would we want it any other way? John and Jordan still have jaw-dropping solos, which more than often interwind with each other. One noticeable change is that Jonh Myung's bass is (finally!!!!) more audible. It's really nice to hear him since he's been kind of under the radar in the past.
While Train of Thought and Octavarium were both great albums, there were still a few problems that kept them from being perfect. Train of Thought was a tad too excessive at times, ruining the moment, and on Octavarium, 2 of the songs were a little too poppy and radio-friendly for my tastes. However, on Systematic Chaos, I can't really find anything wrong with it. There are some extremely heavy songs (The Dark Eternal Night) that don't get ruined with excessive playing, and some ballads (Forsaken) that don't get too cheesy. In fact, the only song I've never really been able to listen to all the way through is Repentence, as it gets a bit too tedious at the end, although it's cool hearing guest voices from Corey Taylor (Slipknot [bleh!], Steve Vai, Chris Jericho (wrestler), David Ellefson (Megadeth), Steve Hogarth (Marillion), Joe Satriani, Mikael Akerfeldt (Opeth), Steve Wilson (Porcupine Tree), Jon Anderson (Yes), Neal Morse (Spock's Beard, Transatlantic), and Daniel Gildenlow (Flower Kings )
My favorite songs off Systematic Chaos are Forsaken (very irrestible chorus), Prophets of War (another song questioning the moves of our government), and The Ministry of Lost Souls, this one being my personal pick for song of the year. The song tells the story of a man who saves a woman from drowning, but he ends up dying in the process. The lyrics revolve around the woman being unable to live her life with the memory. By far one of DT's best songs to date. A great chorus, lots of passion, and quite catchy despite the song's uninviting title. This is also the 2nd longest song off the album, next to In The Presence of enemies Pt 2.
While I thought Train of Thought and Octavarium were great albums, Systematic Chaos is free of the aforementioned flaws that the other 2 had in my opinion. So overall, this is probably my favorite DT album since 6DOIT. I think most DT fans will be pleased with this release, of course, there will always be those annoying, incredibly picky DT fans that can't accept the fact that they can't control DT from traveling into different grounds. Bottom line: If you're a true DT fan, by all means buy this. If you're a whiny purist who's stuck in the '90s still waiting around for another Images & Words, avoid lik the plague.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Dream Theater's best since Six Degrees, but it's still not up there with the best of 'em., June 5, 2007
I'll be honest, when I first heard the singles "Constant Motion" and "The Dark Eternal Night", I thought "Systematic Chaos" was going to be a "Systematic Failure". There are some bands which get worse as they progress, while there are other bands which release albums of similar quality and seem worse because the fan's initial tastes have changed. When I heard the first two singles, I thought that they were solid Dream Theater songs but that I might finally be tired of their progressive style. Today, I heard the rest of the album and was proven wrong. Dream Theater have released another solid album. There's enough new material on "Systematic Chaos" to keep longtime fans of the band at least slightly interested, while fans of the Jordan Ruddess-era material will find little to complain about.
The album opens up with a very progressive bang! From "In the Presence of Enemies pt.1" Those who know of the middle of "Metropolis pt. 1", "The Dance of Eternity", and the part 3 of "Octavarium" know what I'm talking about. After that, the song settles down and turns into something very listenable. The next song, "Forsaken" is another solid song (and a relatively short DT song, for that), and probably one of my favorite on the album. "Constant Motion" and "The Dark Eternal Night" follow, neither of which I'm too fond of. The first song sounds too much like Metallica for me, while the second seems to be a bit too much of a "cut and paste" effort. Also, the lyrics to these songs are horrendously cliched. For example, Constant Motion's chorus "Forever More/Into the Night/Disarray!"
"Repentance", which is the next song, takes the album in an interesting turn. It's certainly the next song in Mike Portnoy's AA saga, and this time it's a slow song. Very nice touch. It seems that the band is beginning to think about how the whole thing is going to work as one big piece of music. But the peice drags on for over 10 minutes without any real musical changes, and the strange narration at the end just ends the song on a very weird and awkward feeling.
"Prophets of War" is interesting at first, and probably the best song on the album lyrically, but the music and vocals are just horrible. This is the worst song on the album, in my opinion, and it's also a shameless attempt at stealing Muse's style (again).
The album turns to a slower pace again for "The Ministry of Lost Souls", a 14 minute epic that I think might be good enough to join the ranks as a "Dream Theater Epic". The only problem is it's a bit too long, and the instrumental section doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the song.
"In the Presence of Enemies pt 2" wraps up the album quite nicely. I recommend anyone capable of burning CDs onto computers to set the first and last song as a separate play list so that it can be listened to as one piece. As a whole, "In the Presence of Enemies" is without a doubt the 25 minute epic song that we all thought "Octavarium" was going to be before that album came out. That's not to say "Octavarium" wasn't a great song, but it's nothing in comparison to this one!
Overall, I think this is a better album than "Train of Thought" and "Octavarium". There's fireworks abound, which I would prefer less of at this point in my life, but Dream Theater have seem to become more tasteful about were they place their fireworks. Some songs go overboard in instrumental sections, while others remain more or less "to the point." If you've liked Dream Theater at any point in their career, there's probably something for you on "Systematic Chaos".
I'm giving this album 4 stars because though I'll admit almost half the album is garbage, the other half is really good. And it's still worlds better than anything you'll hear on the radio lately. But in terms of what I think Dream Theater are capable of, this album is probably closer to a three. One would think that the band would learn to utilize their own vocalist properly after 9 studio albums, instead of making him sing the same thrown together vocal parts over and over until they begin to sound awkward and forced. James LaBrie sounds GREAT in every recording of him, side projects included, up until Dream Theater's "Train of Thought". And, he sounds excellent on the Score DVD/CD. Give the man something to work with! Next time, I'd like to see Dream Theater "Take The Time" and give us another well planned album like "Scenes" or "Six Degrees".
This album is a step in the right direction after the past two letdowns, but the band haven't exactly written another masterpiece yet.
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